Learning Spanish

[McLovin]

Anyone done it as an adult?
Am interested in hearing some experiences and recs.
Gracias!

[red-beard]

I did. Marry a native Spanish speaker.

[Evans, Marv]

I started learning Spanish after the age of 32. Learning a language is a great way to challenge yourself. I haven't really used it in a very long time, just on rare occasions now. When I was able to use it frequently, one of the rewards was getting to detect the individual personalities of the people you come into contact with. I used it traveling in Mexico, Spain, & Central America decades ago. Traveling is where it's most rewarding. The best way to improve yourself with a language is to immerse yourself in it as much as possible. Picking up certain phrases on how things are said is interesting, as in - Oh! That's how they say it. Go for it!

[Zeke]

This would be a great advantage for me if only to understand what was being said. Might be cool to not reveal that I could understand Spanish but I don't think I could keep quiet.

The one thing I hate out on the job is to give instructions and think that I'm be understood. Lot of head nodding but lot of no comprende.

[sammyg2]

I learned Spanish almost overnight, you just need to know a few phrases to get started:

four by four means please
Addidas (like the shoes) means goodbye
Merry Christmas is fleas on my dog.

See how easy it is?

[sammyg2]

Originally Posted by red-beard

I did. Marry a native Spanish speaker.

LOL my wife's maiden name was Gallegos and she doesn't speak any more Spanish than I do, but she and my kids carry on conversations in Russian just to annoy me

The learned it from my MIL.

[Don Ro]

It appears to be a fairly easy language to learn.
Some 34 years ago I'd tell my Mexican workers that I wanted to learn one word per day.
I picked it up after a few years. Not so much the tense, but the words.
Just spoke to a Mexican today, in fact. One of a crew from across the street.
Dug up a huge shrub in my front yard.

[WolfeMacleod]

Originally Posted by red-beard

I did. Marry a native Spanish speaker.

All you'll learn is swear words.

[sammyg2]

She's pretty good, this should help:

[David]

Originally Posted by red-beard

I did. Marry a native Spanish speaker.

So far it’s not working for Thai. I’m pretty lazy tho

[Don Ro]

^^^
You married a Thai? Wonderful people. Caring and giving.

[look 171]

Originally Posted by Zeke

This would be a great advantage for me if only to understand what was being said. Might be cool to not reveal that I could understand Spanish but I don't think I could keep quiet.

The one thing I hate out on the job is to give instructions and think that I'm be understood. Lot of head nodding but lot of no comprende.

I am always the only one not laughing when they say something. I am sure its about me...all the time. Thankfully two of my guys are fluent in both English and Spanish I really should psy them extra to translate.

[red-beard]

But seriously....

After being married for 2 years and noting that she wasn't teaching me grammar (verb conjugation), I took a year of conversational Spanish classes twice a week. Shortly after that I started traveling to Romania, through France. Over 3 years I spent a lot of time getting my French up, picking up Spanish and learning rudimentary Romanian (the bastard red-headed step child of romance languages).

I wouldn't call myself fluent in any of them. But I certainly can get around in Paris in French and in Mexico in Spanish. I can carry on "easier" conversation with my in-laws. The best way is to take some classes and then follow up with actual conversations.

I recently was on a trip to Puerto Rico. My business associate asked why I wasn't speaking Spanish, what was the issue. I said "speed". He slowed down his speech and we spent most of the rest of the night in Spanish. I think if I spent a year in Mexico or Puerto Rico I could be semi-fluent.

[wdfifteen]

I hope to start Spanish classes this fall. As Marv said, learning a language is a good way to challenge yourself. When I had a Danish girlfriend I tried to learn a little Danish. Best way to speak Danish it is to stick your finger down your throat and say, "clock" a bunch of times.
I was in Fredrikshavn ("Fraiksown" in Danish) having a conversation with a bunch of Danes after I had been in Holland for a week or so and they ask me if I thought Dutch was an ugly language. Before I could catch myself I said, "It sounds just like Danish to me." Almost caused an international incident.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by Zeke

This would be a great advantage for me if only to understand what was being said. Might be cool to not reveal that I could understand Spanish but I don't think I could keep quiet.

The one thing I hate out on the job is to give instructions and think that I'm be understood. Lot of head nodding but lot of no comprende.

My friend had a Mexican father and a Swedish mother so he came out light skinned but hung out with the father side of the family so was fluent in Spanish.
He worked as a waiter and when the buss boys would talk s**t about him he wouldn't say anything at first... then later in the evening he would shock them by dropping some Spanish on them.

I have tried checking out CD's from the library and listening to them while I drive.
I have the "Spanish for dummies" book (not a book for conversational Spanish but just enough to travel with).
I was born in Los Angeles.
Best luck I have had had was having two coworkers coach me... but they no longer work here.
But still no hablo espanol.

[Paco Anton]

I wonder why nobody has suggested tuning to Super Holly yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7L9dYqSW1g

Buena suerte aprendiendo espaņol!!!

[Oracle]

My wife has tried Rosetta software and has worked incredibly good..

[CurtEgerer]

+1 on Rosetta Stone. I am re-learning French and it is very intuitive.

Expensive, but check the thrift stores, garage sales. Found the French RS for $2 and found Portuguese RS for $1.

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by Paco Anton

I wonder why nobody has suggested tuning to Super Holly yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7L9dYqSW1g

Buena suerte aprendiendo espaņol!!!

And that right there folks is why you can learn to speak Spanish from lessons and you might be understood in Spain's parliament or the Cortes Generales. But on the streets of this country, good luck.

She speaks of idioms... and then there's Spanglish. Also Mexican slang. Knowing how to speak Spanish as it's spoken around here would be like going way up into the Appalachian mountains to learn English.

I loved the one about pan comido or "piece of cake."

[LeeH]

The guy in the Ted Talk has a new app that's coming out soon. I've read lots of praise for his methods. That being said, my Vietnamese is coming along very slowly!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/gabrielwyner/fluent-forever-the-app-learn-to-think-in-any-langu