Learning a New Language
 

Living in Miami and dealing with Spanish-speaking folks as much as I do, I've decided it's prudent to learn the language.

What's the best way to go about learning a new language this late in life?

The obvious answer would be to take up residence with a Mexican but last I checked Joe Perez's hacienda is filled up and I need to learn more than just how to order XXX amateur Latina films on pay-per-view.

Rosetta Stone will make the Latinas moan.

Move to Mexico

Watch Mexican soap operas. Listen to Mexican radio stations. If single get a Mexican girl friend. Rosetta Stone.

If they have Cuban soaps, radio stations, etc. use them instead, Cuban dialect and accent is different than Mexican Spanish.

Keith

eat taco bell

This, the key is immersion. You're just memorizing a set of codes/symbols so if you only let yourself use those codes you'll memorize them a lot faster.

Drive a pickup to home depot and just circle the parking lot. You'll learn it.

go to a siesta

Unless you're going to contribute, stay out of my thread. Your first three suggestions were neither helpful nor funny and now you're just embarrassing yourself.

woah bro, I'm just trying to help you bro

Thanks homies. This won't be too difficult seeing how I live in Miami and I'm seeing a Latina.

The last thing I want is to speak Spanish like I do German; having to translate everything in my mind instead of just thinking in the new language.

I would actually like to see this thread be serious if anyone has good advice. I think we all know immersion is ideal. The problem is unless you are truly able to pick up and move, full immersion is impractical.

This is good advice and it is very easy to follow for Spanish in this country. What about something like German or Arabic which are not quite as common. How many hours should one dedicate per week if say you plan to visit a country in 6 months to a year and would like to be able to converse with locals on a basic level. My job offers me the opportunity to do 6 month - 2 years tours abroad as well as offering a 16 week sabbatical with 20% pay that I plan to use for world travel. I would like to pick up at least one more language before I die but I feel like building the basic language skillset is the hardest part.

Ryan,

My German is good enough to get by and understand bits and pieces of conversation but I couldn't give a speech or hold a really intellectual conversation. I dated a German girl for a short time when I lived in Ireland and I got a little better during that time through just being around her (I had all the basic conjugation, vocabulary, etc already down).

Languages are like muscles, you don't exercise them and they get weak. If today I was asked for directions by German speakers, I'd be lost but I could still ask to see his wife's tits.

I am registering for a Spanish course at a nearby university.

1. Unless you pirate rosetta stone don't waste your money. It is garbage.

2. Registering for a class is a great idea. It is very nearly impossible to learn a language without being able to practice conversation. Talking builds muscle memory and is key to fluency.

3. Spanish has to be the easiest fucking language to learn. So many people speak it. Problem is I bet there is a lot of slang, or English-Spanish hybrids. I don't know what you are looking to do with the language, but if you want to use it professionally make sure you avoid falling in to bad habits that you might get from people in your area.

4. Watch and read the news when you get your fluency up (you can do it now, even if you don't understand it. It will help learn the rhythm of the language and the more you listen the less "fast" it will seem) This is a good way to get proper Spanish if that is what you are going for. TV shows are good too, as well as movies. Radio for in the car.

5. There are without a doubt tons of free online resources, flash cards, etc...

Source: Farsi Linguist

holy fuck.
ok...mexicans aren't the only ones who speak spanish (vale?)
if miami, then cubans are more predominant than mexicans..unless you liv ein homestead.

both mexicans and cubans can't speak spanish for shit...

colombians and venezuelans are your best bet if you want to learn shit properly.

mexican is not a fucking race...

No shit. It is a nationality though, which is how it was used in this thread.

One of my co-workers is learning Russian, he listens to Russian radio stations via the internet. I suspect that you can also find video programing on the internet in various languages. You have to be careful of on-line language lessons (like on youtube) though... people who think they are funny will tech gibberish or swear words.

As far as how much time to dedicate, it depends on you. Some people pick up languages much faster than others. If you dedicate too much time it isn't a bad thing, whereas dedicating too little time will leave you lacking when you actually need to use the new language, so I would say if you are serious about it dedicate as much time as possible.... you can't know the new language too well after all :)

Keith

Check this out:

Headstart2 -- Spanish

It's a 962 MB download for the spanish one, you can do it online though if you want. It asks you to create a login, but you can enter whatever you want. The one for Farsi was quite good. It is military, but will is still a valid resource.

A pretty amazing resource offered free to you. There are 25 languages offered if others are interested.

I took two years worth of Spanish in college, and it is a good way to learn verb tenses that are the most difficult to master.
This might seem a little crazy, but seriously consider attending a hispanic protestant church service or community event. I'm not trying to push religion on you in any way, but in my experience, literally everyone you see will speak to you. It was incredibly uncomfortable for me, but it was the ultimate immersion experience.