Arrrrgh! I'm so frustrated!

Question

I just wrote two whole paragraphs in Spanish all about my day and it took me a loong loong time, and then when I pressed send my computer froze and it happened twice! There is no way I'm starting again...

I want to just know Spanish already so I can start learning a new language. I'm stuck in this stage where I'm past all the basics. I can say my name, the time, the weather, where I work, and where I'm from. I can even make whole sentences, but I'm on the level of a two year old! I'm tired of saying "Soy de Los Angeles. Yo vivo en una casa. la casa es grande. Hay una manzana en la cocina. La manzana es verde". I want to speak!

All these conjugations are endless and I'm only at the beginning! Plus, how I supposed to figure out how to say things like "I broke into my own apartment", "My head is killing me" and other lingo that doesn't translate exactly from English?

Thanks for listening.

Edited: changed the category - Issabela, Feb 1, 2010

I once had to rewrite some 8 pages of essay simply because I didn't save properly...I feel ya - TheSilentHero, Feb 1, 2010

Answer 1

Don't get frustrated!!! Do things to work smarter and not harder, for instance to avoid losing your data, save your texts in a document frequently (then you can copy and paste into whichever field in an e-mail or website when you've completed your work).

Learning a new language is going to be hard at first until you get used to how the rules and vocabulary starts to sink in. But don't lose the aspect that learning a new language is something interesting, that you want to do, and you enjoy doing.

If you begin to start losing ambition, you may want to rethink why you're learning in the first place.

Also, there's a variety ways of learning Spanish (or another language), through writing translations, reading literature, speaking with other people (both native and non-native), and listening to television, radio, etc. Little by little the pieces will fall into place, and remember it's not necessarily the destination, but the journey on how you get there

I'm learning because I like languages. I just need to go to a Spanish speaking country for a little bit or I'll never get past this. - Chavag, Feb 1, 2010

OMG, you're in LA! there should be plenty of ways/places to immerse yourself in Latino Culture and Spanish speakers (especially if I can find it in Chicago) - bdclark0423, Feb 1, 2010

For that I'd have to be ready to open my mouth and speak to complete strangers in Spanish! - Chavag, Mar 9, 2010

Answer 2

Hi, Sihara. How long have you been studying Spanish? Everything you have already learnt needs some time to settle down. I've learnt the present tenses, the subjunctive, three past tenses, some conditional structures... and I feel I need a break from "the new". At the moment I'm revising some of the material, doing grammar exercises, listening to podcasts in Spanish, and writing something from time to time.When I feel I'm ready, I'll move on with the lessons on SpanishDict, because now I don't want all the tense and mood endings to mix in my head. Cheer up and don't give in - we need a crisis every now and then to get some motivation to work harder