After getting fired by my corporate job, three weeks before my NYC sublet lease expired, I decided, hastily to run away. PR was the furthest I could get without worrying about working laws…so I went for it, and honestly, I love it!
But…I need to learn Spanish, and idk if I’m too dumb or too old…but three years in and I can’t do very much. I don’t have many friends, I can’t afford to live in the tourist zone (I wash dishes) so making friends without Spanish is near impossible. Any advice? Anyone my age that has mastered a foreign language?
Hey spanish is hard. Just try basic vicuabulary, little by little youll be able to do more complicated ideas, it feels more dificult to learn a laguage when old because by default we use more complicated ideas and vocabulary, so going back to basics feels lacking.
A good way to learn a language is finding a tandem partner. There are plenty of Spanish speakers wanting to learn English. You could teach each other through casual communication (more fun, too)
Immersion of course is better than anything, but if you can’t immerse yourself, I highly recommend doing youtube comprehensible input methods. Check out this vid by Stephen Krashen for a good intro.
There have been studies published that say language learning after your 20s is exponentially harder, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Just understand that it might take more time, and might not come as naturally to you as you’d hope.
If you’re able to learn your basics, enough to form simple sentences. You know, things like “Where is the bathroom?” “How much is this food?” “I like dogs” etc. You’ll be able to start immersing yourself in Spanish at your own pace. Studies show that immersion in a language is the easiest way to learn, so that’s my only real advice.
I’m trying to learn Spanish at the moment as well, I live in Texas in an area with a lot of Spanish speakers, and I’m hoping being able to speak Spanish will help me find work. So I know the struggle of learning this language too. Hell, I studied German for like 6 straight years and only got to a kindergarten level.
Do not give up, your learning curve is slower the older you get, this is absolute normal.
There are free courses on YouTube and bunch of other websites you can use and it also helps repeating the vocabulary once in a week, the stuff you try to learn. If you need additional help finding some material to learn Spanish - there are apps, YouTube courses, text bases courses and so on, let me know and I DM you the stuff you need it.
I am also miserable at language, I do not imply you are but I want to say that I feel your frustration, trying to learn Chinese since 10 years and its awful painful for me, I had 4 years French and Spanish in school and I barely can order something in french which is embarrassing for me. For me language is also a pain, I have a inner barrier so I simply learn very slowly new languages or make the same grammar mistakes over and over again. My problem was that I always hated it, so maybe it is not entirely because of my age but it is a factor. Just do not lose hope. Most things are in your head, if you really want it, you get there. Do baby steps, celebrate small victories and
Personally I need to write things down to have a learning curve, maybe check what is best for you, others prefer hearing things first but I personally need to write things down to get used to it. I think if you know what method works best for you, then you will make progress.
Language itself or communication in general is very important, as you say you do not get much friends without at least the basics, no one expect that it should be perfect, but if you cannot communicate at all with someone, this is pretty much dead sentence to connect.
What methods did you use to learn during those 3 years? What were your learning (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc)? Did you manage to retain some of the knowledge acquired during those years? Honestly you picked a hard language to learn, 3 years learning Spanish without some proper teacher is not that much to be honest, I’ve been learning German for that amount by myself and I’m not even close to being that good honestly, so don’t feel bad about it.
This is a good platform: https://www.duolingo.com/
I use Duolingo…i kill all the excercises, which is fun, but i still can’t speak! So frustrating.
Hey spanish is hard. Just try basic vicuabulary, little by little youll be able to do more complicated ideas, it feels more dificult to learn a laguage when old because by default we use more complicated ideas and vocabulary, so going back to basics feels lacking.
A good way to learn a language is finding a tandem partner. There are plenty of Spanish speakers wanting to learn English. You could teach each other through casual communication (more fun, too)
Immersion of course is better than anything, but if you can’t immerse yourself, I highly recommend doing youtube comprehensible input methods. Check out this vid by Stephen Krashen for a good intro.
u alr speak european… why waste effort learning some spain-variant dialect??
I live in Puero Rico!
There have been studies published that say language learning after your 20s is exponentially harder, but that doesn’t mean it’s impossible. Just understand that it might take more time, and might not come as naturally to you as you’d hope.
If you’re able to learn your basics, enough to form simple sentences. You know, things like “Where is the bathroom?” “How much is this food?” “I like dogs” etc. You’ll be able to start immersing yourself in Spanish at your own pace. Studies show that immersion in a language is the easiest way to learn, so that’s my only real advice.
I’m trying to learn Spanish at the moment as well, I live in Texas in an area with a lot of Spanish speakers, and I’m hoping being able to speak Spanish will help me find work. So I know the struggle of learning this language too. Hell, I studied German for like 6 straight years and only got to a kindergarten level.
Personally I need to write things down to have a learning curve, maybe check what is best for you, others prefer hearing things first but I personally need to write things down to get used to it. I think if you know what method works best for you, then you will make progress.
Language itself or communication in general is very important, as you say you do not get much friends without at least the basics, no one expect that it should be perfect, but if you cannot communicate at all with someone, this is pretty much dead sentence to connect.
Puedes practicar con alguna persona en la sala de Lemmy en español situada en Matrix.
https://matrix.to/#lemmy-es:mozilla.org
What methods did you use to learn during those 3 years? What were your learning (grammar, vocabulary, pronunciation, etc)? Did you manage to retain some of the knowledge acquired during those years? Honestly you picked a hard language to learn, 3 years learning Spanish without some proper teacher is not that much to be honest, I’ve been learning German for that amount by myself and I’m not even close to being that good honestly, so don’t feel bad about it.
I think you meant to reply instead of comment.