- Thread starter chrisdr
- Start date
Anyone else finding it impossible to learn Spanish?
With all due respect to all, I have a slight case of dyslexia, am completely tone deaf (ask my wife) yet was able to learn Spanish at the ripe age of 34. Sure it has taken more than 10 years to be relatively fluent but what's the rush? I do have a Dominican wife and kids but to my credit I like to study Spanish. In fact is one of my main hobbies.
What I have learned is for adults there is nothing like learning to read and write first. Regarding immersion without intensive grammar studies, I have as of yet met a foreigner who used this method that any native Spanish speaker, much less a Dominican, would think is fluent.
Spanish is in fact a very easy language to learn once you learn the verbs and some nouns and to this end google translate is your friend. After a few months of intensive grammar lessons, every day, I would start trying to read the news in Spanish. Forget Dominican newspapers as they are overboard on the fancy Spanish. Go with the Miami Herald or Univision or say a news source from Catalonia, as it is less complicated than ones from Madrid.
Furthermore, there are two real reasons I've seen people don't "get" Spanish; unwillingness to study and make a fool of themselves at times.
Finally, there is no such thing as a Dominican language, it is Spanish with regional idiosyncrasies, no matter how many "experts" say otherwise. I recommend learning correct Spanish and don't imitate the locals and before long you can expect them to use their best Spanish with you.
What I have learned is for adults there is nothing like learning to read and write first. Regarding immersion without intensive grammar studies, I have as of yet met a foreigner who used this method that any native Spanish speaker, much less a Dominican, would think is fluent.
Spanish is in fact a very easy language to learn once you learn the verbs and some nouns and to this end google translate is your friend. After a few months of intensive grammar lessons, every day, I would start trying to read the news in Spanish. Forget Dominican newspapers as they are overboard on the fancy Spanish. Go with the Miami Herald or Univision or say a news source from Catalonia, as it is less complicated than ones from Madrid.
Furthermore, there are two real reasons I've seen people don't "get" Spanish; unwillingness to study and make a fool of themselves at times.
Finally, there is no such thing as a Dominican language, it is Spanish with regional idiosyncrasies, no matter how many "experts" say otherwise. I recommend learning correct Spanish and don't imitate the locals and before long you can expect them to use their best Spanish with you.
i dunno about dyslexia but being tone deaf did not stop me from learning languages. sure, i cannot do funny accents, apart from polish one, that is. but i swear if you ever hear me sing you'd rather pass gallstones size of geese eggs while listening to nails scratching on a blackboard and having nuts waxed than grace your ears with the sounds i am capable of producing. so yeah, definitely tone deaf yet not bad with languages...
For a while I was watching the children's shows on Educational TV... Dora the Explorer, etc. You won't learn comprehensive language that way, but you'll pick up a few words, and maybe some usage rules.
I do agree with Chip. While I mentioned don't be afraid of mistakes, by that I meant to not get so worried that you don't talk at all. I agree that you should learn "proper", or "book" Spanish, (learn proper spelling, usage, grammar rules, etc.) as a basis to eventually learn some "street" language. This is true for all languages. You'll always be able to communicate knowing proper language, but if you learn "street" language ONLY, you'll set yourself up to look foolish or worse in certain circumstances.
I do agree with Chip. While I mentioned don't be afraid of mistakes, by that I meant to not get so worried that you don't talk at all. I agree that you should learn "proper", or "book" Spanish, (learn proper spelling, usage, grammar rules, etc.) as a basis to eventually learn some "street" language. This is true for all languages. You'll always be able to communicate knowing proper language, but if you learn "street" language ONLY, you'll set yourself up to look foolish or worse in certain circumstances.
I suggest you take SPANISH courses at a decent school. I learned mine on the street. I can communicate very well. My only problem is when I converse with SPANISH speaking people. (Some upper class Dominicans or people from SPANISH speaking countries) I am a little embarassed. For use in the DR I guess what you will learn on the street is OK.
Nacho was a great book! My mother used to teach kids how to read and she used Nacho. She also got to use it to teach Spanish to foreign people.
All this is fine and dandy but the bottom line is the OP is NOT putting forward enough effort to learn " Dominican Spanish" It is almost impossible to live in a place like DR for two longs years and not be able to hold a decent conversation with a local or understand what is being said.
I know thousands of Mexicans that could not speak a word of English when they arrived in the states, but after 6 to 12 months many have a strong grasp of the language, and after two years they can hold a decent conversation with you. My daughter's grandmother have lived in the USA over 25 years from Mexico and she can't speak English, you know why??? because she does not want to nor does she ever want to learn English.
Dominicans live right next door, not down the street or around the corner, or up the block, but right NEXT DOOR to Haiti and most Dominicans can't speak a word of "Haitian Creole" I live about 1800 miles from Haiti and I can speak a little Haitian Creole not a lot but a little, enough were a Haitian is proud I am trying to learn their language. All it took was asking my Haitian friend in Santo Domingo to help me learn some phrases in your language. It is a beautiful language and I can't understand why more Dominicans do not speak it.
Reading books, newspaper and watching TV are all good tips if you have been in DR for 2 months NOT 2 years. Spanish is like "radio waves" in DR the air is filled with it and after 24 months you can't understand what is being said to you?? Something is wrong with this picture.
I know thousands of Mexicans that could not speak a word of English when they arrived in the states, but after 6 to 12 months many have a strong grasp of the language, and after two years they can hold a decent conversation with you. My daughter's grandmother have lived in the USA over 25 years from Mexico and she can't speak English, you know why??? because she does not want to nor does she ever want to learn English.
Dominicans live right next door, not down the street or around the corner, or up the block, but right NEXT DOOR to Haiti and most Dominicans can't speak a word of "Haitian Creole" I live about 1800 miles from Haiti and I can speak a little Haitian Creole not a lot but a little, enough were a Haitian is proud I am trying to learn their language. All it took was asking my Haitian friend in Santo Domingo to help me learn some phrases in your language. It is a beautiful language and I can't understand why more Dominicans do not speak it.
Reading books, newspaper and watching TV are all good tips if you have been in DR for 2 months NOT 2 years. Spanish is like "radio waves" in DR the air is filled with it and after 24 months you can't understand what is being said to you?? Something is wrong with this picture.
Like I said he is not putting enough effort into learning Spanish. When I ask a Mexican " Damn how did you learn English so fast?" do you know what 99.9% Mexicans say in reponse? " NO SE" LOL!!! They did not take a class, buy Rosetta Stone, buy a book and copy words out of it, etc they learn English because they put the work into learning on their own terms.
If a person want to learn French it is not a good idea to hangout with Russians.
If he says he is having trouble learning Spanish and he only hangs out with expats, well he knew the cause of his problem before he started this thread.
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There's been tons of constructive advice from many posters. There was one boaster that I noted, and to his credit, even he shared some good points.
his wife is dominican. and she speaks english. and i know from my own experience that it never works well 
you tend to speak english only because you want to communicate...
newspapers are good. this is prim and proper, decent enough spanish. but i suggest you only read simple stories. most specifically crime and social news. those are written in the most basic language, not difficult at all. opinions and comments section are better left untouched, i think those are written by some pretentious, pseudo-intellectual boffins who have no interest in rice eating masses.
read el dia, el caribe, el nacional. easy enough.
you tend to speak english only because you want to communicate...newspapers are good. this is prim and proper, decent enough spanish. but i suggest you only read simple stories. most specifically crime and social news. those are written in the most basic language, not difficult at all. opinions and comments section are better left untouched, i think those are written by some pretentious, pseudo-intellectual boffins who have no interest in rice eating masses.
read el dia, el caribe, el nacional. easy enough.
his wife is dominican. and she speaks english. and i know from my own experience that it never works well
Or Spanish, depending. But, yes, in couples where one is bilingual and the other isn't, you tend to speak their language and this seriously slows their mastery of the second language.