MegaSack DRAW - This year's winner is user - rgwb
We will be in touch
I work for a Spanish company and am currently at HO in Barcelona for a series of meetings. I never cease to be amazingly humbled when the meetings are held in English for my benefit and unbelievably paranoid when they speak in Spanish in case they are talking about me.
Can anyone recommend a *good* self-teach Spanish course?
Rosetta stone
I can't spell, so this is phonetic, but will help if a spanish colleague is speaking too fast....
"donde est el burro?"
means can you slow down please. Makes translation much easier.
HTH
meehaja, you are now on the blocked list. 😡
Well that wont help you find the donkey will it?
True. Although I suppose either the top of a tower or the courtyard immediately below would be good places to start looking.
¿Que?
You have to be careful with general teach your self a language course. Quite often business terms are quite specific and not covered in tourist learning.
If you slightly mis-translate something without realising it you can make dangerously embarrassing mistakes.
Remember the confusion over 'bollocks' and 'dogs bollocks'? One meaning rubbish and one meaning good. Not exactly business language but you get my drift.
Barcelona ...just for that extra knuckle of difficulty you'll probably benefit from some Catalan too.
+1 for Michel Thomas
in a slightly more productive direction.. my step dad didn't speak a word of french before moving there, he is now, if not fluent, fluent enough to go about his day and teach under14s rugby. He had some lessons, but found that the best way to learn was to actually have conversations. I'm sure you could find a spanish forum or chat room and have random conversations on there, that way, instead of learning the usual "Which way to the station, I would like an apple" nonsense, you learn subjects that might actually be useful in starting/ joining conversations and also how people actually use the language, rather than truing to string words together in the right order. Also try reading a spanish newspaper, that way, you probably know the story al ready, but will pick up new words and phrases and can impress colleagues with your knowledge of spanish current affairs if nothing else!
[i]Can anyone recommend a *good* self-teach Spanish course? [/i]
tbh Having had the same problem, but in Germany and having an inability with languages I found that the self-teach courses were hopeless for me. Speak with HR, there may be a budget somewhere for some 1-2-1. In the end I went and lived there for a year, unfortunately my German colleagues saw this as a good opportunity to learn English...
I'll stick up another recommendation for this
Currently brushing up my spanish that's been unused for 16 years....
"Which way to the station, I would like an apple"
LOL!
What about "My aunt's pen is in the garden." Always a popular one in French.
Good point about the papers. The hotel reception is full of them!
<theft mode> Yoink! </theft mode>
Agree about Catalan but one step at a time please...
unfortunately my German colleagues saw this as a good opportunity to learn English
I know exactly what you mean...
Night school, you get a tutor thrown in & oportunity to have basic conversations with your classmates.
I've never bothered with european languages since meeting my wife - she has a capacity for languages, being fluent in German, conversational in French, passable in Spanish. I just stay stum when on holiday and let her do the hard work.
& don't forget...Pollo (chicken, ie hen) & Polla, ie 'cock'! Confused? You will be!
The Michel Thomas one seems quite good.
Gallo is cock, payaso!
In your car CDs, night class, chat rooms and love interests are what you need. Takes 4 years of commitment to become proficient.
chat rooms and love interests are what you need
I'm liking the sound of this...
Just smile & say "Dos cafe con leche moi caliente en vaso por favor..."
It might not win over your meeting buds, but you'll enjoy two glasses of very hot milky coffee.
Easy way to learn very quickly, is get a "partner" who speaks Spanish, trust me. 😉
As most say, books and lessons are OK but speaking 1 to 1 is the best especially if you want to get them in bed !
Question - what's hotter : a feisty young filly pissed off and venting in Spanish or French. Only ever had the latter directed at me, but been an interested onlookers at the former. Hard one to call I'd say.
Should add, that's the true test of whether you speak a language - I'd have considered myself reasonably fluent in French, but I was struggling to keep up once she got into high gear.
Combining all the elements of this thread Coffee Break Spanish is a 80 episode course which is freely downloadable from [url= http://radiolingua.com/ ]Radiolingua[/url] each episode lasts about 15 minutes and it builds into quite a good level. Also available via i tunes. Mucho recomendar. You just have to learn to decipher the Scottish accent first.
They even do a bit of Catalan
That works now
make sure not to tell your colleague that you can speak the lingo until at least a few behind your back chats have been clearly understood.
I used Teach Yourself Spanish, and three Spanish girlfriends. I recommend the second option, although care must be taken as one is now my wife. You're welcome to the other two, though.