Newbie

[erin21happy]

Hai everyone, I am Foo Erin from Malaysia. Currently studying in Singapore. And i love to learn language. And the very first one i want to learn is Spanish. As a new person, may i know where should i start?? should i start from grammer or vocabulary?

[Caballero]

Both simultaneously. You should start with a general course in Spanish. What is your first language btw?

[erin21happy]

my first language is english =)

[Caballero]

Start with this:
http://www.google.com.my/search?q=Sp...al&aq=t&rls=es

[Guerrero]

¡Hola!, I have been looking for a Spanish group for about a week now, so Im glad I found this, it appears quite active. I have been learning Irish Gaelic (Gaelainn) since 96 and decided I would give Spanish a go, as there are way more oportunities to become fluent. I have a book that I got the library "Easy Spanish Step-by-Step" and it seems to be pretty good, with lack of audio however. It claims to teach 'Standard Spanish'. I am actualy curious as to which dialect I should learn as I live in New Mexico(N.E.), but have Family in Cali (the 2 places that I will frequent the most). I have heard that the idiom between dialects can be disasterous when trying to comunicate, so , any help will be greatly appreciated.

¡Gracias!

[Caballero]

No, you shouldn't worry too much about the different dialects. There's all mutually intelligible. They're all essentially the same in higher registers. If communication becomes a problem, just try to avoid slang and regionalisms. You can learn more about the unique vocabulary and archaicisms of NM Spanish on Wikipedia .

[Luna Azul]

Originally Posted by Caballero

No, you shouldn't worry too much about the different dialects. There's all mutually intelligible. They're all essentially the same in higher registers. If communication becomes a problem, just try to avoid slang and regionalisms. You can learn more about the unique vocabulary and archaicisms of NM Spanish on Wikipedia .

Welcome to the forums Erin and Guerrero. All you have to do is ask questions and somebody will reply to them..

[CrOtALiTo]

Hello I bid you welcome to these forums, I hope your stay in the forums, it will be enjoyable.


If you need to help with your learning, I will willing to help you.

Sincerely yours.

[Guerrero]

Thanks for the welcome. I hope that I can progress rather quickly in Spanish so that I may use it here.

[Caballero]

Originally Posted by Guerrero

Thanks for the welcome. I hope that I can progress rather quickly in Spanish so that I may use it here.

Yes, you will progress much more rapidly in Spanish than in Irish Gaelic, not only because of more resources and access to native speakers, but also because there are literally tens of thousands of words that are the same or nearly the same in Spanish and English. Some words are borrowed into Spanish from English, and some words are borrowed from Norman French into English. England was ruled by the Normans for about 200 years, who spoke a variety of French, so English has aquired many thousands of French words. French and Spanish both derive from Latin, so there are many, many similar words. We also borrowed words directly from Latin (as well as Greek), and Spanish has done the same.
Example: information vs información.
You will find that almost all words that end in -tion in English (they come from Norman French -tion words, or directly from Latin Acc -tionem words) end in -ción in Spanish.

[CrOtALiTo]

Originally Posted by Guerrero

Thanks for the welcome. I hope that I can progress rather quickly in Spanish so that I may use it here.

Yes you will do it soon

I believe in the quickly learning it.

[Jessica]

Bienvenida, Foo Erin