hi,
I take Spanish at college, but i would really like to learn more than just healthy living, sports etc. I would love to become more fluent with using the verbs and tenses etc when i speak, so that i am more confident in the June exams. I have already signed up to online lessons- rosetta stone etc. But i would like another way. does anyone have any ideas?
saludos,
Jess
I speak Spanish each day; have studied the language at the university level for the last 4 years (University of Cabrillo in Aptos, CA) as well as studying extensively on my own. My speaking skills are excellent and my reading and writing skills are outstanding. More importantly, though, I speak the language each day. The reason most students find Spanish difficult is because university level courses in Spanish are taught in order to make one a Spanish professor instead of a Spanish speaker! And no one ever really takes Spanish seriously in high school; in no time at all, high school students forget everything they learned in Spanish class. If they learned anything at all!
The reason I am fluent in Spanish is that I went back to college only to get the fundamentals of grammar under my belt, so to speak. Honestly, I would never have become conversationally fluent if I had not studied every day on my own, from a variety of sources, stressing practical and useful conversational skills instead of countless hours of boring, dry and complicated grammar. My reading and writing skills are excellent, as well as my speaking and comprehension, because I studied on my own every day for 4 years. I continue to study every day in a variety of ways, but more importantly, I speak the language each day, too. I would suggest that you don’t place any time constraints on yourself in terms of giving yourself a deadline. Take your time, study a little each day, and know of what you want to speak and how you want to use the language. I don’t like it when people say Spanish is easy; it simplifies the richness and history of this great romance language. When you hear someone say "I became fluent in Spanish in 3 months", I can assure you that the only thing they’re fluent in is ordering food in Spanish. It takes time. It is florid and beautiful and quite immense and you do need to grasp the fundamentals of grammar so you don’t speak the language incorrectly. However, unless you’re studying to become a Spanish professor, remember that the ability to engage in a spontaneous conversation is much more useful and practical than explaining the difference between the present tense and the subjunctive tense.
Also, it is extremely important to study on your own in order to develop your own style of speaking, your own vocabulary. Most of my Spanish is based on Mexican usage of the language, but I have also incorporated many phrases into my vocabulary that come from other Spanish speaking countries. Develop your own style and don’t let other people change it. As my great friend Enrique says: "Cada hispanohablante tiene su propio canto." Literally: "Each Spanish speaker has his own song". I hope I have helped and I would be glad to answer any questions about Spanish or help you with any translations.
Thank you, John
watch a hispanic channel with cc,
References :
by singing, in this way, children learn any language.
find the lyrics of any song and start singing, you will improve ur accent as well
References :
I speak Spanish each day; have studied the language at the university level for the last 4 years (University of Cabrillo in Aptos, CA) as well as studying extensively on my own. My speaking skills are excellent and my reading and writing skills are outstanding. More importantly, though, I speak the language each day. The reason most students find Spanish difficult is because university level courses in Spanish are taught in order to make one a Spanish professor instead of a Spanish speaker! And no one ever really takes Spanish seriously in high school; in no time at all, high school students forget everything they learned in Spanish class. If they learned anything at all!
The reason I am fluent in Spanish is that I went back to college only to get the fundamentals of grammar under my belt, so to speak. Honestly, I would never have become conversationally fluent if I had not studied every day on my own, from a variety of sources, stressing practical and useful conversational skills instead of countless hours of boring, dry and complicated grammar. My reading and writing skills are excellent, as well as my speaking and comprehension, because I studied on my own every day for 4 years. I continue to study every day in a variety of ways, but more importantly, I speak the language each day, too. I would suggest that you don’t place any time constraints on yourself in terms of giving yourself a deadline. Take your time, study a little each day, and know of what you want to speak and how you want to use the language. I don’t like it when people say Spanish is easy; it simplifies the richness and history of this great romance language. When you hear someone say "I became fluent in Spanish in 3 months", I can assure you that the only thing they’re fluent in is ordering food in Spanish. It takes time. It is florid and beautiful and quite immense and you do need to grasp the fundamentals of grammar so you don’t speak the language incorrectly. However, unless you’re studying to become a Spanish professor, remember that the ability to engage in a spontaneous conversation is much more useful and practical than explaining the difference between the present tense and the subjunctive tense.
Also, it is extremely important to study on your own in order to develop your own style of speaking, your own vocabulary. Most of my Spanish is based on Mexican usage of the language, but I have also incorporated many phrases into my vocabulary that come from other Spanish speaking countries. Develop your own style and don’t let other people change it. As my great friend Enrique says: "Cada hispanohablante tiene su propio canto." Literally: "Each Spanish speaker has his own song". I hope I have helped and I would be glad to answer any questions about Spanish or help you with any translations.
Thank you, John
References :
4 years of study at the University of Cabrillo 2005–2009 4.00 GPA
I attended part time and I took all 4 levels of the grammar courses as well as the 2 conversation courses: Spanish 1, 2, 3, and 4 and Spanish 10A and 10B
1 year of home study with the Cabrillo home tele-course: Spanish 1A and 1B; Spanish 2A and 2B
6 week conversation course of the Santa Cruz Parks and Recreation Summer Education Program
3 months of private lessons at home with a tutor (twice a week). The tutor, who is now a close friend, is a native speaker, very-well educated, 3 college degrees, completely fluent in Latin, Spanish and English; also, during these 3 months I completed a 4 level course of conversation on CD with a book called Speed Spanish by DV Mikels, PhD.
I have studied extensively on my own by studying at home and have learned so much more than I did in college; that’s why I can speak Spanish instead of just speaking in Spanish about the grammar!
Read the Spanish news online:
http://www.newsinslowspanish.com/home.php
Download the free application iTunes. http://www.apple.com/itunes/download/
Search for free "Open Uni" on the "iTunes store" search.
Listen to the free Spanish lessons on iTunes.
Go to your local Library. Ask the librarian for a book of Short Stories in Spanish. Read them and write down and learn the meaning of any words you have to look up in the Dictionary.
Type Spanish lyrics into your search engine and learn the words of Spanish songs.
http://www.songsforteaching.com/spanishsongs.htm
Look at the corrections of Spanish on the web site: LiveMocha online. http://www.livemocha.com/
References :