English Speaking people learning spanish.

Hey guys.
I would just like to get some input back on my thoughts of English speaking people learning Spanish [ castellana ] why is it so hard to learn..? i have been learning it for over 2 years now, i can speak it, no where near fluent though, to tell you the truth i struggle to hold a decent conversation together. I live in madrid with my girlfriend [ she is spanish ] she also speaks English more or less fluent,. In the first year of living here [ yeah you guessed it ] we spoke in english, i know it was a bad mistake because now i am not much nearer to speaking it well at all..! I have a private teacher for 2 hours every saturday.. and during the week, i study on my own. The big problem i have is been able to speak more spanish than to understand spoken spanish, it is so so dificult trying to understand a native speaker, more so when he is talking like 200 miles an hour..!! i mite catch the buenos dias, que tal part and other words but most of what they say goes right over my head..! its very very frustrating. So for all you native english guys/girls or people from other countries that are fluent. How did you do it ? . I have read in a few places on the net that english people do struggle to learn/understand spanish.. then you have the romanians that come to spain,and learn it so fast [ 6-8 month ] and have no teacher, no books/audio or nothing, just listening and talking ..!!

Thanks for the tips/info in advance guys..cheers..!

Maybe you have low IQ.

Let's see. Can you catch and 'speak' this?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W60ILCVLGzQ


if you can't you really need to go to basics with your teacher.

David Beckham is not the best example as he lived in Spain but he never was really immersed in the Spanish society.

Maybe you have low IQ... Maybe you could come with a better answer than that Guest..? and its maybe you have "a" low IQ [ a tip for you on english there ]..lol.. Yeah jm i undertood most of it without looking at the english text..lol. but it was not sung fast so it was more easy. I seen the video on Mr Beckham, its true his spanish is not very good at all, i think i can speak spanish just a tad better. Your probably right mjtd, he probably spoke english most of the time he was living in spain, just like i did..haha..

cheers for the feedback.. guys..

Michelle & Jal spanish conversation:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1teA4b9yQs

hahaha.. good video Guest..

Some times you need good teachers. Some can teach you in less time than others:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPpNir3-Z3I

But those with low IQ should start with basics: LA MARCHA DE LAS LETRAS:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_FiIkutpPk

Spanish is not more inflected than English. It has not noun declensions . English has genitive case and inflected adjectives so English is more inflected than Spanish is.

Daveyboy, ok you've lived to years in Spain, the first one you only spoke English to your girlfriend, right? so that'd be as if you'd only been to Spain for a year, secondly, you have a teachers that only teaches you TWO hours per week, that's terrible, dude how on earth do you expect to learn Spanish like that?

I advise you to watch films, tv shows with audio english subtittle spanish and viceversa it helps me a lot with my poor english. You can do it with TDT and DVD.

Beside watch a lot of spanish tv and when you get enough level go with radio. This will boost your spanish.

You can get computer spanish courses from inet o buy them to use with your computer, they'll teach you grammar and vocabulary but the secret to learn a language to native level is time.

I think television española has a spanish course for foreign people and i have heard something about free spanish courses on line, Instituto cervantes or something like that, just look for them.

Good luck.

PD: Romanian is a latin language as spanish, english is a germanic language, they play at home, beside they watch romanian tv with original audio and romanian subtittle so they learn several languages since childhood, a big mistake in spain to translate films and tv shows. Telenovela/culebron (tv soap) teach them spanish.

Cheers guys,

c'mon, yeah you have a good point there mate, i need to up the lessons for sure, also good advice from you harman, i will have a look for the lessons on the net, dont get e wrong though guys.. i am not totaly basic basic..lol. depends on the conversation and with who, i can write and read spanish alot better than talk it.. probably because i have more time to think about it. But understanding spoken spanish is the hardest part..

Thanks Again guys..

p.s guest you wrote "But those with low IQ should start with basics: LA MARCHA DE LAS LETRAS" estoy seguro que eres un idiota.. jejejeje..

If you are not so basic, then watch spanish on tv with subtittle in spanish so you'll learn spanish phonetics and you will get use of spanish language.

Mixing spanish subtittle with english audio and viceversa is ok to learn vocabulary and some grammar.

But i needed a lot of media hours to proficiency in english (low IQ, guys?) and i afraid you will need a lot of media hours to proficience in spanish, but it worths you'll learn other language.

Good luck and good work.

Thanks Harmen,

you have some very good advice mate, i have read in a few places that listening listening listening is more important than the gramatica in some respects. I think getting used to the speed and pronounciation by listening to the spanish could be a great idea for me, i will still read [ out loud ] practice the verbs, grammar, and flash cards, but up the listening to more hours a day, could be a better plan for me.

where are you from Harmen..? your written english is very good..

<<English has genitive case and inflected adjectives >>

1) I think the 's "genitive case" is usually considered an enclitic possessive marker these days, and not a true case. Are there any irregular possessive nouns in English (like the irregular plurals).

2) The inflected adjectives in English seem to be going away. Nowadays, you often hear things like "more clear" or "more long" in place of "clearer" or "longer". Soon, the inflected adjectives in English may be a thing of the past.