Not really that OT Spanish Language teaching DVD's etc

In article
, Larry L
wrote:

I want to learn some 'conversational' Spanish, as part of my Patagonia
fishing plans. I'm not concerned with perfect grammar, or fluency, just
being understood and understanding simple "where is the good fishing?" and
"how much is that?" conversations, ... with lots of pointing, gestures,
some key words.

Of course, becoming more proficient would be wonderful, but ya gotta start
somewhere.

I speak quite a few languages and sometimes have to learn them very
fast. You don't need any fancy expensive courses. I learnt Italian,
which I now speak quite well, with nothing but 'Teach yourself
Italian'.


You only need to know about a hundred to a hundred and fifty phrases,
but you need to feel comfortable with them. You can get away with
twenty to fifty (that's all the Croatian I know, and it's served me
well). You can learn them easily at twenty to fifty a day.

You need to use flash cards. These can be either real or virtual. (I
use a palm pilot application called quiz me. The palm is great cos you
can get it out on a subway or bus or whatever).

Assuming you use real cards you put the english on one side, the
spanish on the other. Don't bother learning spanish to english. If you
can manage english to spanish, you'll be okay wth the other way round.

The process of deciding which phrases to put on your cards is part of
the learning process.

Vital a

Greetings and the sort of exchanges you have in the street (where are
you going? where is the....?

Enquiries and answers about family (how many children?)

foodstuffs

buying and money

In your case, probably, hotel rooms.

Numbers



You keep your cards with you all the time. When you have a moment, go
through them, english side. If you don't get the spanish ABSOLUTELY
RIGHT you put it back in the pile. You separate out the ones you keep
geting right. When you've gone through the unknowns once, you do it
again, and again, and agian, and again, till you've got them all right.
Then you put them all together and do it again.

It's not like being at school cos you're the only person telling
yourself off, but you must be a fierce critic.

The other thing you can do is find some local storekeepers who speak
Spanish. Make sure that when you market with them, you speak only in
Spanish. I do this with my local grocers and greengrocers, where I
speak ONLY Dari (the Afghan dialect of Farsi). the guys are delighted
that I'm trying to learn their language, and like to show me off to
their friends. My mistakes give them considerable amusement.

Not only does their help not cost me anything, I'm quite sure I get my
vegetables cheaper. (haggling over the price is a crucial part of any
friendly financial transaction in Dari).

I've also used 'Teach yourself Spanish' - the only spanish text-book I
own. As a result I've been able to work in Nicaragua, El salvador and
Cuba. Also, and more important, I can talk to my eldest
grand-daughter, who was born and lives Barcelona. If you can get
through the twenty chapters of this - and you can - you will be really
comfortable in Spanish. Even the first ten chapters will leave you very
well equipped.

But you must know every single thing in each chapter absolutely before
you move on to the next one.

Lazarus