Learning Spanish

Duolingo is shite like. Entertaining little game to make you feel productive while you're sitting on the bog, but useless for learning stuff.
 


I did a year's course at Durham Uni a few year back which gets you to a standard then I've just done Duolingo ever since. I know a decent bit but obviously still have a lot to learn. Would really help if I could have regular interaction with native speakers but you don't get many of those in NE England.
 
Used to listen to Coffee Time Spanish when travelling to work on the Metro. Kept the mind ticking over and I picked a few things up. Unfortunately (well, fortunately actually), I was made redundant and never had to get the Metty again, so the Spanish fell by the wayside.
 
James said:
Been thinking about this for a while now and figured there's no time like the present, so I'm going to give it a go.

What is the best way to learn? I've looked at courses but feel that I'd like to learn the basics first before I commit financially, it's looking like circa 200 quid for a short course here in London. I reckon I'd get more out of that if I at least had a basic grasp of grammar and the like.

Aside from Duolingo (still not convinced this is any good), are there other cheap or free ways to go through the basics online?

Any good tips? Places to begin? Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.
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I've lived in Andalusia for 6 years and thought I was fluent in Spanish till I moved here and heard the local accent which even native Spanish speakers struggle with. I still struggle. Proper Castillian I'm fine with.
My advice is to track down a local Spanish conversation group. Nothing beats face to face conversation imho. Films with sub-titles are good. Listen to some of your favourite songs but sung in Spanish. You'll soon find that you are trying to translate other songs into Spanish. Read 'El Pais' on line.
Practice, practice, practice. Amazing how rusty and tongue tied I get if I'm surrounded by Brits for more than a week or so. Penguin used to do dual language books with Spanish on one side and English on the other.I'm reading 'A portrait of Dorain Gray' at the moment and I'm still learning that way.
Make things fun.
Colloquialisms and proverbs in the original Spanish give great insight into the mindset. And drop a few of those into the conversation and they'll love you. And try and translate British ones into Spanish. My neighbours find it hilarious when I say things like 'I'm after the hair of the dog, ' or 'it's raining cats and dogs out there,' but in Spanish.
I have always found the Spanish love it when you try and are so encouraging with non native speakers.
Good luck
Oh and @Astra shouldn't that be' ensalada rusa' and not ' sandia?'
 
My second life said:
I've lived in Andalusia for 6 years and thought I was fluent in Spanish till I moved here and heard the local accent which even native Spanish speakers struggle with. I still struggle. Proper Castillian I'm fine with.
My advice is to track down a local Spanish conversation group. Nothing beats face to face conversation imho. Films with sub-titles are good. Listen to some of your favourite songs but sung in Spanish. You'll soon find that you are trying to translate other songs into Spanish. Read 'El Pais' on line.
Practice, practice, practice. Amazing how rusty and tongue tied I get if I'm surrounded by Brits for more than a week or so. Penguin used to do dual language books with Spanish on one side and English on the other.I'm reading 'A portrait of Dorain Gray' at the moment and I'm still learning that way.
Make things fun.
Colloquialisms and proverbs in the original Spanish give great insight into the mindset. And drop a few of those into the conversation and they'll love you. And try and translate British ones into Spanish. My neighbours find it hilarious when I say things like 'I'm after the hair of the dog, ' or 'it's raining cats and dogs out there,' but in Spanish.
I have always found the Spanish love it when you try and are so encouraging with non native speakers.
Good luck
Oh and @Astra shouldn't that be' ensalada rusa' and not ' sandia?'
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That's what I did.

When I joined a Spanish class in the town, we had monthly get togethers with other Spanish classes, at a pub in Boro, and had native Spanish speakers as guests.
We all moved around the tables and spoke to each other in Spanish, and watched a film in Spanish.
Afterwards, I got up, and sang La Bamba, in Spanish, and nailed it perfectly. 👍
 
James said:
Been thinking about this for a while now and figured there's no time like the present, so I'm going to give it a go.

What is the best way to learn? I've looked at courses but feel that I'd like to learn the basics first before I commit financially, it's looking like circa 200 quid for a short course here in London. I reckon I'd get more out of that if I at least had a basic grasp of grammar and the like.

Aside from Duolingo (still not convinced this is any good), are there other cheap or free ways to go through the basics online?

Any good tips? Places to begin? Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.
Click to expand...

Duolingo is good as a starting point and is useful for vocabulary.

Lightspeed Spanish is pretty good. Google it, you can download podcasts.

Colleges etc. do classes which are worthwhile.

You can also arrange language exchanges - meet up for an hour, speak English for half an hour and Spanish for half an hour. Personally never done that but meant to be useful if you can get over the awkwardness.

Obvious one is go abroad. Seville or somewhere like that where there aren't many British tourists.
Epping said:
dos Grande cerveza senor
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Cerveza grande ;)
 
James said:
Been thinking about this for a while now and figured there's no time like the present, so I'm going to give it a go.

What is the best way to learn? I've looked at courses but feel that I'd like to learn the basics first before I commit financially, it's looking like circa 200 quid for a short course here in London. I reckon I'd get more out of that if I at least had a basic grasp of grammar and the like.

Aside from Duolingo (still not convinced this is any good), are there other cheap or free ways to go through the basics online?

Any good tips? Places to begin? Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Best way? Move to Spain. That's what my Mum did back in 1957. Moved to Madrid for 12 months and couldn't speak a word. Spent a year living with family and is still fluent now

That said, night classes with plenty of practice - get Spanish papers and watch spanish films to keep up your knowledge. As with all languages, it's all about practice practice practice

es muy facil
 
James said:
Been thinking about this for a while now and figured there's no time like the present, so I'm going to give it a go.

What is the best way to learn? I've looked at courses but feel that I'd like to learn the basics first before I commit financially, it's looking like circa 200 quid for a short course here in London. I reckon I'd get more out of that if I at least had a basic grasp of grammar and the like.

Aside from Duolingo (still not convinced this is any good), are there other cheap or free ways to go through the basics online?

Any good tips? Places to begin? Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
I learned to a decent level using

The Michel Thomas Method – The Natural Way to Learn a New Language

The highly acclaimed Michel Thomas Method audio language courses let you learn a new language naturally – just as you learned your own
www.michelthomas.com www.michelthomas.com

It's all audio (no books or owt like that) so its handy to stick on in the car going to and from work.

If you are interested pm me

Edit

And start watching Spanish tv/ YouTube kids cartoons are great for beginners
 
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James said:
Been thinking about this for a while now and figured there's no time like the present, so I'm going to give it a go.

What is the best way to learn? I've looked at courses but feel that I'd like to learn the basics first before I commit financially, it's looking like circa 200 quid for a short course here in London. I reckon I'd get more out of that if I at least had a basic grasp of grammar and the like.

Aside from Duolingo (still not convinced this is any good), are there other cheap or free ways to go through the basics online?

Any good tips? Places to begin? Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Start off with Drops or Duolingo to check you're happy with your language choice, but I'd highly recommend taking a class as it will force you to do more speaking and listening. S&L is ultimately where you want a lot of practice so the more chance you get, the better. Are there any tandem schemes close by? Maybe there's a Spanish person nearby with whom you could do a half-hour a week, 15 mins per language so you both learn something.

Also go to Spain for as long as possible and force yourself to stay away from Brits. Master the phrase "háblame en español, por favor, lo estoy aprendiendo" to prevent Spaniards trying to speak English for you.
 
matt228 said:
Start off with Drops or Duolingo to check you're happy with your language choice, but I'd highly recommend taking a class as it will force you to do more speaking and listening. S&L is ultimately where you want a lot of practice so the more chance you get, the better. Are there any tandem schemes close by? Maybe there's a Spanish person nearby with whom you could do a half-hour a week, 15 mins per language so you both learn something.

Also go to Spain for as long as possible and force yourself to stay away from Brits. Master the phrase "háblame en español, por favor, lo estoy aprendiendo" to prevent Spaniards trying to speak English for you.
Click to expand...

Met a French guy once when I was travelling. He was an arrogant prick but he gave some good advice - refuse to speak your own language, persist with the language you are trying to learn.
 
James said:
Been thinking about this for a while now and figured there's no time like the present, so I'm going to give it a go.

What is the best way to learn? I've looked at courses but feel that I'd like to learn the basics first before I commit financially, it's looking like circa 200 quid for a short course here in London. I reckon I'd get more out of that if I at least had a basic grasp of grammar and the like.

Aside from Duolingo (still not convinced this is any good), are there other cheap or free ways to go through the basics online?

Any good tips? Places to begin? Any advice or experiences would be appreciated.
Click to expand...
Spanish with Paul, this is really good.

 

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