I just can't learn get the hang of Spanish.

[LuvingLife]

Spanish has become one of my worst subjects. I barely understand the language, and I am really stuck now. I am a sophomore that would love to learn another language along with spanish, but if I can't learn spanish, how can I even learn another language?

 

Rosetta Stone hasn't helped me at all, I am just about to chuck the program, it is so confusing!! I like the fact that they use the pictures to identify the words they are saying, that is the easy part. But I can't write in Spanish, read spanish or anything else really.

 

Does anyone know of any other program that goes step by step, explains everything, and teaches you everything about Spanish?

 

I am so confused!:confused:

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

Is Spanish the first foreign language you've studied? Have you tried augmenting RS with a workbook? Is it possible for you to find a tutor or someone who speaks Spanish to help you?

[Jann in TX]

It is VERY hard to learn a foreign language without a teacher (who also speaks that language!).

 

Have you looked at finding a local tutor? (many times you can barter child care...)

 

Is community college an option for you next year? My daughter tried a few programs at home (I do not speak Spanish and this is what she wanted to learn)--but she just could not do them independently. She took Spanish 1 at the local CC last spring and is taking Spanish 2 this fall. She is finally learning something!

 

You will NOT be fluent with a few years of "book learned" (high school) Spanish... The only way to become fluent is to speak frequently (interact) with another speaker of that language!

[Colleen in NS]

Spanish has become one of my worst subjects. I barely understand the language, and I am really stuck now. I am a sophomore that would love to learn another language along with spanish, but if I can't learn spanish, how can I even learn another language?

 

Rosetta Stone hasn't helped me at all, I am just about to chuck the program, it is so confusing!! I like the fact that they use the pictures to identify the words they are saying, that is the easy part. But I can't write in Spanish, read spanish or anything else really.

 

Does anyone know of any other program that goes step by step, explains everything, and teaches you everything about Spanish?

 

I am so confused!:confused:

 

Have you gone through the process of learning another foreign language before now? Or have you read anything about different approaches to learning a foreign language? There are different approaches - some think it's best to learn the vocab/pronunciation/grammar structure first, others think it's best to be immersed in phrases/vocab/etc. first. Both have their merits. Do you know which you'd like to do and why?

 

I ask all this because I studied French for three years in high school (and ended up not retaining any because I was just being "processed" through the system and had an idiot of a teacher who did not teach the language for my 3rd year), and Spanish for one year. But with homeschooling I am systematically learning Latin with my kids - we focus on vocab/pronunciation/grammar/translation. We have a set way of studying the texts, and it is giving me/us a bigger picture of what we are doing. I don't remember learning French or Spanish grammar in a systematic way in high school, so nothing stuck - but with this Latin, we are learning a "system" of language, that I think will be helpful to my kids in learning another language later on. They will have seen that languages have patterns that need to be learned.

 

With that said, if I were doing Spanish (which I did try to get started here, but we do not have the time right now), I like So You Really Want to Learn Spanish, put out by Galore Park. I even had it all set up to be studied in the same fashion we study Latin. It introduces Spanish vocabulary a lot more quickly, but that can be paced to the student. It does what I think is a pretty good job at teaching grammar patterns.

 

You might also look up Jean in Wisc's past post about Spanish - she has some pretty good explanations about studying the language. I think her top pick for it was Switched on Schoolhouse.

 

hth

[Ester Maria]

Your problem is called RS, by far the worst "method" for teaching a foreign language out there IMO, especially in school/academic context. It can be a fun supplement to an actual program, but not the program for itself. I have dealt with teenagers' and adults' disastrous and severely lacking knowledge in Italian and Hebrew after using RS and RS-like methods to learn a language.

 

I suggest a radical change of method.

Get a "bookish" program: the one which explicitly teaches the grammar step-by-step, get a dictionary (both ways), some kind of workbooks for grammar exercises and a chunk of texts to work through with the help of the dictionary. Also note that you can find a ton of resources online, if you google specific problems you are dealing with. I don't know of specific Spanish programs, but I seriously recommend a radical change of method.

If you can, supplement all of that with some kind of practice (are there Spanish speakers near you willing to talk to you? can you get a tutor to speak to you occasionally?), music, films, whatever you like. CC is also an option if they have relatively good classes.

 

While a high school study of a foreign language does not produce fluency, you should reach a certain comfortability level both with regards to literacy and the spoken component. Keep that in mind - the former is as important as the latter.

Edited November 15, 2010 by Ester Maria

[cathmom]

I know that you are a high school student. I don't know what your budget is. I have taught high school Spanish, and I think this book is really clear:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Beginning-Spanish-Utterly-Confused-Second/dp/0071739637/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289858101&sr=8-1

 

I wouldn't use this as your program (it's not meant for that), but to possibly clear up the things that are confusing you.

 

I agree with Ester Maria that RS cannot be the main component of a language program.

[LuvingLife]

Thank you all so much for the advice! I am not too sure on what is in my area, but I think I will start checking it out, I really would like to learn Spanish, and then take on another language.

 

I have never studied a foreign language before, so maybe that's why I am finding it difficult. Rosetta Stone just doesn't seem to help, it leaves me with a lot of questions and wondering why! I like to learn from a book with the occasional help from a computer, but all of it on the computer for some reason jumbles me up. I think I might check out the local ps first, and yes CC is an option for me next year as well, so I will follow up with that as well. I might be able to get a tutor, I have a friend who speaks Italian, it's just too bad I am not taking Italian because she said she would tutor me if I ever wanted to learn the language.

 

I like your idea Ester Maria of how you plan out how to learn a foreign language. I will be getting/doing some of the things that you have suggested, I hope it helps.

 

Would any of you know of a good Spanish course I can use? :bigear:

[AngieW in Texas]

Have you tried Visual Link Spanish? Rosetta Stone and Tell Me More were both busts for my dd.

 

Visual Link actually teaches everything explicitly rather than expecting you to infer meaning.

 

http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/

 

They have a 6-month return policy as long as you only open the envelopes you need for installation.

[Guest Cheryl in SoCal]

This is what we are using with RS but it sounds like you probably need more than just a grammar workbook to augment RS.

 

http://www.amazon.com/-Z-Spanish-Grammar-Barrons/dp/0764142496/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289863993&sr=8-1

 

For reference we have:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Spanish-Grammar-Barrons-Language/dp/0764133756/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289864146&sr=1-4

 

http://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Verbs-CD-ROM-Audio-Verb/dp/0764197975/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289864166&sr=1-1

[LuvingLife]

Have you tried Visual Link Spanish? Rosetta Stone and Tell Me More were both busts for my dd.

 

Visual Link actually teaches everything explicitly rather than expecting you to infer meaning.

 

http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/

 

They have a 6-month return policy as long as you only open the envelopes you need for installation.

 

Thank you so much Angie, this looks really good, very helpful!

 

This is what we are using with RS but it sounds like you probably need more than just a grammar workbook to augment RS.

 

http://www.amazon.com/-Z-Spanish-Grammar-Barrons/dp/0764142496/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289863993&sr=8-1

 

For reference we have:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Spanish-Grammar-Barrons-Language/dp/0764133756/ref=sr_1_4?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289864146&sr=1-4

 

http://www.amazon.com/Spanish-Verbs-CD-ROM-Audio-Verb/dp/0764197975/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1289864166&sr=1-1

 

Wow, these books look good and I think they have the things I need, these are great, thank you!

[Julie in MN]

This is what we are using with RS but it sounds like you probably need more than just a grammar workbook to augment RS.

 

http://www.amazon.com/-Z-Spanish-Grammar-Barrons/dp/0764142496/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1289863993&sr=8-1

 

I like this one, too. Answers are in the back, also.

 

Be careful of foreign language textbook programs, because by year 2, most of the teacher materials will be in... the foreign language. Hard to get answers when you don't understand something but you don't understand the teacher notes or answers, either.

 

Julie

[Susan C.]

We are really liking Breaking the Barrier Spanish. The author can be emailed with questions. tobreak.com

 

It is $90 including hard copy tests. Spanish 1 can be used up to two years if you need that much time.

 

We also like Standard Deviant dvds. They are inexpensive and very funny.

[Stacy in NJ]

Please look at Getting Started with Spanish http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Spanish-Homeschoolers-Self-Taught/dp/0979505135

 

Add in a pure vocab program like Flashforward http://www.amazon.com/Flash-Forward-Vocabulary-Living-Language/dp/1400006015/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1289870427&sr=1-3

[LoriM]

Try studyspanish.com, especially the grammar tutorials. Great resource.

[Melinda S in TX]

Have you tried Visual Link Spanish? Rosetta Stone and Tell Me More were both busts for my dd.

 

Visual Link actually teaches everything explicitly rather than expecting you to infer meaning.

 

http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/

 

 

 

We tried Rosetta Stone and Tell Me More (and several others) before switching to Visual Link Spanish. The three oldest, 15, 12, and 10, are using VLS now and doing great.

 

The children are working through level 1 and the add on pack. We also have a membership to the Personal Proficiency Tutor and they enjoy trying to figure out the native speakers before they slow it down. I want to add a workbook component, but I haven't decided which one yet. VLS has workbooks, and I'm also looking at Breaking the Spanish Barrier.

 

Blessings,

Melinda

[flyingiguana]

Pimsleur has worked really well for us, but only because we were able to get it free from the library. There's very little written down in that program, though, which would be a drawback if you had nothing else.

 

Michel Thomas also put out a Spanish course. He's pretty good for a few weeks of study, but way too expensive for what it is. However, if you could get it from the library, it would be worth using. Try interlibrary loan if your local library doesn't have these things.

 

Also, I suspect there are a ton of podcast type materials on the web, if you search. Some are really good. Some, not so much. Unfortunately, I don't know which are which.

 

If you could find any intro Spanish textbook, it would probably help you. Your library might have something. Even an old text would be helpful. Just seeing things written out with a bit of explanation would be useful. It's hard to learn from Rosetta Stone (just out of curiosity, are you using the new or the old RS?)

 

Also, you might try watching Destinos:

http://www.learner.org/resources/series75.html

 

Our library also had the books that go with the Destinos videos. You might check if yours does.

[LuvingLife]

I am really liking Virtual Link Spanish. I tried their free demo and it is really good, I actually like it, I will have to see what my parents say about it. Rosetta Stone just isn't doing it for me anymore, I don't like it, and I barely have an understanding of spanish 1!!! It has been a really difficult process.

 

I will also be getting grammer books and things like you all suggested. They are very helpful and I appreciate all of the suggestions and advice.