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50 days to learn Spanish *fast*, but how? | ||
Tags: Study Plan | Spanish | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Questions About Your Target Languages |  | |
| Paskwc Pentaglot Senior Member Canada Joined 5495 days ago 450 posts - 624 votes  Speaks: Hindi, Urdu*, Arabic (Levantine), French, English Studies: Persian, Spanish | Message 9 of 27 04 June 2009 at 9:38pm | IP Logged | ||
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I haven't tried it but some people have recommended Learn Spanish Like Crazy. However, it teaches Latin American Spanish and I'm not sure if that's what they look for in Europe.
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| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 5946 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes 5 sounds | Message 10 of 27 04 June 2009 at 9:41pm | IP Logged | ||
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I want to learn American Spanish anyway, so it's okay :-)
Thanks for the advice, I'll see if I can find it! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6721 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 11 of 27 05 June 2009 at 12:40am | IP Logged | ||
It's not that bad if you focus on the content and try not to think about the pronunciation (I know it's hard). I had the very same impression about the French course, I thought I'll never make it but I grit my teeth and did the whole Foundation and Advanced course. My pronunciation hasn't got worse in either language. I'm not sure if any other course can in such a short time painlessly (if you don't count the pronunciation ;)) make you speak. After these few hours I was suddenly able to profit much better from all other sources because the language structure was't a problem any more. You may try the French version, too, as someone has already recommanded. I wouldn't worry about using French instead of English. Even if I use mostly English and German-based sources to learn languages, I don't consider this time as an additional exposure for these languages - the language used in courses is quite basic anyway. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 5946 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes 5 sounds | Message 12 of 27 05 June 2009 at 3:22am | IP Logged | ||
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Thanks for your opinion, Julie, but I disagree with both of your statements concerning accent and the usefulness of courses in your second language. You're entitled to your own opinion, it's okay :-)
I'm sticking to Spanishpod, busuu and livemocha. I'm already making sentences in Spanish after one day of studies, so I must be doing something good. Moreover, I'm already practicing my pronunciation. Apart from the "ll" sound that I'm having some problems with, I'm okay with the rest. I got a 4-star rating on my pronunciation on the livemocha website, which made me feel good. I wouldn't like to do something bad with my pronunciation now. I ignored English pronunciation, and it came right back at me. I'm still struggling because of that. I'm not aiming for native-like pronunciation in Spanish, as I haven't got enough input anyway. However, I do plan on voice chatting with Mexicans, so I started studying Mexican Spanish. I don't like the Spanish "lisp" anyway, and I'd like to talk to my bilingual American friends, so I had no other option, basically :-) I'm trying to work a lot, but I like it. Spanishpod is awesome, and I get to learn some English on the way, believe it or not. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Julie Heptaglot Senior Member PolandRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6721 days ago 1251 posts - 1733 votes 5 sounds Speaks: Polish*, EnglishB2, GermanC2, SpanishB2, Dutch, Swedish, French | Message 13 of 27 05 June 2009 at 8:05pm | IP Logged | ||
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No problem, everyone has his own methods :)
I probably should have been more precise: it's not like I don't learn anything in English / German if I use courses in these languages. It's just much less than if I learn these languages specifically. Therefore, I never exclude Polish-based courses just because they're in Polish (but I have this comfortable situation that English-based courses are usually better ;)). In your situation I wouldn't give up on French materials so quickly because of French-Spanish similarities. The courses targeted at French native speakers may be faster-paced than the English ones, and may focus on other aspects of the language (like Dutch course for German speakers). SpanishPod is indeed great, I loved it. Do you use podcasts only or also PDFs? 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fairyfountain Senior Member Zimbabwe Joined 5946 days ago 254 posts - 248 votes 5 sounds | Message 14 of 27 05 June 2009 at 8:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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I use the pdfs too, but since my ipod displays the text when I press some button (the lil button in the middle of the circle), I don't print out the pdfs or anything.
Even if French courses for Spanish may be faster-paced, I still have my head set on the American ones. It just makes me feel so good to learn a language thanks to English lol. I've been thinking more and more in English since I started learning Spanish, which is awesome, and I don't want to lose that :-) 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5829 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 15 of 27 06 June 2009 at 11:28am | IP Logged | ||
That happens anyway. Neurological evidence tells us that all native languages live in one part of the brain and all later-learned languages live in another part of the brain. Speaking any foreign language will exercise the same bit of the brain and will make it more active. I now find it very difficult to choose a language to "think" in. I'll be imagining conversations with Spanish friends and suddenly realise that I'm speaking Gaelic in my head. This confusion doesn't happen when I'm actually speaking to them, though (unless I start trying to talk about Scottish music, geography or culture, when suddenly the Gaelic wants to come through). I've never studied either language via the other. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| legasp Newbie Ireland Joined 5491 days ago 23 posts - 21 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German, Greek, Ancient Greek | Message 16 of 27 06 June 2009 at 2:53pm | IP Logged | ||
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Try Assimil Spanish with Ease. Pimsleur is a good option, but too slow for your purposes. You could take two or even three Assimil sections a day if you are in a rush although perhaps not as easily done with Pimsleur. Good look anyhow.
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