What's the best way to learn Spanish?

[Diletante]

I would say Romance languages are generally far more difficult verb-wise than Germanic languages.

English verbs are ridiculously easy to conjugate (which I'm thankful for hehe). German verbs are a bit more difficult, but it's no nightmare, either. They never gave me much trouble, at least.

Spanish verbs are really messed up. You have an insane amount of "models" to follow (or so I've read). As a native speaker, I ocasionally flub some conjugations and sometimes I actually have to see a dictionary to be certain if I'm conjugating that verb right. And this comes from a native speaker who actually makes an effort to speak correctly and is interested in his language.

Not to mention Spanish makes extensive use of the subjunctive mood and its special conjugations (neither English nor German use the subjunctive to that extent), and we get two different verbs for 'to be' (ser and estar), which learners find difficult to differentiate (I can say that because I've read many learners messing up that one).

On the other hand, Spanish is way easier than German when it comes to cases. Cases in German are my nightmare. Besides, we have only two grammatical genders (masculine, feminine) instead of the three in German (masculine, feminine and transexual  ).

[Iconito]

“...El hecho es que el idioma español adolece de varias imperfecciones (monótono predominio de las vocales, excesivo relieve de las palabras, ineptitud para formar palabras compuestas), pero no de la imperfección que sus torpes vindicadores le achacan: la dificultad. El español es facilísimo. Sólo los españoles lo juzgan arduo.” --Jorge Luis Borges.

Besides:

The people who clean our building speak Spanish.

So it can’t be that difficult! 


As for the best way to learn Spanish, I think nobody has mentioned getting a teacher? I guess I’m too old fashioned... 

[Brünnhilde forever]

You better clarify that, Mein Freund! Your remark might be taken as a statement of NO irregular verbs in the German language, which of course is a fallacy. I have eight pages of those critters in my Cassel's! 

[Sarastro]

-- the brain learns a lot of the language's structures, grammar, and sounds often through unconscious processes: so, listen to Spanish soap operas, radio, podcasts, etc. often even if you only get a small portion. Even if you feel you aren't learning anything your brain is actually doing work.

That's actually a great advice.
Think about children thrown into the language-spoken environment and how fast they pick up although knowing absolutely nothing about grammar...m-m-m. I personally started understanding Italian after having listened to many operas -- without ever looking into the dictionary. 0:)

Cases in German are my nightmare.

Well, there are fewer cases in German than in Russian. In Russian everything has to be declined and conjugated to the proper forms. I find German beautiful.

[LapsangS]

On the other hand, Spanish is way easier than German when it comes to cases. Cases in German are my nightmare. Besides, we have only two grammatical genders (masculine, feminine) instead of the three in German (masculine, feminine and transexual  ).

Haha. German has too many cases? Try Finnish. We have all 15 of them! Even I can't remember all their names. But I can still use them in my daily conversations.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Finnish_language_noun_cases

[Diletante]

Just for the record, I do know that other languages have far more cases. I was just comparing the languages I have studied.

[Anne]

I have not read this entire thread but the following was advertised on TV tonight:

1-800-704-1664

www.rosettastone.com

The ad was saying how easy it was to learn a language using their materials.  I know nothing about this company.

[SonicMan46]

I have not read this entire thread but the following was advertised on TV tonight:  1-800-704-1664

www.rosettastone.com - The ad was saying how easy it was to learn a language using their materials.  I know nothing about this company.

Anne - what a coincidence!    We were out to dinner w/ another couple last night, who said that their son was learning Spanish using RosettaStone, and that he felt this was one of the best programs he had ever used!  Of course, as w/ all of these great comments comes the cost - very expensive! 

[jchen]

I learn Spanish!
Do you know the basics? 
I think the best way is to take a course. I don't know. 

[Anne]

Glad to hear info about this, Dave.  I had no idea if it was good or not.

Maybe we all should take the class together.  I'd vote for Italian or German.  Russian would be great except for that alphabet.

[jchen]

Spanish isn't that hard.

[jchen]

I am learning Spanish at school, but I still want to improve it. I need to speak more  That's my major weakness. Moving somewhere is bad. I am the only one in my family who knows Spanish. My brothers know some, but not as much.

[jasoncharles]

The best way to learn Spanish Language is that you really need to go immerse yourself in a native Spanish speaking environment. There are immersion programs in foreign countries that will have classes while simultaneously housing you with a Spanish speaking family. Learning in an English speaking country is extremely difficult and you will never truly learn the language because academic language learning is very different than practical, everyday usage. If you don't have this kind of option then I would recommend taking courses where there is interaction with a teacher and other students (community colleges are inexpensive) and watch alot of Spanish television to pick up on the colloquial language. Remember though that Univision is mostly Mexican and each Spanish speaking country varies slightly (or alot) with there use of language.



Take a look at:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/
http://spanish.about.com/
http://in.youtube.com/view_play_list?p=4C4C36BA529A86ED&playnext=1&v=YA8DybfLsOQ
http://learnspanishreview.net/SpanishArticles/