I didn't study Spanish first, but actually Latin in high school. After learning the complexities of Latin, Spanish was a breeze. It was also more fun, because we moved to West Texas were people atually speak the language.
It always amazes me that people talk about taking a language class in high school, then graduate without actually being able to speak any of the language. After a year or two pass, they can't seem to speak a word of it. In our classes, the teacher always made us practice actual conversations, and I believe that helped to make the language stick.
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.
Our high school Spanish Club sponsored an annual trip to Mexico city each summer. At the end of my junior year, my parents and I went, and it was another boost to learning Spanish. From a nearby Junior College, I even got three hours college credit for the trip.
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.
During my undergraduate program, I took Spanish classes, as electives, just for fun. During one summer, they had a Spanish Conversation class, then later, I took two courses in Spanish literature. During the literature classes, the entire lecture, notes, and exams were in Spanish.
Then, back in the early 1980s, I tried some French, Portuguese, and Hebrew, using the Pimsleur system. After trying other courses that didn't work, I was very impressed with how easy Pimsleur was. I made two trips to Brazil, in which I was able to "convert" my Spanish into Portuguese by learning a few additional words.
Finally, in 1995 I got to live and work in a Spanish-speaking destination, San Juan, Puerto Rico. While I could have used English on the job, I tried when possible to use Spanish, and the co-workers were encouraging. I was there about nine months, and often found myself starting to "think" in Spanish instead of English. I would have learned even more if I had stayed in someone's home, instead of living by mself.
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.
It always amazes me that people talk about taking a language class in high school, then graduate without actually being able to speak any of the language. After a year or two pass, they can't seem to speak a word of it. In our classes, the teacher always made us practice actual conversations, and I believe that helped to make the language stick.
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.
Our high school Spanish Club sponsored an annual trip to Mexico city each summer. At the end of my junior year, my parents and I went, and it was another boost to learning Spanish. From a nearby Junior College, I even got three hours college credit for the trip.
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.
During my undergraduate program, I took Spanish classes, as electives, just for fun. During one summer, they had a Spanish Conversation class, then later, I took two courses in Spanish literature. During the literature classes, the entire lecture, notes, and exams were in Spanish.
Then, back in the early 1980s, I tried some French, Portuguese, and Hebrew, using the Pimsleur system. After trying other courses that didn't work, I was very impressed with how easy Pimsleur was. I made two trips to Brazil, in which I was able to "convert" my Spanish into Portuguese by learning a few additional words.
Finally, in 1995 I got to live and work in a Spanish-speaking destination, San Juan, Puerto Rico. While I could have used English on the job, I tried when possible to use Spanish, and the co-workers were encouraging. I was there about nine months, and often found myself starting to "think" in Spanish instead of English. I would have learned even more if I had stayed in someone's home, instead of living by mself.
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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