www.CostaRicaTicas.com

I've seen several posts recently on speaking Spanish. After 5 trips I still haven't take the necessary time to really start learning.

I have tried Pimsleur, Mastering Spanish by Barrons and other sites and tapes. I always do well while the tapes or CD's are running but when I got down there I was like a stammering idiot.

I talked with a few guys who have worked with tutors and thought that would be a good way to learn. But I live in a backwoods off the beaten path little town where most do good to master English.

I looked on the internet and came up with a site
http://www.language-school-teachers.com
I found a couple around the city (Chicago) which is about 60 to 70 miles north and sent them a note. While waiting for their response I received a message from the ad I had placed.

A professor from Columbia who did the lessons via PalTalk and would arrange his schedule around mine. So I didn't think I had anything to loose and contacted him. We set up for 3 hours a week and he was willing to change the price if I found it to be to expensive. I was expecting $40 - $50 and he said $9 and hour. What the heck. I have taken lessons for 2 weeks now and everything seems to be working great. I hope by my return in October I will be able to tell the chicas I don't know Spanish and then listen to what they are really saying about me!

But I also had an additional response from Chicago. This one I have to meet. She is 23 is from Uruguay and lives about 65 miles from me. While talking over the phone she said she had spent 3 months in Costa Rica. So I start thinking maybe there can be more of a lesson here....$40 an hour is about right....so I know I am probabally still in a fantasy land, but I still have to meet her and see what she is like.

Anyway I have found this to be very helpful in trying to learn the language and thought I would pass it along.

_________________
"Life isn't like a box of chocolates...it's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow." SP

Willy, do what I did. Find a g/f in Costa Rica. Talk to her at least once a day. You will quickly pick up the language. The tapes are ok. For me, personally, books are better. Learn a verb a day. Don't worry about the tense. Who gives a sh*t? No one. She will understand you. Then, try to learn as many nouns as you can. Once you can piece the 2 together, no hay problema.

D1

_________________
Paradise= Sitting outside the Bodega in Panama City about 1 am. Drinking cool Balboas with cool friends and blazin' hot Colombianas. I want to be there..RIGHT NOW!

I figured this was cheeper than a chica!

_________________
"Life isn't like a box of chocolates...it's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow." SP

In my own experience learning Spanish, I made the mistake of depending entirely on books when I started out. This is great for learning all the verb tenses and vocabulary, but does absolutely nothing for pronunciation and idioms. After a few years I could speak, read, and write in Spanish almost fluently, but I could comprehend very little when it was actually spoken to me. In my opinion, the ONLY way to learn Spanish is by practicing with someone who is fluent. After many years of traveling in Latin America and a couple of years of living with a Latina, I am finally able to comprehend spoken Spanish clearly, but it would have been much easier if I started that way right from the get go.

I also recommend watching Univision or Telemundo to try and piece together some of the common phrases. Newscasts are especially helpful because there are usually pictures and video footage which allow you to see what it is that the newscaster is talking about in Spanish.

I watch Spanish TV as much as possible not only for the language but the women are hot!

_________________
"Life isn't like a box of chocolates...it's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow." SP

WillySP said:



God, can I ever relate to that. It's even more difficult when your head is aching after 3-4 days of hard late-night partying. And forget about understanding anything the chicas are trying to say to you. After a while, it all comes out as "wah wah wah" like in the old Charlie Brown cartoons.

Willy - appreciate the tip, and will definitely check it out. I'm tired of seeing wingman Ruffnutz getting all the chicas so easily with his superior language skills...

GR

I have been pondering this myself, In Canada, Spanish is rare, VERY rare

Yet I do know a married Nica just a mile away, I have shared a few words with her, Im thinking she might be able to help out with some basics,
I dont feel comfortable admitting to my real reasons for travel to CR but
I would like to be able understand more than I do when I hit the ground in CR.

The only other example I have is learning German in Frankfurt wene I was young,
when fully imersed in the language you learn quickly and have fun doing so, at the market, meeting people ect...

I have books but dont have the paitence, I think Ill chat up the local Nika.

Fiedler

I have only completed 6 hours to date, but I have found this to be the most help program I have tried.

The reading, writing and speaking lessons seem to be working. I find myself thinking of Spanish pharses throughout the day. Gives me something to think about in the many boring meetings I have to attend!

Granted I would perfer to have a cute chica to work with, but I would be focused on the language too much.

_________________
"Life isn't like a box of chocolates...it's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow." SP

Willy

Congratulations on taking the step to take the time to learn Spanish.
I guarantee you that your success rate will improve in CR.

I hope you won't give up on the chica in Chicago. Maybe she can throw in a few extras to keep you interested.

Pura Vida

King

WillySP, glad that things are progressing for you. don't give up!

I've been learning espanol for the past 3 years and there are so many levels of understanding the language - just when you think you've made mucho progress, someone says a sentence or phrase in spanish that completely is baffling or speaks way too fast. My experience is that one has to live with a lot of errors, looking foolish, disappointments, failure, which is all part of the learning process. But is is a learning process, and you can readily see how much you've grown - that reward is inspiration to keep on learning.

I think of spanish phrases all day also, or think, 'hmmmn how would I say this or that english phrase in spanish?'

Besides classes and tape programs, TV programs (Sabado Gigante!) and one-on-one with someone who doesn't speak English are the biggest boosters to learning. I enjoy watching the noticias/news and soaps - some are so damn cheesy!

But my experience has been being locked in a room with a spanish-only chica in CR for 1-X # of hours was perhaps the biggest boost to my learning, and especially to my confidence in communicating with the locals. Certainly I didn't understand everything, but if you hit that 30-60% sweet spot of comprehension of the words of a sentence, in most cases one gets the gist, more or less.

When I started out learning spanish, little did I know how much it would improve my s*x life!

When I started to do this it seemed to be the turning point. If I couldn't figure it out in my head, I would use some translation software and try to memorize it.

As I have stated in the past learning Spanish is a double edge sword. But, the experience I have now in CR is exponentially better than before I could speak the language. Much outweighs the "bad" edge of the sword.

I too occasionally take in some Univision. It can be humbling because they do the rapid fire version of the language. But, hey, they aren't catering to my TV enjoyment. Well, in fact, maybe they are. Last night I didn't need to understand a damn thing. One of the shows featured Ms. Puerto Rico and Ms. Domincan Republic on the air. Yeah..hmm..maybe they are catering to me.

dapanz1

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Paradise= Sitting outside the Bodega in Panama City about 1 am. Drinking cool Balboas with cool friends and blazin' hot Colombianas. I want to be there..RIGHT NOW!

You know King Costa I was thinking the same thing. What incentives she could provide to assist my learning. I am sure I would study harder!

Philo thanks for the encouragement. I know learning Spanish will not only enhance my experiences in Costa Rica but at work as well.

I have started trying to translate conversations in Spanish or when I am in meetings instead of staring out of the window or playing games on my pocket pc.

_________________
"Life isn't like a box of chocolates...it's more like a jar of jalapenos. What you do today, might burn your ass tomorrow." SP

I've been living here for four months now, completely immersed in the culture and language. (I.E., I don't spend the majority of my time around English speakers).

I also took three years of Spanish in high school and two semesters in college.

That being said: It's damn hard!

With only self-study (books, tapes) and immersion in the society (talking with everyone I can)-- I'm at a point now where I can have basic conversations with people-- as long as they're about things I've already had conversations about. For example, there's a certain number of things you'll talk about with a Taxista when you first enter a cab and ride for the first half hour. Or when you first meet a girl, for small talk.

But beyond a superficial level-- it's still a struggle.

Also, I've found that some people are very easy to understand. I have one friend who speaks no English, and for the most part, we can talk for about an hour and communicate (as far as I can tell) fairly well. (Who knows how much is miscommunicated?) And on the other hand, I know some other people who I can't understand one word of what they say.

In addition, if you spend day after day talking with the same person (like my driver) -- eventually, they'll start limiting their vocabulary to the words they know you understand, for ease of communication. You'll still learn a lot. But this is something I've noticed as human nature and part of the desire to be understood.

(We do it, too, when we go to Chinese restaurants).

One thing I have noticed, just in the last couple of weeks as my awareness of increased fluency has become a bit more apparent: I'm fluent enough to ask women out on dates. And my "yes" response is about 8X greater than it was in the States, where I speak (relatively) fluent English.

Comida for thought.

I recommend studying Spanish in Costa Rica. If you go to a language school, pay a little extra for private lessons, because you won't pick up the bad habits and gringo pronunciation of others in your class. Even though I am now relatively advanced in Spanish, I still take lessons from time to time. I also read books in Spanish.

However, if you are young enough, the others in your class are likely to be hot European girls or female American college students, and you may find for free what you had otherwise intended to pay for.

About ten years ago, I was enrolled for two weeks in a langauge school in another part of the country. I was taking a three month break between jobs, and I used the time to travel. I paid for two weeks of group lessons, but I ended up with private lessons because I was the most advanced student enrolled in the school at that moment. And I wasn't even that good.

The second week I was there, they were going to put a 17-year old American high school girl in the same class with me. She was very bright, and had a girl-next-door prettiness, but I wouldn't have had a chance of getting into her pants even if I had been her age. She was traveling with her older brother, and was enrolled in at Quaker liberal arts college for the next year. Fortunately for me, she decided not to study that week, and I ended up learning some Spanish and not have my mind teased and phucked all week.

Outside of langauge schools, which cost about $10-15 an hour for private lesson time, you can find private freelancers who charge less. The last time I did it, I paid about $5 an hour to work with an educated speaker.

Nicaragua and Guatemala are much cheaper than Costa Rica for lanuage instruction.

Pimleur is what i use but, its probably isn't Pimsleur that not working. I still can't speak for shit. I also watch Maria Rojo news, just to try to catch a phrase here and there. What I do is I have the pimsleur spanish 123 on mp3 and I leave it playing on my computer speakers all nite when I'm sleeping. I've been doing this for about a 1 year and I havn't learn squat. Maybe i'll work in 5 years. I'll just continue doing it, it doesn't bother me when I sleep.