Hola (and other generic introduction message titles)

[ozisonfire]

Hi,

I am Owain, i am have been attempting to teach myself Spanish on and off for three months now and seem to keep hitting a dead end.

I am a student and cannot really afford lessons, so I am restricted to information available on the internet - however once I believe I have a basic knowledge of the language I am going to invest in a few lessons in order to improve my speaking and listening.


My story so far has gone: 1. Understand spanish pronunciation, so that in basic terms i can read something and pronounce it like it should sound in Spanish (check). 2. Learn some Spanish words using a flash card software program (check) 3. Start stringing words together so i can start speaking spanish (failing) - basically I am stuck on where I need to start, what words do i need to learn in order to make sentences (I, I am, I have, We have, I like etc), as well as which rules I need to learn to make sure what I am saying makes sense - there seems to be lots of sources telling me different things (I spent a long time learning rules which i then found out are no longer widely used :( ) . I am all together very confused (yet no less determined), so I am here initially to seek guidance on where i should go next.

Any help would be much appreciated :).

Thanks,

Owain

[Premium]

Welcome to the forums, Owain.

[wrholt]

Welcome to the forums, Owain.

It sounds a little bit like you're trying to build a house by putting on all the shingles before you've started pouring the foundation. Learning Spanish will go better for you if you start with an extremely basic set of rules and a very small set of words and practice them enough to give you a scaffold onto which you can incorporate new rules one or two at a time and new words a few at a time.

The most basic conversations that you can have with other people are greetings, introductions and getting to know one another, and many language texts start with these types of conversations: asking and answering questions such as how are you, what's your name, who is that, where are you from, what do you do, what do you like, and so on.

[ozisonfire]

Thanks both,

WRHOLT, thanks for the advice - i already have some understanding of the basics - how are you? how old are you? etc. Maybe i have gotten far to ahead of my station, and i need to drop back to the basics. I think I had a differnt approach as i feel if i understand the meanings and rules of a language then it should all fall into place. My problem is, for example, i know 'que tal?' means 'how are you', but i actually have no idea what 'que' or 'tel' means or why that when put together they make the equivalent of 'how are you?', so i feel it doesnt actually help me in the long run - im not sure if my logic makes any sense, but its something i am battling with at the moment.


Thanks again for taking the time to reply.

Kind regards,

Owain

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

My advice is don't try to translate or understand word for word. Learn the meanings and little by little you will get to know how the individual parts of phrases and sentences work by themselves. Otherwise, you'll get stuck in the dictionaries and that won't help you acquire any fluency. ;)

[poli]

Good understanding of your native-language's grammar is helpful. For instance, it may help to know what an indirect object is. Basic functions of language a very much the same. Knowing them will help you learn any language.

[Premium]

For instance, it may help to know what an indirect object is.

I think I learned this for a dozen time and still don't get it. I might just be simpleminded. :)

[poli]

It's good to know it, because it will help you understand the lo los les las se me's of Spanish. We take the mechanics of language for granted because they are innate (birds fly, we speak), but it may helpful to know the mechanics especially when you are learning a new language as an adult.

[ozisonfire]

Again, thanks for the help all. I am going to drop back onto the basics, get some of the vocab and flow before i go any deeper.

Never heard of an 'indirect object' before, so I will be sure to look this up :)!!

[Rusty]

subject
verb
direct object
indirect object

He gave the book to me.
He gave me the book.

The direct object answers the questions "what?" or "who?".
What did he give? - the book

The indirect object answers the question "to whom?" (and "to what?").
To whom did he give the book? - to me

Él me dio el libro.

[ozisonfire]

Thanks Rusty,

Currently having a read through this http://www.studyspanish.com/lessons/iopro1.htm , making sense to an extent (after reading through your example).

Am i right in saying that this is all about how we need to focus on the phrase rather than the words? To use an example from the link, if I were to directly translate 'John buys me a gift' it would be 'Jaun compra me un regalo', which doesnt make sense in Spannish, it should infact be 'Jaun me compra un regalo', so the rule is that the indirect object 'me' must go before the verb?

Thanks :)

[Rusty]

Yes, the indirect object pronoun precedes the conjugated verb (except for those conjugated in the imperative mood).
Just so you know, the direct object pronoun also precedes the verb.

Juan compra un regalo para mí. = John buys a gift for me. (John buys me a gift.)
Juan me compra un regalo. = John buys me a gift.
Juan me lo compra. = John buys me it. (John buys it for me.)
Él me lo compra. = He buys me it. (He buys it for me.)

The sentences above all convey the same idea.
The first uses no pronouns.
The second sentence replaces 'para mí' with the indirect object pronoun 'me'.
The third example replaces 'un regalo' with the direct object pronoun 'lo'.
The last one replaces 'Juan' with the subject pronoun 'él'.

[ozisonfire]

Thanks again Rusty, helpful stuff.


I have now started using the 'coffee break spannish' podcast to learn some basic conversational Spannish, im finding it really useful - as long as I have google to hand to look up the spellings of the words (helps me remember it).

I think my next step would be to find someone to try and have some basic conversations with, even if it is via skype for now.

Also is there a thread here that I could start to log my Spannish learning journey? I think it might be useful for people to learn from mistakes (of which there will be many), and hopefully learn from methods and sources which I find useful.

Thanks :D

[Rusty]

You can open a thread and post your Spanish learning journey in it. I would recommend the 'General Chat' forum, unless you're going to be speaking about learning techniques that you found useful along the way. In that case, I would recommend the 'Teaching and Learning Techniques' forum.

[difinturGM]

My advice is don't try to translate or understand word for word. Learn the meanings and little by little you will get to know how the individual parts of phrases and sentences work by themselves. Otherwise, you'll get stuck in the dictionaries and that won't help you acquire any fluency. ;)

Incredible advice, words are only catalysts for emotions. Learn new triggers.

[Villa]

Hi,

I am Owain, i am have been attempting to teach myself Spanish on and off for three months now and seem to keep hitting a dead end.

I am a student and cannot really afford lessons, so I am restricted to information available on the internet - however once I believe I have a basic knowledge of the language I am going to invest in a few lessons in order to improve my speaking and listening.


My story so far has gone: 1. Understand spanish pronunciation, so that in basic terms i can read something and pronounce it like it should sound in Spanish (check). 2. Learn some Spanish words using a flash card software program (check) 3. Start stringing words together so i can start speaking spanish (failing) - basically I am stuck on where I need to start, what words do i need to learn in order to make sentences (I, I am, I have, We have, I like etc), as well as which rules I need to learn to make sure what I am saying makes sense - there seems to be lots of sources telling me different things (I spent a long time learning rules which i then found out are no longer widely used :( ) . I am all together very confused (yet no less determined), so I am here initially to seek guidance on where i should go next.

Any help would be much appreciated :).

Thanks,

Owain

Hola Owain. I learned Spanish as a beginner as you are. Here are some very importante Spanish words every beginner should learn. I noticed when I was first learning Spanish that these words kept coming up all over the place in Spanish conversations, movies, novelas, books, radio, magazines etc. etc.. If you think of telling a story or about life the most important words are? When?, Where? How? Why, How much? (also who)
Quando, Donde, Como, Por que, Cuanto, (quien)

The words that go along with these words are called "Adverbs"
Put them on flash cards. Put the Spanish on one side and the
English lightly on the other side. Put the phonectic pronunciation if you like.
Also do a search for more adverbs in Spanish.

Adverbs of Time
(When?)Adverbios de Tiempo
(¿Cuándo?)

yesterday ayer

today hoy

tomorrow mañana

now ahora

then entonces

later depues

tonight esta noche

right now ahora

last night anoche

this morning esta mañana

next week la próxima semana

already ya

recently recientemente

lately últimamente

soon pronto

immediately inmediatamente

still aún

yet todavía

. . . ago hace


Adverbs of Place
(Where?)Adverbios de Lugar
(¿Dónde?)





here aquí

there allí

over there allá

everywhere en todas partes

anywhere en cualquier lugar

nowhereen ninguna parte

home el hogar

downtown el centro de

backespalda

away fuera

outside afuera



Adverbs of Manner
(How?)Adverbios de Modalidad
(¿cómo?)


very muy

quite bastante

pretty bonita

really realmente

fast rápido

well bien

hard duro

quickly rápidamente

slowly lentamente

carefully cuidadosamente

hardly apenas

barely apenas

mostlyla mayoría de

almost casi

absolutely absolutamente

together juntos

alone solo


Adverbs of Frequency
(How Often?)Adverbios de frecuencia
(¿Con qué frecuencia?)


always siempre

frequently con frecuencia

usually normalmente

sometimes algunas veces

occasionally de vez en cuando

seldom rara vez

never nunca

[ozisonfire]

Hola Villa,

Gracias por la ayuda.

All of that is most helpful, I am spending sometime creating flash cards now!

[Villa]

Hola Villa,

Gracias por la ayuda.

All of that is most helpful, I am spending sometime creating flash cards now!

De nada Owain. Study your flash cards hoy, manñana y siempre.
Nunca stop studying them. Study them frecuentemente.
Entonces, despues you will know más Spanish palabras.
Ayer you knew menos than you know ahora. Study your
Spanish flash cards adentro/inside y afuera de tu casa.
Quando tienes un poco de tiempo study your Spanish
words a menudo/frecuentemente. Yo como menudo a menudo.