Anyone notice a problem with this headline?

brindlekin · 14 days

I might also say por eso in this situation.

Me gusta la clase de español; por eso, esta tarea fue facil.

lost_arcadian · 2 months

I like this one. It's juvenile lit by Isabel Allende: http://www.amazon.com/Ciudad-las-Bestias-Spanish-Edition/dp/0060510323/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1331775621&sr=8-6

cloversandbluemoons · 3 months

Pimsleur worked well for me in the beginning. I got it free from my local library.

Spreadsheet · 3 months

As long as your accent is intelligible, I wouldn't worry too much about it. Just let it fly.

The most important thing is the content of what you are saying.

An intelligent statement with an unfamiliar accent is much better than a stupid statement in perfect native dialect.

antonio97b · 3 months

Congratulations on how far that you have gotten with Pimsleur!

My sincere suggestion to you is to not be too concerned about hitting any particular milestones. When you finish Pimsleur level one, then get level two, then level three, etc. Treat your learning of the language as a slow unfolding of a new world, and each new thing learned is to be savored, and appreciated.

Once you finish Pimsleur, you will probably find other study aids, like conversation opportunities, great books to be read, travel, etc.

I completed Pimsleur, all four levels, and studied grammar and vocab from a high school Spanish book, and worked with a tutor for about six one-hour-long sessions. After about ten months of that, I slogged my way through my first novel (Once Minutos by Paulo Coehlo), with a dictionary nearby.

It has been more than four years for me now. I am Advanced High on the ACTFL scale. Yet, I find myself still engaging with "study aids" all of the time: talking to Spanish speakers at work, reading newspapers and novels, movies and TV shows, etc. I am constantly learning new words, new idioms, and turns of phrase.

Here is one cool tip:

Get a Kindle. Buy a Spanish dictionary and set it as your default dictionary. Download Spanish books and newspapers. When you encounter an unfamiliar word, cursor to it. The meaning will automagically appear on your screen. Then, if you highlight the word, you can access your highlights at kindle.amazon.com, and you will have a ready-made vocab list of new words.

Hope that this helps.

presentEgo · 5 months

I have done three immersion trips. The best, by far, was in Heredia, Costa Rica. The school is called Intercultura. My instructor held a masters degree in Latin American Lit. My Spanish abilities advanced quickly while studying with him.

There are lots of things to do on the weekends, too. You are just a few hours away from any number of beaches, rainforests, and volcanoes. The town of Heredia is pretty close to the capital city of San Jose. While not a beautiful place, SJ has a lot of museums, commerce, and night life.

My first trip was to Cuernavaca, near Mexico City. That was a good experience, too. However, my trip was before the most recent escalation in drug related violence. I am not sure that I would return right now.

I booked my trips through Language Link (langlink.com). It doesn't cost any more to book with them, and it is nice to have a third party in the US looking out for you in the event of problems.

Hope that helps.

pizzapartiesforever · 5 months

Perhaps explaining it using the terms past, present, and future is confusing because it implies grammatical tense. Maybe a better way to explain it would be to say that it is a matter of causation or situation for por; A matter of potential or forward action for para.

Anyway, it is just a personal theory that I put together, retrospectively, after learning the correct uses of por and para through practice and immersion. I am pretty sure that it is rooted in a desire to make sense of something that doesn't necessarily make sense.

pizzapartiesforever · 5 months

In order to make sense of the por/para confusion, I have developed a personal theory across my four years of Spanish study. I am not saying that it is right, but it helps me keep things straight. Here is the gist of it:

Por is used in situations to reference the past or present. Para is used to indicate a future, or desired future state. A good example of this is porque vs. para (que). Porque refers to cause (in the past), and para (que) refers to a desired future state or purpose. Looks at these sentences:

Vivo porque nací. (I am alive because I was born). Porque indicates cause, in the past.

Vivo para bailar. (I live to dance) Para indicates purpose, which is forward-looking.

This theory works in spatial reference, too. When speaking about where your young child is currently located, por aqui means "around here." However, when you are directing said young child to throw a ball to you, it would be para aqui (or pa' aqui in the abbreviated form). Por is used to indicate a past or present state (The child is around here). Para is used to indicate a desired future state (Throw it over here).

When talking about the passing of objects, again, por indicates present or past. Para indicates the future. Consider these sentences:

Compré este regalo por diez dolares. (I bought this gift for 10 dollars) The cause of me having the gift is BECAUSE I paid 10 dollars. Again, causation in the past.

Este regalo es para mi esposa. (This gift is for my wife) The future purpose of the gift is for it to be received by my wife.

Again, this is only my own convoluted way of thinking about por and para. I doubt that this way of thinking about it is approved by any pedagogical authority; however, it has served me well.

super_girl · 5 months

BTW - I just started Coehlo's latest, Aleph, yesterday. It is really good.

Here is another cool trick that has helped me grow vocabulary: I read as much as possible on the Kindle with the default dictionary a Spanish language dictionary. That way I can place the cursor in front of an unknown word in order to get the definition. Then, I highlight the word. Once I am done with the book I will go to kindle.amazon.com in order to review all my new words from the book.

therealsection8 · 6 months

Pimsleur really helped me. The first two levels were available at my local library for free checkout.

Livemocha.com has some free, but useful features, too.

Good luck.

super_girl · 6 months

I have noticed that once I read an author for the first time, it becomes easier to read other books by the same author. Authors tend to use the same words.

Paola Coehlo is a great one to read in Spanish (though I think that he actually writes in Portuguese). Once Minutos is pretty good. El Demonio y la Senorita Prym is pretty good, too.

I have enjoyed the juvenile literature of Isabel Allende. I would start with La Ciudad de los Bestias.

Hope that helps.

ImNorwegian · 6 months

I have seen a few pretty good movies. They include: * Motorcycle Diaries - beautiful travel movie about Che Guevera as a young man. * El Crimen del Padre Amaro - an disallowed love affair. * Navidad, S.A. - this is a cute Christmas movie. * Mar Adentro - a very touching movie about a Spanish quadriplegic, played by Javier Bardem, and his desire to end his own life in a dignified manner.

There is a cornucopia of latino music styles. Some of my favs are: * Jorge Drexler - Won an Oscar for Al Otro Lado del Rio, from, coincidentally, The Motorcycle Diaries. * Pablo Milanés - one of the original masters of Cuban Trova. Pobre del Cantor is, IMHO, one of the most beautiful songs ever written. * Vicente Fernandez - the alpha male macho of Mexican music. * Juan Luis Guerra - bachata master.

StruggleBunny · 6 months

Felt it pretty good in Norman.

angiers · 6 months

Assuming that this is a roadside billboard, with people speeding by at highway speeds, brevity is important. You might consider something like:

Bienvenido. Gracias por elegirnos primero.

It's only five words long, easily readable from a moving vehicle.

PlugMeInBaby · 6 months

I was being ironical.

PlugMeInBaby · 6 months

Anything by the Doors.

elpescador · 7 months

Yeah, unfortunately there isn't a real hard-and-fast rule about reflexives. However, my experience has been that it is fun to learn an ever increasing list of reflexives and their meanings.

What fun would language learning be if, eventually, there was nothing left to learn?

elpescador · 7 months

Comerse and deciderse are great examples of the reflexive used to intensify the verb. I like to think of it as if I was doing something, especially for my own benefit, like eating some delicious food, or finally relieving myself of a difficult decision, then it is more intense than if I was simply engaging in said act for non-selfish reasons. Its like the reflexive pronoun is actually serving as an indirect object pronoun, indicating that the doer is doing something for his or her own benefit.

BTW - this line of thinking works with aprovecharse as well.

InVultusSolis · 8 months

A proposito:

Quiero que estuviera en Cancún.

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