Learning Spanish

In the past, (it feels like it was eons ago), I'd taken private Spanish lessons from a real gentleman, his name was José-Maria Villasante, who had the most enchanting voice (he was a radio announcer) and an elegant pure Castilian accent. My very first Spanish book was Paso a Paso and it delighted me with short extracts from poems by Federico Garcia Lorca and my favourite, Antonio Machado. Nothing much remained that I could recall except the name of the teacher and those of the poets. It was more than 47 years ago. . .

Some 15 years later (yes... that would be 32 years ago), recently divorced and yearning to keep my mind busy and my evenings absorbed in anything but a new relationship, I took a course at college, but from English. My mother tongue is French, so learning a third language from a second one proved a bit of a drawback. I found that to recall the lessons, I had to translate from English to French first before tackling the lessons. Then comprehension dawned and something managed to remain, for a while.

Ages later came my wandering life, which took me to the Imperial Dam Long Term Visitor Area (yeah... it's a mouthful!) north of Yuma, which is right on the Mexico border. I thought I'd renew my study of the language but did little about it except buy a book and proceed to painstakingly translate from English to French first, then follow the lessons. The book featured much grammar. I eventually gave it up too. It proved to be much too much work. So, I'd say that I was ill-prepared, linguistically at least, to move to Mexico!

Living in Mexico meant total immersion. But I was starting from an insignificant knowledge of the language. Thanks to a certain knack for talking with the aid of gestures when all else fails, I managed for a while to make myself understood, but frustratingly so. Clearly, I had to learn all over again. Then, an expat mentioned a site that not only translates from English to Spanish but also offers courses absolutely free on the internet. The lessons are structured the best of all that I have encountered previously, and finally, something got through my senior brain. I cannot talk enough about that site and how finally, I have learned enough to hold a conversation after 10 months of living in Mexico. I highly recommend it. It is http://www.spanishdict.com . Their translation service, also totally free, is a life-saver for someone having to make herself understood; particularly when it comes to a visit to the doctor.

So if you, or anyone you know, is keen on learning Spanish, go for it! Besides the Learn Spanish and the Translation section, there's a Reference section, Grammar, a Phrase Book, the Word of the Day that is emailed to subscribers, and I repeat it, it's free, easy to follow, interactive, and with oodles of people who are ready to help at any level in a Chat section, as well!

I love it and highly recommend it.

LiveJournal Tags: Learning Spanish