Improving Spanish speaking skills

[rockyptjoe]

I looked at the Live Mocha program too (online)....but found that even the first lessons were spoken too fast...particularly for a beginner. I knew most of the material in the first couple of lessons, but was having trouble with the spoken words... How does the Rosetta Stone compare?

 

[don]

For beginners the Rosetta program is great.

It starts with just simple words and pictures. Lets see if I can explain it. Disc one has 7-9 lessons. In the first lesson you learn simple words, boy, girl, man, woman (and different words for females), with both pictures, spelling and audio (spoken clearly and slowly). One also has the ability to slow the speech speed from what I've read (have not needed to slow it yet), or you can set it to a normal speaking speed. These pictures are then presented as 4 pictures (called quads) to a screen. As you progress through the quads (10) you have to select the correct pic that matches the spoken word. New words are introduced with new pics and these build on what you've practiced in prior quads. These new pics evolve into new quads and you learn simple phrases. You can repeat the spoken phrase over endlessly to assist in your own annunciation. As you progress through the quads a phrase is spoken with no pics and you have to match one of the pics within that quad (pics appear) to the spoken phrase (you're practice listening and comprehension skills). There are reading skills along with speaking skills and finally writing skills. In disc 3 you'll record your voice and the program will convert your voice to sound wave so you can compare tone, pronunciation, and correct inflection (if I have that correct). And of course there are tests which you can take at any time. Or, you can do a simple review of the lesson(s). I've finished lesson one, just the listening and reading part, not spelling yet and its taken about 3 hours (lunch breaks). I noticed as I was completing level 10 within lesson one, you are also completing sub sets (A,B,C, and possibly a D), without realizing of what you're doing... But your learning Spanish and so far its been fun. As you progress through these quads your tested (every quad) so by the time your done, you have a good understanding of the words and phrases in your lesson. I can now make extremely simple sentences. By the time one gets through lesson 9 of this first disc, one should have a good understanding of Spanish. BTW, this Spanish disc is the Latin American version.
The program also keeps track of your progress.

If folks are interested I'll copy one of the sentences of disc 1, final lesson post it so you can see the level of comprehension/speaking one may be at the end of disc one.
So far I'm thrilled with the program. I've spoken with others who used these programs to learn other languages such as Japanese. The users could not say enough great things about these programs.

There is a problem though. I want to shuck other responsibilities and learn Spanish, cuz the program makes it fun.

 

[Roberto]

Most of the programs I have tried were designed to make you fluent and I really only want to be able to communicate reasonably, not perfectly. An ESL teacher told me that it takes at least 20 years for a non-native to become fluent in a language. The CD based programs are ok, but for me I really need someone to listen and respond , correcting me. When you speak you don' t hear the same sound that a listener does so it is difficult to self correct. Lagrimis is absolutely correct about the verbs in Spanish also. Drill, drill, drill.

While I still have not reached my goal I have learned a couple of little tips that make things go smoother when trying to communicate. First when you speak in Spanish, use only the simplest sentence forms that you can. Don' t worry about sounding fancy if you just want to communicate. Also works well when trying to communicate to a Spanish speaker in English. Speak slowly, distinctly and use simple sentences and simple tenses.

The other thing is practice, practice, practice, for this there is no substitute. You have to train your ear as well as your mouth. At first all I heard was a constant stream of different sounds, not I can discriminate words in that sound, but not well enough yet.

 

[rockyptjoe]

The key with any program is to work on it every day. I've tried a couple different ones...and my failure has been that I didn't....for whatever reason.

 

[Esperanza]

So true..... I have had a hard time "staying with the program". Funny, but as we now have grandchildren, I find that I am picking up more listening the the parents talk to the babies. Goes right along with what Roberto is saying.... keep it simple!

 

[InkaRoads]

........The other thing is practice, practice, practice, for this there is no substitute. You have to train your ear as well as your mouth. At first all I heard was a constant stream of different sounds, not I can discriminate words in that sound, but not well enough yet.

When I was learning english the one thing that my teacher kept on telling me, which in my opinion was a great help, was to read, even if I do not understand what I am reading but to do it at loud, enough for yourself to hear it and get your ear use to the sounds, even if they are not the right sounds at first but then pretty soon you find yourself starting to correct yourself because you already know certain sounds.
However, IMHO, to learn spanish the first and most basic need is to learn your A,B,C's as good as possible, letters for the most part if not all the time have the same sounds by themselves as they do in words, whether they are at the beggining , middle or end of the word, for example "A" sounds the same in "torta" as it does in "carro" as in "auto" no difference in sounds as it does in english and that could be a big obstacle that english or any other anguage speaker needs to get over when learning spanish!
Vamos a la playa, calienta el sol!!

 

[HAPPY]

When I was learning english the one thing that my teacher kept on telling me, which in my opinion was a great help, was to read, even if I do not understand what I am reading but to do it at loud, enough for yourself to hear it and get your ear use to the sounds, even if they are not the right sounds at first but then pretty soon you find yourself starting to correct yourself because you already know certain sounds.
However, IMHO, to learn spanish the first and most basic need is to learn your A,B,C's as good as possible, letters for the most part if not all the time have the same sounds by themselves as they do in words, whether they are at the beggining , middle or end of the word, for example "A" sounds the same in "torta" as it does in "carro" as in "auto" no difference in sounds as it does in english and that could be a big obstacle that english or any other anguage speaker needs to get over when learning spanish!
Vamos a la playa, calienta el sol!!

"Vamos a la playa" ``` con Las Chicas que son ```MUY ``` Cochinas ```es mejor que la chingada ! ! !