[Travel] Learning a new language

Rodney Thomas · Feb 24, 2019

I’m currently trying to learn Spanish and struggling a little bit. I’m luck enough to live in Spain which helps but although my comprehension is (slowly) getting better my speaking is still poor. I realise that in this respect practice makes perfect but I’ve heard many different suggestions on what works. So, what language are you learning/learnt, what methods worked for you and how did you take to a new language?

Weststander · Feb 24, 2019

Language Immersion (not heater/tank) classes are often mentioned as the best route.

Bakero · Feb 24, 2019

Rodney Thomas said:
I’m currently trying to learn Spanish and struggling a little bit. I’m luck enough to live in Spain which helps but although my comprehension is (slowly) getting better my speaking is still poor. I realise that in this respect practice makes perfect but I’ve heard many different suggestions on what works. So, what language are you learning/learnt, what methods worked for you and how did you take to a new language?

Find yourself an intercambio partner so you get the chance to speak regularly. That could also be your gateway to making Spanish friends.

In terms of studying, set yourself achievable goals and write a study plan to make sure you stick to them. Study regularly- a little bit each day, even if it's just 10 minutes.

Make sure you read a lot but more importantly listen. Listen to podcasts, the radio, YouTube, music, TV, people in bars. Keep a pen to hand so you can make a note of new vocabulary/phrases.

Vocabulary is key. You can make yourself understood if you don't know the correct verb conjugation but if you don't know the word you'll get stuck. Make sure you learn vocabulary (and grammar) in context. A list of words isn't useful. Write the new vocabulary into phrases or maybe even short stories or dialogues. Personalise it if possible. That'll make it more memorable. Then try to use it soon and often!

Another vocabulary tip. It can be easier to remember pictures than words so attaching a mental image to a word can be useful. For example, the Spanish for puddle is charco so i imagine a shark swimming in a puddle (shark triggers the recall of charco).

Don't be afraid of making mistakes. It's better to say something a bit wrong than to not say anything. Accuracy will come later.

What level would say you currently are? Whereabouts in Spain are you?

basque seagull · Feb 24, 2019

Rodney Thomas said:
I’m currently trying to learn Spanish and struggling a little bit. I’m luck enough to live in Spain which helps but although my comprehension is (slowly) getting better my speaking is still poor. I realise that in this respect practice makes perfect but I’ve heard many different suggestions on what works. So, what language are you learning/learnt, what methods worked for you and how did you take to a new language?

I am a language teacher and I found when I was learning Spanish it really helped me to do a language exchange. Meet up with someone, one week an hour chatting in English and next week in Spanish. Or if you can't chat just ask questions about new vocab and grammar. It really helped me. I did it in French too. And The Spanish person gets a free English conversation class.

essbee1 · Feb 24, 2019

I'm learning BSL and internet videos are helping a lot.

I must start looking for some BSL ones though.

Rodney Thomas · Feb 24, 2019

basque seagull said:
I am a language teacher and I found when I was learning Spanish it really helped me to do a language exchange. Meet up with someone, one week an hour chatting in English and next week in Spanish. Or if you can't chat just ask questions about new vocab and grammar. It really helped me. I did it in French too. And The Spanish person gets a free English conversation class.

I’ve heard that’s a good method. Did you do it weekly with the same person or go to a language exchange event? They have those events here but you are often speaking with someone for whom Spanish is their second language. I was stuck speaking Spanish with a french guy who had the strongest accent I had no idea what he saying most of the time.

pasty · Feb 24, 2019

I lived in Rotterdam for 6 months having married a Dutch woman, and her parents spoke little English so thought it polite to learn Dutch so I could speak to them. One of the best things I found was watching English/American tv programmes as the Dutch don't overdub, but put Dutch subtitles on, so I could listen to the English being spoken whilst reading the subtitles. Whilst I'm no way fluent in Dutch, I can hold a fairly good conversation.

cloud · Feb 24, 2019

I lived abroad for a few years, and found it helped to go to the cinema, as you can concentrate on what they are saying with no distractions.

I also went to an evening class - learning Russian, which might sound odd, but everyone in the class was in the same boat as a beginner, and the teacher was speaking slowly and using fairly basic phrases, so it seemed to work.

Also, as others have said, find someone you can speak with - I was in a position to date a few people, which is great because you get to learn the informal language as well as what is in textbooks.

Brightonfan1983 · Feb 24, 2019

Bakero said:
Find yourself an intercambio partner so you get the chance to speak regularly. That could also be your gateway to making Spanish friends.

In terms of studying, set yourself achievable goals and write a study plan to make sure you stick to them. Study regularly- a little bit each day, even if it's just 10 minutes.

Vocabulary is key. You can make yourself understood if you don't know the correct verb conjugation but if you don't know the word you'll get stuck. Make sure you learn vocabulary (and grammar) in context. A list of words isn't useful. Write the new vocabulary into phrases or maybe even short stories or dialogues. Personalise it if possible. That'll make it more memorable. Then try to use it soon and often!

Another vocabulary tip. It can be easier to remember pictures than words so attaching a mental image to a word can be useful. For example, the Spanish for puddle is charco so i imagine a shark swimming in a puddle (shark triggers the recall of charco).

I had a go at learning Polish for two years in Poland and even in situ it was extremely tricky - everyone everywhere ruddy speaks English! - and your recommendations here are very good ones.

Incidentally, from a text book I was using there, it suggested using the 'mental image' for vocab. Oddly, it used the example of Greek for 'dog', together with a little doodle of a dog retreiving a ski in snow. Hence "ski-loss" = skylos. Which I've remembered for nigh on 30 years. And never had occasion to use. Til now!

Official Old Man · Feb 24, 2019

I lived in Mallorca for 15 years and learnt a little Spanish, enough to get by. My kids had Spanish friends and learnt fluent Spanish just by being with them.
It was 1989 when we went out and at the time a great course was the Paul Daniels Magic Language Method.
Imagine a cow with a hoover in a field. Vaca. It sounds stupid but it worked.
Best way is to find a Spanish lover!

Uncle Buck · Feb 24, 2019

Trying to learn German badly.

Every time I think I have cracked a part of it, some grammatical curve ball kicks in. How can male toilets sit in the female tense? Crazy language.

Bakero · Feb 24, 2019

[MENTION=24493]Rodney Thomas[/MENTION] When I started out learning Italian I found Paul Noble's Unlocking Italian really useful. I read it just before I moved there and on arrival I was able to deal with a range of everyday situations (though that was helped by having a decent level of Spanish). Anyway, I believe there is an Unlocking Spanish book by the same author.

If you don't use it already, I recommend the SpanishDict app. You can create words lists organised into folders. There are example sentences in English and Spanish for each word too. Plus it has a grammar guide and phrasebook.

Graded readers are handy too. If you read them (or any book) on a kindle you can click on a word you don't know to get a defintion and translation. The word is then saved to your personal dictionary and a set of flashcards is created.

In terms of Podcasts, I like Español con Juan. They're aimed at Intermediate-Upper Int students with the objective of helping you move to advanced. Helpfully, all the transcripts are available online for free. He also makes YouTube vids which I find useful. He's not everybody's cup of tea though- my GF finds him very annoying.

Notes in Spanish are good too. Made by a couple who live in Madrid, English bloke, Spanish woman. I've listened to the Int and Advanced ones but they also do a beginner's version. If you want the transcripts, you have to pay but the audio is free.

BrickTamland · Feb 24, 2019

Lived here in Sweden for almost 2 years, am conversational and can read most things but nowhere near fluent. All Swedes under 30 speak perfect English which initially stalled my progress as it was so easy to fall back on. Duolingo is good for vocabulary but not for conversation. Took some lessons but didn’t find them useful. Now I just try and speak more with my girlfriend and listen to music, have subtitles in Swedish for everything in English, and just started some basic podcasts. Only was to get fluent is to get out and speak it. You can have it all in your head but until you get used to hearing it in every day situations you won’t improve dramatically in conversational skills.

happypig · Feb 24, 2019

.
wibble

Gwylan · Feb 24, 2019

basque seagull said:
I am a language teacher and I found when I was learning Spanish it really helped me to do a language exchange. Meet up with someone, one week an hour chatting in English and next week in Spanish. Or if you can't chat just ask questions about new vocab and grammar. It really helped me. I did it in French too. And The Spanish person gets a free English conversation class.

This.

I learned a basic level of German but my comprehension really took off when I made a good German friend. I'd spend a few days with her and we'd have one day speaking German and one speaking English. Being forced to speak another language really concentrates the mind.

And, as Bakero says, listen to Spanish as much as possible - the language starts seeping into your consciousness.

Two Professors · Feb 24, 2019

Me and the Mrs went to adult education classes for a year to pick up the basics.Unfortunately,the teacher was Venezuelan and the pronunciation (and some of the language) didn't sit too well in mainland Spain.A visit to a tapas bar every lunchtime,particularly if they let you into the dominoes game, is much more educational!

Uncle Buck · Feb 24, 2019

Gwylan said:
This.

I learned a basic level of German but my comprehension really took off when I made a good German friend. I'd spend a few days with her and we'd have one day speaking German and one speaking English. Being forced to speak another language really concentrates the mind.

And, as Bakero says, listen to Spanish as much as possible - the language starts seeping into your consciousness.

All good advice.

But the challenge in Berlin is people want to practice their English on you. So order a coffee in German and they still reply in English.

Bakero · Feb 24, 2019

Uncle Buck said:
All good advice.

But the challenge in Berlin is people want to practice their English on you. So order a coffee in German and they still reply in English.

Tell them you don't speak English.

Luckily, that doesn't tend to happen in Spain (unless perhaps if you're in a holiday resort or Barcelona). Even the people who can speak English are scared of speaking it.

BrickTamland · Feb 24, 2019

Language cafes/swaps are pretty useful too and I’d imagine Brighton has a scheme. If you wanted to learn improve, say Italian, then you go meet up with an Italian who wants to learn improve their English. Meet up over a coffee for an hour half in English half in Italian.

Meant to be good, only problem here is that swedes don’t need anyone to practice their English (as it’s practically second nature to them) so being an English speaker means I don’t have much to offer in return!

basque seagull · Feb 24, 2019

Rodney Thomas said:
I’ve heard that’s a good method. Did you do it weekly with the same person or go to a language exchange event? They have those events here but you are often speaking with someone for whom Spanish is their second language. I was stuck speaking Spanish with a french guy who had the strongest accent I had no idea what he saying most of the time.

I started doing language exchanges in my early 20s so I would put up a note in the English department in Spain or Spanish department in the UK at the local University. Maybe now in my 50s I would have more in common with someone a bit older hahaha so depends how old you are. Otherwise you could try a language school. I have always just exchanged with one person and organized it myself. Maybe you could try putting a notice up at a local language school so you could find native Spanish speakers. I have used this method with Spanish, Basque and French and it really helped. I have never used organized language exchanges but I think they work. Also if you can get Spanish TV try to find a series you like and follow that. It will be tough but you will get small chunks of dialogue and you can set dialogues to be sub-titled in Spanish. My sister is learning Spanish from zero and she watches this series: https://www.mitele.es/series-online/la-que-se-avecina/0000000003580/. Not my cup of tea but each to his own. Good Luck! Just take the learning process one step at a time, there will be good days and bad days!

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