Trellum

When I worked and lived in Norway... I was so glad I could speak english, because if it wasn't because of that, I'd not have been able to be there in the first place. Speaking english also came in handy when I got my first writing job, they were seeking for a bilingual person and I turned out to be the right one! I just applied, got an interview... gave a sample of my work, signed the contract... and started working asap Knowing a second language has been one of the most useful things I've ever done for myself.

I really think the best learning method for you greatly depends on the kind of learner you are. If you are the visual,auditory, ready/write or kinesthetic type, then you will need a method whose main approach is the right one (according to the learner type you are). There are no bad or good methods, because there are some methods that really work for some people and do wonders, but that will not be the case for others. That's why you must really recognize the kind of learner you are before you pick a language learning method.

Yeah, I had to translate from spanish to english once I suspect I might have to do the same once my boyfriend and soon-to-be husband comes to meet my parents. He says he wants to learn spanish, but he also says a lot things, and so far he hasn't done a lot to accomplish everything he would like to do. Like for example stop smoking. I still have to see that day! I find translating to be easy, as long as you have to repeat what someone just said, but it isn't so fun when you have to write a document or a text. Yikes!!!

Hehehehe!!! That has been the best motivation I have read so far The cuttest and sweetest as well, and that automatically makes it the best one :3 LOL, seriously, good for you I'm sure you will not have any trouble finding a Maria That name is quite common in latin america, or it used to be! So, how are you planning to meet that girlfriend of yours? :3

I'm a native spanish speaker from Mexico, and I have a really hard time trying to understand what the people from Argentina, Paraguay, Venezuela, Uruguay & Bolivia say. I usually understand half of the things they say, the same thing happens to them when speaking with me. This is mostly because of the vocabulary they use, as well as the accent, of course.

Hello everyone! I'd like to ask all the members that are trying or have already learnt some spanish what their main difficulty has been. I'm a native spanish speaker, and I know how hard it can be to learn this language for some people, others seem to pick it up very fast tho. That's why I'd like to know what aspects of learning this language have been the hardest ones, was it the pronunciation? the gender of the words? verb conjugation?

This is an extremely interesting question, so far I hadn't stopped to think about it... I think I still think in spanish mostly. I also dream in that language often, sometimes I do it in english. I use english the whole day actually, so I'm surprised I'm not thinking in english that much. Sometimes when I try to speak in spanish I say a couple of words in english, then I remember I'm talking to my ma :grin:

Sometimes I might feel a bit confused when I have to write something in spanish, but that usually last a couple of seconds or maximum 1 or 2 minutes. I'm currently living in my country tho, but if I move to the Netherlands and I stop speaking spanish at all, then I might have some troubles when I have to start using it again. It can happen. That's why I plan to keep on using spanish, I guess I'll try to be friends with other spanish speakers living in the Netherlands I'm sure that will help me a lot! If not... I guess calling my mom once a week will do. Too bad she had no idea how to use Skype

That's great, Isabella How advanced is your spanish level now? Are you still working on it. Because I agree that watching TV can help a lot with pronunciation and so on, but it's never enough. It can serve as a great side-aid tho. Have you tried practicing what you have learnt with other spanish students? That can help a lot to boost your confidence, specially when you're not very happy with your pronunciation

I'm a native spanish speaker, I'm fluent both in english and spanish, but I don't think the english language would be the perfect language for something like this. Because the native english speakers would have an adventage over the ones who are not! So I really think the best language for this would be Esperanto, because esperanto was created to make the communication between people from different countries easier! It's very easy to learn, and it has borrowed several words from different languages. I think picking Esperanto as the world language would be a more fair pick

They can be pretty efficient, but the results will depend on the student, it's similar to taking certain medications; some might give you some really bad side effects, but other people report no bad side effects. So in the end it really depends on the kind of learner you are. Each person learns in a different way, and some people need extra help when learning a new language... I never needed any kind of help when I started learning english in my own, but I don't expect other people to be able to learn the same way I did! So, if you think online tutorials can work for you, then you can just give it a try! That way you will know for sure.

Hola! Que clase de español deseas aprender? Ya que hay muchas variaciones dependiendo del pais de habla hispana, asi que debes decidirte Especialmente porque en un pais de habla hispana una palabra puede significar una cosa totalmente diferente a lo que significa en otro pais... un ejemplo de esto es la palabra''concha''. En mexico esta palabra se refiere a un pan dulce muy rico, pero en argentina es una cosa totalmente diferente

Hoy fue un buen dia (disculpen la falta de acentos, es que estoy escribiendo con un teclado americano) ya que por fin me llego lo que habia ordenado hace dias por internet. No fue exactamente lo que yo esperaba y todavia tengo que probar el producto mañana, pero por lo menos me alegra que haya llegado. Jejeje! Ya me ha pasado que ordeno algo por internet y nada mas no llega! No me ha pasado muchas veces, pero con una sola vez basta! Hoy tambien halbe con mi novio, estamos super emocionados de que vamos a viajar a Holanda en Enero. Vamos a conocer a sus papas Estoy nerviosa, pero emocionada.

I used to work and live in Norway when I was younger, I learnt a lot norwegian when I was over there, but that wasn't the reason I was there. I was there mostly because I loved the culture and the country, I liked the language as well, but my main goal wasn't learning it while I was there. I just wanted to have a great experience working abroad, be outside my country for a bit and enjoy life over there. I've heard of a lot schools offering thier students language courses in the country where the language they want to learn is spoken. Most of them must be really expensive tho, but some of them go as far as promising the students to help them find a job once they're in that country (as well as helping the with the work permit and so on), so they can help themselves a little while they're studiyng the language there. Sadly this is too expensive! I think only the rich people in my country can truly afford it... some of those courses require the student to stay in the foreign country for a full year!

Sadly this happens very often I recently found some nice videos for learning dutch, but sadly the girl who was making those hasn't uploaded a thing since 2010 I felt quite disappointed when I found out. That's the only reason I really don't like to use Youtube to find good language learning videos. They seem to have a lot videos of the languages I don't even want to learn tho

I actually wanted to learn Russian when I was younger, I wanted to learn as many languages as possible and I thought russian was a really beautiful language I never got to learn it tho, I learn a couple of words, but that's it. As I got older my life changed, so did my priorities. Learning a new language is no longer a hobby, right now I'm doing it out of need. I need to learn Dutch really bad because I might be moving there soon. I'm in a rush right now

That sounds like a really lovely plan, Bonnie You should take your time in Spain tho, since the spanish language originated there, and this country is filled with a lot amazing places. I really advice you to visit Granada and Toledo, those two cities are totally filled with history! A very rich an interesting history Specially Granada, this place is full of ''juderias'', mosques and amazing castles. If you are a fan of photography, I'm sure you will like it there!

Same here, I think I'm a combination between visual and read/write learner For me it's easier to remember things I previously wrote, it really helps me to memorize things! So I don't think it's odd at all I think each person is different and this also applies to learning languages and things in general. That's why is so important to find out what your learning style is

I consider sign language to be a real language, I took a few classes so I could communicate with some classmates who were taking a special class because they were deaf. I saw them using the sign language all the time, and I can assure you that it's a really complete and detailed language. I never got to really learn it, not to a conversational level at least, but I got to learn a couple of words

You're very welcome I actually had a very similar test when I was younger, I could never fit in any of those learning styles either. But I always knew it was easier for me to learn by writing and memorizing. Because visual never quite did it for me.

You're more than welcome, Becka! I'm glad you liked the infographic I actually found really accurate and useful too, I'm a mix between a visual and a read/write learner and so far this is the only article where I hear something about the read/write learning stlye! I found a lot of the things in the visual learner section to be true for myself as well

Wow, that's awesome! I can't think of a better reason to improve your spanish or any other language than the possibility of getting a job that pays better! I guess learning english helped me to do the same, but I never knew it would when I was learning it So, how far are you from this goal? How long have you been studying the language?

The most romantic language? Uhmmm, I gotta think this tru, I think that would be italian for me. I just love the way italian sounds, it's not as annoying as french! There is something about the french accent I really dislike, but I think italian is perfect. It's the perfect language in my opinion I'd love to be able to speak italian, but I don't think I'll ever learn it.

I'm bilingual, and to be honest learning english was one of the best decisions I've ever made in my life. If it wasn't because I started learning it when I was 16, I'd not have been able to take all the oportunities that knocked in my door. I think I'd have never had those oportunities if it wasn't because I' speak english! I found a good job some months ago because I'm bilingual, and that gave me a huge adventage over the other workers, or so my boss used to say.

I think most languages have vowel sounds but hebrew is the closest to being a voweless language, not many languages out there are written with no vowels. So for me that qualifies as voweless language, since the alphabet uses NO VOWELS, and consists of consonants.