To begin to really COMMUNICATE, I think you really need to know the following:
Paramount is the guts to try, and not worry about making mistakes, because everyone does. That's how you learn.
First and foremost you need correct pronounciation. If you can't pronouce it right, they can't understand it. Simple as that. When you say a word, and someone understands it and then responds, well, it gives you hope.
You need to be able say certain phrases and ask things, such as "I don't understand." (no entiendo), "what is that?" (que es eso?) "what is this?" (que es esto), and most imporantly of all: "how do you say that?" (como se dice eso?). Remember: with these few key phrases, you're ALREADY essentially communicating!!!
Actually... the main difficulty I found was with people who can only speak ONE language. They simply do not know how to slow down. Or if they do, they speak slowly for one or two sentences, sometimes even abnormally slow, and then when you understand that, they speed up again. But stick with them, and you'll learn how to communicate. On the other hand, bilingual people are useful for expanding your vocabulary, and they usually know how to slow the pace down, but you usually end up resorting to speaking english with them rather than having a stab at it in spanish...
So, as above, you need to be able to slow them down a bit sometimes and get them to repeat what they're saying until you get it, especially in the beginning when they rattle off a load of words at machine-gun pace. So for example, "can you speak more slowly please" "can you repeat that". You only usually get ONE chance to prove you understand UNLESS you can either stop them & say "hey I don't understand, can you speak more slowly?" Trust me, when you don't understand something in a conversation, you can never hide it for long..... So You basically have to STALL THEM AT ALL COSTS. Get them to repeat what they're saying 3 times... try these simple phrases:
"mas despacio" (more slowly)
"repita por favor" (repeat please)
"dime otra vez" (tell me once again)
"puedes repetirlo?" (can your repeat it?)
"puedes repetir eso?" (can your repeat that?)
"podrías hablar mas rapido?!" (could you speak faster?!) that one always gets them to stop and think...
You need to start building up a sizeable vocabulary 100~5000 noun words is a good target. Apple table kitchen knife fork spoon --- that sort of thing... plaster them all over the objects --- WATCH COOKING SHOWS CAUSE THEY USE LOTS OF PROPS (NOUNS!) & YOU CAN LEARN SO MANY FOODS! They also almost always use the "1st person plural tense" (we're going to add the oil... to this, we're adding the garlic...)
Its absolutely VITAL that you learn all the prepositional & conjuction words ASAP. (they're the connector words eg: but, with, from, of, inside, close to, through, after, behind) These are often overlooked, but without them you've got buckley's chance of constructing any sentences. Once you learn some of them, you can begin to construct simple 3 or 4 word sentences such as "After the red car" (despues del coche rojo)... "inside the car" (dentro del coche etc)... then you can build on that pretty soon and understand Directions, which is VERY useful. For example: "en la segunda curva de la calle" (in the second curve of the street)
Then you build up the number of verb forms as follows: DON'T GET OVERWHELMED AND TRY AND LEARN THEM ALL AT ONCE!! In my personal opinion, the 4 most important verb forms are in the following order:
1st person PRESENT TENSE (I'm speaking)
2nd PRESENT TENSE (you're speaking)
2nd person PAST TENSE. (you ate) Why? You need to be able to rapidly understand the 2nd person past tense... this is the form that people will be using to ask questions: comISTE duchASTE ... fuISTE ... notice the trend? Always ends the same... keep your ears pricked up for those "ISTE" "ASTE" words... 'cause it means you've done something in the past! Either right or wrong!! A lot of initial communication is questions
1st person PAST TENSE (I ate) you don't always need to be able to say whether you did it or not... just say yes or no!
Future tense: Its seemingly easier to learn the "voy a hablar" "voy a nadar" "voy a cantar" "vas a hablar" "vas a nadar" "vas a cantar" instead of hablaré nadaré cantaré (cause it saves you learning more verb forms... you only have to learn voy vas van etc)
Conditional tenses are important... perhaps moreso than the direct future tense - especially this one: "I would like" - "me gustaría" But here's a shortcut: notice a pattern with both the future & conditional tenses? Despite whether they're "ar" "er" or "ir" verbs, they always end the same; I believe there are no exceptions.
3rd person singular & plural tenses (only necessary for conversations involving other people)
For what it's worth, subjuntive is BY FAR THE TRICKIEST OF THE LOT (eg: If I were you, then I would not do that). Just forget it entirely, then it comes naturally... you won't even know when to use it correctly anyway! Mainly for negative commands and when you would like someone else to do something for you. "No lo hagas" is the most important one (don't do that). Then you'll learn to pick up on more when you here the "e" and the "a" switched around... "no me mires" is subjunctive (its normally "me miras"). See how the e & a are confused? Its uncertain cause its a subjunctive mood.
Recall that babies take 1-2 years to learn a language. Guess what? So do adults!! "But babies learn by immersion" I hear you say" Its the same thing I tell you!!! In LESS than 2 years I went from knowing almost nothing (10 or 20 words) to being able to go to communicate effectively, go to the cinema, and watch it in Spanish. I can also communicate more complex business ideas (etc) than any 2 year old. I was talking a load of business stuff lately & I could tell that my 4 year old neice who was born here hadn't been exposed to words like "hacienda" (tax department), "impuestos" (taxes), "aseguros" (insurance) yet. She was completely lost in that conversation (she didn't even TRY to understand what was being said, yet most of the time that 4 year old understands more than me). I'm even attending those notoriously difficult Spanish driving licence classes. So in my opinion, I've completely invalidated that whole "its too late for me" excuse & I reckon you're never too old to learn, especially if you live here. You have the following definite advantages over babies and small children:
You an already speak.
You can already read and write.
You can already grasp concepts, you just need to learn the spanish equivalent word. I.e. Does a child know what "jealousy" is when you say "ahhh, you're jealous eh?". No they have to get the context. You on the other hand only need to ask "how do I say the word jealous?"
You can actually choose how, where and when you want to study & learn. eg audio CDs & mp3s, so many different books, TV cooking shows, speaking with others, songs, radio, cinema
You can choose what languages you'd like to learn.
Last but definitely not least: Spanish & English have MANY MANY MANY words in common, they're called COGNATES:
Most words ending in 'ion' are the same in English and spanish...
education = educación (etc)
words ending in 'dad' are 'ity' wirds in English :
universidad = university Ciudad = City
words ending in 'ble' are the same...
possible = posible
words ending in 'rio' are 'ry'
accsesorio = accessory
There are many more too...
If you don't know it, guess! Half the time you'll be right... and the rest of the time they'll know what you're trying to get at and correct you
Another point I'd add to Synchronicity's post, is that adults have the ability to make the above type of connection, whereas children don't... they just learn by 'immersion' and off pat. Adults tend to be able to work something out, but children don't know it if they haven't learnt it.
__________________
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. | To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. |
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Please add our To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts. to your bookmarks. Should this one ever go down, you'll still have a place to chat until it's back up again To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
The Following 4 Users Say Thank You to KirstyJay For This Useful Post:
Location: Kidderminster but moving out to Tenerife 2008
Gender:
Posts: 53
Thanks for a great post, it's gone straight into my language part of the move file; the Boss already has 3 years Spanish evening classes. Funny that though, she has the language advantage, I practice on holiday "la quanta, por favor" and I pay! Next lesson - what's the Spanish for "We're going Dutch"? - y vamos hollandaise?
__________________ ;)you're not supposed to win all the time, just lose less often
But stick with them, and you'll learn how to communicate. On the other hand, bilingual people are useful for expanding your vocabulary, and they usually know how to slow the pace down, but you usually end up resorting to speaking english with them rather than having a stab at it in spanish...
So You basically have to STALL THEM AT ALL COSTS. Get them to repeat what they're saying 3 times... try these simple phrases: 
A lot of initial communication is questions
B-Z can be found 
Linear Mode
