Bit the bullet and have finally signed up for 15 weeks of Spanish classes. Went to the first one last night and really enjoyed it and came away feeling strong about making introductions and small talk about myself so hopefully that will continue!
Anyone else done similar and what was your experience like?
Fantastic! glad you and hubby doing this!
You can not relay on few classes per week to learn quickly or efficiently. Need to do "homework" if you want better results.
Once you take a few classes and build up basic vocabulary, start watching Spanish TV news and read Spanish news papers on line.
The subjects which are usually covered in the news, and formats, are pretty much standard internationally. You will be able to "recognize" a lot of words and phrases, even if you have not learned them yet. And for you it will be easier, since you already learned French.
Just look for similarities between all European languages that you are familiar with, even if it is just few words, and if you think you found "similar words", look them up to make sure. Start with simple stuff.
Spanish: El Mundo (The World)
Donald Trump
y Bernie Sanders
arrasan en las primarias de New Hampshire
………….......… (and)………….......……(sweep/win) ……………………………………..
http://www.elmundo.es/internacional/2016/02/10/56ba900a22601d49278b4635.html
French: Le Monde (The World)
Bernie Sanders
et Donald Trump
remportent la primaire du New Hampshire
………........…… (and)…………......……(take away/win) ……………………………………..
http://www.lemonde.fr/elections-ame...mportent-le-new-hamphsire_4862356_829254.html http://www.lemonde.fr/elections-ame...mportent-le-new-hamphsire_4862356_829254.html
I'm not sure "the elephant drinks water" will be totally helpful for my trip to Madrid in April.
Ah! but the trick is not to just lean about “elephant”. Take the sentence structure….
“El elefante bebe agua”….. and work with it (with any sentence or phrase).
First look at the foreign phrase and see which words you recognize (for whatever reason):
- “Elefante” is clear, it’s the same in most European languages.
- “Agua” is clear, it’s “aqua” etc..
- “Bebe” could be figured out, since you’ve been to Spain and ordered “Bebidas”/drinks, and it’s sometimes a slang word for “drinks”.
So now you have 4 words you know even without a dictionary.
Now, the sentence: “El elefante bebe agua”.
Look up substitutes: I drink water, dog drinks water, man drinks beer.
Then build up: Elephant eats carrots, I eat ice-cream, etc.
If you take few phrases, sentences, words you learn in each class, and play with them at home like homework, the progress will be faster.