Fin Del Año
As it is the time of the year for reflection, I thought it would be nice to hear from people as to why they are studying Spanish, how they have done it, and what they have achieved over the months and years.
What is your story ?
Happy New Year.
8 Answers
Hola, TomTomTwo... ¡Feliz año nuevo!
Empecé a estudiar español en la prepa hace 13 años. Desde entonces, lo he estudiado por mi cuenta de manera intermitente. Actualmente, tengo un nivel intermedio. Tengo mucha ansiedad al hablar con otras personas, y eso me impide mejorar mi español hablado.
Lo que hago yo para mejorar mi nivel de español es incorporarlo a mi vida cotidiana. Veo series, películas y YouTube en español, leo novelas, intento hablarlo con mis niñas y, a veces, con otras personas por Skype. Solía usar un método que se llama "traducción directa e inversa" que consiste en econtrar un texto en tu idioma meta, traducirlo a tu idioma materno, y después, traducir tu traducción de vuelta a tu idioma meta. Suena un poco tedioso, y lo es, pero me ayudaba mucho.
Mi esposo es mexicano, así que él también me ayuda. Vivimos en México, y uno pensaría que siempre estoy interactuando con otras personas y practicando mi español todo el día, pero desgraciadamente, no es así. Creo que eso es un buen propósito de año nuevo-- ser más sociable y hablar más. :D
I started learning Spanish 13 years ago in high school. Since then I have been learning on and off on my own. Currently, I am at an intermediate level. I have a lot of anxiety when speaking to others, that that prevents me from improving my spoken Spanish.
What I do to improve is incorporate Spanish into my daily life. I watch series, movies and YouTube in Spanish, read novels, try to speak it with my girls, and sometimes with other people on Skype. I used to use a method called "traducción directa e inversa". What you need to do is find a text in your target language, translate it to your native language, and then translate your translation back to your target language. It sounds a bit tedious, and it is, but it helped me a lot.
My husband is Mexican, so he helps me as well. We live in Mexico, and you would think that I am always interacting with others and practicing my Spanish all day, but sadly, that is not the case. I think that is a good New Year´s resolution-- be more social and talk more.
Happy New Year, Tom.
I began studying Spanish in 2011 and I am still trying to learn. I have not devoted enough time and effort to it as I should because I am really busy with work and school. I have found interacting with others works very well for me. I also use flashcards, but that, of course, only takes you so far. Listening to programs in Spanish also helps. It takes time and patience and practice is key.
This is the first time I've seen this thread. Happy New Year, everyone (again)!
I decided to start learning Spanish when we moved back to the USA to care for our elderly mothers after two decades in Scotland. I had planned to get a job right away, but caring for my mother in law took over so I was in the house nearly 24/7. I needed to do something to keep my mind fresh. In hopes to find paid employment some day, I wanted to learn Spanish since it would be an asset in an area where there is a large Latino population.
I find the more I learn, the more I enjoy it. I started with SpanishDict (and am still here), I watch Spanish TV every day for about half an hour, listen to the Latino radio stations, and more recently have started taking the Fluencia lessons. Using Fluencia has really stepped-up my confidence all around and is definitely worth the money.
Thanks for opening this thread, Tom, and I look forward to seeing you around SD in the future. Good luck with your studies.
I took Spanish for one year when I was in about 3rd grade. Then in high school, I took French and stuck with that for several years (in addition to the required 4 years of Latin). Now 35 years later, my family and I were going to Spain last summer. We had bought a few Pimsleur lessons to help my son in his Spanish class (of course he didn't use it), so I took the opportunity to do the lessons before our trip. I enjoyed it so much, I bought the later lessons as well. I did pretty well on our trip, so when we returned home, I kept up with it. In fact today, I just finished Level 6.
We've got a fairly large Latino population here, so whenever I can, I try speaking to Spanish-speakers. i wish I had more opportunities, but it's not as easy as one would think to just go out and find a Spanish-speaker.
Anyway, I love language in general, so I'm enjoying learning Spanish.
So few responses for a busy site.
I found your thread. I have no idea how it got deleted, but here it is. I apologize for that. Thank you for letting us know.
Thread has been revived, any more stories to share ? Anyone ?
There are hundreds or registered users, and active users, on this site - we have to have a lot more stories of what motivated you to learn Spanish.
