Hola :)

[MeghanArleene]

Hola,

My name is Meghan, and I'm new to the forum. My husband is from Venezuela, and his family speaks a lot of Spanish, and. . .I need to learn! Why? Well, it's only right that I do (respectful), I love languages, cultures, etc. Also, I have this recurring scenario that I keep thinking about that sort of haunts me. . .when I have a child, it will also know how to speak Spanish. When he or she reaches 15 or 16 years old and they go through those difficult teenage years, I keep thinking of my child cursing me or saying a lot of other things in Spanish, but their tone of voice sounding nice. I'm afraid I'd interpret it as something nice, when in fact it's anything but nice, lol! I now it may sound funny and strange, but it's one of the many things that is motivating me to learn Spanish.

Also, my husband and I would eventually like to move back to Miami. We lived there for four years until the economy plummeted, and we had to move back up north. Unfortunately, I couldn't find a job down there because I didn't speak Spanish. I tried enrolling in Spanish classes at the local community college, university, etc., but those classes got canceled because not enough people signed up. . .lack of demand for the class because most people already speak Spanish there. However, I loved Miami, and living there again would be MUCH easier on me when I learn the language :) The main thing people told me of how to learn Spanish, was to watch TV in Spanish. I tried, but it never worked. It isn't my learning style. . .it isn't very interactive, there's no corrections, I couldn't figure out the words I didn't know (plenty of them), subtitles were too fast and too complex for my level, etc. My best way of learning is visually, but also with a lot of interaction, and a certain amount of lesson type format. . .all of which it seems forums have to offer :)

That's a little bit about me for now, and thank you for giving me the opportunity to learn Spanish here, especially in such an interactive way!

Gracias :)
Meghan

[wrholt]

Welcome to the forums, Meghan!

You're right, trying to learn Spanish by doing nothing except watching Spanish-language television is probably not very effective, especially for an absolute beginner.

There is a range of self-teaching materials for learning Spanish that one can find; different people prefer different methods. However, some type of coaching (a class, a private tutor, a language-exchange partner, whatever) is often helpful, especially for developing oral/aural skills. The fact that your husband is a native speaker of Spanish can help, but some couples find that trying to be student/teacher doesn't mix well with being husband/wife.

Have you studied another language in a classroom setting? If so, did you find that the class worked well for you, or not? Is it worth the effort to look into Spanish language classes at a local community college near your current home?

[Rusty]

¡Bienvenida a los foros, Meghan!

[MeghanArleene]

Hello,

Sorry for the late reply. . .I lost the URL of the site and finally found it again, lol! I've taken language classes in school before for French (three years) and Spanish (one year in high school, one semester in college). For some reason, I didn't find them very effective, because the teachers themselves weren't native speakers of the language. Being that my husband is a native Spanish speaker, he saw and heard all of the errors I was making, which made me feel that the classes were useless if the person wasn't a native speaker.

On and off, I tried teaching myself, but using the strict textbook method. I found myself writing plenty of vocabulary lists, trying to learn 20 new words per day, including fully conjugated verbs. I'd also try to learn a new grammar lesson every day, etc. In the end, I overwhelmed myself, didn't remember it, and did it all wrong (the method). Being that I've had some Spanish classes before, and have been around my husband and his family, taking a class wouldn't be helpful anymore, because I'm not necessarily at the extreme beginner's level, yet I'm not intermediate or advanced either (I'm HORRIBLE with verbs). I end up quitting very quickly if I do the textbook method...first learning to say hello, my name, where I'm from, numbers, the time, etc. It's learning the same thing over and over again, which is monotonous.

I recently started trying to learn German, which I'm finding to be easier, but I think it may have more to do with a different approach I'm taking to it. I'll give myself half or less the vocabulary words, and I won't force myself to learn them all in one day. I don't force myself to learn a new grammar lesson every day until I've mastered one or two already. Grammar lessons could mean simple sentences where I can learn the structure of them, and the vocabulary words I give myself can easily fit into the sentence. . .thus, making the vocabulary words useful and put into context and practice from the very beginning. The sentence could be as simple as "The ___ is not ___." It could be "The dog is not black." "The child is not tall." etc. Or "I want a ___." I want a banana. I want a book. and so on, as long as the list of vocabulary words is able to be used, and they tie the grammar lesson together with it.

Also, I've learned to look for short cartoons, etc. and watch them, but stop trying to learn what EVERY word means and think of it as a lesson. Instead, I watch them so I can listen to what the language sounds like (pronunciation), and listen for any words that I may already know. . .it will help with my listening and oral skills. Sometimes I learn another word or two if I can pick certain words out and what the character is doing in the scene makes sense. Over time, understanding the rest will come naturally. Basically, I learned to be patient with myself, stop being a perfectionist, and stop trying to force myself to learn it all at once. What I do learn in Spanish, I practice with my husband :)

Gracias Rusty :)

[CrOtALiTo]

Hello.

Megan. Your introduction is very long, I didn't was able to read everything but well only I want to tell you hello.

I'm going to be here for if you would need something, please don't hesitate to ask me.

Sincerely yours.

[MeghanArleene]

Thank you very much CrOtALiTo :)

Meghan