Learning Spanish
By AmberLynn
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
United States
January 26, 2020 8:20am CST
Well, I am still going strong with duolingo. I think I need to strengthen my knowledge on the plural of words and the tenses of them. I haven't completed a lesson every day. Like yesterday, I thought I had completed one but it seems as if I didn't.
Unlike other languages I have learned, I have a better chance of actually going further with Spanish. Why? I'm exposed to it a lot more than I am any of the others I have expressed interest in. I used to know a lot more Spanish, atleast enough to halfway get by in conversations.
Today I am also going to try my hand at some lessons from spanishdict.com.
How many languages do you speak?
22 people like this
23 responses
@LadyDuck (502555)
• Italy
26 Jan 20
@topffer is right, speaking with native speakers is the best way to learn and to speak with a correct accent. We like when tourists who come here make an effort to speak Italian, we treat them better. I speak Italian, French (I lived in a French speaking country 31 years), English, Spanish, a bit of German (not well). I studied Latin during 8 years, I can read texts in Latin but surely not speak (except prayers
).
).3 people like this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
I have also considered borrowing books in Spanish when I am more fluent. I do not know any native speakers any longer. My closest friend has turned acquaintance because of a falling out we had. She was too immature while I was maturing and growing into a better person.
I've heard that German can be a difficult language to learn.
2 people like this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
@LadyDuck It will most likely be those from Mexico that I talk to. That is where the majority of the Latinos in our country come from, though I've met Cubans and Venezuelans before as well.
2 people like this
@LadyDuck (502555)
• Italy
26 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum May be you can speak with some Mexican people. The language is not identical but similar. In my opinion German is the most difficult of the languages I learnt.
1 person likes this

@topffer (42155)
• France
26 Jan 20
Speaking with native speakers is the best way to learn a language, try with the Spanish speaking people around you. I don't know for Americans, but in Spain they love when a stranger speaks Spanish and you are better treated than the average foreign tourist. I mean they will rob easily a stranger, except if he speaks Spanish. I speak French and Occitan (a Southern French language not far from Catalan) since birth. I learned Spanish as a first foreign language, English as a second one, Latin during 6 years but I don't speak it, and I took a few months of Literary Arabic courses in college, but I am unable to speak or write it, I only understand a word here and there. And I read many more that I have never learned at school but are also Latin languages (Italian, Catalan, Romanian...)
3 people like this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
I don't actually have any Latino friends anymore, but my best friend has learned the language and is someone I could speak with to help me practice. I never intend to go to Spain, but I will surely keep that in mind if I ever find myself there. I've learned a bit of several different languages, but Spanish is the language I've retained the most of.
2 people like this
@topffer (42155)
• France
26 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum Oh, well, Spanish are very friendly peoples but they are invaded by foreigners not making an effort to speak their language. If I remember 300000 Britons bought a house there, and most of them do not make any effort to speak anything else than English.
Last year when I went to Portugal, I met in a tram a couple of retired French who were there since 5 years, and when an old woman asked them something in Portuguese, they said that they were not speaking it. I was ashamed, really. How can you decide to settle in a country without learning the language, forcing peoples to try to speak in your own language ?
3 people like this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
@topffer I am not sure which show it was, but I saw a show that featured a small town in Spain. The town was almost completely made of expats from the UK and I think a few from Australia. I'm a firm believer that a person should make an effort to learn the language of the land they plan to settle in.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
Did you take a foreign language in school?
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
@LindaOHio I always wondered why High schools taught Latin as a course. It's only really useful for certain career paths.
1 person likes this


@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
@amitkokiladitya I've heard that those fluent in two languages have a good memory and retain that memory for many years. It's a good way to exercise our brain.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
Well you are doing better than me. I know a little of some languages, but not enough to be fluent. Even in Spanish, I am nowhere near fluency yet. I hope to change that.
1 person likes this
@amitkokiladitya (171988)
• Agra, India
26 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum I'm glad I'm fluent with two languages
1 person likes this

@Shivram59 (50247)
• India
27 Jan 20
@scribbledAdNauseum I can speak three languages two of which are Indian.Now I am learning Sanskrit.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
27 Jan 20
How are you learning Sanskrit? Online, or do you have a local teacher?
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
27 Jan 20
@Shivram59 I wish you luck on this. I can not learn via books, I've tried and only picked up a few phrases.
1 person likes this
@Shivram59 (50247)
• India
27 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum No,I have bought a self help book.It's a good book for beginners.It is written in Hindi by a great scholar of the Vedas.

@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
Oh wow! Did you learn English, Spanish and French in school, or did you learn it on your own?
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
@Moon24 Oh I see. Was it hard for you to learn Spanish?
1 person likes this
@Moon24 (22394)
• Serbia
26 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum I learned English and French in school and Spanish on my own.
1 person likes this

@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
7 Feb 20
Oh, what languages are prominent in Indonesia?
@RebeccasFarm (91297)
• United States
26 Jan 20
One but smatterings of Sicilian and Irish.
1 person likes this

@RebeccasFarm (91297)
• United States
26 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum Well in my mind it is different entirely but most people would say it resembles Italian yes.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
I tried Irish once, then moved onto Welsh. Never did learn a lot of either of those languages. If I was a millionaire I'd just go to Ireland and study there.
Ah Sicillian? I was under the impression that it was just a different dialect of Italian, is that what it is?
Ah Sicillian? I was under the impression that it was just a different dialect of Italian, is that what it is?1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
@RebeccasFarm Ah okay. I tried to learn a little bit of Italian before I grew tired of it, so I don't really know how Sicialian and Italian differ.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
I still struggle with the days of the week. I forget what Thursday is for some reason.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
27 Jan 20
@simone10 Jueves is Thursday.
1 person likes this
@simone10 (54180)
• Louisville, Kentucky
27 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum I don't remember that at all...lol
1 person likes this

@Courtlynn (67089)
• United States
26 Jan 20
Just English but learned some spanish and french in middle school.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
They had French in middle school for you? It was just Spanish from what I can remember.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
@Courtlynn It's been so long ago, but I remember only doing one term in Spanish for the sixth grade.
1 person likes this
@Courtlynn (67089)
• United States
26 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum yes. 6th grade we had to do half the year in each, then at the end of the year we had to pick which one we wanted to do for 7th and 8th grade.
1 person likes this

@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
Do you know what other language you would like to learn?
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
@dya80dya From what I've heard, German can be a really hard language to learn. Italian or Spanish may be easier.Both Italian and Spanish are among the Romance languages like Romanian is. You might find lots of similarities between then.
1 person likes this
@dya80dya (36805)
•
26 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum I can't decide between Italian, Spanish and German.
1 person likes this

@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
Yeah, see I can sort of understand that, but not really! Not yet anyway!
The first sentence doesn't make any sense to me at all.
The first sentence doesn't make any sense to me at all.1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
@porwest See, I was thinking that first sentence was "It's good to know something about going well, and then faster?" It's obvious I need to practice a lot more.
I'm using duolingo and trying to see about this spanishdict.com stuff.
1 person likes this
@porwest (112876)
• United States
26 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum The first sentence is basically just, "It's good to know it's going well for you so far." I used the more formal version of you "usted." But in general conversation I probably would have used "tu."
I need to get back into it. I actually find it to be a fun language.
Took me forever to write it out though since I had to remember all the alt codes for the "punctuation." 


@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
Did you ever take a language in school?
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
27 Jan 20
@CarolDM It just wasn't for you? I didn't like the structure of learning languages when I was in school. I didn't even take a foreign language when I was in HS.
1 person likes this
@CarolDM (203396)
• Nashville, Tennessee
26 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum I started Spanish but dropped out.
1 person likes this

@isweartokira (3459)
• United States
27 Jan 20
that's amazing, I only speak English and sign a little sign language. I feel like I don't have the mental capacity or patience to learn another language, so that's really good that you're keeping with it.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
27 Jan 20
I tried to learn sign language but I lost interest after awhile. My aunt's mother in law made a career out of it as she was an interpreter for the school system.
I don't have much patience for language, but I am more eager with Spanish. Mainly because I was able to speak it somewhat conversationally before.
1 person likes this
@isweartokira (3459)
• United States
28 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum well I wish you the best of luck with it!
@GardenGerty (169479)
• United States
27 Jan 20
I speak English, and SEE which is a type of sign language, but not ASL I can recognize Spanish and know a very few words. Only language I took much of was Latin, but we did not speak it.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
27 Jan 20
Is SEE a sort of shorthand ASL that is meant to be useful and helpful for non verbal autistic children?
@Porcospino (31365)
• Denmark
26 Jan 20
I speak Danish, English and Italian. I understand German . I am able read German books and watch German movies, but I am not that good at speaking and writing. I studied French many years ago, but I haven't used it much and I have forgotten many of the words.
I am learning Chinese on Duolingo. I also learned a bit Russian and a bit Japanese, but I only understand very simple sentences. I used to understand Estonian relatively well. I haven't used it all since I left my job in Estonia, and I am not sure how much I remember.

@Porcospino (31365)
• Denmark
29 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum Yes, I remember we talked about this topic in the past. I have finished the Spanish course on Duolingo, I think it took about one year. I was a beginner when I started. Have you read any of the Spanish stories on Duolingo or do you focus on the lessons? I have read the stories. I hope that they will add more stories in the future.
No, I don't think that there are many people from Estonia in Denmark. Before I left for my job I tried to find someone from Estonia who was living in Denmark, because I was hoping that the person could teach me a bit of the language, but I didn't get any replies at all.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
29 Jan 20
@Porcospino I wasn't aware they had stories to read. I know that they have a podcast where you can listen to stories. I have not done so yet.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
27 Jan 20
You and I have talked a lot about language before so you know what I have dabbled at. A friend of mine told me that I should study Spanish again. It's probably the only language that I retained a lot of, but I still need to work hard at it. It's also the only language I think I have a chance of actually talking to native speakers with.
Do people from Estonia migrate a lot? That is, is there a chance that you could meet an Estonian in Denmark?
1 person likes this

@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
27 Jan 20
Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't you originally from Greece?
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
27 Jan 20
@thelme55 Ah okay, I think I have confused with someone else then. I'm sorry!
1 person likes this
@thelme55 (79324)
• Germany
27 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum No. I am originally by birth from the Philippines.
1 person likes this

@Hannihar (130150)
• Israel
26 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum
That is great. So have you learned a lot of languages? English is my mother tongue and I have learned Hebrew here in Israel and sometimes cannot speak any language and also there are things I do not know. I guess you can say I know enough to get by but my reading and writing are not good. I also took French in High School and people have come to live here from all over so learned a little bit of other languages.
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
I know a little bit of a lot of languages, but not really enough to be fluent in any of them. I've learned some Dutch, some Welsh, and some French. I wish I could say I was a polyglot, but unfortunately I am not.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
@Hannihar They can be very difficult to learn for sure.
1 person likes this
@Hannihar (130150)
• Israel
26 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum
That is ok. For me languages are very hard to learn.

@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
26 Jan 20
I have heard of Tagalog but not of Bisaya, that's new to me.
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
27 Jan 20
@JustBhem Oh I see. How many dialects are there in the Filipino language?
1 person likes this
@JustBhem (70555)
• Davao, Philippines
26 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum Bisaya is our language here in Davao.
1 person likes this

@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
27 Jan 20
Is Spanish a language you'd like to learn?
1 person likes this
@ScribbledAdNauseum (104615)
• United States
27 Jan 20
@ExplorewtMe Well I wish you luck if you do try it out.
1 person likes this
@ExplorewtMe (6332)
• Nairobi, Kenya
27 Jan 20
@ScribbledAdNauseum I can give it a try and Arabic too.
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