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Spanish beginner going to Colombia | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Language Programs, Books & Tapes |  | |
| coolrunnings Newbie United Kingdom Joined 5272 days ago 10 posts - 10 votes | Message 1 of 4 03 March 2011 at 1:46pm | IP Logged |
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Hi guys
I'm going to Colombia for 6 weeks in June and have no real Spanish experience beyond bare conversational basics. It would be good to be able to learn a little before I go there and then maybe take a few classes when I'm over there. I'm not too concerned about grammar or writing, just the ability to communicate. That said, I am a visual learner and can more easily learn something if I can see it. Any recommendations on the best course to get to a decent conversational level relatively quickly? I also have nothing to do until then, so can dedicate at least an hour or two a day if necessary. Thanks 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 6012 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes  Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 2 of 4 03 March 2011 at 11:20pm | IP Logged |
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Who said you're a visual learner? And did they tell you how you should learn?
Learning styles are nonsense peddled by overpaid teaching consultants and other such gurus. There is no good scientific research giving justification to them. Try out the first hour of Michel Thomas Spanish at www.michelthomas.co.uk and see what you think. It's all audio, but I find it very effective. PS. When it comes to language, most people think they're "visual learners" as they do better at remembering words with a list. This isn't being a visual learner at all -- the problem is that most courses teach too many words at once, and you can't memorise them all. You think that seeing the words helps, but that's an error in observation, the fact that you read the words is incidental -- it's simply that you can check because they're on paper. In general you look at written words more than you hear spoken words. A good course doesn't throw too many words at you too quickly, because that would knock other words out of your head. Then this "visual learner" myth could die.... Edited by Cainntear on 03 March 2011 at 11:24pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |
| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5376 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 3 of 4 04 March 2011 at 1:00am | IP Logged |
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I second the recommendation for Michel Thomas and I would couple it with something else with a decent amount of vocabulary. You don't have enough time to do Assimil, but you may want to look at Living Language Ultimate Basic. You could do it in 6 weeks if you did one lesson per day. It has 40 lessons and audio. I have not done the LL Basic course, but I was quite pleased with their Beyond the Basics course. Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish would be a good choice if you want a book that covers all the gramar and fast ways to learn vocab. Good luck.
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| James29 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5376 days ago 1265 posts - 2113 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French | Message 4 of 4 04 March 2011 at 1:03am | IP Logged |
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I am sorry, I misread your post. I thought you said you were leaving in 6 weeks. Because you have more time than I thought you may want to try Assimil Spanish with Ease.
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