www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I have been learning Spanish on a CD set I bought. I was just curious if anyone has enrolled into a Spanish course at a community college? Was it beneficial or was the CD sufficient.

Thanks,
1life2live

in my opinion, you get out of it what you put into it.

a course at a local school will not hurt, but you can also learn on your own if you are serious and devote the time.


this means reading, reading some more and some more reading.

CD's are also good for practicing pronunciation.

the grammar and picking up a strong vocabulary is what i think will slow you down.

do you get a chance to speak it every day?

here in south florida, it is spoken everywhere.

practice, practice and speak, speak and read, read, read.

i would plan on devoting a couple of hours each day even if it was just watching some spanish language television or radio stations.

don't slack off or you will lose what little you gain.

if you have any native spanish speakers for friends, try just hanging out with them and just listening.

the school will provide a good foundation but no one class, CD or book will do it alone.

_________________
The difference between a Sea Story and a Fairy Tale is that a Fairy Tale starts out 'Once Upon a Time..' and a Sea Story starts out 'This is no Shit...'

(export version only, some restrictions may apply, some assembly required, not valid where the sun don't shine...

if you live in the states of Poverty, Darkness or anywhere outside of The Blessings of Civilization Trust, Inc...other rules may apply)

Thanks California for the reply. When you say read, read and read. Do you mean to pick up a book written in Spanish and try to interpret it word by word using a dictionary?

i read text books to learn the proper grammar and also try reading spanish newspapers and magazines.

my spanish is not strong enough to read spanish novels.

since so many people speak spanish here in south florida, i can speak it better than read it.

but, you are on the right track by taking some formal classes as well as home practice with CD's and/or text books. some of the text books make you also write/translate lessons.

I would like to become fluent at a professional level. but it takes a lot of work.

here is a link to where Coolhand posted some free Pimsleur lessons.

I play them on my computer when working or surfing the net.

https://costaricaticas.com/phpBB2/viewto ... t=pimsleur


and here is a good link for translations


http://www.freetranslation.com/

_________________
The difference between a Sea Story and a Fairy Tale is that a Fairy Tale starts out 'Once Upon a Time..' and a Sea Story starts out 'This is no Shit...'

(export version only, some restrictions may apply, some assembly required, not valid where the sun don't shine...

if you live in the states of Poverty, Darkness or anywhere outside of The Blessings of Civilization Trust, Inc...other rules may apply)

1-Life...

Taking Spanish courses in Costa Rica (or Colombia) makes a great "excuse" to travel south. There are literally dozens of Spanish schools/immersion programs in the Valle Central de Costa Rica, some of which are a stone's throw from Gringo Gulch. Tuition isn't really expensive, and if your job requires Spanish proficiency, you might even be able to write off the costs at tax time.

Programs come in a couple flavors: For mongers, the three-four hours per day, M-F option is often the best, as it leaves you a significant amount of time to enjoy yourself. Plus, you'll meet a lot of non-pro ticas. If you're more serious and don't need to mix language study with mongering, a full immersion program, including living accomodations with a Costa Rican family is a wonderful option. You'll speak Spanish every day, watch T.V. with the family, interact, and learn the culture as well as the language.

Fluency is not easy to achieve. I have been working more or less diligently for 40 years (!) to speak Spanish at the level I have now...a strong intermediate bordering on "superior," per the Foreign Service Institut's O.P.I. that I took a few years ago. Still, la effuerza vale la pena. The effort is worth it.

Here's a couple things you can do:

* Watch Univision or Telemundo on your local cable/satellite service, especially the news. You already watch the news in English, so you'll quickly understand the Spanish versions of the same news stories.

* Listen to local Spanish-language radio stations and try to understand announcements, commercials and song lyrics (tough!)

* Pick up a Spanish-language newspaper once in awhile. Like the T.V. news, you'll already be familiar with many of the current topics, and with the help of a dictionary, you will quickly build vocabulary.

* Do take a course at a local college, if you can manage the time, but don't expect miracles. Be sure to test for proficiency before choosing a course/level at which to begin. It can be either really boring (going over the same material you already have learned on CD) or frustrating ( you select a course far above your current proficiency).

* As C-dude wrote, if you have Latino friends, hang out with them and just listen. The problem with this is that many of the native Spanish speakers you will encounter in the U.S. will speak Spanish with their own dialects, slang and vocabulary, so you might not be learning "textbook Spanish."

One more thing: Did you know that our two favorite mongering destinations in C. and S. America are places where the "purest" Spanish is spoken? Colombia is considered to be nearly by-the-textbook, with Costa Rica only slightly more difficult to understand. The Spanish spoken in these two countries will be far easier to understand than Spanish as spoken in other places. For instance, many experienced, semi-fluent non-native Spanish speakers find it incredibly difficult to understand Cuban Spanish... so C.R. is a great place to study Spanish!

I wish you buena suerte (good luck) and I salute your determination to learn Spanish.

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Pura Vulva! Wandering through the dark, I am El Ciego.

El & California, thanks for the in-depth posts. I have given it serious thought about moving temporarily to Costa Rica or Medellin, Colombia to learn Spanish. Than a dose of reality hits me and I know that I cannot leave work because I have the same financial responsibilities that everyone else has.
The more I go out, the more I am convinced that I need to learn Spanish. For example, this afternoon I was walking near my home and 2 people asked me for directions. They hardly spoke English and I tried to help them with my limited Spanish. It just seems that being able to speak Spanish is a must to remain competitive today.

This site was mentioned on another post http://convena.upb.edu.co/cdelenguas/ele.html. I emailed them, but the email address does not work. I finally called, and I think if I ever make the plunge I would give them a shot. Of course I would visit first.

Most importantly, I have to believe that speaking Spanish would enhanced my experience with the chicas by 10. That is reason enough to learn the language, IMHO.

1life2live

And Cujo wins another convert!

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mh

Cujo should teach a class for us when he's in town.

_________________

Living well is the best revenge
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MwUtj_YnNoY

Gladly Aug 27th- 9 Sept

1life- Listen to El C. He has a great handle on the language (albeit quite proper) and he's a cracker from Minnesota

I can't add much to what has been written other then the opinion that I have that guys should focus primarily on speaking and comprehension. I don't want to discourage reading and writing but for mongering purposes, I'd say you're going to want to speak/understand.

Regardless it's commendable trying to learn a new language. See you on the other side of it all. I'd love to hear about your new Costa Rica when it's over

P.s. what a fitting 2,000 post for me

Cujo

_________________
"Pain is the fuel that fans the flames of my pyre. A battle plan is only as good as the general carrying it out on the field. This is my war son, and I have the biggest bombs and the smallest conscience"...

Quite true, although even Mr. Ciego, who does have a good handle on Spanish, has by his own admission been studying for 40 years. If EC had been living in San Jose, he would be as fluent as any Tico.

IMO, one should first try to get a grasp of the fundamentals and taking classes is a great way to achieve that. After (and while) you learn the fundamentals, immersion is the single best way to improve and become relatively fluent. Expats who live in San Jose and don't speak Spanish might have reasons that they don't, but they don't have any excuses.

Ciaociao

1life2live, here is a good site that does translation and pronunciation:

http://translation2.paralink.com/

There is a saying that when you know a second language you also have a second life. So after you learn you can change your name to 2lives2live !

Another saying by some famous person is:

The best way to learn a foreign language is in bed with a native woman.

Good Luck !

_________________
Softbob

There is nothing either good or bad
but thinking makes it so.
HAMLET

I think the best way to learn the language is by practicing and speaking. It helps a lot if you take a class in a college. It’s very easy to climb in proficiency from ‘novice-low’ (pure beginner) to ‘novice-mid’. It becomes more difficult as you climb the proficiency ladder. Students who major in Spanish in College and finish a BA after four years are expected to be at least at the at an ‘intermediate-high’ level of proficiency.
All the advice given by El Ciego in my opinion is great: watch Univision or Telemundo, Listen to local Spanish station, read a Spanish newspaper, take a course at a local college, talk to native speakers, etc. But, be realistic. It’s much more difficult for an older person to learn the language, and very few people has the tenacity, desire and dedication that it is necessary to reach the ‘intermediate level ’of proficiency. It is easier to learn Spanish if a person knows well the intricacies of English grammar and constantly compare/contrast both languages. Reaching an ‘intermediate level of proficiency’ (known by non-experts as ‘fluent’) takes about ‘300 hour contact’, so it is not easy to achieve and it could be frustrating for someone who doesn’t know this fact. How do you achieve these ‘hour-contact’? One class in high school is about 25 ‘hour-contact’, and one class in college is about 50 ‘hours-contact’. Also you can accumulate ‘hour-contact’, by being actively engaged in meaningful conversations with native speakers. So, to conclude with my initial sentence, a good language learner is someone who is not afraid of engaging native speakers and not embarrassed to make mistakes—he is a risk taker (linguistically speaking). Also, quite often (but not always the case), this person also has a high ‘cultural I.Q.’ and feels appreciation and respect for the target culture /language.

Panadero

Thank you for your illuminating post. Of particular interest to me is the concept of "contact hours." Can you point me to a website or authority which will discuss these concepts of contact hours and 'intermediacy' more fully? I've certainly experienced the requisite contact hours, but feel my Spanish is at the level of a five year old native speaker. Although that might sound elementary, 5 year old K*ds are able to fully communicate.

Ciaociao

Ciaociao32001,

Most scholars in second language acquisition and proficiency in the U.S. follow the ACTFL proficiency guidelines. Here you can read about proficiency guidelines:

http://www.sil.org/lingualinks/language ... ntents.htm

If you want to know more about the concept “contact hour” and the importance in language acquisition I advise you to read the following book: Context, Contact, and Cognition in Oral Fluency Acquisition: Learning Spanish in at Home and Study Abroad Contexts.
Authors: Segalowitz Norman & Freed Barbara. Publisher: Cambridge University Press.
(ISBN-0272-2631) http://www.cambridge.org

I think is great you are trying to improve your Spanish. It really does not matter what is your proficiency level. The important thing is to strive for improvement. I wish you much success in your journey.

Contact Hours

At first I thought this meant time in the cama with chicas. Too bad, because I'd be able to speak Spanish fluently by now. Thai and Russian too.



Seriously though, I looked at that website, and my speaking ability seems to fit best in the Intermediate High category although on some days it would certainly be worse. For me, listening depends a lot on the speaker. The news is usually pretty easy. Novellas are good too for everyday stuff. I find the accents of some CR chicas difficult to understand.

I like Pimsleur and TV/Radio for speaking and listening improvement.

Studying grammar, whether in a class or from a grammar book also helps with reading and writing. I find that I can read most of the newspaper, but it's really hard to understand what the majority of chicas write to me because they often have no education beyond the 5th grade level...

Oh, having a Dominicana FWB (friend with benefits) here at home helps a bit too. Now I have to start learning some Portuguese...

_________________
"All them women gonna make me,
teach 'em what they don't know how..." TMIB