Hello from Florida! :-)

[WanderlustWhispers]

Hello all,

I've been lurking around this board for a while reading past posts and getting a feel for the layout. I must say that I am in total AWE and AMAZEMENT at the skill level of so many people on this board. I have wanted to learn a second language for most of my life and after finding this board...I think it may be possible.

I've decided to buckle down and try my hand at Spanish. I would like to learn Spanish for several reasons. #1 I love the study of foreign languages and I believe Spanish would be those most useful to me as I reside in Florida. #2 I spent a month in Spain and do not feel that I got the most out of my trip due to the language barriers. #3 I hope to practice International Law and knowing Spanish will open up many opportunities for me. And #4 I look forward to all of the cultural and artistic experiences that await upon me getting a descent grasp on the Spanish language.

So far, my strategy is: FSI Programmatic Volumes 1 & 2 while doing Pimsleur Conversational 1 (borrowed from the library). Afterwards I will embark on FSI Basic Volumes 1,2,3 & 4 while also utilizing Teach Yourself software. I will also utilize online sites/novellas such as Destinos and BBC resources.

I hope to study 2 hours daily if not more. After spending 3 years in law school and studying for 12 hours a day during bar exam prep, I know that I can study for longer blocks of time if need be.

I’m keeping a blog of my journey and hope to meet new friends and give support to others that are embarking on this adventure. :-)

Take care!

Wanderlust Whispers (Monica)

[poli]

Good luck. Clearly learning something as big as a language is mega,
but, if you stick to it, it will come to you.

[hermit]

Hi Monica - Welcome - I'm sure you'll find all you need here
on the forum(s).

Hermit

[CrOtALiTo]

Hello I bid you welcome to this forums, I hope that your stay in the forums will be enjoyable.
If you ultimate have been lurking in your computer and without say nothing, I believe that now it's time to do it.

Please you feeling you free to post anything you need although it being hello.
And if you need to help in something, please you don't hesitate to ask us then.

Bes regards.

[Jessica]

bienvenido

[irmamar]

Welcome.

[WanderlustWhispers]

Thank you all for the warm welcome! Feel free to contact me if I can be of assistance as well. I'm really excited about my language learning "journey". I feel as if a whole new world is opening up! :-)

[irmamar]

You're right.

[hermit]

¡Aprender otra lengua es entrar otro mundo, de veras!

[JPablo]

¡Hola Mónica!
¡Bienvenida a los foros! Enjoy the learning ride!
By the by, in Spanish, "wanderlust" = ansias de conocer mundo. [literally: longing/thirst/yearning for knowing the world]
Whispers = susurros.
Law = Derecho [or ley]. (When you say "International Law" in Spanish would be "Derecho Internacional".)
(You can correct my English too, as I am native ESpanish!)

[CrOtALiTo]

Exactly she wanderlust to ride to the word and she wants to learn the Spanish.
What in reality it's the more important in the this place.

It's interesting when someone is decided to learn a language although sometimes the time the mind and the people aren't agree with it.

[WanderlustWhispers]

Originally Posted by JPablo

¡Hola Mónica!
¡Bienvenida a los foros! Enjoy the learning ride!
By the by, in Spanish, "wanderlust" = ansias de conocer mundo. [literally: longing/thirst/yearning for knowing the world]
Whispers = susurros.
Law = Derecho [or ley]. (When you say "International Law" in Spanish would be "Derecho Internacional".)
(You can correct my English too, as I am native ESpanish!)

Gracias JPablo! Tu ingles es muy bueno. ?Cuánto tiempo estudiante de ingles?

[JPablo]

Originally Posted by WanderlustWhispers

Gracias JPablo! Tu ingles es muy bueno. ?Cuánto tiempo estudiante de ingles?

Empecé hace más de 20 años, pero nunca lo he estudiado "formalmente". Había estudiado francés en el bachillerato (la secundaria) y luego empecé por mi cuenta a familiarizarme con la lengua anglo-sajona... Cuando llegué a EE. UU. (USA) pensaba que iba a estar "inmerso" en el inglés... pero en Los Ángeles sa habla mucho español. Ahora traduzco del inglés al español, y cuanto más aprendo más me doy cuenta de que el ámbito es ilimitado y que mientras uno vive... siempre puede aprender más y seguir expandiendo en el conocimiento...
(Te incluyo en rojo puntos para tu español... dime si te doy alguna palabra demasiado difícil, o que no entiendas...)
¡Gracias JPablo! Tu inglés es muy bueno. ¿Cuánto tiempo estudiaste inglés?
Or ¿Por cuánto tiempo has sido estudiante de inglés?
(There is a feature "accents" where you can find the upside down ! and ?, ¡ ¿ as well as the accented letters.) Hope this helps.

[WanderlustWhispers]

Originally Posted by JPablo

Empecé hace más de 20 años, pero nunca lo he estudiado "formalmente". Había estudiado francés en el bachillerato (la secundaria) y luego empecé por mi cuenta a familiarizarme con la lengua anglo-sajona... Cuando llegué a EE. UU. (USA) pensaba que iba a estar "inmerso" en el inglés... pero en Los Ángeles sa habla mucho español. Ahora traduzco del inglés al español, y cuanto más aprendo más me doy cuenta de que el ámbito es ilimitado y que mientras uno vive... siempre puede aprender más y seguir expandiendo en el conocimiento...
(Te incluyo en rojo puntos para tu español... dime si te doy alguna palabra demasiado difícil, o que no entiendas...)
¡Gracias JPablo! Tu inglés es muy bueno. ¿Cuánto tiempo estudiaste inglés?
Or ¿Por cuánto tiempo has sido estudiante de inglés?
(There is a feature "accents" where you can find the upside down ! and ?, ¡ ¿ as well as the accented letters.) Hope this helps.

Gracias, otra vez! Aprecio su ayuda. ¿Qué usted utiliza estudiar? Utilizo FSI y Pimsleur. ¿Cuántas idiomas usted habla?

[JPablo]

¡De nada! Yo uso el diccionario y glosarios y el "nivel de necesidad". La web es una buena fuente de información también. Si conoces la gramática de tu propia lengua bastante bien, entonces es más fácil aprender otros idiomas.
Yo estudié algunos cursos simples de gramática inglesa y luego me puse a practicar, practicar, practicar. Comprendo el francés, el italiano, el portugués, el catalán, el inglés y el español en la mayoría de sus variantes (estoy familiarizado con el de México, de Argentina, Venezuela, Nicaragua y Colombia... aunque no tanto como alguien de estos lugares.) En el bachillerato estudié latín, y estudié árabe un año... pero no hablo ni comprendo mucho estos idiomas. Hablar, hablar, lo que se dice hablar, sólo español, catalán e inglés. El francés lo hablaba hace tiempo, pero he perdido mucha práctica. El italiano lo "chapurreo" (I speak Italian a bit broken)
I give you here some modifications to your questions,
¿Qué usted utiliza estudiar? Utilizo FSI y Pimsleur. ¿Cuántas idiomas usted habla?
¿Qué usa usted para estudiar? Yo uso FSI y Pimsleur. ¿Cuántos idiomas habla usted?
"Usted" is pretty formal. On a friedly basis, even if you don't know much the other person you would use "tú".
¿Qué usas tú para estudiar? Yo uso FSI y Pimsleur. ¿Cuántos idiomas hablas?
(Note that the "tú" can be omitted)
3 points are key on learning anything,
1. Do not go past any word you don't understand. Clear the word in the dictionary before you carry on. Otherwise you may find yourself not knowing what you just read or tried to study.
2. Don't skip your gradient. That is, if you feel the material you are studying is "above your head" go back to where you were doing fine, and make sure you got that. And then keep increasing the difficulty.
3. Always get the "mass" of the thing. If you clear the word "puerta" (door), go and see a door (puerta), touch it, see its color, its texture... anything you can perceive of the door (puerta) until you get the "mass", the concept and the word in English and in whatever language you want to learn it (porte = French; porta = Catalan, porta = Italian, porta = Portuguese; porta = Latin...) (Same word with different accents!)
These are my (2 cents!).
Another thing is, when you check your English words in the dictionary, you can check the derivations. For example "porthole" (of a vessel) comes from "port" in the sense of "opening" and comes directly from Latin "porta" (gate) (door). In that way you can make your associations. And the most important thing is to USE what you learn, even if you are not 100% sure, it is better to communicate than not to communicate...

[ROBINDESBOIS]

Finally I got a clue now. Thanks for the clarifications JPAUL.

[WanderlustWhispers]

Thank you so much! I love your tips! I have a dictionary and I looked up most of the words in your post. I am currently focusing on learning vocabulary, completing Pimsleur and FSI. I'm using the FSI online and printing the student texts. Tonight I will watch a Spanish movie with English subtitles. And I'm finishing up Mi Vida Loca on the BBC website.

Learning Spanish is VERY exciting for me. I look forward to studying everyday. I live in Florida and look forward to using some of my new language skills. Do you still study everyday? After learning Spanish, were Portuguese, French and Italian very easy to learn?

[CrOtALiTo]

It's good.

Please you don't leave to study the language meanwhile.

[JPablo]

You're welcome! If you study every day and USE everything you learn, it will be easier and easier. (One of the reasons my French is so rusty nowadays it's because I have not used it too much lately...) (Our high-school professors used to tell us to "listen to the French Radio", listen to songs... etc. which is very good once you have your basic 'footing' on the language...) Long ago I spent a bit more than one month in Paris... and the first week, my communication was pretty shaky, but the last 3 weeks were just an awesome feeling of being able to understand and to communicate... One person though, told me, "You are from the South of France, right? You have a bit of a Southern accent..." "Mais oui! (of course)" --I said-- "I am from the South-South!" When I did Arabic, (I barely remember now the Alifat, the Arabic 'alphabet'...) (Alif is the first letter of their alphabet), the professor said, "Go ahead and buy some Arabic newspaper and start practicing..." (That was too steep of a gradient for me... not having a basic grasp of that tongue... so I only know "Good morning" and "Good night" and with a bad Spanish accent... )
Anyhow, yes, when you know Spanish pretty well, the other Romance Languages (French, Italian, Portuguese, Catalan, Sardinian, Ladino, Provençal...) are relatively easy to understand and to learn how to use. I'd recommend to get Spanish really well and solidly, and then once you feel really confident with it, you will see these other languages (bar the French irregular verbs! ! ) are rather "a piece of cake". Although I might say my "Italian" is pronounced with a heavy hint of Spanish/Castilian accent, I can understand and be understood rather well... Like in every language though, when you think you know a lot, you have to realize too that there are "false friends" or "false cognates" in the most unlikely places... so you should always be aware and use your common sense...
At any rate, I'm glad my tips are useful to you. Always study with a purpose, ie., when you learn a new word, think of contexts where you can use the word, see how you'd use in your native tongue... I sometimes do [make up examples] 15 to 20 sentences of my own until I get a conceptual understanding of that word. But then, that word and its concept [or concepts, as oftentimes, if not always, words are very homonymic and have many different meanings] is totally mine. Enjoy your journey!

[estevek]

that is great you will have plenty of time to practice in florida

bienvenida amiga