I have decided to learn spanish as a second language. Is there a favored process you would care to share?
December 18th, 2009 | 
Author: 
Jeff asked:
I have downloaded some free stuff from the internet, and I listen to spanish radio/TV for at least an hour each day.
I have rented two DVD’s with a spanish language feature.
I have downloaded some free stuff from the internet, and I listen to spanish radio/TV for at least an hour each day.
I have rented two DVD’s with a spanish language feature.
I can only pick up on a few words. I need to watch the movie in english first to try to remember what is being said. Am I on the right track?
Learn Spanish Flashcards
Posted in 
Tags:
Hi Jeff,
The best way to learn a second lenguagee is by talking, talking, and talking so maybe you can take a class or meet a nice young lady (like me) to help you with the pronunciation, after you read all the material that you have all you have to do is practice. Remember practice makes perfection!!!!
You’re doing lots of great stuff! Reading, listening to the radio, and watching TV and movies are all great ways to learn Spanish. I especially like that you aren’t using the English subtitles with the movies; if your brain has English to read it has no reason to pay attention to the Spanish at all. In general, you seem to be getting a lot of exposure to Spanish, which is fantastic. I suspect you’re already realizing that you understand more than you did when you started. For now you might only pick up on the meaning of a few words, but if you keep at it you’ll be able to understand more and more. I found that watching news broadcasts was very helpful to me when I was learning Spanish. The idea is not to try to translate from English to Spanish but just let your mind figure out as much as it can from the Spanish directly. It won’t be much at first, but soon it will get a lot better. I’m speaking from personal experience, since I learned most of my Spanish in one summer.
When you feel that you’re ready to speak, you might want to find a conversation partner. You might know some Spanish speakers to talk to, but if not perhsps you have some friends who speak Spanish as a second language who would be willing to talk to you in Spanish. Again, the key is to have the person explain stuff to you that you don’t already know so your brain must use Spanish to understand the meaning. If it seems complex, pictures, gestures, and lots of repeating and saying things another way might help.
Also, you didn’t mention anything in your question, but you might also want to consider your purpose for learning Spanish. Your choice of learning materials can be dictated by your purposes. For example, if you want to use Spanish to communicate with workers at a restaurant, you probably won’t need to worry about being able to read Don Quijote. If you work for the miliary, then you’ll definitely want to read/listen to/watch materials that work with the subject matter you’ll want to speak about. I hope that makes sense; add detail if you want more specific recommendations.
Congratulations on having the desire and the discipline to learn another language on your own! I think learning a new language is its own reward. In my experience, Spanish speakers are very willing to converse with non-native speakers who are able to express their opinions, even if it isn’t in a completely native-like way.
I guess you are, seems to me like you are practicing it a lot , you’ll catch up fast (..unless you are slow
) .
I’m learning some German now and my teacher advice us to watch the news , that way you’ll learn the ¨right¨ way of pronounce spanish ( its different than just watching films) and you’ll be forced to catch up with the whole idea instead of just stay in the meaning of one word ; I think that will help you .
and I believe the practice is important also , why don’t you try going to this site?: , there you can find some friends that speak spanish willing to teach you , my mother language is spanish too so feel free to annoy me anytime
Hi pal. Look try also to make some spanish-speaking friends. They would correct you every time you say something wrong.
Watching Telenovelas on Telemundo!
Do you have some free days? Then go to Mexico or Spain. The “tottal imersion” method is always the best.
Yes, i agree, the best way of learning another language is to communicate with a native speaking person.talk, talk, talk, conversation is the key. It would help if this person also speaks your language as well, so you can ask him questions, don’t be afraid of asking questions,
myself i learned it when I lived in Spain, I had to communicate, so i learned and still learning.
Practice makes perfect.
I got a “Learn-while-you-drive” course that I use to and from work. I only started a month ago, but I already seem to be more receptive. There are some good books on audio, as listed in my sources.