learning Spanish

74jax

I would really like to learn Spanish but don't want to pay fortune.

I've googled apps, but I'm really not very good.

I've tried duolingo but I can't understand it, yeah I know it's a foreign language :rotfl:

Plus I'm learning 'my friend comes from India' which I can't see me ever needing to say....

Can anyone recommend basic holiday Spanish app, or am I going to have to pay to go to a night school?

serena

Is there a local secondary school or college? How about Adult Education classes?

BBC still have online access to their language courses, although these are not being updated. Look for the series Mi Vida Loca, which has interactive elements

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/

The Cervantes Institute offers online courses, but they are not cheap

http://londres.cervantes.es/en/courses_spanish/students_spanish/information_virtual_classroom_spanish.htm

Mr_Toad

You could learn it on your own, I have no idea if there's an app, but I'd suggest evening classes with other people.

It's fun and you'll learn far more.

I thought I could speak French quite well but discovered I could understand OK but wasn't good at speaking, school French tended to be formal and not really how it's spoken day to day by the French.

I did a conversational French class and it was great as you find out immediately if people can understand you.

It's all very well with an app and/or a book/tape but it's too late when you get there and people stare blankly or look at you as if you've just escaped from some kind of institute for the mentally unstable!

TBeckett100

To be fair OP, you're probably more likely to have a friend from India than asking for a kilo of apples down at the local Spanish market.

I'd try learning with a CD. Children learn to speak before they write and read so follow that method by renting an audiobook or CD from the public library.

realised

I learnt in an evening class at the local college. But see below a website which is really good to get started

http://radiolingua.com/cbs-step-1/

Tropez

Make friends with someone from India and then take them to Spain?

victory

74jax wrote: »

I would really like to learn Spanish but don't want to pay fortune.

I've googled apps, but I'm really not very good.

I've tried duolingo but I can't understand it, yeah I know it's a foreign language :rotfl:

Plus I'm learning 'my friend comes from India' which I can't see me ever needing to say....

Can anyone recommend basic holiday Spanish app, or am I going to have to pay to go to a night school?

Not an app but every charity shop I go into seems to have spanish learning books/CD's and especially the yellow book from the dummies series 'how to learn spanish for dummies' might be worth a try?

They do say you learn more when you go to sleep with a CD playing in your ears...

Arthien

I use my language skills every day for work, and when I was studying, one of the best things my tutors suggested for getting used to the sounds of a language was to listen to the radio or podcasts about a subject that interests you, all of which is freely available online. Even if you don't understand much, just having it on in the background while you're doing other things will help to give you a feel for the sound of words and it'll get you used to words and phrases that are used by actual Spanish people in day-to-day life.

If you want to practise your speaking skills, perhaps your local area has a language cafe type meet-up that you could try if you felt confident enough?

I'd also recommend reading magazine or news articles, again just about anything that takes your fancy. I used to get a couple of glossy mags and try reading the agony aunt columns for fun

If you just want to learn a few phrases for your holidays, I'm sure there are plenty of good websites online, there's no need to pay out for it unless you're interested in taking it further.

Summercherry

Have you tried the free taster courses run by The Open University?

http://www.open.edu/openlearn/languages/spanish/spanish-espacios-publicos/content-section-0

C_Mababejive

To help you along, listen to spanish radio broadcasts via the internet even if you havent much of a clue what they are saying.

gayleygoo

I have just started learning Irish with duolingo and think it is a great site! Sure, some of the sentences can be very random, but that is how you learn how to use a language, rather than just memorizing phrases that you may or may not use one day. A random sentence means I have to think about how the sentence is structured, rather than guessing what it means by looking at one or two words.

If it's just phrases for holidays that you want to be able to repeat, then you could check out the library, even the likes of GCSE textbooks could be helpful. The BBC website will probably have phrases you can listen to.