czarina84

I don't have anyone that I speak with who knows Spanish. The way I keep it in my head is to listen to Spanish music and watch shows/movies en Espanol. That helps. How do you type an ~ over a word?

To "knock one out of the park" is to do something extremely well, usually exceeding original expectations. "In the homestretch" is to be near the end or at the last part of something. To "clear a hurdle" means to overcome an obstacle.

I don't have any experience or advice, but I just wanted to say thank you for considering it. Some people who know a second language won't teach it to others because then they will feel less special for knowing a second language. Selflessly teaching others is a wonderful thing.

I have never done this, but it looks like good practice. I think it would be really neat to be so learned in a language that I could correct a faulty translation. I have never really done much more than a word or two on a search engine translator. I try to go on sites dedicated to language translation for those. Even that doesn't always work because of idioms.

I apologize. I will try to make new paragraphs more often. I have tried it. I mentioned that in my post. That's how I do all the learning. I should have been more specific. I write it down once. When I hear the word, I can remember the meaning, although I never reread the definition. I'm not bragging. My brain is just wired differently. I was not being mean or antagonistic. I was just saying that some people have brains that function differently, so learning is a completely different process and that absorbing knowledge is unique to certain individuals.

I think it depends on how your brain learns. For example, I'm dyslexic, so I can't just hear and understand things. If you tell me a bunch of instructions, I won't be able to follow them. However, if you show me what to do once or write it down, I will be able to pick it up the first time that I do it. Language is the same way for me. When I translate, I write it down. Most of the time, I don't have to look at it again to have it memorized; it's the mere act of writing it down that helps me. I wouldn't be able to learn just from hearing others talk. If they use words that I already know, I can pick them out when they speak, but as for learning strictly from hearing others talk, I can't do it. I learned to speak by reading. My daughter is the same way. I put the lyrics on for songs and subtitles on for the TV, as well as reading books to her. She went from being 2 1/2 and only being able to say Mommy and Daddy and Hi to full sentences just a couple months later. She's not even three yet and she will come up to me and say, "I need some food" when she's hungry. She can even specify what she wants. "I need some pancakes." "I need some raisin bread".

I completely agree! I have been a fan of hip-hop/rap music since my early teen years when I first heard TLC, then I got into gangsta rap, then Crunk, etc. I have always been fascinated by the idiom/metaphor driven lyrics of the really talented rappers. Not 90% of the mainstream stuff, but the underground spitters. Most real hip-hop/rap is basically poetry speeded up and put to music.

I listen to music and translate it to learn new languages. I use Spotify for most of my music. However, the only foreign language (foreign to the US, that is) music that I seem to have run into so far is Spanish, one French song and 99 Luftballoons. What non-English songs do you know of on Spotify? Even if it's just a small portion of the song, like the chorus or a verse.

That is very interesting. I had no idea that shortening certain phrases could be construed as impolite. To be fair, though, it's kind of similar in English. Not that it's impolite to shorten words and phrases but some people think you uncouth if you use certain abbreviated versions of things. For example, slang and nicknames. Though we use them often in the English languages, some people think that only those of low or average IQ use them, without realizing there are many celebrities who have very high IQs and still speak as though they "have low or average IQ".

My preferred method is translation. I like to translate different things like songs, magazines...cleaning solution. If I see something in a store, whether it's a sign or a label, I try to translate what I can and see if I can figure out the rest, then check it against the English version. Most of the time, I am correct.

I have two main reasons for wanting to learn. One, because I love Spanish music. Two, because I live in a rural area where hardly anyone speaks Spanish. We do have some people in the area who speak Spanish and English (because they are Puerto Rican or Mexican or what have you), but so many natives of my area have grown up with the "if you want to live in this country, you should learn American" mentality. Yes...they actually say "learn American" and feel they can judge others for butchering the English language.

Actually, in America, we used "croak" as well.

I'm having a little trouble comprehending your problem. Is it that they can't understand the words you are saying or that you don't know how to write in their language?

I agree. Most of my problems come in when idioms are what I need translated. Most of the online translators don't have idioms programmed in, which makes it difficult for me because I listen to a lot of Spanish music, which uses slang, idioms, etc.

I think this is an interesting topic. I have no foods to add, because the foods you mentioned are the only ones I've heard of. You have also mentioned some that I haven't heard of before. I mean, I have heard of the foods, just not their nutritional benefits to the brain.

Actually, in a neighboring town, I worked at a convenience store and I got a few copies of an all Spanish newspaper. I can't remember the name of it now. I want to say the word "luz" was in the title, though. It's been over a decade and I don't live there anymore. I would get them, but my mother-in-law didn't realize what they were. She didn't read it, she just saw newspapers and used them to train her new puppies.

I don't know any other variations of "beside myself". One idiom that I never understood the history or relevance to the topic is "paint the town red". I have no idea how that relates to having a good time.

I never thought of it in terms of professional or unprofessional. I just always thought it was helpful. As it was said before, not everything can be translated to another language, as every language has their own quirks. That being said, I think not explaining that and just leaving it out completely seems unprofessional to me.

Animals DO have language. They communicate to each other vocally. They can understand what each growl and grunt means. Isn't that basically the same as human language just by different means?

Okay. Thank you. I'm going to check that out.

Once I learn Spanish, I'm going to brush up on my French. I listen to a lot of different types of Spanish and Latin American music (mostly Reggaeton), so I won't be in danger of forgetting it.

It's been a long time since I have heard either of those idioms. There's also "be a different kettle of fish" which means to be extremely different from what was just discussed or what is considered normal. "You were telling me about all of your exes, how about your current girlfriend?" "Oh, she's a different kettle of fish altogether." That are my contributions about fishing idioms.

That is very kind of you to offer. However, I only took 2 years of high school French. I got nothing less than a 95 on every test and my final grade was a 99, but I have no university training and haven't spoken the language in years.

Have you tried the Spanish course? That is the language that I'm currently learning.

I was originally asking for the subform, but then I noticed it under other languages a few days after. Thank your for responding, though.