Thinking on giving up Spanish

[Premium]

Originally Posted by Liquinn3

Well, my next door neighbour's relative lives in Spain and they said he doesn't know much Spanish... how is this possible? I thought if you live in the country you're going to be pretty fluent.

We have dozens of immigrants who barely speak German.

[zuma022]

Originally Posted by Liquinn3

Well, my next door neighbour's relative lives in Spain and they said he doesn't know much Spanish... how is this possible? I thought if you live in the country you're going to be pretty fluent.

You're not going to be fluent just by living there. You still need to study and actually wanting to learn, which many people don't.

[Jessica]

I gave up Spanish after I graduated high school, and I'm not taking any language classes in college :/

[Liquinn3]

I feel like giving up... I don't know what to do anymore...

It's just that sometimes I feel fluent and other times not. =[

Originally Posted by lalengua

Hey!, do not give up!, try different methods, try speaking with natives they will help you. You can also wtch spanish movies and listening to radio it will help you.

I guess I have to keep at it. The hardest thing about learning a second language is speaking/writing as a native. It's one thing being correct but quite another to use the sentences a native would use.

Just gotta keep practising and spend time in a Spanish speaking country when possible.

[Premium]

Originally Posted by Liquinn3

The hardest thing about learning a second language is speaking/writing as a native. It's one thing being correct but quite another to use the sentences a native would use.

Why would you like to write and speak like a native? I suppose it's a very hard task to accomplish.
I neither speak nor write like a native English speaker, why should I? As long as everyone can understand me, I'm glad.

[Liquinn3]

Originally Posted by Premium

Why would you want to like to write and speak like a native? I suppose it's a very hard task to accomplish.
I neither speak nor write like a native English speaker, why should I? As long as everyone can understand me, I'm glad.

People have told me this is possible, but maybe it'll take 20 years.

It's one thing knowing the verbs, grammar, vocab... but quite another to use phrases/sentences a native would use.

"It's possible to speak Spanish in a way that is 95% percent grammatically correct and understandable and yet not be using the words and phrases that a native speaker would use. What suggestions would you have avoiding that?"

I'm not sure, just a personal goal I guess. I'm nervous about Sunday...

[Shazam]

Nunca te des por vencido, mi amigo. Se pondrá mejor pronto. Sigues estudiando y platicando con tus amigos. Eventuamente, verá un cambio.

Que esta pasando El Domingo?

[Liquinn3]

Originally Posted by Shazam

Nunca te des por vencido, mi amigo. Se pondrá mejor pronto. Sigues estudiando y platicando con tus amigos. Eventuamente, verá un cambio.

Que esta pasando El Domingo?

Claro.

I had to ask my friend for her number... yeah, it was a bad ish day.

And I agree, you don't understand you've improved until you look back.

It'a crazy, my first folder is just... rubbish. So many mistakes, now I'm making very few.

[Mozzo]

I think classroom and textbook learning is a somewhat artificial environment. Written alphabets only go back about 5000 years, but verbal language goes back perhaps 100 thousand or more. (And widespread literacy really only goes back a few hundred years.) After all, it's normal for first grade students to know nothing beyond the alphabet. They must be taught to read and write, but already have 3 or 4 years of verbal language fluency and understand complex commands on their first day.

In other words, it should not be frustrating to need to spend years developing true fluency. It took years in your native language too; you just didn't realize it at the time.

When I think back to grade school, I was still reading mostly picture books by Dr Suess in 3rd grade. But by 6th grade I was reading novels from Jules Verne, and The Chronicles of Narnia. Again, you don't get there quickly. But you will, if it's what you want to be doing.

[chileno]

Originally Posted by Mozzo

I think classroom and textbook learning is a somewhat artificial environment. Written alphabets only go back about 5000 years, but verbal language goes back perhaps 100 thousand or more. (And widespread literacy really only goes back a few hundred years.) After all, it's normal for first grade students to know nothing beyond the alphabet. They must be taught to read and write, but already have 3 or 4 years of verbal language fluency and understand complex commands on their first day.

In other words, it should not be frustrating to need to spend years developing true fluency. It took years in your native language too; you just didn't realize it at the time.

All true, except for what I highlighted in red.

You see, when you were a kid you didn't have much fluency, and little by little you acquired fluency by being corrected by your parents etc, later you had to acquire fluency in reading and writing. True, everybody spends a lot a of years acquiring the necessary fluency, but now you are an adult and you know what fluency is and you don't have to expect a string of years to be fluent in another language if you take the necessary steps to acquire the language in more automatic way, rather than how you did it when you were a kid. You are not a kid anymore. So use what you have already acquired in your own language to acquire a new one.

That's what I did.

[pituka]

Hello Liquinn, Don't give up! I am from argentina and I live in Spain, so I've always found it very difficult to practise my english because nobody near me speaks it... buy I keep on trying... I know that sometimes it can be frustrating..but now we have this internet tools and the people here is very kind. good luck!
pd: I know I have grammar errors (horrors) jaja, But I don't mind making mistakes. everyday we learn a little more. I can help you with your spanish, and don't panic! I do speak it well!

[Valeria]

Wow, this thread attracted a lot of attention.

Hmm, I guess the big question is: How far did you get?

It's like if you did 3 years of software engneering and have 1 more year of finshing the degree, then suddenly discovering you prefer to be a civil engineer. You're gonna still finish that 1 year anyway because you already did 3.

So, that's the issue here. How far are you?


Although in general I'd also say - no te rindas! (I think that'd be "Don't give up!")

¡Sigue así! Conocimiento de otro lenguaje, muy útil en la vida :-)

[Liquinn3]

Originally Posted by Valeria

Wow, this thread attracted a lot of attention.

Hmm, I guess the big question is: How far did you get?

It's like if you did 3 years of software engneering and have 1 more year of finshing the degree, then suddenly discovering you prefer to be a civil engineer. You're gonna still finish that 1 year anyway because you already did 3.

So, that's the issue here. How far are you?


Although in general I'd also say - no te rindas! (I think that'd be "Don't give up!")

¡Sigue así! Conocimiento de otro lenguaje, muy útil en la vida :-)

Tienes razón. Claro. En mi opinión, escribes bien en dos idiomas. La verdad es que voy a Barcelona con mi madre en junio durante tres semanas. Quiero estar en el nivel avanzado en cinco meses.

Voy a aprender muchas cosas en el futuro pero es difícil. No hay nada que pueda hacer al respecto. No obstante, tengo determinación y el tiempo.

Vamos a aprender más pronto.

[Max00355]

Don't give up, learning a language is a long on going process. I joined this forum to get the chance to actually speak the language (Spanish) because my current situation doesn't require me to have to speak it, but I think it is a beautiful, and useful language.

Just giving up is silly in my opinion.

[Liquinn3]

Originally Posted by Max00355

Don't give up, learning a language is a long on going process. I joined this forum to get the chance to actually speak the language (Spanish) because my current situation doesn't require me to have to speak it, but I think it is a beautiful, and useful language.

Just giving up is silly in my opinion.

Llevo estudiando español desde hace quince meses. Estoy feliz por esta razón. Viva los idiomas, para siempre.

[Mapache]

With plenty of online resources, you should have enough ways to practice it. You can also see if there are language meetups in your area to meet people offline.

[Villa]

Yo siempre digo: Más hace el que quiere que el que puede.
(Hace más el que quiere que el que puede.)
Where there's a will there is a way. Those that want to do
something can do more than those that can.
So all you need to learn Spanish is "ganas."

[Valeria]

Originally Posted by Villa

Yo siempre digo: Más hace el que quiere que el que puede.
(Hace más el que quiere que el que puede.)
Where there's a will there is a way.

In Soviet Russia we said: When there is a whip there is a way

[Liquinn3]

Bueno. La verdad es que quiero aprender muchas cosas.