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What method should I use to learn Spanish

  Tags: Spanish
 Language Learning Forum : Advice Center Post Reply
10 messages over 2 pages: 1 2  Next >>
gRodriguez
Triglot
Groupie
BrazilRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4019 days ago

44 posts - 56 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishC2, Galician
Studies: Spanish, Japanese

 
 Message 1 of 10
18 November 2013 at 12:16pm | IP Logged 
I started having Spanish classes around six months ago, probably more, and even though I
should be able to finish the course in a few months (according to the people from the
school) I still few that my Spanish is very basic. I started using the site
praticaespanol.com, there I can read news, listen to them, listen to music and if I'm not
mistaken I can also do some exercises. I am planning to visit the site daily, does anyone
have advice in learning Spanish?
1 person has voted this message useful



iguanamon
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Virgin Islands
Speaks: Ladino
Joined 5253 days ago

2241 posts - 6731 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)

 
 Message 2 of 10
18 November 2013 at 12:40pm | IP Logged 
Before someone recommends Assimil to you, which seems to be the default recommendation here on the forum. You're on the right track using practica español. I think it would be a mistake for you, as a native speaker of Portuguese, to approach Spanish from English. As a native Portuguese-speaker you have an advantage. Also, you need to see the differences between your own language and Spanish through your own language. I would go straight into listening and reading with a good Spanish/Portuguese bilingual text and also use the free monolingual Spanish resources at Centro Virtual Cervantes Aveteca that have multimedia lessons/exercises from A-1 to C-1(CEFR) and CVC Lecturas Paso a Paso.

Having Spanish as a second language helped me tremendously with learning Portuguese, but it's not enough to just get the gist of the language. Getting it right takes a lot of effort. Globo has a good course with a Portuguese base and there's also the book and cd of "Como dizer tudo em espanhol" which is a very thorough phrasebook in a Brazilian Portuguese base. You can also listen to the NHK World Spanish News and NHK World Portuguese News. Both sites have native-speakers and transcripts of the news items. Having the Portuguese can make the Spanish comprehensible for you.

Another site intended for English-speakers, Veinte Mundos has short, 10 minute long audios with text. The Spanish is very clear and the text has unfamiliar words which can be moused-over to provide an explanation in English. The articles are about interesting and varied topics all over Spanish-speaking America. You can download the text in pdf and the audio in mp3 for further study, all for free.

Linguee is a great site to use to see Spanish words in context with the Portuguese transslation to the side.

Boa sorte!/¡Buena suerte!



Edited by iguanamon on 18 November 2013 at 12:50pm

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tastyonions
Triglot
Senior Member
United States
goo.gl/UIdChYRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4656 days ago

1044 posts - 1823 votes 
Speaks: English*, French, Spanish
Studies: Italian

 
 Message 3 of 10
18 November 2013 at 1:23pm | IP Logged 
iguanamon wrote:
Before someone recommends Assimil to you, which seems to be the default recommendation here on the forum. You're on the right track using practica español. I think it would be a mistake for you, as a native speaker of Portuguese, to approach Spanish from English.

It's certainly possible to learn Spanish from a Portuguese base with Assimil:
With MP3 pack
Book only
2 persons have voted this message useful



iguanamon
Pentaglot
Senior Member
Virgin Islands
Speaks: Ladino
Joined 5253 days ago

2241 posts - 6731 votes 
Speaks: English*, Spanish, Portuguese, Haitian Creole, Creole (French)

 
 Message 4 of 10
18 November 2013 at 1:33pm | IP Logged 
Ahhh, didn't know Assimil had a Spanish course with Portuguese base. I was certain someone would recommend "Spanish with Ease" to the OP without noticing that the OP is a native Portuguese-speaker. Speaking of not noticing things, welcome to the forum gRodriguez!
1 person has voted this message useful



Cavesa
Triglot
Senior Member
Czech Republic
Joined 5000 days ago

3277 posts - 6779 votes 
Speaks: Czech*, FrenchC2, EnglishC1
Studies: Spanish, German, Italian

 
 Message 5 of 10
18 November 2013 at 1:52pm | IP Logged 
The practicaespanol website is awesome.

A few more tips: lyricstraining.com is a useful and fun practice tool

italki.com is where you can get your writen experiments corrected by natives for free

and there are a few great resources for grammar (and vocabulary) such as gramatica by anaya (three levels up to B2) or gramatica del uso (up to C levels), which can help cover the gaps and give you the bases you'll find useful when it comes to practice

some tv shows with dubbing are not that hard. I watched the first season of Once upon a Time (Erase una vez) in Spanish and my comprehension was nothing awesome back then. It helped a lot and I enjoyed the process. You should have even less trouble with such things aimed at natives since you are Portuguese.

There are many (really a lot in comparison with most other languages) free podcasts for learners as well. Wikipedia is a great resource for many topics as well.

You might like graded readers or you might try some easier real books right away. Zafon's works for young readers or Isabel Alende are among the common recommendations. Or a Harry Potter translation.

I think you could profit awesomely from native things since your own native language is so close to Spanish. It is fun and it helps build a lot of skills (many of them transferable to the active speaking and writing). And then, you would do best to practice as much as you can, including finding Spanish friends, writing, speaing to yourself, singing or whatever else you cat fit in your routine.
3 persons have voted this message useful



drygramul
Tetraglot
Senior Member
Italy
Joined 4459 days ago

165 posts - 269 votes 
Speaks: Persian, Italian*, EnglishC2, GermanB2
Studies: French, Polish

 
 Message 6 of 10
18 November 2013 at 7:45pm | IP Logged 
As a romance speaker myself, here's what I am doing:

- mostly spaced repetition with ANKI. I downloaded this shared deck and I am introducing about 40 words each day. The greatest difficulty with Spanish from Italian is the number of false friends. There is a lot of them, and SR helps. In addition with the examples provided, you get a gist of grammar too.

- listening occasionally to SSL4YOU, podcast of a native speaker, completely in Spanish. Teresa Sanchez usually talks about a brief topic and at the end she starts to explain the words and expressions in an easy and understandable Spanish.

- seldom watching movies with subtitles. Mare Adentro, for instance, which is however a little hard. I find The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings easier, and I like the dubbing.

Edited by drygramul on 18 November 2013 at 7:45pm

3 persons have voted this message useful



gRodriguez
Triglot
Groupie
BrazilRegistered users can see my Skype Name
Joined 4019 days ago

44 posts - 56 votes 
Speaks: Portuguese*, EnglishC2, Galician
Studies: Spanish, Japanese

 
 Message 7 of 10
18 November 2013 at 8:58pm | IP Logged 
Wow! I certainly didn't expect so many replies let alone such long and detailed ones.
Sorry it took so long for me to answer, I'll take everything you guys said into
consideration. And thank you for the welcome Iguanamon, Wow God that sounds so weird.

Edited by gRodriguez on 18 November 2013 at 9:07pm

1 person has voted this message useful



Stelle
Bilingual Triglot
Senior Member
Canada
tobefluent.com
Joined 4135 days ago

949 posts - 1686 votes 
Speaks: French*, English*, Spanish
Studies: Tagalog

 
 Message 8 of 10
19 November 2013 at 7:55pm | IP Logged 
My favourite free resources are:

Destinos: a telecourse from the early 90s. There are textbooks
available, but I only watched the free episodes online. Had a huge impact on my ability to understand!

Notes in Spanish: podcasts aimed at beginners, intemediate and
advanced learners

Duolingo: good for basic vocab and sentence structure.

VeinteMundos: articles with audio, mouse-over dictionary, and
related links

italki: find free language exchange partners, post text to have it corrected by
native speakers, or hire a tutor (very reasonably priced - I can recommend some really good teachers if you're
looking for someone)

Have fun!


3 persons have voted this message useful



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