Spanish learning techniques

Question

Hi guys, im new to learning spanish, ive been studying it at my upper school in UK for a year now, and ive chosen it for a GCSE and wish to continue studying the language at university/college i have family who live out there and when older would like to visit more reguarly and have the comfort of speaking to others.

I'm learning the routes of the lanugage quite quickly i can engage in simple convosations concerning name age where you live etc etc and can ask questions, i understand simply how verbs are conjugated and know 1-100. Nothing amazing but i've started learning at home making flash cards practising my vocab, i was wondering if anyone could give me some tips on how to improve and what i could do? am i learning it wrong, am i missing out on a better way than already? please answer and help me out

Answer 1

Here's something, sort of like a formula, that helped me a lot starting out with spanish. To make a sentence: 1. Start out with a pronoun, Yo (I), Tu (you) El (he) Ella (she) 2. Next use a verb in it's conjugated form, quiero (I want) quieres (you want) 3 Next comes a verb in it's infinitive form ir (to go) 4. Now comes a preposition and a noun, or prepositional phrase, a la tienda (to the store)

So you have: Yo quiero ir a la tienda. ( I want to go to the store)

You can create hundreds of sentences this way.

Couple tips. It's not always necessary to use a pronoun in spanish. It sort adds emphasis. You can just use the conjugated verb with the pronoun implied (quiero = I want) as a lighter way to speak, It's equally important to listen to other's talk. Some people have accents that can be a challenge to comprehend. Hope that helps.

this is the sort of answer i was looking for,thanks alot for taking the time to answer my question, i have learned the conjugations of regular verbs so i would be able to make sentences like you said above thanks for the help much appreciated :) - Spanish_Beginner, Oct 5, 2013

Answer 2

Read my blog then.

http://learnspanish-english.blogspot.com/

@chileno I have just read your blog, so the message your trying to get across is not to focus massively on grammar but more on speaking and listening? - Spanish_Beginner, Oct 5, 2013

Correct. Anybody that tells you that you need grammar to learn a language, does not know what he or she is talking about. Simple. - chileno, Oct 6, 2013

Just add me on Skype and tell who you are and your time availability and I'll talk your off with some more stuff. :-D - chileno, Oct 6, 2013

"tell me" or "say/state" :-D oops - chileno, Oct 6, 2013

Paradoxically my english grammar improved from learning spanish and making the connections to english. That was just one of many benefits. - dennywells, Oct 6, 2013

Answer 3

I think that the self-study is important, there are other ways to help in the language like a songs, although my English is very poor the music help me for learn news words. I hope that device help you anyway.

Thanks a lot Alexandra1021 appreciate your feedback - Spanish_Beginner, Oct 5, 2013

Answer 4

No, I don't think you are doing it wrong at all. If you can engage is simple conversation after a year of study, you are progressing very, very well. Keep using the tools available such as the flash cards. There are several internet sites for learning the language. Check them out. I have a favorite one where the lessons are very clear and succinct. If there are shops run by Spanish speaking people, visit them and drive the people crazy by practicing your Spanish. (Just kidding, usually they will appreciate the fact that you are trying to learn the language.) One tool that is available in the US at public libraries is the Pimsleur learning series called the "Pimsleur Approach" an audio CD series of lessons. I don't know if this would be readily available in the UK but you might look into it.

Thank you kirk1. - Spanish_Beginner, Oct 6, 2013