What’s the easiest way for a dumbass to learn Spanish?

Immersion.

Pick up some of the basics with Duolingo, but find a way to spend time around Spanish speakers and practice. Volunteer, etc but immerse yourself.

Para Espanol, oprima dos...

quote:

Originally posted by sigmonkey:
Para Espanol, oprima dos...

Marque ocho!!

Keep in mind that Spanish is not the same everywhere you might go. People from different regions in Central and South America speak the same language with considerable differences that can make communications difficult. European Spanish is different than Latin American Spanish in form and usage. The high Spanish of the Castilian era can be difficult for native Spanish speakers of today, but remains in somewhat common usage in many of the former colonial regions.

Becoming functionally fluent in Latin American Spanish would probably not serve you very well if you plan on travelling in Spain. Here in southern Colorado, and neighboring New Mexico, there have been Spanish speaking people for about 400 years or so, and Spanish remains the primary language in many families; but so much of what passes now is idiomatically incorrect and supplemented by a great deal of slang and changes in common usage. There is also a local or regional dialect that is recognized by those who study languages and usage.

Total immersion in a Spanish-language community would be the ideal learning environment. Even that would require a few months to develop a sufficient vocabulary and the ability to communicate easily without constantly stopping to translate, consider verb tenses, adjective usage, sentence structures, and become truly proficient.

C

As a native Latin American speaker, who has lived and studied in Spain, much of what LoboGun says is on point, except for the differences in language. As long as you don’t learn a very harsh (I.e. Puerto Rican) variant of Spanish, you will easily be able communicate across every country. The difference in Spanish across countries is nowhere near as stark as the difference between American English and Scottish English, for example.

Colombian Spanish tends to be a fairly neutral tone, by the way. Just avoid learning too much slang, as that does vary from country to country.

Get taught the basic grammar, vocabulary and sentence structure. While doing that immerse yourself in it. That means hang with Spanish speakers and only speak Spanish. Do it for an hour at first. Then two. Then all day then all weekend. Study Spanish even when you are not in immersion. Your vocabulary, verb conjugation, gender designation, accent, tenses and pronouns are best learned by reading Spanish books aloud. It will be slow at first but one day your mind will stop translating English to Spanish. It will just think in Spanish. That's when the fun begins

If you don’t live somewhere that total immersion is possible, it really helps to hear people speaking the language on the radio or in movies. Fire up your favorite movie, change the audio to the Spanish dubs, and leave the English subtitles on. You’ll start to pick it up. This is, of course, in addition to a learning program.

Move to a border town.

Depends on your purpose. A local night course will get you up to speed on basic grammar, conjugation, sentence structure etc. Listening to Spanish radio, and television shows will train the ear. I was ecstatic when I could tell when they were saying the time of day. You may understand more than be able to speak, simple words will lead to common phrases just like a child learns. When you only hear Spanish it comes quicker.

Duolingo is helpful but, doesn't bridge the gap for conversations or complete sentence forming. Immersion as others have said is the best way, volunteering is good, go do your shopping at a Mexican market, their butcher counters have a lot more cut variety than a standard super market, order a meal or, lunch at a taco truck or, taqueria, practice your basic Spanish there. The biggest hurdle is yourself, getting over the initial embarrassment and persevere, immigrants to the US go through this daily; once they see you're trying to learn, people will be helpful.

We lived in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico for about a year. We also took a 101 class at the local college. We learned very little in the process. Most of the natives spoke English. We were in our late 60's which didn't help.

We know colors, days of the week, time, count to 1,000, basic greetings and we were just fine.

I lived in New Mexico for nine years.

While not fluent in speaking I could understand the gist of the conversation.

As time went by it became a little easier as I picked up some phrases and could actually put together some cohesive sentences.

But alas, I’ve forgotten a lot since moving back to Michigan in ‘88.

Join Border Patrol……

quote:

Originally posted by reloader-1:
As long as you don’t learn a very harsh (I.e. Puerto Rican) variant of Spanish...Just avoid learning too much slang, as that does vary from country to country.

Oh, azafata, hablo jive

The same way you get to Carnegie Hall. There is no other way around it and there is no get rich quick method.

Don't learn from Cubans.

¡Suerte!

quote:

Originally posted by old dino:
Though I had classes in high school and college ... Duolingo was helpful, but too many game style ads and stuff. So I dropped out of that.

Since I had a good grip on the basics, I immerse myself by watching Spanish television/movies, and listening to Spanish radio stations. Now I want to get Spanish magazines and Reader Digest to read.

I've been doing the Duolingo for about 4 months. You can avoid the ads by going to their web based version on the computer which also allows you to avoid the whole "Hearts" limitation. On the app you get 5 Hearts per day. Each error you lose a heart. You can work to earn more in a day but it can be a PITA. That is with the free version on the app. The paid version of the app doesn't have that limitation so I'm told.
I think a really good option would be Duolingo and like Old Dino suggested.

Marianny Dey's Youtube channel <3 <3 <3

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Blackmore,