Re: Learning Spanish
As one poster pointed out this thread is full of mostly opinions and some facts which is one of the reasons why the discussion has gone the way it has. While I believe everyone's experiences in language learning be it their own or someone else's that they know are valid some facts prevail over the opinions especially when it comes to learning the basic and fundamental grammar concepts of a language.
The adult learning process is somewhat different from a child's. While a child learns language completely in his/ her formative years until fluency is attained adults have the advantage of knowing how to read. Therefore, the process is usually different. Immersion happens but usually afterwards or simultaneously after some fundamentals of grammar have been learned either independently, via studies or a combination of both. Some adults prefer immersion only and very little understanding of the fundamentals of grammar but in my experience those speakers always have grammatical gaps and they are definitely noticeable in writing (i.e. no subjunctive usage which is a key aspect of Spanish grammar), can not express themselves beyond what they have heard and can not explain concepts to anyone who would like to learn because they are lacking the fundamentals and the understanding of grammatical patterns.
I do believe linguistic terms are being used incorrectly in this thread which is what has fuelled the discussion to be somewhat erratic. The suggestion to learn slang principally by two posters is actually 'colloquial speech' evidenced by the examples provided. There is very little slang in those examples. Compare my example
'cuarto' (Dominican slang for money) to
E' pa' lante que vamo' (a DR slogan and colloquial speech- in this case shortened words). These linguistic concepts are not the same and can not be said to be synonymous. Slang words and their meaning are code words for a generic word used in a language. Using my example of money again, not only in the DR but in the Spanish-speaking world there are plenty of slang words for the generic/ standard word in Spanish which is
dinero. For example, la plata- no tengo plata (universal and number one especially in South America, fula, chavo etc) Of course you can have slang mixed in with colloquial speech.
I am not sure if OP will or even should read through all these posts because I think he could have received a more simple but guided direction to his question. However, for whatever it's worth, I think the OP needs to start from scratch. Learn the alphabet, the phonetic sounds of Spanish and take off from there with vocabulary and grammar concepts which will lead to the formation of phrases. This should be the starting point for a beginner and I do the believe the OP is one judging from his few posts about Spanish in other threads. He should decide what level he would like to be at after a certain period of study and get the best grasp of those fundamentals. Being around other Spanish speakers in the USA and DR will definitely help him to acquire an ear for the language and hear other speakers speak. The colloquial aspect will definitely come naturally over time both understanding it and to a certain to degree speaking that way but it certainly should not be the starting point in his language acquisition journey.
There are plenty of good threads on this. Those who are interested can refresh their memory:
http://www.dr1.com/forums/spanish-101/57493-regionalismos.html
http://www.dr1.com/forums/spanish-101/82485-regionalisms-expressions.html
Spanish spoken in the Dominican Republic is not a dialect of Spanish. Those who believe this then the same can be said for all the varieties of Spanish spoken in Latin America. For some it may be the most difficult to understand due to the various irregular grammar patterns and syntax, regionalisms, speed of some speakers (but not faster than Cubans in my opinion. They are by far the champions for speed) etc. but a dialect of Spanish, no at least not going by what the linguistic definition is of a dialect in Spanish and considered by the RAE. Castellano is castellano. All Spanish speakers understand each other in a very broad sense. Yes, there can be some individual difficulties but I and everyone I know who speaks Spanish has yet to encounter a problem from country to country. Same can be said for French. I go anywhere in the French-speaking world and everyone understands me and vice versa and I always get compliments. People say 'you speak very nice French'.
---- Furthermore, you are likely to be misled as far as learning to spell many things correctly - as many letters are dropped, joined together, replaced and often reflect WHERE a person lives. 'el capitar' (el capital) Or sometimes its just pure slang, 'oye manito pero ete tiguere dio un jumaso' etc.
Well I have tried to determine if this is a typo and you wrote it twice or do you really say
'el capital' to mean the capital in Spanish which is incorrect? It should be
'la capital'. Please clarify since you are firm in your belief about learning 'slang' but a fundamental aspect of grammar here is not correct.
-MP.
