Learning Spanish
 

I may be going to Spain next year to visit my cousin. The city she lives in has a large population of Germans and I speak German (well...enough to get by). However, I would like to learn some Spanish, as I hope to travel beyond just this city.

Anyway, I see that there are some free podcasts on itunes, as well as some downloads at a fairly low cost.

Does anyone have any experience with any of these? And does anyone have any advice for somebody trying to learn another language? I need to look into a conversational Spanish class, but that may be cost prohibitive.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Also, any advice from anyone whose been to Spain-what to see, what to skip, etc., would be great.

Thanks!!

Do you have a library membership? Libraries may have pimsleur to check out but also sometimes there are online resources libraries offer. Also watching some spanish language tv is a bit useful. You will want to look for spain spanish over latin american spanish but even exposure into latin american spanish will be helpful.

The best resource I have seen for learning a foreign language (short of total immersion or intensive study) is Rosetta Stone. Some libraries do offer free access to this online, or you can purchase the software yourself.

Rosetta Stone is very expensive.

There is a program online called Before You Know It that is good for word lists, but it doesn't show conjugation or any grammar stuff.

There are also a lot of self-help websites...try Google.

Thanks ladies!

I've heard of Rosetta Stone and when I looked up the price I was shocked! I knew it was expensive, but I had no idea it would be that much! They should include a flight to Spain for that price!!

I checked with the library and they have the Pimsleur cassettes available and they have the Rosetta Stone on order.

I'll do some googling as well.

Thanks so much! I knew I could count on the ladies here at 3FC.

I took 10 years of Spanish... it was one of my college majors. I don't have anything specific to tell you but there is a great book available for about $10 called Hide This Spanish Book. I found mine at Borders. It gives you a lot of street/conversational/social Spanish which would be perfect if you plan to go out a lot.