My first foreign language in school was Latin - a great language to prepare you for any university. But then we moved, and the only language offered was Spanish. I found Spanish more fun, because people in West Texas actually spoke it, where as Latin was mostly just reading and learning complex grammar.
My high school Spanish seemed to "stick", even though I'm always talking to people who have totally forgotten whatever language they learned in school. Perhaps they didn't have a true love for language, or perhaps they just never made opportunities to continue their studies.
In high school, I had part time jobs at a fast food place, and as a janitor. In both of these jobs, I was surrounded by Spanish speaking co-workers; so I picked up some Spanish that I cannot repeat in mixed company. But in general, it did help enforce the "proper" Spanish that I was learning in school.
Every summer, our Spanish teacher took a group to Mexico city. Travel is, of course, a great way to further one's language skills. I took lot's of pictures, created a scrapbook accompanied with an audio tape, and got three hours credit for the trip from a nearby community college.
When I went to college, I took CLEP tests - advanced placement tests for Spanish. They actually awarded me 14 college credits from my test results. Wow - that saved me one entire semester in college.
In college, I didn't major in Spanish, but almost got a minor. If I remember correctly, I had one class in conversational Spanish, and two classes in Spanish literature. I was also involved with Spanish Clubs and Honor Society on campus.
Later, when I was out in the working world, I did self self-study in French, Portugese, and Hebrew. I discovered the Pimsleur system and the government FSI courses (this was still 10 years before the internet!). I went on a couple of trips to Brazil, where I spoke probably butchered my limited Portugese with a lot of Spanish, but I could make myself understood.
In 1995, I was a consultant and got a job offer in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Being single and living by yourself is not the optimal way to learn more Spanish. But on the job, I was able to put a lot of Spanish to use, even though it wasn't a requirement.
After studying a few more languages, I have learned what works and what doesn't. I decided to create my own Spanish online learning community. We have several native Spanish speakers supporting our forum and creating short lessons.
My high school Spanish seemed to "stick", even though I'm always talking to people who have totally forgotten whatever language they learned in school. Perhaps they didn't have a true love for language, or perhaps they just never made opportunities to continue their studies.
In high school, I had part time jobs at a fast food place, and as a janitor. In both of these jobs, I was surrounded by Spanish speaking co-workers; so I picked up some Spanish that I cannot repeat in mixed company. But in general, it did help enforce the "proper" Spanish that I was learning in school.
Every summer, our Spanish teacher took a group to Mexico city. Travel is, of course, a great way to further one's language skills. I took lot's of pictures, created a scrapbook accompanied with an audio tape, and got three hours credit for the trip from a nearby community college.
When I went to college, I took CLEP tests - advanced placement tests for Spanish. They actually awarded me 14 college credits from my test results. Wow - that saved me one entire semester in college.
In college, I didn't major in Spanish, but almost got a minor. If I remember correctly, I had one class in conversational Spanish, and two classes in Spanish literature. I was also involved with Spanish Clubs and Honor Society on campus.
Later, when I was out in the working world, I did self self-study in French, Portugese, and Hebrew. I discovered the Pimsleur system and the government FSI courses (this was still 10 years before the internet!). I went on a couple of trips to Brazil, where I spoke probably butchered my limited Portugese with a lot of Spanish, but I could make myself understood.
In 1995, I was a consultant and got a job offer in San Juan, Puerto Rico. Being single and living by yourself is not the optimal way to learn more Spanish. But on the job, I was able to put a lot of Spanish to use, even though it wasn't a requirement.
After studying a few more languages, I have learned what works and what doesn't. I decided to create my own Spanish online learning community. We have several native Spanish speakers supporting our forum and creating short lessons.
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