What mixture of techniques do you use when learning?
Hello, how do you learn Spanish? What are you techniques?
A friend told me to have Spanish radio or Tv on in the background as this would help.
Do you think there is anything to this thought?
Thank you.
8 Answers
A friend told me to have Spanish radio or Tv on in the background as this would help.
Lazarus said:
For this to work, though, you must have frequent conscious and attentive sessions -you can't just pay attention for a minute and expect your brain to do the rest for the next 10 hours.
I have tried just having the radio on the background and it's simply a distraction as to what I'm doing. However, listening to the radio for an hour each night and paying attention has helped me tremendously. I also pay attention to the commercials, although the repetition is often obnoxious it is also helpful in learning expressions.
As for other learning techniques, I make a set of 50 flashcards each week and study them when I wake up and when I go to bed. I get the vocabulary from reading the news, listening to the radio, and thinking of things I'd like to say but don't have the words for, i.e., congresswoman and speed bump.
I don't watch TV because I think it's rubbish.
¡Buena suerte y bienvenido al foro!
The videos, flashcards, and reference material on this site are always very helpful. The forum is useful for a specific question. It also helps to have access to a Spanish-speaking community where you can test your skills.
I have tried one of the CD programs that are offered commercially, but I did not consider it worthwhile.
Buy a good English/Spanish Spanish/English dictionary. Participate in the forum here and take every opportunity to use the language.
A friend told me to have Spanish radio or Tv on in the background as this would help.
Just on the background is not likely to help much, but... certain experiments have shown that after focusing your attention at sounds and words for a while, the brain continues processing the sounds in the background (i.e. while you do something else), provided that you do one activity shortly or immediately after another. I don't think your brain will continue processing the grammar too (I haven't read such conclusions), but you are likely to get used to how the words sounds, helping you with your listening. For this to work, though, you must have frequent conscious and attentive sessions -you can't just pay attention for a minute and expect your brain to do the rest for the next 10 hours. Resting is also important.
My method of learning a new language is to try to use the things I learnt from the lessons etc. in conversations or even in my mind when I'm doing something... Like "Yeah, this is a table... es una mesa"
What's also helpful according to psychology is to learn by engaging all senses - that's what's so great about this site - that you can hear the words and sentences, see the pictures, write them down, translate what you hear, translate the written text, do excersises... many kinds of things to help you imprint the words into your memory. I really appreciate this way of learning a language. I've tried making my own paper cards but I was just too lazy to flip them every day. The computer and internet makes it so much easier
I think listening to music helps more if you take the time to try to translate the lyrics - that's what helped me in learning my english - translating the songs from the movie Shrek:D That way I learned also some slang words
...This post is getting too long so here I stop... You better go figure for yourself, the possibilities are vast in this age of free information I wish you fair winds on this journey^__^
I moved to a Spanish speaking country.
To learn a language properly and quickly, you have to live the language(living with spanish-speaking people,interact/speak with those who knows the language best).Watching spanish movies,listening to spanish songs/radio stations or reading spanish books is another way to develop/build your vocabulary.I have incorporated the latter which is helping a lot.You can also find penpals in spanish-speaking countries to chat with. 
Have you tried the Vorsprung durch Technik? It might not be the most relevant to your request but is it the punchline to quite a funny joke that is probably not suitable for this site...
I volunteer teaching English to latinos. Although I try to immerse them in English only, I teach beginners and one can't help but speak Spanish sometimes. Additionally it's very fulfilling.
