STYLETHREAD -- LET'S TALK SHOP!

carmenb513 · Coach

learning spanish....help

e_doli · Dooney & Bourke

i can't recommend any tapes, etc. but as a spanish major who is not a native speaker, the best advice i can give you to learn to speak is to find a situation where you can practice. learning to speak spanish was the hardest part of learning the language for me and i really only got good at is when i was put in situations where i had to speak constantly.

another good way to learn is to watch movies with subtitles (either english w/spanish or vice versa). hearing the words in one language while you read the translation really helps you get a sense of how things are put together conversationally. (plus there are some great movies out there -- anything by pedro almodovar (women on the verge of a nervous breakdown, all about my mother, the flower of my secret, tie me up tie me down, talk to her), before night falls is amazing and a true story, strawberry and chocolate, guantanamera, amores perros, y tu mama tambien (gael garcia bernal -- yummm) -- these are some of my favorites.

if taking a class is an option for you, i would recommend that too b/c then you have someone to ensure you are going in the right direction.

Barbie · BCBG

Do you have a local community college where you could take a class? I think that would be the best way to learn.

lsubatgirl · Gucci

Try listening to spanish music also. It will help and you will begin to start singing along. My college offers leisure classes where you go once or twice a week for 8 weeks or so and you practice conversational foreign languages. Its around $50 and it isn't graded or as formal as a classroom maybe one of your local colleges offers something similar. I think it would help you some.