www.CostaRicaTicas.com

Info I've gathered from here on Spanish language courses. I only went back 2 years to compile
https://costaricaticas.com/forums/vi ... =9&t=31847 >>advise using only the Latin American version
https://costaricaticas.com/forums/vi ... 15&t=32512 >>esp. Hioctane's Post
https://costaricaticas.com/forums/vi ... =1&t=29392
https://costaricaticas.com/forums/vi ... =1&t=28546 >>esp. Californicationdude on choices
https://costaricaticas.com/forums/vi ... =1&t=30678 >>El Ciego on renting from http://www.audible.com

Download sources: http://www.megaupload.com see also this vid on free upgrade to Premium service
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nslWbxQ_oWe
http://www.RapidShare.com/index.php?q=r ... n_american >>this site also purportedly has Pimsleur

Direct sources: http://www.rosettastone.com http://www.pimsleurapproach.com/learn-spanish.asp
or check your local library or Craigslist

Other Courses: http://www.FSI-language-courses.org http://www.RocketSpanish.com SpanishLikeCrazy

NOTE: This isn't a complete list; additions and corrections welcomed.

_________________
"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

I have posted before about Synergy Spanish. I have tried a number of different courses and this one is the best one I have found. It is strictly conversational, you are not conjugating verbs. check it out at:

http://www.synergyspanish.com/

Brother CoolHand did the membership a favor with this past post

Thought I would share with my CRT brothers something that has aided me.

Pimsleur Spanish

CD1
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=UDDS8AQA


CD2
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=07O3ZHQA


CD3
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=5Y6HXN81

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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)

Looks like it's just the audio files Sr. Greengo, I had another link to the transcripts but it's no longer active.

_________________

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

I've not seen any transcripts around, but there is a reading booklet that comes with each set. It's not that large and not that comprehensive - you'd do better reading the newspapers and attempting your own translations.

I don't recall any transcripts, and I've used Pimsleur for both Spanish and Portuguese. As mentioned above there are small booklets that come with each group of CDs. I photocopied them and then never looked at them again They aren't full transcripts though. I think they were just answers to some of the questions.

I got my Pimsleur disks from the local public library, so it's possible that the full program from the company contains more than the disks and the small booklets.

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

Jazzbo,

Thanks for compiling the language learning information in one thread. This should become a sticky because the older threads can be difficult to find, especially for those who don't know they exist

This is my method for learning Spanish and Portuguese on the cheap:

1. Borrow Pimsleur from your local library up to the highest level they have. Then download to your computer so that you can work through it on your own schedule. Work through each lesson more than once.

2. Buy a small dictionary, verb book and cheap beginners text book with exercises and answers. On Amazon you can buy all three for less than $25 total for Spanish. Work through all of the chapters and exercises. Make an attempt to memorize the vocabulary words from each chapter of the textbook. They are generally the most commonly used words. Learn a couple of verb tenses too. "Tarzan eat cake yesterday," sounds as silly in Spanish as it does in English.

3. Work on the language for an hour or more per day at least 5 days each week. Pimsleur can be done in your car while commuting. Text book during lunch or instead of TV.

4. If you can scrape together some money, local community colleges usually have inexpensive courses.

5. Practice with a cute native speaker. If that's not an option, use the language whenever you can, for example when you buy burritos from the Mexican food truck for lunch
It's not real until you use it

6. Once you feel a little comfortable with the language, start to watch either novellas or the news. Novellas are best if your goal is just to talk with the chicas. The style of speaking on the news is far too formal for speaking with the chicas but is useful if you want to apply your new language skills professionally. Who knows, if you have the right kind of job you could end up getting sent on business trips to places like Costa Rica like many other CRTers.

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

does anyone have Pimsleur english for spanish speakers they can share with me? Any level, my girlfriend wants to go thru all 3.

I forgot to mention I am in Costa RIca, all over, if you are here, another possibility is I could copy your discs to my computer if we meet?

I've had good progress with Fluenz Spanish version F2 (bought new in 2010).

I'm only halfway through Level 2, but the chicas said they clearly understood everything I said, though I had a few things all phucked up.

If you put in the effort to learn Spanish, it really pays off. I've made very simple jokes using the little Spanish I know, and it would get laughs from the girls. SO much better than being the horny retard who can't even say "tu tetas son fantastica". Granted, getting laughs from the girls of SJO is no Mt. Everest...

Yeah, doesn't take much to amuse most of the chicas-a morning watching cartoons is heaven to most of my 19-yr. old girlfriends in CR

_________________
"cuz I'm a back-door man" Jim Morrison-1969

Does anyone have any experience with the iTRAVL talking translation device?

yes i have one, but a little too big, the voice recognition I find useless as are many other features, it only recognizes certain phrases it already knows and you have to say it perfectly as programmed. Even so I never use that feature, and feel the unit could probably be considerably smaller without those features. For example if the unit is programmed to understand "where is the airport?", and you say "how do I get to the airport?", it may not understand what you mean. It is slightly better than a regular pocket dictionary because it does have many phrases that help with idioms that cannot be translated exactly word for word.

What I think is a million times better is the translator app I have on my iPhone, it does phrases and paragraphs which the iTravl does not, plus you get many languages in the same program, not just spanish. It's free app, or maybe it was $1. The iTravl charges I think around $50 for each language chip. Plus the iPhone is much smaller and lighter than the iTravl. The only drawback of the iphone translator is that you must be online for it to work... That can be a serious drawback overseas because I usually shut my data roaming off because it is so expensive. I stay in 'airplane mode' when overseas, but whenever I have broadband wireless, like in my apartment, or hotel, I can use the broadband free like people do with the iTouch which is just a fancy iPod. If you stay off the cellular network it is free. As a result, if I am going to dinner with someone I need a translator for, most restaurants do not have wireless, so I will bring my iTravl, but I only use it as a dictionary. Since a pocket dictionary is smaller, and I find many of the other features of the iTravl not useful, I prefer to take the pocket dictionary instead, but the problem with that is often it is too dark for me to read the tiny print in the dictionary - in bars and restaurants, unless outside in the daytime. The iTravl has a lighted display like the iPhone that is easy to read in darkness, and like I said it has phrases.

This trip to costa rica I have fixed the problem by taking my older iPhone down from the States, and dedicating it to the system here, changing the chip, and I expect to never use the phone again in the states, it is my CR cellphone, so I have unlimited data, means I can use my iPhone anywhere with the translator. If you plan to stay in CR very muck this is definitely the way to go, it is fabulous...

The other thing about the iTravl I did not like is it has a feature to add words to the dictionary, local slang or whatever you want. This was great until the thing crashed and I had to reset and reboot and it loses all the new words I added. This really sucks, unless you have a way to backup to a computer, they say there is a way, but I use a mac, and could not figure out how to do this very easily.

The iTravl seems like a dinosaur by comparison. That voice recognition is basically useless... great idea though, in a few years it may be great when it is more flexible, but it is not really pocket sized, it's around twice the size of iPhone.

Can't help you directly but here's a Website all about translation devices: http://www.easytranslators.com/
I have a Lingo Euro5Talk which has something of a learning curve but is a great little pocket machine once you get hip. The above Website talks about/ sells these too.

_________________
"A man accustomed to hear only the echo of his own sentiments, soon bars all the common avenues of delight, and has no part in the general gratification of mankind"--Dr. Johnson
"Amen, brother"-ED

It depends upon your previous exposure, practice and motivation to learn another language.

My methods are odd, but are effective in learning particularly spoken Spanish. If you are a newbie, or beginner (and don't speak a second language), then the, [i]Spanish in 10 minutes a Day[i] book is a good starter. It starts in more English than Spanish, gives you English phonetic pronunciations for a new Spanish vocabulary, flash cards, catagorized items, expanded vocabulary, dictionary and CD exercises (Disclaimer: I sell the last edition here for $20.000) The new edition lists for $26.95, but is sold for $17.79 + shipping at Amazon.com and is usually available at most bookstores on the shelf. The lessons can be easily worked into a routine, and if disciplined will have a good foundation to learn phrases, or to go on to great achievement.

If you can have Spanish TV or radio, particularly the telenovelas, talk or infotainment shows, or anything else with dialogue on in the background while doing non-verbal tasks such as cooking, washing the car, exercising, etc. The point is not to listen for understanding, but to pick up the rhythm and to train your brain to hear Spanish. As you practice pronunciation and listen to it being spoken, you may just have that day when you hear it on the street and understand it. (It is important that you are not reading, writing or talking in English, but doing non-verbal tasks)
]
Buy an elementary Spanish grammar book, and refer to it. Study about the first six or seven chapters. You can keep index cards listing catagories of words you have learned.

Then, when you are ready to produce, have a couple of beers or a good stiff drink, relax so as to not overthink, find a willing Tica/chica, and fire away.