RedRose

I can relate completely. I listen to a lot of J-Pop and German music, and even though I only know a few words or phrases in those languages, I can relate to the music. The instruments and how they're played have a lot to do with the emotions of a song, too. Of course, there are songs I mistake for being joyful when they're actually about bad breakups with a boyfriend/girlfriend, but for the most part, I'd like to say that I can mostly connect to songs sung in a foreign language. However, it's always best to try to find the English translation for songs sung in a different language, just to avoid any misinterpretations.

I think doing all of those things -reading, writing, and speaking- are essential to learning a language. I think that speaking is more helpful, though, because it reinforces certain words that are used in daily conversation. Also, if you embarrass yourself while speaking to someone, you're more likely to learn and remember the correct words/phrases to avoid future embarrassment. Reading and writing definitely shouldn't be neglected, though, especially if you're learning a language for business purposes. It all depends on the person as to how they learn best and how interested they are in learning, though.

Easy: talk to Spanish-speakers! That's the best way to do it. See if your town offers Spanish lessons and opportunities to speak with native Spanish-speakers. Watch Spanish shows on TV. When looking up vocabulary words, try to see if there's an option to listen to how that word is pronounced. Also, if you're having difficulty rolling your 'r's', the best way to practice is to say 'butter' repeatedly. Your tongue should hit the roof of your mouth and the back of your teeth slightly when you roll your 'r's'. This is what helped me learn, since I can't roll my 'r's' naturally. Since you're re-learning Spanish, hopefully you'll get back into the swing of things quickly!

I've done that before, and it's a very helpful method. My Spanish teacher in high school would start us off at the beginning of the school year by writing stories of about 250 words, and then by the end of the year, she'd have us write stories of about 600 word within a half hour to forty-five minutes. She would give us a picture and make us write a story about it. By writing stories, it helps you practice grammar and vocabulary immensely. I learned a lot of important Spanish verbs, such as 'decir' and 'sonreir' by writing stories. I would recommend doing this.

I would start as soon as I think that he/she was capable of learning a second language. I have friends, however, who live in a house with parents that speak two languages, such as English and Spanish, and they said that they practically learned both languages from birth. I would start teaching a child as young as three or four years old the general basics, but if you start speaking to them in different language at a very young ago, it might 'click' for them faster than for children what start learning a different language when they're five. It never hurts to start early.

That's interesting. As a female, I have the same problem. Whenever I don't know how to say a certain word in Spanish, I decide not to say anything. I think that is what is holding me back from speaking Spanish fluently. We all have to make mistakes in order to learn- it's trial and error until we can get it right. I've forced myself to speak more in Spanish class, even if I don't know how to say a sentence correctly, and I've found that I've been improving. You just have to get over the initial embarrassment and keep practicing.

I'm currently studying Castillan Spanish, and the lisp is slightly weird, but I'm getting the hang of it, haha. I've spoken to people from other Spanish-speaking countries, and the difference is astonishing. I've spoken to my aunt (who is from Peru) in Spanish and I understood her completely. I've spoken to a woman from the Dominican Republic, however, and I could barely understand her because her accent was so thick. It's interesting, but it really shows how many different dialects of Spanish there are.

I heard that Mujeres al Borde de un Ataque de Nervios was really good! My friend watched it in one of her classes and really enjoyed it. I try to watch Spanish films to get to know the language and the culture better, but I really can't seem to get into any Spanish films. I'll check out Almodóvar and see what he has to offer. Everyone seems to be raving about Bad Education, so I'll check that film out, too. Sorry that I don't have any suggestions, but I'll try watching the movies and see how much I like them for myself.

Don Quixote is way to complicated for beginners. Instead, try looking up passages from the book online. Try to find the chapter regarding Don Quixote trying to fight the windmills. That chapter is usually what Spanish learners read first from Don Quixote. Start with that, and build up from there. I can't remember the titles of other simpler stories, but I know that there are some stories online that are meant for beginners.

As long as you tell him nicely to slow down and offer to help him pronounce words, then there shouldn't be a problem. You just have to be nice about it, and also be encouraging. Say something like, "Hey, you're doing great! But, you need to pronounce this word like this...," and there shouldn't be an issue. If he's eager to learn, then he should take your suggestions kindly. I hope he wouldn't react angrily if you tell him politely. I can't imagine that he would. Good luck!

The resources available on the Internet have helped me immensely with homework and with learning Spanish. I wouldn't say that technology has made me smarter, but I know how to utilize technology to help me with assignments. Technology overall has made life easier, and thanks to that, I can spend more time studying. You definitely have to careful when using your phone or the Internet- using it inappropriately can hurt you in the long run, and can make you seem 'dumb'. I just try to make sure I don't send any text messages that I'll regret and I use the Internet 'responsibly', even though there are no rules set in stone as to how to use the web responsibly. I guess not harassing or trolling people would be responsible...even though it happens all over the Internet :/

NEVER confuse the word embarrassment with the word embarazada. Why? Because embarazada means to be pregnant! If you want to express your embarrassment, use the word avergonzado. If you're a woman and tell your friends that you're embarazada instead of avergonzado, you might give them a shock or extremely confuse them. I'm not sure what the reaction will be if you're a man and you say that, but you'll probably end up confusing a lot of Spanish-speakers, too. Either way, don't make this mistake, to ensure that you don't get embarrassed a second time!

So far, it's Don Quixote. I haven't finished it yet but it's extremely good so far. I'm reading it in English right now, but sometimes I reread a chapter or two in Spanish so I can see the difference between the English and Spanish versions of the story. Don Quixote is a nut-job, though. However, I like the messages the story tells. I also liked Una Carta a Dios. It's a short story, but I liked it. I also want to read One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez. I heard that it's a good read, too.

During high school, I would study and do my homework on my bed. I know you're not suppose to study on your bed, but it was the only place in my house where I could study in peace. Right now in college, though, I'm studying a lot more in the library. It's usually loud in my dorm, so I usually spend hours in the library doing papers or reading. It's nice and quiet, too, so I end up staying in the library for hours at a time without realizing it!

I would try to teach my kids a language (Provided that I ever actually do have children). I wouldn't want to force them to learn a language, but hopefully, schools will encourage children to learn a second language in the near future. I'd let them learn whatever language they want to learn, too. I'd like them to learn Spanish or Mandarin, but ultimately, it's up to them. As the world becomes more in-touch, though, everyone will soon have to know a second language. I definitely wouldn't want my kids to be left behind.

Here's another one in Spanish:

Erre con erre cigarro,

Erre con erre barril.

Rapido corren los carros,

Cargados de azucar al ferrocarril.

Here's the translation:

'R' with 'R' cigar,

'R' with 'R' barrel.

Quickly run the cars,

Loaded with sugar on the railroad.

My Spanish teacher taught my class this one, as a way to practice rolling our 'R's'. It's a very interesting tongue-twister, too, even if it makes no sense!

If you are truly interested in learning Spanish, then you must put a lot of time and effort in. You could always try to see if your community offers Spanish classes, but if you're tight on money or unsure if you want to pay for a tutor, then you may want to download the app Duolingo. The app is free and offers several quizzes and tests for learning Spanish. You may also want to make flashcard while learning Spanish vocabulary. I would suggest to try using Duolingo or attending a few beginner classes that teach Spanish to see if you truly want to learn the language. Good luck!

Llorar = To cry

I think it's interesting because the verb Llorar isn't always used in certain sentences. The phrase 'Cry out for help' translates to, 'Pedir a gritors por ayuda.' But, the phrase 'To cry one's heart out' translates to, 'Llorar desconsolademente.' It's a mouthful! Whenever you learn a word, learning also how to use it in a sentence is helpful.

Me gusta MUCHO la paella de España. Me gusta más con el pollo. Tambien, de España, me gusta las croquetas. Si nadie lo sabe que son, las croquetas son comidas fritas que tienen una puré de patatas, queso, y un tipo de carne o verdura. Y, finalmente, me gusta los empanadas de jamón y queso. Todas las comidas tienen muchas calorias, pero el sabor es más bien de aquellos pensamientos.

Me gusta escribir y cocinar. Yo no escribio cosas buenas, y solamente es un hobby. Me gusta concinar cosas como las galletas y las tartas. Yo puedo hacer las galletas de chocolate muy bien...si yo no puedo, nadie en mi casa comería mis galletas, jaja. Si, yo soy una persona aburrida. Lo siento, yo lo siento más para mi español terrible. Oh, y también, me gustar aprender las lenguas.

Thank you for this! I still confuse 'affect' and 'effect', and it's annoying because I never seem to use the right one whenever I'm writing. The Fewer/Less section was interesting, too. I never knew that the two words were that different from each other. I also laughed at the orange-zombie bit. This is a really nice and convenient guide. It's a shame that a lot of people don't understand that grammar really is important.

This isn't completely mortifying, but pretty embarrassing: during my AP Spanish class, I had to work on an assignment with a partner. We had to talk about the consequences of global warming on the environment. I wanted to write down about the extinction of polar bears, but I couldn't completely remember the word for bear (It's oso). My partner couldn't remember either. For some reason, I confused oso with orejas, which means 'ear' in English. So, on the paper, I wrote down this: La extinción de las orejas polares. In English, that says: The extinction of polar ears. POLAR EARS. When my teacher saw our paper, she looked at it for a moment, then at me and my partner, and asks us what the heck a polar ear is. I explained it to her and she thought it was hilarious, but other students overheard and then I became pretty embarrassed when some of them laughed at me for not remembering what bear meant in Spanish. Sigh.

I had the same Spanish teacher for three years in high school, and in her classes, she only spoke in Spanish. She was one of the best teachers I ever had. It was difficult for me to grasp what she was saying during the first few months I had her, but once I became accustomed to her accent, everything slowly became more comprehensible. By my senior year, I could understand what she was saying, and I didn't even realize it until one day the realization just hit me. You may not have the same teacher for years, like I did, but ultimately it's best to get absorbed in the language, instead of having everything be explained in English.

For me, reading in Spanish is the easiest for me, but listening and speaking is the most difficult. My Spanish teacher put a good emphasis on speaking skills, but I don't have strong communication skills, which made learning how to speak in Spanish more difficult for me than it was for the average student. When I took the AP Spanish test earlier this year, I had no problem with reading the passages. I worked through those sections fairly quickly. Writing the persuasive essay went okay, too. However, I know I didn't do well with the speaking/listening section. I still passed the test, but I know now that in order to achieve fluency in Spanish, I need to work on my communication skills more.

I went to England for two and a half weeks, and I came back to the U.S. with a very slight English accent. I didn't notice it until my grandmother, who went with me to England, pointed it out. I was beginning to pronounce some words differently, apparently. As soon as I came back to the U.S., the accent went away, of course, but it's funny how it happened so subtly.