Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Spanish and languages

How can I relearn Spanish?

aka_anon — Wed, 15 May 2013 20:00:46 -0800

I studied Spanish in high school and college, and I even spent a semester abroad in Spain. At that point, I was very proficient at reading, writing, and speaking it. Sadly, in the 8 years since graduation, I feel as though I have forgotten everything. I am looking to get into a field where knowing Spanish would be very helpful, and I am trying to figure out the best way to both relearn what I knew (and possible go beyond that). Obviously for speaking, I will need to get out there and practice, but before that, should I just pick up my old textbooks and get going? Or, is there a better way?

Declension mode

mippy — Fri, 03 Aug 2012 12:50:53 -0800

How can I brush up my language skills, given I seem to have a difficulty with rote learning? I took Spanish for GCSE (got an A), A-level (got a D, sadface), then two years later I took an intermediate Spanish module as part of my degree. In the classroom, I was brilliant at learning and remembering vocabulary, but my grammar skills really lacked. At university, I was the only person in my class who had learned Spanish at school, rather than a gap year in Costa Rica or Guatemala. (Much as I'd like to spend six months in Caracas accidentally mastering the subjunctive, I certainly couldn't afford it then and it's not currently viable as a grown-up...)

I can pick up a newspaper and read an article well enough (I can get a rough idea of one in French too, which I have never learned to speak but picked up vocab here and there) but in the ten years or so since, my listening, writing and speaking skills are shoddy. I think the issue is that anything 'interpretive', like vocabulary, comes easy to me, but anything involving rules, precision, and/or rote learning - times tables, scientific formule, the weird pronouns that you sometimes stick on Spanish verbs to indicate object as well as subject - doesn't appear to go in. (The only one that really did was the subjunctive, because I found it fascinating that there was a place in grammar for mood as well as tense.) It might be dyspraxia - I can quote you word for word magazine articles I read in my teens, but I have to ask my friends to tell me what my phone number is - or it might be that verbs are less sexy than words. Either way, despite years of learning, I can't say I 'speak Spanish' without it seeming fraudulent, and it would be nice to be able to go there when the chance arises and communicate and understand,

I was considering taking up Dutch or German, but although both are cousins of English there'd still be grammar involved. And it would be a shame if my Spanish rusted away. So how do you get behind learning something that's hard to take in? And if I wanted to improve my Spanish, where would I start? I'm not a beginner, of course, but with my grammatical skills being so patchy, would I be best just resitting the A-level all over again?

spanish songs that use vos

huxham — Sun, 15 Apr 2012 19:18:46 -0800

For a project I'm doing, I'm looking for songs in Spanish that demonstrate voseo (the use of the informal second-person singular pronoun vos). This way of speaking isn't technically "standard" Spanish, so I don't exactly know how to search for songs that show this usage. In standard Spanish, you've got some ways of talking to one person (the second grammatical person):

tú, informal singular || tú hablas inglés
usted, formal singular || usted habla portugués
vosotros, informal plural (Spain) || vosotros habláis francés
ustedes, formal singular || ustedes hablan chino

However, in many parts of Latin America, there is another form for the informal second-person singular: vos. Following the above example sentences, one might say "vos hablás español." Vos replaces tú, and hablás is its accompanying verb form.

I'm doing a little presentation on this whole construction, and I'd like to have some "multimedia" to illustrate the concept, but I'm having a hard time finding songs in Spanish that do so. Do y'all know of any songs that use vos instead of tú forms? Thanks!!!

Quiero aprender español. Es LingQ.com un buen sitio web para eso?

ocherdraco — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 20:06:27 -0800

Have you used LingQ.com to help you learn a language? What did you think of it? Do you have any other recommendations for paid language learning sites that cost no more than $15 per month? (I am learning Spanish.) I'm considering using LingQ to supplement my tediously slow introductory Spanish course. Before I pay for it, I want to know a little more how well people like it.

Also, if you've used another site at a similar price point which you like very much, please tell me about it.

Should I try to learn two languages at once?

tomtheblackbear — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 11:50:28 -0800

Does it make sense to learn two languages at once? I'm currently in a Spanish class, but I have access to online language lessons that are ordinarily very expensive. I want to make use of them, but I don't know if learning two languages at once "works". Should I learn a language that's similar to Spanish, or should I not bother at all?

Is Spasnian a good idea?

hannahelastic — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 14:04:08 -0800

How can I learn two languages at once? I have a base of Spanish. I took 4 years in high school and 1 in college and now, 5 years since taking a class, I still feel like I have a pretty good base knowledge of the language, but my vocabulary is weak from lack of use. Eventually, I would like to become fluent and I feel like this is a pretty acheivable goal for me. I plan to travel spend serious time in South America and Spain in the coming years. However, I am good friends with a Bosnian person. We plan to travel together to Bosnia and Croatia...and I'd like very much to be able to speak on a very basic level with his family and the people I meet when I travel with him. I really love learning languages. I already know some of the very basics.

However, immediately (or at the longest, shortly) after traveling with him is when I plan to branch out to my Spanish speaking countries. Is it reasonable to try to strengthen my Spanish while getting the basics down of Bosnian (a language similar to Russian...having few root words similar to English, my native language, or Spanish). Or should I just focus on one? I know that no matter what I am going to get confused and speak some "Spasnian" in my sleep. Does anyone have any techniques or study routines for learning two languages at once? Or has your experience told you that this is really not a very good idea, now matter how dissimilar the languages?

What is the best way to actually learn spanish?

aussicht — Tue, 24 Feb 2009 16:12:07 -0800

What is the most effective way to spruce up my spanish in terms of private tutoring, immersion courses, extended night courses, etc? I took 3 years of spanish in high school. I grew up in California (so was conversational in my youth), then moved to Oregon where I lost all of it (no surprise there)!.

I started working in health care and so my spanish is coming back to me. Now I live in Miami and it continues to improve but I want to get conversational and eventually approach fluency. I've had a couple ideas, but am not sure which are most effective/a good or bad use of money:

1. An immersion program. All I have is a month give or take unfortunately.

2. Private tutor 4 or so hours a day for a month, + my everyday spanish (grocery store, restaurants, transit, friends, etc).

3. Immersion program part time in Miami (expensive).

People tell me to do 2, but I wonder if the total immersion abroad would speed things up, or if doing immersion locally would give me more time and structure vs individual attention. Any educators out there?

How to sound more like a native speaker of Spanish

bijou — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 00:50:51 -0800

How can I eliminate my American accent when speaking Spanish? My Spanish-speaking friends have commented that I don't have a "gringa accent" when I speak, but I'm well aware that I could further improve my accent.

How can I clean up my Spanish pronunciation? I've found this website, and I plan to use it to repeat and imitate sounds, but are there books/websites/programs specifically targeted at accent reduction for non-native speakers of Spanish?

Along those lines: is there (perceived to exist) a neutral accent in the Spanish language? Or a country that has a more generally understood way of speaking?

Any tips on accent reduction in general would be welcomed.

Where should I study Spanish in Cuba?

penguin pie — Sun, 17 Dec 2006 13:44:29 -0800

Can anybody recommend a school to study intensive, intermediate-level Spanish in Cuba for two weeks? I have intermediate-level Spanish, and I already know that Cuban Spanish might not be the most straightforward for learners, but it’s a place I really want to visit, so I’m not looking for recommendations in other countries. I’m not sure yet where in Cuba want to study, so am open to all locations. I’d probably also plan to take a third week to explore other places, so the location of the school wouldn’t necessarily be my only experience of Cuba. I'd want to stay with a host family, rather than in a hotel. Gracias Metamigos.

Language learning tips!

anjamu — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 18:43:48 -0800

I'm at a stage where I need to memorize vocabulary in a foreign language, and I am looking for advice, tips & useful software. The more recommendations, the happier I'll be, especially as regards flashcard software and that sort of thing.

I'm also interested in radio broadcasts in Spanish, French & Portuguese, and possibly slowly-spoken Hindi. And in bilingual texts in the latter.

And memorization techniques, can't forget those.

Ooof.

Post Pimsleur Spanish Learning

blue_beetle — Thu, 23 Feb 2006 15:25:50 -0800

Post Pimsleur Spanish III Learning? I have limited access to spanish speakers, but have finished the Pimsleur Spanish I,II,III CD courses as well as Michel Thomas's Spanish CD. Where do I go from here to continue my spanish learning? I'm looking for specific recommendations for courses, books, CDs, etc!

How are Spanish and Portuguese different when it comes to grammar?

pealco — Sun, 28 Mar 2004 13:27:42 -0800

How are Spanish and Portuguese different when it comes to grammar?

I speak Spanish fluently and now want to to take up Brazilian Portuguese. From hearing my Brazilian friends speak, and generally understanding them pretty well, I figured that Spanish and Portuguese grammar (syntax) must be very similar, the only differences between the languages being vocabulary and pronunciation. How right am I? If there are syntactic differences, what are they?

Would any speakers of these languages care to comment?