You guys are funny. Don, you work at NAU, correct? Can't you take classes at a discount? The University has classes in conversational Spanish. I have a friend who took 4 semesters and is pretty fluent now. Don't bother with any lit classes or 101 type stuff if you just want to be able to converse. Trust me, you don't ever, ever want to read Don Quijote de la Mancha! Argh, it's been over 30 years and I still tremble at the memory..... If NAU doesn't have conversational Spanish, the Junior College will.
Has anyone on this forum ever used the Rosetta Stone Spanish program for learning and improving their Spanish speaking skills?
Thanks
Don
Hi Don, Yep, I used Rosetta Stone. Like anything, you get out of it what you put into it......and I didn't invest the needed time. There is a FREE on-line program I've used and found it helpful. www.livemocha.com. Give it a try. I liked it.
Joe, In the beginning I could talk about whatever I wanted when she was in the room. That was kind of fun when I had friends over. No longer... One thing about learning a language while living with someone is that they learn your language too. I did speak some Spanish when I met her but it was a challenge in the beginning. She understands English quite well now but is still embarrassed to speak it. All in all it has been a very great experience and 14 years (actually 14 years on St. Patty's day).
Jim, that sounds similar to my situation. Hubby, Rafael, is Mexican and would talk to the kids in Spanish without MY knowing what was going on. As I learned more, they found out they can't keep secrets from me anymore. I can read & write Spanish better than I can speak it. When I do, it seems I always mispronounce the word and in veritably, my NEW word always seems to have some sexual connotation to it. Go figure!
Joe, In the beginning I could talk about whatever I wanted when she was in the room. That was kind of fun when I had friends over. No longer... One thing about learning a language while living with someone is that they learn your language too. I did speak some Spanish when I met her but it was a challenge in the beginning. She understands English quite well now but is still embarrassed to speak it. All in all it has been a very great experience and 14 years (actually 14 years on St. Patty's day).
If I could tell you anything it would be to forget practicing anything until you learn all the verbs (present, past and future tense) once you learn those you will be speaking spanish. Also many words that end in tion in engish end in cion in spanish i.e. transportation= transportacion, precaution=precaucion many words are the same but pronounced very differntly. WE have = tenemos, I have = tengo I had = tuve I will have = voy a tener. You need to practice these first every conversation depends on these more than anything else. Once you figure out how the word changes it will be very easy to learn the rest. try to learn one or 2 verbs a day and you got it made. Uncle Billy
And Please dont say you have a problemo, when you really have a problema, I hate when gringos (yes I am one) say no problemo!! Plus here is a word for you Lagrimas = tears but im not a cry baby its were I live. You may never speak as well as somebody born with a spanish speaking family, but you can learn to understand 100 % what somebody is talking about. My 1st wife was mexican and couldn't speak spanish but understood 100% what was being said. I think that goes back to understanding the verbs but not mentally being able to make the changes in her own mind.
Nada, tu sabes que soy un cabron bien hecho. Porque no pongas una pagina para ayudar todo nosotros hablar mejor espanol. With mi querido amigo Playa Perro as the moderator he speaks perfect spanish.
I was really lucky, my parents put in in an after school spanish program at Ingleside grade school when I was 6 and my uncle was also port director in Nogales when I was little so every summer I was in Nogales then grew up and forgot spanish, then in the 80's I got a huge customer in Mexicali for my lumber business and started really working the border hard from Nogales to Tijuana and needed to speak better spanish so I found a course at Mesa Community College called survival spanish it was really good, it was straight street language no grammer it was pretty blunt and included words that we cant write here. Uncle Billy
If I could tell you anything it would be to forget practicing anything until you learn all the verbs (present, past and future tense) once you learn those you will be speaking spanish. Also many words that end in tion in engish end in cion in spanish i.e. transportation= transportacion, precaution=precaucion many words are the same but pronounced very differntly. WE have = tenemos, I have = tengo I had = tuve I will have = voy a tener. You need to practice these first every conversation depends on these more than anything else. Once you figure out how the word changes it will be very easy to learn the rest. try to learn one or 2 verbs a day and you got it made. Uncle Billy
You are correct Bill. I've taken a few Spanish classes at Mesa CC. I speak only in PRESENT tense. LOL
Great Suggestions from everyone!
Thank you very much!
I'm homeless now.... my wife booted me out when I told her I needed another wife, "Spanish speaking". Hmmm, more time to go fishing and hunting always a bright side right?
Congrats on the Anniversary!
LJ, I'm looking into the conversational classes at Coconino CC. NAU does offer a discount but they don't have conversational classes.
UB, great ideas on the verbs; thank you for the beginning lessons!
Esperanza, Thank you for the link! I'll be practicing here at ... ;-)
Superb ideas, Thank you again!
I had heard the Rosetta Stone program also helped one learn the correct pronunciation or is it pronunciacion?
I just saw they offer a conversational class at GCC north which is right across the street from house M-W 5:00 to 6:15
I have an email in to the instructor to see what she teaches in this class.
This would be perfect for the wife and I as we have never had any exposure to the language.
thanks for the idea!
Does anybody else find this kind of topic the kind that I actually look to this board for? I appreciate some
of the topics surrounding the "bad events" happening in RP but they all seem to turn somekind of debate.
This is just good info. that everybody can provide input.
However that being said, I wish I could get FOX news at my condo, that I paid way too much for, (but I hate trailers and trailer trash)
so I could stay updated on all the killings going on! LOL
Does anybody else find this kind of topic the kind that I actually look to this board for? I appreciate some
of the topics surrounding the "bad events" happening in RP but they all seem to turn somekind of debate.
This is just good info. that everybody can provide input.
However that being said, I wish I could get FOX news at my condo, that I paid way too much for, (but I hate trailers and trailer trash)
so I could stay updated on all the killings going on! LOL
Ed
hey fasteddy.... thought you didn't like debate....and you have to get into the topic of hating trailers? and then to top it off, you add trailer trash? I don't mind you hating trailers....but us trailer trash too? That is a guarantee of catching it! :gayfight::popcorn:
Hey Joe,
I don't hate anybody or anything. in fact I look forward to coming down and visiting you all at one of
your get together's be it at a trailer or wherever. Life's to short to spend being pissed off. As long as
there is a cold beer around somewhere close, I could care less where you call home!
Ed
Sheesh Ed, it that why you blew dinner with us off on T-Day? YOU even sought ME out at the border to say Hi! I would not have even known you! LOL! I don't like being a block back and 2000 feet up from the beach......but to each his own. I live and let live...... I know you are just kidding with your tongue firmly in your cheek.....To use Fox news, trailer trash and the killings in one sentence is just stirrin' the pot for fun! We were disappointed that you didn't grace us with your presence, tho. LOL! You're too funny!
Hey Joe,
I don't hate anybody or anything. in fact I look forward to coming down and visiting you all at one of
your get together's be it at a trailer or wherever. Life's to short to spend being pissed off. As long as
there is a cold beer around somewhere close, I could care less where you call home!
Ed
Well, great! I'll even let you dance on my sundeck! LOL!
Hi Jeeper,
i really wanted to come t-day but we had already made dinner plans with some other people and couldn't
make it. This was our first time having guests and I didn't want to scare them off! haha especially if I'm dancing!
Fortunatly my patio sits about 75 feet from the beach, and I'm only on the second floor, Last year I hit tennis balls
off the patio to the kids in the water (tide in) bottom line I don't care what you live in as long as your fun to be around.
Ed
P.S. Glad you caught the sarcaasm
Maybe you hang out with the wrong condo people! we put the fun in funeral!
We have alot of fun in the condo LJ is a blast to hang out with as is RPJoe... Eddy you may put the fun in funeral:cluck: but we put the fun in disfunctional....:lol: and we are Condo people... 3rd floor and 6th floor.
I purchased the Rosetta Stone software package disc 1 thru 3. I'm impressed with the program and using it ever day. It's more than I expected; I can see why it's not cheap. I tried the live mocha program but after the third day they charge monthly, which is understandable. The reason for going with Rosetta was because of the high recommendation from the folks here at NAU, IHD (Institute for Human Development) dept.. Likewise I was able to find the program on "Craigslist" and Ebay, must cheaper than direct from Rosetta. Finally it was a one time charge, unless I opt in for live communication to Rosetta with spanish speaking folks.
So, the program is really cool, and I'm making headway... Now if I could just get Happy to offer free tutoring lessons.
I looked at the Live Mocha program too (online)....but found that even the first lessons were spoken too fast...particularly for a beginner. I knew most of the material in the first couple of lessons, but was having trouble with the spoken words... How does the Rosetta Stone compare?
It starts with just simple words and pictures. Lets see if I can explain it. Disc one has 7-9 lessons. In the first lesson you learn simple words, boy, girl, man, woman (and different words for females), with both pictures, spelling and audio (spoken clearly and slowly). One also has the ability to slow the speech speed from what I've read (have not needed to slow it yet), or you can set it to a normal speaking speed. These pictures are then presented as 4 pictures (called quads) to a screen. As you progress through the quads (10) you have to select the correct pic that matches the spoken word. New words are introduced with new pics and these build on what you've practiced in prior quads. These new pics evolve into new quads and you learn simple phrases. You can repeat the spoken phrase over endlessly to assist in your own annunciation. As you progress through the quads a phrase is spoken with no pics and you have to match one of the pics within that quad (pics appear) to the spoken phrase (you're practice listening and comprehension skills). There are reading skills along with speaking skills and finally writing skills. In disc 3 you'll record your voice and the program will convert your voice to sound wave so you can compare tone, pronunciation, and correct inflection (if I have that correct). And of course there are tests which you can take at any time. Or, you can do a simple review of the lesson(s). I've finished lesson one, just the listening and reading part, not spelling yet and its taken about 3 hours (lunch breaks). I noticed as I was completing level 10 within lesson one, you are also completing sub sets (A,B,C, and possibly a D), without realizing of what you're doing... But your learning Spanish and so far its been fun. As you progress through these quads your tested (every quad) so by the time your done, you have a good understanding of the words and phrases in your lesson. I can now make extremely simple sentences. By the time one gets through lesson 9 of this first disc, one should have a good understanding of Spanish. BTW, this Spanish disc is the Latin American version.
The program also keeps track of your progress.
If folks are interested I'll copy one of the sentences of disc 1, final lesson post it so you can see the level of comprehension/speaking one may be at the end of disc one.
So far I'm thrilled with the program. I've spoken with others who used these programs to learn other languages such as Japanese. The users could not say enough great things about these programs.
There is a problem though. I want to shuck other responsibilities and learn Spanish, cuz the program makes it fun.
Most of the programs I have tried were designed to make you fluent and I really only want to be able to communicate reasonably, not perfectly. An ESL teacher told me that it takes at least 20 years for a non-native to become fluent in a language. The CD based programs are ok, but for me I really need someone to listen and respond , correcting me. When you speak you don' t hear the same sound that a listener does so it is difficult to self correct. Lagrimis is absolutely correct about the verbs in Spanish also. Drill, drill, drill.
While I still have not reached my goal I have learned a couple of little tips that make things go smoother when trying to communicate. First when you speak in Spanish, use only the simplest sentence forms that you can. Don' t worry about sounding fancy if you just want to communicate. Also works well when trying to communicate to a Spanish speaker in English. Speak slowly, distinctly and use simple sentences and simple tenses.
The other thing is practice, practice, practice, for this there is no substitute. You have to train your ear as well as your mouth. At first all I heard was a constant stream of different sounds, not I can discriminate words in that sound, but not well enough yet.
The key with any program is to work on it every day. I've tried a couple different ones...and my failure has been that I didn't....for whatever reason.
So true..... I have had a hard time "staying with the program". Funny, but as we now have grandchildren, I find that I am picking up more listening the the parents talk to the babies. Goes right along with what Roberto is saying.... keep it simple!
........The other thing is practice, practice, practice, for this there is no substitute. You have to train your ear as well as your mouth. At first all I heard was a constant stream of different sounds, not I can discriminate words in that sound, but not well enough yet.
When I was learning english the one thing that my teacher kept on telling me, which in my opinion was a great help, was to read, even if I do not understand what I am reading but to do it at loud, enough for yourself to hear it and get your ear use to the sounds, even if they are not the right sounds at first but then pretty soon you find yourself starting to correct yourself because you already know certain sounds.
However, IMHO, to learn spanish the first and most basic need is to learn your A,B,C's as good as possible, letters for the most part if not all the time have the same sounds by themselves as they do in words, whether they are at the beggining , middle or end of the word, for example "A" sounds the same in "torta" as it does in "carro" as in "auto" no difference in sounds as it does in english and that could be a big obstacle that english or any other anguage speaker needs to get over when learning spanish!
Vamos a la playa, calienta el sol!!
When I was learning english the one thing that my teacher kept on telling me, which in my opinion was a great help, was to read, even if I do not understand what I am reading but to do it at loud, enough for yourself to hear it and get your ear use to the sounds, even if they are not the right sounds at first but then pretty soon you find yourself starting to correct yourself because you already know certain sounds.
However, IMHO, to learn spanish the first and most basic need is to learn your A,B,C's as good as possible, letters for the most part if not all the time have the same sounds by themselves as they do in words, whether they are at the beggining , middle or end of the word, for example "A" sounds the same in "torta" as it does in "carro" as in "auto" no difference in sounds as it does in english and that could be a big obstacle that english or any other anguage speaker needs to get over when learning spanish!
Vamos a la playa, calienta el sol!!
"Vamos a la playa" ``` con Las Chicas que son ```MUY ``` Cochinas ```es mejor que la chingada ! ! !