[Help] Learning Another Language

[Tim Over Whelmed]

I'm in my late fifties and have spent the past thirty or so years saying I either need to learn a language or cramming before I go away to speak some of the local language when in France, Spain etc.

I'm guessing if I were to learn a language prior to retiring and travelling a little around Europe but mainly South America I'd be best learning Spanish?

Anyone got any tips on the best way to do this?

I'm working from home at the moment so could probably give an hour a day to learning, what are the best resources / ways of learning conversational Spanish please.

 

[AmexRuislip]

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

View attachment 121833

Perfect, gracias

 

[Grombleton]

I've used Duolingo a bit to learn Italian, and that's been a big help to get to grips with it. I've not really done anything conversational so i can't say if it's transferable, but i've no reason why it shouldn't.

 

[Dave the OAP]

My mrs is doing the Spanish course from Rosetta Stone.

It’s really bizarre as there is NO English spoken on it, yet it starts assuming younhave no knowledge at all.

She is getting on ok with it....

If at the end of this we look to move to Spain, it will come in use.

 

[Brok]

Perfect, gracias

Looks like you're quite fluent already.

 

[Dr. No]

Anyone got any tips on the best way to do this?

No.

 

[cjd]

Duolingo....and it's free.

 

[Dave the OAP]

No.

Bet you have

 

[Gwylan]

I'm using Duolingo at the moment. I think it would be OK for Spanish. I've looked at it but as I already knew a fair bit, I'm not sure how it is starting from scratch.

I've been learning Polish and Portuguese from scratch, with mixed results. I think Duolingo struggles with very grammatical languages, like Polish. I don't think it would be good for learning German or Russian from scratch either. Portuguese I found easier but that could be because there are similarities with Spanish.

I certainly think DL would be good for the basics but, at some point, you'll need something more structured. I think the paid-for version offers a lot more guidance. One thing that is good are the stories: you can read texts in languages and answer questions on them - they help a lot.

I haven't used Babbel but I think it's pretty similar to DL (but not free)

One thing you can consider when you get some fluency is going on Skype and exchange courses with a native speaker: the idea is that you teach someone English and they teach you Spanish (or whatever you want). I have done that and it's a good way to get speaking but it's better to have some sort of advance.

 

[Algernon]

I lived in Germany for 6 years approximately 40 years ago and am now using Duolingo as a refresher course.
I'm also trying to learn Romanian on Duolingo and Albanian on another app.

All free.
Duolingo is a pain when you run out of hearts/credits and have to wait a day before picking up where you left off but seems the best "free" option.

 

[Is it PotG?]

Just use YouTube.

 

[Coalburner]

Duolingo is good

 

[Gwylan]

Duolingo is a pain when you run out of hearts/credits and have to wait a day before picking up where you left off but seems the best "free" option.

I've been using Duolingo every day for more than six months but have never heard of hearts/credits. Is this something you get with the paid-for versions?

 

[basque seagull]

I'm in my late fifties and have spent the past thirty or so years saying I either need to learn a language or cramming before I go away to speak some of the local language when in France, Spain etc.

I'm guessing if I were to learn a language prior to retiring and travelling a little around Europe but mainly South America I'd be best learning Spanish?

Anyone got any tips on the best way to do this?

I'm working from home at the moment so could probably give an hour a day to learning, what are the best resources / ways of learning conversational Spanish please.

My sister is living in Spain and she watches some Spanish sitcoms, you wont understand much but your ear will get a feel for the language. I am not sure you can access from UK... La Casa de Papel Money Heist is also very good. I saw it in original version with English subs. Another way is find a language xchange student, one week in Spanish, one week in English. I used to do this in Spain, put a note in the Uni, there again I was a bit younger then.. Good luck! Suerte!

Sent from my RNE-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[basque seagull]

I'm in my late fifties and have spent the past thirty or so years saying I either need to learn a language or cramming before I go away to speak some of the local language when in France, Spain etc.

I'm guessing if I were to learn a language prior to retiring and travelling a little around Europe but mainly South America I'd be best learning Spanish?

Anyone got any tips on the best way to do this?

I'm working from home at the moment so could probably give an hour a day to learning, what are the best resources / ways of learning conversational Spanish please.

Also if u will be mainly going to South America, focus on that accent..it is quite different to the Spanish in Spain...

Sent from my RNE-L21 using Tapatalk

 

[Algernon]

I've been using Duolingo every day for more than six months but have never heard of hearts/credits. Is this something you get with the paid-for versions?

I'm not paying for it. I'm pretty certain I'm using the app. I start each session usually with 5 hearts and if I make a cock -up they remove a heart. I can watch an occasional advert to top up a heart but once I've made 5 mistakes that's my lot until the next day (I think)
You get gems and when your hearts are gone you can replace all 5 hearts with 450 gems if you have them.

I'd be very happy to not have to keep waiting. Are you using it in a browser?

 

[pasty]

My sister is living in Spain and she watches some Spanish sitcoms, you wont understand much but your ear will get a feel for the language. I am not sure you can access from UK... La Casa de Papel Money Heist is also very good. I saw it in original version with English subs. Another way is find a language xchange student, one week in Spanish, one week in English. I used to do this in Spain, put a note in the Uni, there again I was a bit younger then.. Good luck! Suerte!

Sent from my RNE-L21 using Tapatalk

Back in the mid-80's I was living in Rotterdam for a while and they used to show loads of UK/American tv, but instead of overdubbing in Dutch, they left them in English with Dutch subtitles. It was a great way to pick up the language as I could simply listen to what was being said whilst reading the Dutch subtitles.

 

[Gwylan]

I'm not paying for it. I'm pretty certain I'm using the app. I start each session usually with 5 hearts and if I make a cock -up they remove a heart. I can watch an occasional advert to top up a heart but once I've made 5 mistakes that's my lot until the next day (I think)
You get gems and when your hearts are gone you can replace all 5 hearts with 450 gems if you have them.

I'd be very happy to not have to keep waiting. Are you using it in a browser?

How strange. I'm using it on the app and on the browser - I've never seen any hearts or gems. I always make more than five mistakes a day - often just by mistyping something or pressing 'check' too early - but never had to wait till next day.

I used to do exercises just after midnight but I was so tired I'd make about 10 mistakes in about 15 minutes - that would have ruled me out for the rest of the day if I were on your set-up.

Are we definitely talking about Duolingo? I can't understand why my experience is so different from yours

 

[Tim Over Whelmed]

I'm using Duolingo at the moment. I think it would be OK for Spanish. I've looked at it but as I already knew a fair bit, I'm not sure how it is starting from scratch.

I've been learning Polish and Portuguese from scratch, with mixed results. I think Duolingo struggles with very grammatical languages, like Polish. I don't think it would be good for learning German or Russian from scratch either. Portuguese I found easier but that could be because there are similarities with Spanish.

I certainly think DL would be good for the basics but, at some point, you'll need something more structured. I think the paid-for version offers a lot more guidance. One thing that is good are the stories: you can read texts in languages and answer questions on them - they help a lot.

I haven't used Babbel but I think it's pretty similar to DL (but not free)

One thing you can consider when you get some fluency is going on Skype and exchange courses with a native speaker: the idea is that you teach someone English and they teach you Spanish (or whatever you want). I have done that and it's a good way to get speaking but it's better to have some sort of advance.

Thank you