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Subject: learning a new language Author: bcn (frustrated and exhausted) [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ] Date Posted: 12:43:39 11/30/11 Wed hi all, can anyone offer me help, advice or encouragement on my latest problem.i've been living in Spain now for a year and a half and i love it.i decided to learn Spanish so i can involve myself in the community. i was very excited about my new challenge. i started the classes 5 months ago and was quickly reminded of my school days,not in a good way.all the old feelings came rushing back,nerves,pounding heart,dry mouth and panic.how could i not have realised that to learn a new language you need to know all the language terminology,grammar etc. i don't learn them in English so how was i going to understand in another language.one day the teacher asked me to read out loud.....omg i thought but i gave it my best shot, it was terrible and i was rally upset after. the next day i told her a had dyslexia and to please not ask me to read out loud again. i go everyday in the hope that something will click in my head and i'll understand how it all works,academically i mean.the other side of the coin is that i'm actually quite good at the pronunciation and now have a lot of vocabulary but i still struggle to put it all together.is there another method i can use to learn? the classroom environment isn't the place for me it seems the pace is too fast and it makes in feel very uncomfortable. i really want to learn so I'm determined not to give up. [ Next Thread | Previous Thread | Next Message | Previous Message ]

Replies:

[> Subject: Re: learning a new language Author: Pat [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 05:37:25 12/17/11 Sat Hi there, Deep breath and relax, don't give up! take it for me which I had your very same problem but with English :) I'm Spanish and now I've been living in UK for nearly 8 years.. when I was studying English was all a nightmare (same with Spanish grammar at school) I keep swapping letters while writing sentences and stuff like that only because my brain knew them properly but It failed to see they were misspelled. I gave up "standard" teaching methods for foreign languages and I enrolled instead in courses and modules about stuff I like or wanted to learn, where the language was not the focus of the lecture but the subject... it helped me to be in a environment where I knew I would not be asked to read aloud, or do essays about my hobbies or my dog or tests about grammar. So enroll for something where communication will be minimum to start with but where you need to use a bit of Spanish (like a drawing class, or pottery or music or whatever). I also found more useful to read on my own time easy books and watch loads of movies and have just a grammar self study book... Worked for me. :) [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject: Re: learning a new language Author: barcelona [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 12:07:20 12/21/11 Wed thank you so much.your right i should relax and take my time and that's what i'm going to do.i feel a lot of pressure for friends and colleagues though. they always say how's your Spanish now and i'm like not much better but i'm trying.people mean well but they don't understand how i feel.determined not to give up.bring on the Spanish haha [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> [> Subject: Re: learning a new language Author: Bermudos [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 03:48:08 04/18/22 Mon My brother was adamant about buying assignments, usually writing them himself. But then something went wrong and he urgently had to leave for work in another city, taking the academy for a couple of weeks. During this time, he missed some material and had to resort to a service where there are university assignment writers to help him write what was asked. He did not quite understand how to do this, he missed the topic. [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Re: learning a new language Author: Marcella (happy) [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 13:08:35 12/30/11 Fri Hi, congrats on living overseas. We all know the standard classroom environment is not the best platform for our learning. But keep on going, then make a lot of use of using the language out in the real world. You will come along faster by practical application. Another realm may be an immersion class where you focus more on conversation verses grammar etc. Use flash cards with English one side / Spanish on another, take around with you for words that are hard to retain. Take on learning the way a baby learns a language -- they can't read, they don't know grammar etc etc. Apply how they learn. Whilst it is good to write a foreign language, it may come easier by first speaking it then writing it comes easier. When you look at an item, say a chair -- don't think of it as "English chair, Spanish silla". Think it first just in Spanish. Good luck! Bueno suerte! [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Re: learning a new language Author: John (There is hope) [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 14:14:12 12/30/11 Fri My wife and I are missionaries in Costa Rica and had to learn Spanish also. I had a terrible problem in a class room setting! Using colored index cards helped a lot. Make flash cards with them! Write the verbs into sentances as you learn them! I finally stared using a tutor via skype which is the best change I made. A good totur is worth thier weight in gold! Persistants helps also! Hope this helps [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Re: learning a new language Author: Yoni (Visual thinker) [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 11:53:40 06/20/12 Wed Hi bcn, I am from Spain and when I was 17 years old spent a year in USA. It was very difficult for me to learn english, but I finally did with many teacher's support. Now I am 36 and have much lower english level: If you don´t use it, you loose it. Spanish is a very complicated language, even for me, so take it easy. In my case a great way to learn was watching movies I had already seen translated to spanish in original version. Good luck and thank you for learning español ;-D [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Re: learning a new language Author: Justin [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 06:11:24 07/03/12 Tue Dear Ben, good luck in learning Spanish. I have been living and working in Italy for the last 15 years. I am bilingual and teach English both privately and in the state school system. Today about 35% of my private students and at least 10% of my students at school suffer from dyslexia in some form or another. I have had some great results with spoken Englsh. The written is always been a problem for my dyslexic students. The most difficult thing for me as a teacher at the beginning was adapting to many of my students learning curves. Let me give you an example of a student who is C1-C2 (intermediate-advanced level) who seemed to make little progress for at least a year who then made a huge jump. He seemed to take three steps forward and then two back. The fact is that he continues going forward. With other elements of language - tense and aspect for example - he made more progress in two years than most people do in a lifetime. His communication is good - the communicative part of language is solid while the precision part is - lets just say not absolutely perfect but who cares anyway he speaks a million times better than many non dyslexic students. Feel free to email me if there is anything more specific that you want to talk about. Best regards Justin justinfabris@hotmail.com [ Post a Reply to This Message ]

[> Subject: Re: learning a new language Author: Sam (I totally understand!) [ Edit | View ] Date Posted: 09:12:57 04/09/13 Tue Hey Ben, I was just reading through all the posts when I saw yours! I was very shocked to read it as I am in the same boat as you now. I see from the post it was a few years ago. So how did you end up going? I have been living in Spain for the last three months after meeting my Spanish girlfriend backpacking through Europe. I knew this would be a massive challenge from me but I thought I could do. I started my Spanish course a month ago and after three weeks I had to speak to the director and change my course to a one-on-one with far less contact hours. I'm really not sure if it was my dyslexia or the anxiety of being back in the classroom that was blocking my learning. Anyway I'm here for a year and a half and I'm now doing four hours a week instead of 20 are and I feel much more relaxed. Thanks for sharing Sam [ Post a Reply to This Message ]