Hi,

I have moved this across to our Ex Pats section where a better response may be had.

Mark

Hiya.
Yes, the market is full of CDs for you to learn Spanish, and whilst some are excellent, the one thing that stands out, is that they are usually made in the USA, and therefore they are geared to Latin American Spanish.

This does not distract from the value in educational terms that you will gain, but it just needed pointing out because there are words that mean the same thing, but are totally different and a good example would be (my husband) Mi Marido or in Latin America mi Esposo.
Both words are correct and both words can be used, but in mainland Spain "Marido" is the word that is used, however, if you go to southern Spain and especially the Canary Islands, then "Esposo" is more widely used.

IMO:The basic and most important thing to learn first, is the pronunciation of the phonetic alphabet...yes it seems trivial and boring, but unless you grasp this, whatever you learn later will never sound right when spoken...eg: the letter H is never sounded, J sounds like an H when you have a cold the letter I sounds like an E, C sounds like sseh etc etc
Then the dreaded vowels ...learning the past, present and future vowels, these were and still are a nightmare for me, and the gender of the subject that you are talking about.( La feminine and El masculine)... but once you have done these things, then the rest will flow and learning new words each day will just "slot" into the basic sentences.
Saying (I eat, I did eat, I will eat) throws a spanner in the works, and this is why you need to learn the verbs to be able to put it all together, in a sentence that represents the time that you are talking about.

Cd`s, where do I start
I bought "Talk to me" by Aurolog this has beginner/intermediate/advanced
"Learn Spanish now" by Transparent language.
"Teaching you Spanish" by Focus multimedia (Dragon speech)
"Spanish for Everyone" by The learning company and this is def American and focus's on conversation the interactive way.( I personally was not impressed, but others may love it)
GCSE Spanish by Europress and many more like "Success in Spanish","Spanish for the Real World" etc etc.
BUT: you don't have to do any of that because you can learn on-line to get the basics and then advance.
There is:
The BBC language department. at http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages
http://www.learn-spanish-online.de/ click on gramatica (top left of page)
http://www.spanish.bz/learn-spanish.htm here you can learn lots before you have to buy.
http://www.businessspanish.com/
http://www.studyspanish.com/vocab/index.htm
http://www.espanol-extra.co.uk/ I love this site and whilst it is geared to teachers, it is good for the likes of me and you
you will need this http://www.spanishdict.com/

You will need a good dictionary, the best one without doubt, is the Wordsworth Dictionary (English/Spanish/Spanish/English) and the best verb book is 501 Spanish verbs by Kendris & Kendris"¦don`t waste your money on others.

I once had a programme in the early days where I had to talk to the computer and unless the word was pronounced correctly, then you could not advance, so after what must have been 50 attempts at shouting at the computer on one word, I felt like throwing the computer through the window. My hubby came upstairs and said "are you alright" ?
Finally: Like all languages, the lack of useage makes you forget, it takes me a few hours to fully "tune in" to the rhythm of the language when I visit Spain and you constantly have to keep on top of it daily by learning or reading the Spanish sites, and like there are different dialects in the UK, then the same applies to Spain, but the most noticable thing is, that when you at least TRY and communicate with the people of Spain and you ask them to speak more slowly please ( mas despacio por favor) they will be proud to help you all they can.

I walk around mumbling Spanish I`m sure my neighbours think I have lost the plot, especially in the garden. and I constantly listen to Spanish music.....it is much better than English IMO and it will sound like a load of mumbo jumbo at first, but slowly you will grasp one or two words that seem to be going around on a carousel and in time more and more words will make sense.
Don`t try and convert from English to Spanish, think Spanish all the time. I am by no means "naturally" fluent in Spanish, I still make mistakes and each day I learn a new word, and what has taken me years to learn, I feel I would have learnt in months living in Spain and hearing the language daily ..but I can/have and would survive amongst the natives.
Hope this doesn`t sound like I am preaching just trying to help and give advice on a subject that I am extremely interested in.

¡Buena suerte! ( Good luck)

Besos (kisses)
Sanji

Dear Sanji, thank you for your post-
Your info.'s comprehensive.
It's worth investing in learning aids
And really not expensive.

I learnt Spanish for my GCE
Now useful as an apartment owner!
But pleath thympathithe with my problem here:
My profethora was from Barthelona!

The Tinerfianth all gathe at me
When I try to thpeake with them.
I fear the acthent will not die
Even though I'll really try
Not to lithp again!

I didn't realithe until very rethently that it wath only in Barthelona that 'ce'
and 'z' are pronounthed ath 'th'!
Margaretta xx

well, I think I understood that your profesora (teacher) was from Barcelona and words that have C followed by an E or an I are indeed pronounced as "th"....but they are spoken outside Barcelona like that and this is another reason to learn the phonetic alphabet
However, due to the different dialects a beer (cerveza) would be pronounced as therbetha ( the V is pronounced as a B and Z as th) but in Southern Spain and the Canary Islands the word cerveza would be prounounced as serbeza or serbetha.
And if you think that is bad enough...try going into parts of Andalucia, they don`t even finish the words off.
For Buenos....You may get Buen and a kind of tailed off grunt...or buen and the next word at break neck speed.
It`s to keep us on our toes but the main thing is, at least you try and for that the Spanish will love you.

Besos xxx
sanji

Dear Sanji,

I'd forgotten that 'v' is sometimes 'b',
I'm bery glad you told me!
And that 'ci' is sometimes 'th'
And 'cu' often 'kwe.'

Habla usted Espagnol?
Es agradable encontrario.
Por favor, estoy Ingles -
Puede hablar despacio?

Margaretta

'

Hi Margaretta
Sorry hun.
We are not allowed to speak any other language but English, this is to be fair to all members who may not be interested in Spanish. RE: the T&Cs...sorry although I have put the English meanings by the side of the Spanish to be fair to everyone....and it is nice to meet you too

Besos xxx
Sanji

jojo, I live in the canary islands, and believe me it is much easier to learn Latin American Spanish than pure Castellano!!!!! You will be understood anywhere in spain, and especially in andalucia, as the accent is very similar to the canarian one! Missing endings off words, even missing consonants in the middle of words etc etc!!!!! It makes learning the verb endings much easier

As sanji says, just go for it when you are in spain! Everyone is so chuffed that you are actually trying to speak to them in their own language. Again as sanji says, learn the alphabet first. Then remember that generally every letter is pronounced in each word, and that the sound rarely changes. It is very tempting to pronounce a word that looks the same in English e.g. menu! Another good thing to remember is that the accent in spanish is always on the penultimate syllable, unless there is an accent on the word, in which case the emphasis is on that one!!!

We have a village here in Lanzarote called Soo, which is exactly the type of word which will catch people out!!!!

Listen to as much spanish as you can, radio, TV etc. Or find a spanish newspaper website and try to read as much as you can. That can be very interesting!!!

Good luck

Many apologies if I have upset everyone. Suppose I'm really worried about
not being able to converse with the people I admire and was joking to cover my embarrassment. It seems very rude not to try to speak Spanish but am very nervous about it! Sorry- it is a serious matter which only practice and effort will address.
Thanks for all the advice,
Margaretta

Many apologies if I have upset everyone. Suppose I'm really worried about
not being able to converse with the people I admire and was joking to cover my embarrassment. It seems very rude not to try to speak Spanish but am very nervous about it! Sorry- it is a serious matter which only practice and effort will address.
Thanks for all the advice,
Margaretta

Hey Margaretta.
You didn`t upset me love, there is no need to apologise to me...the Admin may feel differently but, I just know it is not allowed and I didn`t want mine or your wrists slapped this is why I reminded you...no other reason.
I think the sites that I have listed will help you and only by "going for it" and speaking in Spanish, making a "cock-up" and feeling like a complete nerd, do you pass the embarrassment stage and you progress to acquiring the confidence...one tip is, I always carry a pocket sized English/Spanish dictionary in my bag...the number of times that little book as saved my bacon.!!!!
Confidence is essential. I will agree.

Besos xxx
Sanji

Just to clarify:

Our board rules do stipulate that posts are to be made in the English language.

However, for the benefit of this thread, provided English translatations are provided this will be allowed.

Mark

Thank you Mark

I personally think that you have to realise/accept your limitations when saying I can speak Spanish...or any language
Yes, I may be able to converse with the average Spaniard on "day to day" things and I will always to be learning Spanish, just like I will always be learning English words,.... English words that I still have to look up in a dictionary, even today.

If you say you are a nurse for example, people will promote to the status of a doctor in their heads, and present you with questions and problems that you are unable to answer, cos you are not a doctor.
The same applies with Spanish ...I had a neighbour who was in the building trade having some work done in Spain and he presented me with a Spanish letter, all about concrete mixes, building terminology and the mortar ratio

What the hell do I know about the concrete ratio, I don`t even know in English, so I`m hardly gonna know in Spanish :rofl...it`s not something that I am gonna need when booking into an hotel, buying a loaf of bread or going on a train journey ...and I certainly was not gonna try and translate for him....I sent him off to a professional and made him pay for the service. but the sad thing is, he expected me to know

besos xxx
Sanji

Its well worth persevereing with Spanish. Things you can also try are looking for Spanish newspapers. Pronunciation is all important and I really made an effort to when reading a newspaper to pronounce the sounds well. It took me ages to be able to pronounce well, even though at first I did not understand what I was reading.
Have you got cable TV? Is RTVE available? Being a bloke, I found watching the football on Sunday evening was worthwhile, football is easy to understand in any language ad you can get used to listening to the Spanish talking and have some idea about what.
I should mention that pronunciation in Andalucia and the Canaries is different from the rest of Spain. How they speak in Barcelona would be more or less how they speak in all the north and central Spain.
I had a Tell Me More course which was not bad, but the most important thing is exposure to spoken Spanish. One of the problems with the interactive courses is that the voice recognition is not very good. Even Spanish friends had problems with some words.
Good Luck.

Wow thats alot to take in but thank you all

but the most important thing is exposure to spoken Spanish

Totally agree with that
If you have Sky, then channel 822 is TVE...I use to have this on all day, just to be exposed to the language whilst I was doing other things in the house, and if you watch the news at certain times during the day, then they provide pictures of what they are talking about...Tony Blair and George Bush are still the same names in Spanish, just with a little accent I make a point of watching the news everyday.
If you want to read http://www.elpais.es/index.html
You can download a few songs and make a CD and have that playing.
Artists like Shakira, Enrique Iglesias, Estopa, Carlos Vives, Cafe Quijano, Sergio Dalma and Chayanne ...all pop songs.

You really don`t have to spend a lot of money with the facilities that are available with the technology of the Internet, but commitment and perseverance is what is needed.
Many times I felt like jacking it in. Everybody gets to a certain stage where they think "sod it " I`m never gonna learn and why bother cos they can speak English in the resorts.
The reason why some of them can speak English, is because they have been exposed to the English language by the tourists asking more or less for the same things day after day.

I always remember getting a taxi at Malaga Airport years ago, and instead of saying "How much to the Hotel Pez Espada please?" and sitting in silence apart from speaking to my hubby (which the taxi driver understood by the way) I said "Hola, Buenos días Senor, ¿Cuanto es al Hotel Pez Espada por favor "?....and when he replied back in Spanish I thought and it took a few seconds to register, but we had a conversation in my pigeon Spanish and he told me he was learning English and was having great problems saying the numbers, especially 30.
I got out of that Taxi and felt 10 foot tall and this inspired me to continue learning because the barriers had been broken down, and I was/felt not just another English tourist for those 15 minutes....infact I wish the Taxi journey could have lasted much longer.... he was muy guapo as well
"Hola, Buenos días Senor, ¿Cuanto es al Hotel Pez Espada por favor"?....
Hello, Good morning "Mr", how much to the Hotel Pez Espada Please.?
"muy guapo"..very handsome, good looking

besos xxx
Sanji

Hello everyone,

I have read this thread with interest and it is very interesting, all the different options.

I am trying my best to learn Spanish and although it is slow for me (thick maybe!!) I feel I am making progress. I have to pay when in England and then when in Spain I do start to pick it up so progress at least.

My lawyer told me a very interesting way to learn but one which I have not tried yet. He told me to read a very simple book ( thick see, even the lawyer said it!!) in English and then read it again, but the Spanish version. This is how he learnt and he said it worked for him. Could be worth a try so can anyone suggest a good book (with lots of pictures!!!!)

I think its just great that you people at least try. I'm fluent but it took many years. I suggest magazines like Hola, a bit mundane but they use fairly simple everyday language having a spanish friend to talk to helps too.

Hi Everyone,

I am using the Linguaphone discs which I find to be really good as there is no reading or writing involved it's just listen and repeat, being short of time I can do this anywhere although it is taking a while to sink in but I'm persevering. I read somewhere recently that Spanish children's books are a good way to learn so I'm going to look for some the next time I'm over.

Jackie

I am brushing up on my French and have found the BBC website language section excellent- it caters for Spanish at different levels - so i presume it could also be quite useful

As well as having Spanish language lessons on their website the BBC also do a really good introductory course pack with 2 CDs and a small tuition booklet which takes you through the grammar etc to accompany it. Great for practising in the car or on the bus on the way to work (but don't join in with repeating the phrases whilst travelling on the bus unless you want all the other passengers to treat you like a mad woman!).

I got mine before going to the Canaries for the first time and thought what a great language for me and my slight lisp - until I got there of course and realised that, as Sanji has pointed out, the latin american influence is so great that they don't lisp! This was compounded even more when I went to the east of Cuba (Santiago) last summer where of course not only do they use the latin american style of pronunciation but there are also a lot of racy, slangy colloquialisms in the local dialect with the result that Castilian Spanish seems to be considered 'posh'. This also meant that it was possible to get into trouble when relying on the dictionary alone when searching for words to express yourself. For example, it soon became apparent that it was OK to complain about the heat - 'calor' - but certainly not OK to complain you were feeling hot - 'caliente' - much less remark that someone else was/looked 'muy caliente' unless you were actually wanting to chat them up and really were talking about feeling/looking sexy :-) Caused a few red faces until this was pointed out to us!

SM