Your suggestions/comments on how to learn the lingo.

[Doyle Phillips]

Listeros,
A friend in Texas thinks of studying Spanish. Please add your suggestions or comments on my reply to him (below). Your experience will be appreciated. --doyle


High Patricio After many a year of not using the book I still think a good way to begin could be Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish (drawings by Andy Warhol), even
though the title is a little distasteful. She will show you that you already have a big Spanish vocabulary. I believe she would say that knowing the names of things
is basic and can go a long way when trying to communicate.

Not knowing your level of Spanish I'm a bit at sea. Incidentally you can go online and find several Spanish fluency-level tests.

I have Rosetta Stone but have not got around to exploring it. Many people come here for short or long-term Spanish schools and i can't recall any of them having
used RS but I think it has good reviews.

For what it is worth, these would be my tips:

On-line you can learn first-year Spanish much more quickly than going to a class. After you have completed the course and have a good idea of the structure of
the language then take a class or tutorial covering the same 101 course to learn the nuances. Almost certainly you can find a personal Mexican tutor in Midland,
perhaps at a tienda or restaurant there if not on CraigsList.

Aim at learning Mexican and Latin American pronunciation, which is perfectly acceptable in Spain. However I would also learn the Familiar Plural when you
go to conjugation of verbs. FP is not used in most of Latin America but you should be familiar with it when it comes to reading. Lots of pronunciation practice
can be done on the Internet.

I have not tried it but have read of a Seattle prof's technique: his students watch CNN news in English then they find a similar news program on CNN international
in Spanish. Apparently knowing in advance the news topics helps tune-in to the way it is said in Spanish. (I suppose that Spanish subtitles are helpful when watching movies.)

Over the years I've met many foreigners here--mostly over the age of 65--who have new interest in studying Spanish. Can't remember asking them their suggestions about how to best learn the lingo but I will begin to do so. In that mode I'm going to post this message on the local electronic bulletin board and see if any of the readers have further comments.

Saludos, Doyle

Doyle,
Funny you sent this today, I was contemplating taking a Spanish class at MC or doing something online (Rosetta Stone, etc) but after your email I must ask , what's your opinion about how I might go about improving my conversational Spanish?
P Sent from my iPhone

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