Learning Spanish

[Rich One]

Did Maurice Chevalier work on his accent to sound more American? Did Dick Van Dyke work on his accent to sound more English in Mary Poppins? Well, okay, maybe he should have done but unless you are aiming for a career as a Spanish speaking undercover superspy then having an accent can be an endearing trait. At least that's what the waitress in the café told me this afternoon.

 

[Rich One]

Did Maurice Chevalier work on his accent to sound more American? Did Dick Van Dyke work on his accent to sound more English in Mary Poppins? Well, okay, maybe he should have done but unless you are aiming for a career as a Spanish speaking undercover superspy then having an accent can be an endearing trait. At least that's what the waitress in the café told me this afternoon.

Lol . My mother loved Maurice Chevalier. Most likely, Chevalier memorized the Lyrics..?
But to carry a decent phone/direct conversation with the Bank, AFIP or Immigration you need more than a cute accent (to order a coffee). Better then Maurice..!

Some English speakers get frustrated when they not understood..! Phonetics is the key. Practicing with a specialist, can certainly soften the Gringo accent.

 

[lioniga]

I'm a US citizen and have lived a bifecta lifestyle between Taiwan and Japan the past twenty-five years. I tried all the usual classroom methods for learning Mandarin Chinese but none of them really worked until I came up with my own method which I call Street Chinese. It involves ditching the classroom and hiring an articulate college student to go out and about in the real world with you and discuss anything and everything you encounter. Your teacher walks you thru an endless variety of real world situations and you capture everything with videos for study later.

You ask questions, buy things, order things, pay bills, interact with banks, bureaucrats, and discuss the endless variety of real world phenomena you encounter. Once you and your teacher get good at the process time flies by and you rapidly become fluent in your new language because you're learning it the same way you learned your first language.

Agribiotics, I totally agree with you. I want to apply this method with my english. But I get lost looking for a place and school to do this in the web. Have you some school to recomend? the country is not a restriction for me.

 

[lioniga]

This is exactly my problem, since I learned classical Castilian (*) Spanish in secondary school in Ireland (fairly unusual, normally French is offered as a third language). The teachers were a mix of lay and religious (who had come back from missions in Peru), so accent-wise we were pretty screwed, as well as the emphasis being on grammar and vocabulary rather than speaking.

So now I have good grammar, a fairly huge vocabulary, but an accent that has survived almost intact after years of living in LatAm. People here understand me, but one really annoying thing is that they tend to look at my lips rather than my eyes when talking. If it's at all possible to teach an old dog new tricks, I should probably look for an elocution teacher and work on that accent,

* This is not the "Castellano" most Latin Americans speak, it's got all the lisping, uses vosotros, sois, and so on.

May you practice your argentinian accent ? We can interchange conversations and improve you your spanish and me my english. you can contact me directly at [email protected]

 

[lioniga]

Hi Everybody,

Has anyone have an idea what books are the best for learning argentine spanish? Becaue i have no idea whats the best option. Also recommendations for good and fairly priced lessons are welcome.

I am not proposing me as a teacher, but maybe I can help you (and you help me!). My experience in studying a foreign language is that grammar is important, but the most important thing is to be in a place where the language is the local one. We can interchange conversation, and I can also give a lot of grammar because have high studies. If You want to have a chat we can at least get a try to see if it works for both of us.

 

[lioniga]

Hi Everybody,

Has anyone have an idea what books are the best for learning argentine spanish? Becaue i have no idea whats the best option. Also recommendations for good and fairly priced lessons are welcome.

I am not proposing me as a teacher, but maybe I can help you (and you help me!). My experience in studying a foreign language is that grammar is important, but the most important thing is to be in a place where the language is the local one. We can interchange conversation, and I can also give a lot of grammar because have high studies. If You want to have a chat we can at least get a try to see if it works for both of us.

I forgot to give you my mail: [email protected]

 

[Alexindia]

YouTube is the best, you can find hundreds of free Spanish lessons, take your time, enjoy learning Spanish at your own pase with peace of mind.

 

[Cambalache]

You can find free Spanish lessons at the Instituto de Enseñanza Superior en Lenguas Vivas "Juan Ramon Fernandez", located between Recoleta and Retiro. It is the best public institute in the city for language teaching (they offer Teaching and Translation Degrees) and they also have a free program for the community, which includes Spanish lessons for foreigners. You are only asked to pay a monthly contribution called "cooperadora" (it is paid voluntarily, not mandatory).
Link:

AENS ELE – Español Lengua extranjera 2024 – IES en Lenguas Vivas "Juan Ramón Fernández"

ieslvf-caba.infd.edu.ar

 

[Agribotics]

Agribiotics, I totally agree with you. I want to apply this method with my english. But I get lost looking for a place and school to do this in the web. Have you some school to recomend?

The most effective way to learn English is the same way you learned Spanish. It should be glaringly obvious that learning a language in a classroom is the least effective way to learn a language.

 

[LuckyLuke]

I tried apps and youtube but I didn't find it worked well. Just my personality type I suppose. There was no group pressure, no practice partners, no Q&A opportunity etc. I then went to a community college for a couple years taking basic Spanish courses. It gave me a solid foundation of the language rules, how to read/write, which helped tremendously. From there, I practiced practiced practiced with fluent speakers. My only tip, fully immerse. Watch TV in spanish, listen to music in spanish, read articles in spanish, speak to spanish speaking friends. 7 years into this and I can keep up with most conversations, though the quick banter of a raucous asado with fernet passing around is still my most difficult challenge.