asechrest
En-Route
My girlfriend is Mexican. We've dated for 6 years. I know a pitiful amount of Spanish considering my access to someone who speaks beautifully in Spanish. Now that I'm a pilot, I'm itching to learn something new. So I'd like to learn Spanish. I'll be studying on my own for a number of months, then requesting of my girlfriend that on certain days of the week she only speak to me in Spanish.
I'm using Duolingo (and the associated Android app), and it's pretty cool. It seems like I'll have plenty of study material for a while just using this resource.
For those of you who are multi-lingual, any tips, whether a referral to a good learning source or general advice?
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Also, as an interesting aside: while using the Duolingo app, I was given a Spanish sentence to translate into English. It was something like:
This one's easy. I translated it quickly and without much thought:
Wait a sec. I translated the whole thing to English, as I was supposed to, except for the Spanish word for beer, which I left as "cerveza." After some contemplation, I realized why. I've spent so many years around my girlfriend and her family, hearing the word "cerveza" (and drinking the same!) and associating it with beer, that I no longer translate it to English in my head. When I hear "cerveza," I picture a beer in my mind's eye. I intuitively know what it is, without "the middle man" of a translation to English getting in the way.
It occurred to me that in some ways my fluency in English is detrimental to my learning of Spanish. Every new Spanish word I learn I have to translate to the language I know before understanding it. My chain of thought is a three-step process: Spanish word -> English translation in my head -> understanding. And each Spanish sentence I construct begins with some mental effort involving English in my head.
At least in part, this must be why children have an overwhelming advantage at learning language(s). There's no "middle man" of a first language to contend with.
I wonder if there's a way I can attempt to learn some Spanish "organically" (for lack of a better word), without thinking about the English translation? Perhaps study, repetition, and fluency is what does that?
Discuss!
I'm using Duolingo (and the associated Android app), and it's pretty cool. It seems like I'll have plenty of study material for a while just using this resource.
For those of you who are multi-lingual, any tips, whether a referral to a good learning source or general advice?
--
Also, as an interesting aside: while using the Duolingo app, I was given a Spanish sentence to translate into English. It was something like:
Ella bebe vino, pero no bebe cerveza.
This one's easy. I translated it quickly and without much thought:
She drinks wine, but does not drink cerveza.
Wait a sec. I translated the whole thing to English, as I was supposed to, except for the Spanish word for beer, which I left as "cerveza." After some contemplation, I realized why. I've spent so many years around my girlfriend and her family, hearing the word "cerveza" (and drinking the same!) and associating it with beer, that I no longer translate it to English in my head. When I hear "cerveza," I picture a beer in my mind's eye. I intuitively know what it is, without "the middle man" of a translation to English getting in the way.
It occurred to me that in some ways my fluency in English is detrimental to my learning of Spanish. Every new Spanish word I learn I have to translate to the language I know before understanding it. My chain of thought is a three-step process: Spanish word -> English translation in my head -> understanding. And each Spanish sentence I construct begins with some mental effort involving English in my head.
At least in part, this must be why children have an overwhelming advantage at learning language(s). There's no "middle man" of a first language to contend with.
I wonder if there's a way I can attempt to learn some Spanish "organically" (for lack of a better word), without thinking about the English translation? Perhaps study, repetition, and fluency is what does that?
Discuss!