princegupta Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 Please suggest me any tutorial for learning Spanish. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gringal Posted April 21, 2011 Report Share Posted April 21, 2011 Please suggest me any tutorial for learning Spanish. I recommend Visual Link Spanish. They have a website under that name; their courses are clear, with good voices and visuals and the price is much less than Rosetta Stone. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajijic10 Posted April 22, 2011 Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 You will receive a lot of recommendations from people who neither speak nor understand the language in question. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gringal Posted April 22, 2011 Report Share Posted April 22, 2011 You will receive a lot of recommendations from people who neither speak nor understand the language in question. If you have any useful recommendations, why don't you give them? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajijic10 Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 If you have any useful recommendations, why don't you give them? Well, I've lived here 9 years and I've met possibly hundreds of retired ex-pats who've lived here 5 years or more. You know how many I would consider proficient in Spanish. Less than 5. Mind you, I'm not talking about ex-pats who are working in Mexico, nor ones that have married into Mexican families, but rather your garden variety NOB retiree. What's also interesting is that out of say, 100 ex-pats, I would say 95 came here with the intention of learning the language, bought materials and hired tutors and so on and so on (we all know the drill). What happens? Why is the failure rate so high? The point I'm trying to make is that if the poster receives a dozen suggestions about different programs, from Rosetta Stone to Visual Link to whatever, from people who have to "Google Translate" a basic 3rd grade-level sentence, what value do these recommendations carry? You cannot learn a language from a program or having a tutor once a week (unlees you're a language genius, but I wouldn't know about this). The truth is fairly simple. It really doesn't matter what your introduction is to the language, because the only value a language course provides is to prepare you to involve yourself in native materials. Period. The ones I'm familiar with, Pimsleur and FSI, are decent for getting the job done. If your goal is to play Chopin, the language course gets you to "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star". Think about it. How many discussions have we had on this board about the SAP feature for being able to switch from Spanish to English on certain Telecable channels (like Discovery or Animal Planet). Why don't people watch them in Spanish? How many people only watch Starchoice? How many eat in restaurants and drink in bars with English menus and English speaking workers? Read newspapers in Spanish? Novels? How many only hang out with fellow English speakers? I'm not being critical. I'm guilty of it myself. But when someone tells me "I just can't learn Spanish" or "I'm too old", what they are really saying is that they have vastly underestimated the amount of time one needs to absorb the language. That's it, pure and simple. Think about how long it took to speak at a first grade level in English. For most of us, about six years, and that was being exposed to the language all day, every day, with a 24 hour tutor called "mom", and two years of school. I guarantee you, if you spent half as much time with Spanish for five years, you would be extremely proficient in the language. No matter what age you are. P.S. To the original poster, you can get FSI Spanish for free on the net, and although it's very boring and sometimes painfully so, it is as good as anything out there for getting you to the point where you can start to have fun with the language by using TV, books, radio, magazines etc. I would stay away from Rosetta Stone, since it is mostly a marketing gimmick and very expensive. I think I read it's about $700 for all of the levels, and it doesn't even mention the subjunctive mood, which is a very important part of the Spanish puzzle. Pimsleur is also good, but expensive as well. Those are the ones I'm familiar with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiko Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 Well that pretty well sums it up. Also avoid gringos and spend the majority of your time with Mexicans, and not the bi-lingual kind. I knew two words in Spanish when I moved here, now I know about 1200 or so, although my accent is horrible and my conjugations are often wrong. If I get discouraged I just try to remember where I would be today if I had never tried, back to two words only. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gringal Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 Also avoid gringos and spend the majority of your time with Mexicans, and not the bi-lingual kind I've now had my chuckle of the day. Just to be serious for a moment.......it all depends on why you moved to Mexico and then settled in a gringo enclave, rife with U.S.A. retirees, Canadians and bilingual Mexicans, like most of my neighbors. If you moved to Mexico to become fluent in the language and be immersed in Mexican culture, you could have found any number of better places to achieve that goal. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kiko Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 If it was left up to me, then yes I would probably be living elsewhere, but as a married, sometimes you have to make compromises. Michoacan is only an hour away, so I don't mind the drive. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gringal Posted April 23, 2011 Report Share Posted April 23, 2011 After paying attention and doing time with the CD tutorials, I know a decent collection of useful words and phrases, but am far from fluent. My Mexican acquaintances are very kind when I get lost in the Spanish cornflakes. I've also noticed that most of my expat friends know far more than "two words". I have one gringa acquaintance who is very fluent in Spanish but still manages to alienate waiters and others by her attitude. I'm sure she's not alone in that. If you're snotty, you're snotty.....cross culturally. IMHO, the most important thing when moving to a foreign country is showing respect for others in all ways, and if the language comes with difficulty, a little apology for your ineptitude up front generally smooths the way. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betsy Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Bilingual America, based in atlanta has an excellent tutorial program. You can get a demo online. They have an on-line version and a hard Copy version. I think the hard copy version is better. In my opinion, this is the best Spanish language tutorial program available. It has been used by the Coca Cola corp and other large corporations to teach their people Spanish. Some people just have an easier time with languages than others. Age can be a factor and i aleays cringe when I see the foreigners who are struggling with Spanish being critisized by other foreigners who have not had such a hard time. I was fourty when I came here, I am a type A personality, and nothing close to abeing a perfectionist. I also had the bonus of being very immersed in the Mexican culture because of my involvment with horses. All of these factors worked in my favour to learn Spanish. Spanish came easily to me but computers confuse me. Left brain, right brain thing maybe? I disagree with the comment about only native materials being useful. If you learn to speak spanish with good course material you will start speaking spanish, and when you do that you will learn how Spanish is REALLY spoken. Look at any English course material. Is that how English is really spoken? Of course not. The student learns that when they start conversing with native speakers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ajijic10 Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 I disagree with the comment about only native materials being useful. If you learn to speak spanish with good course material you will start speaking spanish, and when you do that you will learn how Spanish is REALLY spoken. Look at any English course material. Is that how English is really spoken? Of course not. The student learns that when they start conversing with native speakers. Actually, you're contradicting yourself. You say "is that how English is really spoken". But if the course doesn't teach the way the language is really spoken, where do you receive the input to learn how it "is really spoken". The answer is...Native Materials, of course. You do know that "native materials" includes talking and listening to your neighbors, don't you? And I did say that courses are useful to get you to this point, but the real learning takes place after the courses have served their purpose. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Betsy Posted April 24, 2011 Report Share Posted April 24, 2011 Actually, you're contradicting yourself. You say "is that how English is really spoken". But if the course doesn't teach the way the language is really spoken, where do you receive the input to learn how it "is really spoken". The answer is...Native Materials, of course. You do know that "native materials" includes talking and listening to your neighbors, don't you? And I did say that courses are useful to get you to this point, but the real learning takes place after the courses have served their purpose. Right, I don't think that I considered everything covered under the term "Native materials". I see what you mean now. Excellent post. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thevalerieleigh Posted April 27, 2011 Report Share Posted April 27, 2011 I highly recommend taking classes locally so you can learn proper grammar and become familiar with the rules and pronunciation. Once you have the basics, you can participate in "conversation" classes as well. Of course, it is always great to talk with your neighbors, the local businesspeople, the shop owners, etc. However, I am often aware that the language I learn on the street and the language I learn in the classroom are not always the same. There are local colloquialisms and phrases that are somewhat specific to Jalisco and Mexico as compared with Spanish spoken in Argentina or Spain (for example). As I have also learned (the hard way), there are certain ways to say something in polite company and ways to say something while having a bonfire on the street. It helps to participate in both the classroom and the real world to get a real grasp of the language. I have been taking classes weekly for several years and will continue for probably several more as I really want to learn how to speak properly and not just "get by". I think we are often judged by our communication skills and when I think of how some butcher the English language NOB, I cringe and hope that I am not put into that same category here SOB when I am speaking Spanish. I realize not everyone wants that degree of language skill so it's really up to you to determine the extent to which you want to pursue learning Spanish. Just my two cents worth, LOL! Valerie Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
princegupta Posted June 1, 2011 Author Report Share Posted June 1, 2011 Thanx for your support my dear friends. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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