woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

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laswalkirias
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woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby laswalkirias » Tue Oct 21, 2008 6:59 pm

Over the last six months I find that my lack of spanish has really isolated me from this wonderful country. Its my only worry and I cant honestly say that there is anything wrong with Spain apart from the dreaded lingo.
Why am I at nearly fidty years old incapable of getting even the basics? I have become one of those dreadful expats who hang round bars with fellow Brits and I wish I could dump them all but feel scared practicing my pathetic language skills with the locals
I should have left UK in my early twenties and by now I would be an honorary Spaniard.
Any advice for an old git trying to learn the language would be gratefully recieved. I am renting on the coast now having failed miserably to survive in Malaga City with my Spanglish
Dying to move to spain

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Rookiekookie
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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby Rookiekookie » Tue Oct 21, 2008 7:25 pm

If you are lucky enough not to have to work - check locally as most ayuntamiento's give cheap Spanish lessons - well worth it :) :)
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chrissiehope
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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby chrissiehope » Tue Oct 21, 2008 7:57 pm

my Spanish isn't very good at all, especially spoken ! I did an online course (free) a few years back which gave me the basics & structure of the language, but like you, I didn't have much confidence. What swung it for me was a conversation I had with the cleaner of our timeshare apt - it was "how many kids and how old / what is your house like & where" type of conversation, and used an awful lot of sign language, but afterwards I thought " I can communicate !" I'm also in my fifties !!!

I still clam up and the brain goes dead at times, but each time I use my Spanish, it gets a bit more reinforced ! My favourite trick is the one where I ask such a beautiful question (which I've been rehearsing for hours !), that the other person thinks "oh she speaks Spanish" and then rattles off an answer I haven't a hope in h*ll of understanding !!

What irritates me is when I'm on the coast, I always ask in shops in Spanish, and half the time they reply in English ! I suppose they want to practice their language skills too... :wink:
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Cliffs Dad
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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby Cliffs Dad » Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:31 pm

i find the Spanish very friendly and helpful if you try and speak the language. The more often you speak it the more you start to understand it, and believe it or not, it gets quite rewarding. :)
is the bar open yet?!!

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ken2
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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby ken2 » Tue Oct 21, 2008 8:55 pm

Well i can honestly say that i will never ever get it, i been here ten bloody years nearly, and i am soooo lazy, my very best is no ablo espano, see i can't even bloody write it,i blame my age sixty nine, but i know thats just an excuse, the truth is, i am as thick as three planks, god if only i could be hypnotized and wake up speaking it like a native,

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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby Scot » Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:00 pm

I know exactly how you feel! My OH is half Spanish so my basic skills make integration within the family difficult. I can only talk about me, me, me and what I did today so I must seem really boring or, even worse, self centred! It's just they all speak so fast and sound like they are chewing gun at the same time - I try hard to listen but after an hour or so, my brain is frazzled! However, I get by and generally the Spanish appreciate the effort, albeit a poor one!

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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby oliveview01 » Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:16 pm

My Spanish is coming along slowely, I can understand more than I can speak. I do have trouble though with our neighbours Spanish- especially as he speaks very fast and normally with his lips clenched round his ciggy :? Even our Spanish friend cannot understand our neighbour, so there is no hope for us!!

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ken2
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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby ken2 » Tue Oct 21, 2008 9:56 pm

do you think hypnosis would work,??? if so does anyone know of a good one in my area,lol the spanish say i have a real good s'i ,lol i, say it so deep and long with so much confidence, you would think i am fluent.

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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby katy » Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:01 pm

Don't worry about not speaking Spanish. If you read this forum you can see that people have loads of Spanish friends and they hardly speak the language :roll:

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Julie
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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby Julie » Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:03 pm

Lol :oops:
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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby Jool » Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:15 pm

I don´t know of any way to learn spanish other than by making mistakes and feeling a fool - it happened to me loadsof times........but I ask every spanish person I meet to correct me if I say anything incorrectly etc so they know I am open to learning and generally I am fine in every situation apart from fast interviews on TV.......

What really annoys me is when people tell me I am lucky that I speak spanish!!! I can only do so because I worked very hard at it and am still learning and going to class.........and it really does take work and commitment, but if you stick at it and use it every opportunity you can, even speaking spanish back to those who speak to you in english, you will improve........

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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby Troglodyfae » Tue Oct 21, 2008 10:25 pm

I truly understand where you are coming from, and yes it is hard for many of us. Some lucky souls manage to slip in and out of the language like natives, but in my experience we all struggle to an extent.

I have been here in Spain some considerable time, but being honest a lot of this time was spent on the coast (CB) where Spanish was not really needed at all (Very sad, but true). Living where I do now Spanish is essential or you just would not get anything done.

My vocabulary is brilliant, I know sooooooooooo many words, however my construction of coherent sentences is poop. :oops: My daughter is native she grew up here and was schooled here, however does she help her poor mum out?....nope! She will be back with her fiancée in about a month so I am going to tie her down so she helps me out. I really feel my life would be so much richer here if I could improve my Spanish to a level where I felt pleased with myself and comfortable. I am very lucky I do have some fantastic Spanish friends who do not give a flying fig how bad my Spanish is :D

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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby frog » Tue Oct 21, 2008 11:44 pm

my mates 14 yr old daughter who is biingual asked me if i could send some flowers to the uk at xmas using a well known internet firm,i said yes

she said 'i earn 30 euros a week so in 5 weeks i will have umm.....'

'150 euros' i said
'oh yeah she said.my maths aint that good'

point being she can speak spanish but doesnt know what 5 times 30 is

at least my maths is great
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pigs-might-fly
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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby pigs-might-fly » Wed Oct 22, 2008 8:55 am

katy wrote:Don't worry about not speaking Spanish. If you read this forum you can see that people have loads of Spanish friends and they hardly speak the language :roll:
Quite a few have difficulty with English, too!
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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby fearfulfred » Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:35 pm

Katy Said"

"Don't worry about not speaking Spanish. If you read this forum you can see that people have loads of Spanish friends and they hardly speak the language "

:P :P :P

I am 60 and still learning slowly . Mostly because we are only there part time. I think it is easier for me as I speak French fluently but that can cause problems as my Spanish teacher says I speak Spanish with a french accent! That is because the words are sometimes so similar it comes automatically to pronounce them as i always have. I really haven't noticed that age is a factor, I really think not being afraid of being laughed at "or with" is the biggest help.

Fred

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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby JAKE M » Wed Oct 22, 2008 12:48 pm

Laswalkirias, don't let the age thing put you off. I took basic Spanish lessons at night school at 51.
sat gce Spanish at 52 and A level at 53. I only use it on holiday and still make a complete ar5se of myself at times. The locals really do appreciate even a basic converrsation. As fearful fred says, have a go and think of it as fun. Laugh when you make a boo boo and take it slowly. you will enjoy it and so will your neighbours.
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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby CubaLibre » Wed Oct 22, 2008 1:03 pm

I speak Spanish and agree with what Jool said about us being lucky to speak the lingo. Unfortunately it doesn't just happen over night, i too am still learning.
I was lucky enough to have a wonderful Peruvian tutor who used a completely different technique. I wasn't allowed to write anything down, to begin with it was quite frustrating. But his thought was that how did you learn to speak english? When you were a baby - could you write when you were a baby?You learnt through hearing and repeating, through listening.
When you learn this way you never forget, you understand the words, the language it all makes sense even when it doesn't :lol:
the best thing is loosing your embarrassment, being able to laugh at yourself helps greatly. People will laugh with you, and admire you for learning another language.

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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby peteroldracer » Wed Oct 22, 2008 2:18 pm

laswalkirias wrote: one of those dreadful expats who hang round bars with fellow Brits
There is one good reason why you struggle! There are people in the Spanish classes I go to who moan about how difficult it is for them, yet the only time they attempt to speak any Spanish is during the 20 hours per month of the classes - and even during the will not stop chatting with other Brits in English!
IMHO you must go - on your own or only with a Spaniard - into cafes, bars and public places, watch as much Spanish television as you can - at least 3 or 4 hours per day - read Spanish newspapers, never have an English-language radio station on in the car...in other words learn the language how a Spanish baby does it - by listening to it, being surrounded by it - but also use your adult ability to read and study to do that - read and study the language.
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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby Wicksey » Wed Oct 22, 2008 4:23 pm

I do agree with Peter that you do have to work at it and try to speak the language, as otherwise you'll never get to grips with it. My friends are in their 70s and have a holiday home here but continue to learn and are brave enough to just try it out as much as possible. They make an effort to shop in the local village shops where they have to speak to the assistant and make conversation. They have built up a rapport with the local shop owners who have been very patient with them as they try to make conversation every time they visit.

We stayed here a couple of winters back for 3 months and only had Spanish TV and that really did help tune our ears back into the language after 2 years living in France. I find languages difficult and I'm not a natural linguist at all, but I had to speak French when I lived there (however badly :oops: ) and have managed to retrieve much of the Spanish I learnt when I lived here before. My problem is that we live in an isolated area with no near Spanish neighbours which is a shame as I feel I am not speaking the language enough. You really have to keep practicing and speaking it whenever you can and your confidence will grow bit by bit.

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Re: woudnt it be wonderful if I could speak spanish

Postby katy » Wed Oct 22, 2008 6:28 pm

Perhaps the above advice should include keep away from English speaking forums :wink:

I don't think one ever stops learning a language, I am fluent in Spanish but I think it is a little dated, not very street wise? As for watching Spanish TV :shock: Apart from the news whats to watch! it is even worse than SKY (that says a lot)


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