GOTTA LEARN SPANISH OR POTUGUESE

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This might be a terrible idea, but what about learning both in concert? They're pretty similar, and noting the similarities and differences between the two might snap more synapses together in the old cabeza than trying to tackle one alone...

waitaminit p'dog
Ola chiquitaK, Usted no debe ayudar, ningun la Goddam freeloading.

I could cept its offered as two separate classes at the U and those CD's like Rosetta Stone are also separate.

ah, so, you're going to learn like a reasonable person would.

(still and all, might not hurt to take the spanish and glance in on a portuguese text just for gits and shiggles, especially if'n you might encounter both lenguas...)

I dont know. I reeally like the sound of Portuguese. Its got a lot of soft sounds and is kinda melodic. BUT, Spanish is more utilitarian and , although I can order in a restaurant, I need the technical jargon, even though many words of the Alto plana are taken from English, German or French and then I usually just add an "O"

like the word for rolled sediments in metamorphic rocks is from a French word meaning wee sausages' "El boudinagio"

I took a lot of italian classes back around 1990 at a local university extension program. They had regular classes and intensive classes, and I never got around to signing up for the intensive ones... think that would have helped me, since my weakness is conversation. I was swell, or swell enough, at grammar and composition with my handy dictionary nearby, but never at my best was any damn good at conversation, though I managed to get around and converse in an elementary way. Which makes me wonder for you about Berlitz type classes, not that I really know anything about those. For me, I'm sorry I didn't take both regular and intense classes. Plus, I wish I'd kept up reading the newspaper more - I bet that would help over time.

Thanks osso. I looked into the Berlitz courses , but they dont sound too convincing to me .

Just remembered.. my italian teacher became a friend, so I got to know a bit more about whom and where she taught. It turns out that she also tutored a fellow who was in the business of film production (I think it was); he and his wife wanted to buy property and live in Italy most of the year. He started from zero and ended up quite conversant. And didn't Craven do something like that with business people in Brazil wanting to learn English?
So, depending on the tutor, that could make sense.

Farmer, host an exchange student.

Re total immersion.

My daughter went to Sweden with 3 words of swedish, it was 6 months before the language "clicked". After (apprx) 3 months she was able to understand much of what was being said around her by her friends. Most exchange students report similar experiences with whatever language they are immersed in.

Having the host family support network is a major advantage though.

Of course your an older dog so.........

Read Communicative Competence by Sandra Savignon. She is a professor of French, and touts the principle of communicative competence over standard classroom technique. Orignally written in 1979 and 1980 (i knew her at that time), it has been reissued in a second edition dated 1997.

Communicative Competence: Theory and Classroom Practice Texts and Contexts in Second Language Learning is probably readily available from a university library system without needing to purchase.

If you go to the linked page, and click on the author's name, you will be taken to a page listing her publications--she has many intersting books on second language learning.

Miss Savignon's point is that immersion is the best method, and learning to function in the milieu of a language has far more value than traditional classroom practice. In the original edition, she quotes Margaret Mead, who said that although she did not learn the languages of the Pacific Islands in the formal grammatical sense, the locals always said she spoke the language better than her linguistic colleagues, because she asked about someone's pig, or how grandma was feeling today (something to that effect). I recommend immersion, and i recommend Spanish. I agree with those here who suggest that you'll pick up the Portugee if you get a good grip on Spanish.

The trouble with exploiting an exchange student is that the exchange student is to be immersed in English.

The total immersion method does actually feel better and I pick up on dialect sounds quite quickly. However, y main work areas are in areas where Spanish is mixed in with Inca phrases and everybody undertsands English cuss words and some German phrases.

My wife speaks Spanish but she gets all "concerned about accuracy" so instead of a conversational exercise , talking with her sounds like a flashback, where she stops and corrects me all the time, and I dont take her correction well.

(Unless she wears her little Catholic SChool uniform and Im Father O malley)

Re: GOTTA LEARN SPANISH OR POTUGUESE


Definitely, yes. But it's not true the other way around.

My take is that Spanish is more widely used (though not always in exactly the same form) and there are probably more resources to learn it. Can you learn it in South America? Many countries have immersion programs where you live with a family there and attend classes at the same time. A month or so is usually all you need.

That said, if you prefer Portuguese then go with that. You will be able to recognize a lot of Spanish, and sometimes if the languages are close enough you can make yourself understood.

I spent two months studying Spanish in Guatemala. I would highly recommend this for someone who wants to pick up a language quickly. I learned more in these two months than I did in 3 semesters in University.

It is near impossible to get the same level of skill without living daily life in a language for a while.

I have had reasonable conversations with people who spoke only Portuguese using my pretty good Spanish. It takes patience but it can be done.

Thank you all, I guess Im going to have to do the total immersion route during 2007 down time. . Im gonna check the Libraries for the Savignon text set. Also, we have a bunch of good used books shops who are always on the alert for specific old science school texts for me.

I am concerned that you see hosting an exchange student as exploitation Noddy. Perhaps i misunderstand the intent of your post or you misundertsand the intent of mine. Its the word exploit that does it.

hosting an exchange student is a two way street.

As well as taking home a cultural experience these kids (in my experience) leave a lot of themselves behind.

Dadpad--

I wasn't accusing you of advocating child labor or of undermining the Exchange Student process--just commenting on the practical limits of immersing with an exotic house guest.

yeah. say you host a brazilian houseguest and learn portuguese according to brazil's equivalent of truman capote? or carol kane? or george bush?