Sun, 22 November 2009
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Vanessa Rocchetta shares the secret of her success in speaking the language.If someone were to ask me how my path to learning Spanish has been, I would say it has been a long and tedious one.
It took me seven years before I could watch Spanish television programmes and listen to Spanish radio; and at least five years before I felt comfortable holding a conversation in Spanish. And even then, the conversations were limited to the weather, shopping and where I came from.
In my humble opinion, I think students have problems picking up the language because of two main reasons: teaching methods and unavailability.
Teaching methods
Many expats give up learning the language because the teacher only speaks Spanish and that is so frustrating. Most expats want to understand every word that is said rather than gather the general context.
Although having a teacher speak only Spanish is considered the best way to teach the language, many beginners need some native language to make them feel more comfortable.
Unavailability of students
There are always many foreigners who want to learn to speak the language after moving to Spain.
However, these foreigners are always going backwards and forwards to their home countries or missing classes because they have friends and family who have come to visit.
Unavailability of advanced classes
Spanish schools, offering native Spanish teachers often only have beginners’ classes.
Once you have mastered asking for a beer or coffee and saying where you live, it is sometimes difficult to find more advanced classes.
Of course this is no excuse for not being able to speak the language especially when you are constantly surrounded by Spanish people and media.
Tips on how to pick up the language
I have taken various Spanish classes over the years and find it best to be in a small group rather than one-to-one with a teacher. Being in a small group takes the pressure off you and you can learn from other students.
I've been living here 18 months. I spoke "tourist spanish" before I came - i.e. I could order beer and book a hotel room and that was about it. 18 months later I can chat (ungrammatically) with my neighbours, and shop happily (and not just in the supermarket!), although I still need a bilingual friend to help out with official business.
I think the main difference is that here in Extramadura almost nobody speaks English, so if I want to talk to anybody except my husband, I have to speak Spanish. Also, I live in a tiny village where everybody wants to know about their neighbours (especially about us, as we are a novelty): if you go out of the house you WILL end up in a conversation. Necessity and total immersion are big incentives!
I absolutely agree that you mustn't be afraid of getting it wrong. Your spanish friends want to understand you - they won't be marking you out of ten on your grammar.
My recommendations are:
1) Make friends anyway. You can communicate a lot with face and gesture to begin with, and laughter will get you a long way!
2) always carry a pocket dictionary
3) keep a really BIG dictionary at home and look up words you think you're going to need in advance
4) invest in a textbook - if you don't have the time or inclination to study (I don't), you can at least look up things like how to form the past and future tenses.
5) If you're going to watch a DVD, put the Spanish subtitles on if it has them. You'd be amazed by how much vocabulary you absorb.
Other ex-pat friends (not from English speaking countries, unfortunately) tell me that watching the afternoon soaps from South America on Spanish TV is a good way to learn because the actors speak much more slowly than the average Spaniard. I don't have a TV, so I can't comment.
I´ll keep this short and sweet...STOP WASTING YOUR TIME!!! Life is too short to waste your time and HARD EARNED money ( in this time of CRISIS), EUROS I MIGHT ADD, NOT DOLLARS. so, stick to the only language you need to know, the rest of Spain will catch up to us some day..they have to... to change the topic for a spanish minute, this pres. ( mr. yes, we can) is so way over his head he can´t even pick honest candidates for his cabinet..LOL SPAIN WITH THIS ONE
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