+Lex Larson is learning German and has many good posts about her experiences. One of the other options which helps me is looking for Spanish radio stations that stream on the internet. Helps to tune the ears. Also important to decide which Spanish you want to learn. Catalan and Spanish are different. As a Canadian I think you'd have a higher chance of visiting Central and South America than going to Spain?
Duolingo (duolingo.com) is what I'm using to practice my German. I've started a bit of Spanish, but felt I wanted a basic level instruction book on the grammar before continuing with Duolingo.
+Zen Locust It's a toss up which side of the pond I end up on, besides I suspect that when I start, my butchering of the language will cause far more variance than Castilla vs Espanola. ;)
As an Easterner, you must have a sense of French, and Spanish is really similar as they are both variants of Latin. As French was my second language and I went straight to French Immersion in kindergarten until grade 9, Spanish during 7-9 was easy for me and I got A's. I didn't get A's in french language arts.
+Zen Locust I'm actually a Westerner by upbringing (Southern Alberta) so more exposure to German and Cree than French... I picked French up in Cambodia and Saskatchewan.
Ahaha! Cambodia and Saskatchewan cracked me up, +Jeff Cave! Such diversity!
I took French (as a second language) in school until grade 11. Loved it, but now it makes me the world's worst translator. I can figure out what's being said in French or Spanish but I can't form a proper answer.
I really enjoy Dulingo, my husband liked Rosetta Stone when he tried to learn. I got some of my best practice watching children's TV shows, and some crazy French Canadian game show called Golden Egg.
Duolingo is good, and inexpensive. The 'gold standard' seems to be Rosetta Stone, which has a terrific, browser-based speech-recognition engine and connects you to a network of folks who'll talk to you in the language via Skype, which is very cool. But it's fairly pricey, and you pay extra for the live conversation. It really worked for my brother, though, who studied Rosetta Spanish for six months with dialogue help, then was able to comfortably navigate his way through rural Central America and elsewhere.
Obviously, for Spanish, you also have a zillion channels of cable in the language, Netflix (movies and shows produced in Spanish, dubbed into Spanish, and in English and other languages with Spanish subtitles), broadcast and streaming radio, podcasts, newspapers and magazines, e-books, and online. So no dearth of stuff to watch and read and listen to, much of it with 'training wheels.'
YES!! When I learned Latin, it was from an immersion comic book. Basically, it started with "See Spot. See Spot sleep. Lazy dog" (Argus Flaccum non iuvat sed dormit); and worked its way up to passages from the Illiad Aeneid (can never keep those two straight). I did Old English in a similar way (started with the Domesday... and worked up to Beowulf).
I couldn't figure out how to do the same process with a spoken language: Spanish Sesame Street may be a good way to get some immersion (until I'm ready for Mexican Soap Operas)
+John Jainschigg Duolingo looks like a good starting point. Unfortunately, in Canada, Netflix doesn't do a lot of Spanish... my ear for Danish is getting passable though.
One of the other options which helps me is looking for Spanish radio stations that stream on the internet. Helps to tune the ears. Also important to decide which Spanish you want to learn. Catalan and Spanish are different. As a Canadian I think you'd have a higher chance of visiting Central and South America than going to Spain?
Usted tiene un montón de opciones.
Too many options really :(
I took French (as a second language) in school until grade 11. Loved it, but now it makes me the world's worst translator. I can figure out what's being said in French or Spanish but I can't form a proper answer.
I really enjoy Dulingo, my husband liked Rosetta Stone when he tried to learn. I got some of my best practice watching children's TV shows, and some crazy French Canadian game show called Golden Egg.
Obviously, for Spanish, you also have a zillion channels of cable in the language, Netflix (movies and shows produced in Spanish, dubbed into Spanish, and in English and other languages with Spanish subtitles), broadcast and streaming radio, podcasts, newspapers and magazines, e-books, and online. So no dearth of stuff to watch and read and listen to, much of it with 'training wheels.'
YES!! When I learned Latin, it was from an immersion comic book. Basically, it started with "See Spot. See Spot sleep. Lazy dog" (Argus Flaccum non iuvat sed dormit); and worked its way up to passages from the
IlliadAeneid (can never keep those two straight). I did Old English in a similar way (started with the Domesday... and worked up to Beowulf).I couldn't figure out how to do the same process with a spoken language: Spanish Sesame Street may be a good way to get some immersion (until I'm ready for Mexican Soap Operas)