Should I Quit SpanishDict ???
I have been using SpanishDict for a while now and no matter how hard i try , I can't make any progress.I;'m doing everything I know to do on this website to learn but no matter how long i practice , no matter how dedicated i am , im always at a standstill.I started to think for a second that it wasn't me it was just the forum it self but then i got to thinking , " It helped all these other people but why won't it help me ??? " Does anyone have any advice for me?
23 Answers
For the time being I went 4 times through the Spanish lessons with Paralee and each time I got a deeper understanding of Spanish. I will not stop here, I will study them again and again. I realised that my weak point is verb conjugation therefore I focus on this. I am reading again and again the grammar section. I make sure that I spend more time with lessons than with the forum. I started on the 6th of April 2012, but by using the site I can read confidently in Spanish - I have already read 4 books. The first one was a nightmare, but as I progressed things got easier. I can watch movies and news with fairly good understanding. Writing? I make spelling mistakes, but I learn from the feedback other people give me. Will I ever be perfect? No way! But I will do my best. Important in life is excellency and not perfection. In order to improve my speaking -and to "aprovechar" the Spanish culture I will go to Madrid on the 15th of July.
Thanks to team of SpanishDict that gave me the opportunity to learn Spanish for free with such an efficient method. You made a good job - I used properly your site and I am going to use it further.
Por el momento que fui 4 veces a través de las clases de español con Paralee y cada vez que tengo un conocimiento más profundo. Me di cuenta que mi punto débil es la conjugación del verbo, por tanto, centrarme en esto. Estoy leyendo una y otra vez la sección de gramática. Me aseguro que me pasar más tiempo con las lecciones que con el Foro. Comencé el 06 de abril de 2012. Puedo leer con confianza en español - ya he leído 4 libros. La primera fue una pesadilla, pero como avanzaba las cosas se pusieron más fácil. Puedo ver películas y noticias con bastante buen entendimiento.
¿Escritura? Hacer faltas de ortografía, pero aprendo de la retroalimentación. ¿seré perfecta? ¡No es posible! Pero haré mi mejor esfuerzo. Importante en la vida es la excelencia y no la perfección. Con el fin de mejorar mi habla - y a 'aprovechar' la cultura española voy a ir a Madrid el 15 de julio.
Gracias al equipo de SpanishDict que me dio la oportunidad de aprender a español de forma gratuita con un método tan eficiente. Hiciste un buen trabajo - usé correctamente su sitio y voy a usar más.
Yes, I have some advice if you want it. Before you decide to quit, why not do a few more lessons? It's great to take part in the forum questions and answers, but you need a strong foundation in any language.I notice that you have only finished one lesson and that is not nearly enough to make a judgement on how well or how quickly you can learn. I never leave a lesson to go on to the next until I'm confident that I have understood it fully. You may forget some of the vocabulary, but if you understand the concept, you can always go back and study the flashcards to get your vocabulary back. Yes, it takes longer to get through the lessons that way, but I know (I'm absolutely positive) that I am learning. Good luck!
I second what Margherite said. Concentrate your efforts on doing the lessons and not so much on using the forum. You might want to suppliment this place with some other things - like an audio course so you can work on pronounciation.
Personally, while I find this site helpful it is not my only learning tool. I use the Pimsleur course, a grammar book, various vocabulary learning tools, chats with some native speakers I know, and gobs of media in spanish to help me get there.
It's a bit of a grind, but as long as I keep putting one foot in front of the other I know I will keep getting better.
Best of luck.
I agree with all the great tips and encourage you to continue. I have completed one year of a formal on-line class through a college while working a full-time job. It seemed I was only able to retain the chapter I was on until I started writing things down on paper and making physical flashcards. I could never learn from lectures by making recordings, but when I took complete notes the information finally stuck.
It also helped to find some Spanish speaking rock music and print out the lyrics and trans lations. Juanes and Shakira are my favorites and annunciate well.
I feel I am only now digesting the course and understand how frustrating it can be not to have the vocabulary to exprress complex thoughts yet.
Good luck!
First I just want to say to the people encouraging you to stay, make sure you are asking her to stay because of the learning ability, not because you might have to admit that SD needs some work. Pride and all that rot, you know....
But to you, Listen, you have only completed 1 out of 60 lessons. There is lot in the rest of those lessons. I strongly suggest you complete all of them and if you find that your learning is still "blocked", then perhaps you should look at some of these websites on this post: Other Spanish sites. But until then, you should not quit. Keep in mind, that if you decide to take a break for a while, that's perfectly okay. Also, no one should pressure you to stay unless you, yourself, want to. Cheers and good luck.
(Oops, sorry, Margherite, I did not read your post before writing my own.)
If all you are doing is posting in the forum, then I recommend that you try some other approaches. Definitely go through the lessons and check out the flash card sets. One of the things that has helped me is to read articles and books in Spanish about topics I am interested in. I also think the workbooks in the "Practice Makes Perfect" series very helpful.
Amiga! Stay with us!
But, I do think it helps to join some kind of class too, to practise speaking and getting more confident.
I could never have learnt over the internet only, I cannot remeber a flashcard from one minute to the next..
So, find something you're happy with, use that as well, and please, stay with us and enjoy it! Everybody learns in different ways and at different speed. It's not a competition, remember.
It's for life! Go to Spanish speaking country and order up a meal or a room, you will feel very superior to non-Spanish speaking companions..
I very rarely get a chance to progress in speaking Spanish. Today, I went into the hair dresser's, and I thought she had a Spanish-speaking accent. I almost didn't ask, "¿Habla usted español?", and then somehow the words came out. She asked what, so I asked again, ¨¿Habla usted español?¨
For the rest of the hair cut, I felt a little silly because I didn´t understand everything she talked about, but I remember the first conversations I had with my friends in Florida, and I was using different words with the hairdresser and I was able to follow her Spanish more than I ever have before. She talked about her ¨hijos¨ in ¨colegia¨ and that she had ¨cinco nietos.¨
I know it´s sticking with my Spanish that brought me this far. My vocabulary, grammar, and verbs are all improved. So I recognized them in her speech.
I hope you see the small steps you have made over the past years and realize you may know more than you think!
Something that might help is to figure out what kind of learner you are. Visual, auditory or kinisthetic. The link I've posted will help you to figure that out. Once you know you can try to take the bulk of your learning in that form. But I agree with the others, this site has many advantages but I have found that using a few sites, a few books, a few podcasts and trying to immerse myself as much as possible in the language (by listenning to Spanish music etc) has been helpful.
And if you're looking around the web I have also posted a few lessons here in written and audio form that you may find helpful - they are divided into beginner, intermediate and advanced sections.
SD is great, but most folks will need multiple sources. I use it, local meetup groups, and Pimsleur when driving hth roger
For a quick way to grasp the basics of Spanish grammar, you could try the Michel Thomas audio course. This works for some, not so much for others, but it certainly is worth a shot.
I think not leave so early. Hang on some more days. If you have interest in Spanish language, surely you will improve. I am also facing the problem in grammar and verb conjugation in the lessons. Though I proceed well to complete a lesson. But not confident enough to write anything.
Hey! you can practice with me. Podemos usar skype or msn, hablo español como primer idioma. No te rindas! 
Before you leave would you mind sending me a list of the "Worlds greatest Quitters ".
Starting with "Lance Armstrong " , oops he did not quit did he , after three bouts
of life threatening cancer he went on to win the "Tour de France" 7 times in a row.
Now all you have to do is put your head down and your bum up and" STUDY "maybe
1 hour a day learn ten words a day and you have it licked instead of it licking you.
Keep at it, giving up is for the weak. You can do it! 
When in doubt, just remember Jesus shuffled for you.
Jeje, ok in all seriousness. Learning any new language is no piece of cake and but it can be fun and once you begin to catch on you'll never want to stop. Also, native speakers of that language will appreciate your attempts and offer you some of the greatest help. Never give up, ever.
