Learning Spanish independently

Question

I'm 16. I already speak Russian and am strongly considering learning Spanish. It's been a conflict for me choosing between French/Spanish or just not starting on a new language at all. I live in the United States so I feel that Spanish could be helpful for my future. I also like the way it sounds.

The problem, however, is that I don't have access to Spanish classes and high school classes are usually somewhat hopeless. The thing that's sort of discouraging about Spanish is that from what I've heard at least is that it can be difficult to understand since there are many dialects.

I'm wondering how I can do this all at home by myself. What tips do you have? Can you share some experiences?

Thanks in advance

P.S. I apologize if this is in the wrong category.

Hi there and welcome. I think you've chosen a good place to start. Although I'm not in the same location as you are, I don't have access to spanish classes but I've learned a lot in 9 months. If you want to do it, you C A N do it. Good luck. - 0095ca4c, Jan 27, 2013

Answer 1

Great question! And what you said about it being discouraging sometimes since there are so many dialects is so true! But luckily depending on what area you are from (I'm from the US too), you can narrow down the version of Spanish you're learning to be specific to American/Mexican Spanish. Although I am learning Spanish in high school, for the most part I learn it on my own, so here are some things that have helped me:

--Find books to read in Spanish that are at your level. For beginners I'd recommend children's books or if you're bored with that, side-by-side English/Spanish texts of more advanced stories.

--I've found that when I was first starting, listening to music in Spanish was a great tool to learn new vocabulary since the words stuck with me better. Now that I'm past that stage it's just fun! You can find pretty much any style of music in Spanish!

--There are lots of free podcasts on iTunes if you have Apple software, or you can just get the same audio lessons online. Two that I really like are Coffee Break Spanish and Showtime Spanish (http://radiolingua.com/shows/spanish/) and Notes in Spanish (http://www.notesinspanish.com/) since they have lessons for all levels of Spanish learners. A slight setback for Latin American Spanish learners is that they are all from Spain, but at least the basics are the same.

--My last tip is to make it fun! Always look for opportunities to learn and use your Spanish, whether it's reading the Spanish instructions on the back of a pack of frozen food or tuning in to the Spanish radio, or whatever, just make it fun! One last thing along those lines is that you can incorporate things you enjoy into your Spanish-learning. For example, if you like cars or music or the outdoors or whatever else, you can find websites and videos and other resources in Spanish having to do with those.

Answer 2

I have been independently learning Portuguese and doing just fine! At first, I did feel discouraged and would give up from time to time. I was having troubles with pronunciation and felt like the only way I could learn was with a teacher. However, I realized I was just being too lazy and not taking advantage of a great resource. This fantastic resource is the internet! You'll find so many websites dedicated to language learning, connecting with natives, etc. Not only that, you can find songs to translate and also watch movies and shows online.

The other posts are really great and I feel I would only be repeating what they already said, so basically I'll cut it short here and leave you with a few last words. Do it if you truly want to! It can be done! All you have to do is put forth the effort and dedication.

Answer 3

Zdrastvuite, redmirror78! (Sorry, I don´t have the Cyrillic font on this workstation!) There is no real substitute for live interaction with a native speaker, but there are lots of resources you can use, IF you decide to really work at it. Check out Paralee´s videos on this site - they are really good. Check out duolingo.com as well. You´ll find lots of Spanish-language videos on youtube as well if you want to listen to different pronunciations. There are teachers who will work with you on Skype, but these are likely to charge you something. There are also CD sets you can purchase - you could go all the way to Rosetta Stone, but probably don´t need to. But I´d be very surprised if you can´t find Spanish speakers in your own community in the United States. There are more and more of us, maybe not native speakers, but dedicated learners - I hope, like yourself! Get started, then start sharing with us here on SD!