Hi there HU,

For those of you traveling Latin America, I thought you might like some down-to-earth feedback, tips, thoughts, or whatever on what it's like learning the Spanish language and exactly what it takes. I’ll be posting on this thread once every other week or so to give updates on my Spanish progress.

Quick background: I’m new to a second language. I’ve tried to learn Spanish before but got bored or it just didn’t stick. I tried Rosetta Stone, Michel Thomas, and now I’m on to Pimsleur (which is fantastic so far!). I’m learning Spanish because I’m heading to SA in 2013. I hope that these 'real-life' progress reports will give a better understanding as to what it takes to learn a new language.


Rosetta Stone:

Started (just for the heck of it) a year ago. At first it was awesome, a whole new approach to learning a second language! After a while it felt like I was really learning something but in reality I wasn’t getting anywhere. I wasn’t able to have the same interaction as you would speaking with a Spanish-speaking person. (I gave up after the year). That aside, I DID however learn a few things like what apples, dogs, cats, and other random objects were. (manzanas, perros, and los gatos).

Michel Thomas:

This guy is a real character! I listened to these recordings for a while but as before, I lost interest. He was great in emphasizing how to emphasize words and I truly did learn one of two things but I got bored -I gave up – although sometimes his recordings pop up when my iPod is on shuffle… <next>.

Pimsleur:

Now let me be clear here first: I DO NOT WORK FOR THESE GUYS, nor do I get any endorsement bonus, but I think you know where I’m going with this... On their website I listened to the first lesson or free and after that I was HOOKED. It starts off with a conversation between a man and a woman (in Spanish). I think to myself: “What the F*&% was that?!”. The narrator proceeds to teach me how to have a conversation without me even knowing it, and then he engages me in a conversation-like format. At the end they play the first Spanish conversation I heard and what-a-ya-know… I understand it - Fully.


So this is my first bi-weekly write-up and I hope you enjoyed it. I was pretty lost and didn't really know which lessons to take, if I should teach myself, or if I should pay for lessons. To help me help you, please post your questions or comments to help out the community.

I've tried the Pimsleur and the Michel Thomas courses, I actually prefer the MT course though I can't decide if the male student is being deliberately thick, he usually makes me want to punch the speakers..

Another idea is to have a look at sites like Gumtree, there are always native Spanish speakers looking for 'intercambios' in most cities, its good to hook up with some of them and try speaking face to face. And it's free!

__________________
Mike


www.singapore-scotland.blogspot.com
www.argentina-alaska.blogspot.com
My little Vid: India/Pakistan

BMW R1150GS
Suzuki DR650 SE: Ride it like ya stole it. Oh, somebody just did...

haha yeah, but at least the girl has a great voice.

How did you do with the MT course? Can you speak Spanish now? I'm going to check out Gumtree, thanks.

I'm frantically learning Spanish too

I have been using Michel Thomas and thought it was quite good. Always surprised at how quickly you can start building sentences. I like the thick male student, he makes me feel like my spanish is not actually that bad.

Thanks for the tip on Pimsleur, I'll check it out.

__________________
Pikipiki Safari - UK to South Africa, Argentina to Colombia 2011/2012

If you like it, write me in Spanish. Word to word, I can help you and you can help me with English. Cheers..

There is also Coffee Break Spanish, free audio podcasts. They are quite good for the basics; greetings, number, etc.
Coffee Break Spanish | Radio Lingua Network

__________________
Pikipiki Safari - UK to South Africa, Argentina to Colombia 2011/2012