<p>I just started to learn Spanish. School doesn't help much. teacher sucks. I've taken some books to learn off by myself but lack exercises of the according level and people to practice with so I can never apply Spanish. How should I do that?</p>
<p>You do need somebody who will be a good teacher, I’m sorry to say. See if you can bribe some native Spanish speakers to help you out; try to get an older person because most younger people A) don’t have the patience and B) don’t care as much about the language. Maybe some old grandparent type would be willing to practice with you and answer your questions. That’s the big thing that you need a teacher for - answering questions.</p>
<p>But here are some things that you can do on your own:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Get a good textbook/workbook asap. The NEXOS book is pretty good as a beginner book, and the Conversacion y Repaso book is a good intermediate grammar text.</p></li>
<li><p>Once you are starting to progress along, try watching the Destinos series on the internet - they’re free. It’s learner.org and then go to the foreign language area and find Destinos. There are also some online exercises that go along with the series; google it and you should find them.</p></li>
<li><p>Once you are moderately advanced, listen to music with the lyrics in front of you. Listen to Spanish radio and TV shows. You can do this even before you are advanced enough to understand anything, but it might discourage you so just be aware of that ;). It will definitely help with your accent though.</p></li>
<li><p>Don’t get discouraged! Learning a language even moderately well takes lots of time and practice, and it might be quite a while before things start to click. Keep at it; it’s all worth it once things start to fall into place in your mind and you actually understand stuff!</p></li>
</ol>
<p>youtube. . .</p>
<p>^^Some ideas for the theviolinist’s suggestion</p>
<p>Enamorada - Miranda </p>
<p>Me Voy - Julieta Venegas</p>
<p>There’s more, but I can’t think of them now. But these are really easy to understand songs :]</p>
<p>flashcards</p>
<p>The “Practice Makes Perfect” series is a fabulous resource for beginning to intermediate learners. Some books cover multiple levels of general Spanish grammar, and others are fully devoted specific areas, such as Pronouns & Prepositions, Verb Tenses, Subjunctive, etc. </p>
<p>If you want to speak with natives but don’t know any, I would try language learner exchange websites like polyglot-learn-language.com. You can email, chat, or talk via Skype (free). My advice would be set up topics before each session so you can practice appropriate vocabulary and have ideas for conversation. Also, be firm about speaking in Spanish for an equal amount of time. </p>
<p>The Destinos series was a great suggestion. Music will also definitely help you. My personal recommendations are the artists Juanes and La Oreja de Van Gogh. </p>
<p>These are just some basic suggestions from my experiences teaching myself. I can try to give you some more specific advice if you have any other questions :)</p>
<p>Juanes and Julieta Venegas were great music suggestions. Aventura and Carlos y Alejandra are some more singers that are relatively easier to understand I think. I also personally love Daddy Yankee but I guarantee you won’t be able to understand the words - I can’t either with out looking up the lyrics :D</p>
<p>studyspanish.com is really great and the majority of it is free. </p>
<p>OP if you are just starting out with Spanish then do not be scared to get a book for kids. I know of one called: “Quick Start Spanish” and that book covers everything only in a very playful and downright child like way. Beginners books for kids are less intimidating and they are good for some basic practice and whatnot. At least it won’t be boring. </p>
<p>Sesame Street is in Spanish. It is really fun to just play at figuring out what they are saying through watching it on PBS or looking it up on You Tube. And, once again, it will not be boring. </p>
<p>For speaking, you have to always seek time for that in whatever way works best for you. For example, if I run into someone speaking Spanish, like in line at the store, I always start up a conversation. </p>
<p>inflore had some great suggestions also! Like really great :)</p>
<p>You want whatever outside practice you do with grammar and all of that to go hand in hand with your conversational skills. If you do not try to do that then you will be up a creek in that you will have good composition skills but kinda bad oral comprehension and speaking skills. You always have to aim for having your reading, writing, and speaking to be on the same plane. </p>
<p>If I think of anything else I will post it here :)</p>
<p>Good luck on your Spanish, afraidtoapply!</p>
<p>Uno dos tres quatro are the first 4 numbers</p>
<p>yeah spanish is hard, especially if you only speak english, try your best
if u know french or italian it is a piece of cake!</p>
<p>torrent rosetta stone</p>
<p>studyspanish.com helped me a lot</p>
<p>Once your level of speaking/listening comprehension gets good enough that you can carry on a basic conversation, sharedtalk.com is great for finding native speakers of your target language if you aren’t shy and don’t mind helping a few people with their English… I’ve talked to people from all corners of the earth on that site. I didn’t know about that site when I was learning Spanish, but I’ve used it a lot for Russian/Portuguese.</p>
<p>A torrent for Rosetta Stone is what I used…I gave up on doing home study within a day though haha…I’m learning it just fine in school.</p>
<p>I disagree about finding a native speaker. You need another teacher, either someone in your school, from a nearby college, or a student whose good enough at friend to organize the information. You know the expression “Those who can’t do, teach?” The best teachers are those who can organize the information in logical “formulas,” not those who can use the material the best (native speakers speak on reflex, not by following the rules, just like you speak English without diagramming sentences). I’d suggest a program like Rosetta Stone, but you need someone to teach you your curriculum, so find a peer tutor if you can.</p>
<p>I heard the cop catch you if you torrent stuff</p>
<p>Alright. Though I am only a freshman in HS, I have done some self studying, so here’s what I’ve found:</p>
<p>[Best</a> Spanish Websites](<a href=“http://www.uni.edu/becker/Spanish3.html]Best”>Best Spanish Websites) <------- The webmaster is awesome. I never really use this site, but I use the German one all the time. It’s purely awesome.</p>
<p>[Spanish</a> Flashcards - Learn Spanish Online](<a href=“LearnWithOliver - Learn Languages Online with Antosch & Lin”>http://www.online-spanish-course.com/) <------ Once again, I use the German version of this site. It’s great!!! You can create lists of words in your area from beginner to advanced. You can read texts in Spanish with a word translations. You can do writing exercises there, too.</p>
<p>Good luck!!!</p>