gdp's Comments

Spanish Only : Speaking Won't Make You Better at Spanish

Tue, 11 Sep 2012 04:28:41 +0000

I stand corrected. Babies will never learn any language! Also, people like Matt, khatzumoto, Steve Kaufman, and me are scam artists and trick people into believing this input hype works. Why is getting input counter-intuitive if it\\\'s nature\\\'s way to acquire languages? I don\\\'t see kids trying to talk from minute one, and somehow they end up being fluent. Anyway, anything I write is just advice. I\\\'m not saying I\\\'m the one telling the only truth. Read it, think about it, discuss it, and take from it what you want to take from it.

Spanish Only : Speaking Won't Make You Better at Spanish

Thu, 6 Sep 2012 09:09:34 +0000

Thousands upon thousands of people had the same questions you had. The solution I came up with for myself: 1. Don't read until I've watched hundreds of hours of Spanish TV (not necessary, but many feel uncomfortable 'hearing' the voice in their head pronouncing things wrong). 2. Put the audio in the question field, that will keep my brain from trying to figure stuff out on itself. Hope this helps.

Spanish Only : Is Spanish really that easy?

Wed, 5 Sep 2012 08:00:47 +0000

Haha are you trolling or something? You crack me up, although you do have a point. Spanish is pretty inconsistent, see it as a 'gift' from Latin. Still, it's possible to learn every spoken language in the world. After all, as long there are people speaking it, it must be possible for others to learn it as well. I'd never, ever, discourage anyone from learning a language. When it's your passion and you're truly motivated everything is possible.

Spanish Only : How to Understand And Enjoy Movies in Spanish

Thu, 26 Jul 2012 19:41:14 +0000

Hey Ross, That's possible, or it's of a different version or the beginning is a bit off. What program do you use to rip the picture and audio? I know there's an automated process but personally I have no idea what it's called or how it works. Anyway, this exact same frustration led me to not using subtitles at all. Now that I'm learning another language (Hungarian actually) I also want to rip the picture, audio and subtitle but most are just off :-(

Spanish Only : How to Understand And Enjoy Movies in Spanish

Tue, 17 Jul 2012 17:52:41 +0000

Wow, that's AWESOME. Haha I love how you get your kids involved, but you might end up broke as the TV method is addictive ;-)

Spanish Only : How to roll your R

Fri, 13 Jul 2012 05:27:47 +0000

Hahahaha I used to be like that, now I sometimes even roll my Rs in Dutch. Now it's easy, it just sounds natural. Indeed, everyone can learn it, some people just need a bit longer to make their tongue strong.

Spanish Only : Don't Respect the Process, Respect the Goal

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 20:01:22 +0000

Personally I don't care for different dialects. I wanted to learn castellano and happen to have a Galician accent (because of my time as a college student in Galicia). That was my goal, is my goal, and will probably stay my goal. How often am I going to travel to other countries besides Spain? And if I happen to go to Mexico for example, I'll probably be a tourist and there won't be a real need to adapt. In short, only if you want to become an absolute expert in all Spanish dialects there's no real need to study Spanish formally. Immerse yourself in the dialect of your choice and you'll soon enough understand what you can and can't say. (Side note about vulgar Spanish: it's never a good idea to be rude, but even when immersing yourself you'll soon enough discover what's not appropriate to say in public)

Spanish Only : Don't Respect the Process, Respect the Goal

Tue, 10 Jul 2012 19:56:06 +0000

Ah the HTLAL crowd. At times they're just so snobbish that it's ridiculous. However, the danger is that many nowadays think how they learn is very important. It's not. If you notice you're doing something right (mainly because you're seeing results) and are having fun, that's all that counts. Maybe I'm saying something crazy now, but the "fun people" (guys and girls who have fun learning languages) seem to do better than the academics. I'm not saying studying is boring per se, but doing boring exercises from boring textbooks kills most progress. I've not seen many on HTLAL who speak a foreign language fluently without any pronunciation problems and learned it academically.

Spanish Only : Mass(ively) Effect(ive)

Tue, 3 Jul 2012 20:39:08 +0000

It sucks not many console games are available in Spanish. Most games I found only supplied Spanish subtitles. Voice-over in Spanish is mostly something of the past I'm afraid :-(

Spanish Only : Have a Train-Wreck Of an Accent? Fixing It Could Motivate You

Tue, 26 Jun 2012 07:32:12 +0000

I've done many, many language exchanges, and apart from something like two times, nobody ever bothered to point out exactly what my pronunciation problems were. I'll get back at this accent thing more in depth, but some years ago I read the following advice in a book about language learning (I'm just quoting from memory): "Get as much of your pronunciation problems handled early on. Why? Because the more you get used to the non-native accent you have, the more difficult it will become to get rid of it. Also, it's easier to pay attention to your pronunciation bit by bit, than having to stress yourself out later on, fixing everything at once." That doesn't mean you can't get rid of a foreign accent later on, I did. The question is what is better? Personally I think having the right accent (maybe not fully native, but just 'right') will motivate you, and if you employ the TV Method it'll even come naturally.

Spanish Only : How I Finally Graduated as gallego

Thu, 1 Mar 2012 12:36:47 +0000

Hey buddy. Great to hear that people are changing their lives in order to pursue their dream(s). It's an honor to hear that people do that because of this blog. As for your question about Galician Spanish: I've searched, and searched, and searched some more, but I couldn't find any shows in Spanish in which the majority of the people are from Galicia. I guess some things you can only learn when living abroad :-(

Spanish Only : How to Ignore Grammar

Fri, 24 Feb 2012 06:48:53 +0000

YAY! I can really feel the love! And oh, there are some links to videos and audio files of me speaking Spanish on this blog. Enjoy!

Spanish Only : How I Finally Graduated as gallego

Tue, 14 Feb 2012 08:21:10 +0000

Hi Kita, Well, I believe in always wanting to learn. Heck, I\\\'m not even finished learning my native Dutch, so why would I ever stop wanting to improve my Spanish? It\\\'s not that I\\\'m learning it perse, it\\\'s more that I\\\'m just trying to improve little things. Second: Matt is doing the TV method and indeed waited before reading things. The sole reason I started to read early was because I studied Spanish language and culture in college, which required me to read stuff in Spanish. If you can wait and just watch television and listen to music, then do that. I know there\\\'s nothing wrong with copying a baby\\\'s way of learning (we\\\'re just doing everything 5 times faster), so why not wait? And yes, Ramses is my real name :-)

Spanish Only : ¡Feliz Año Nuevo! / Happy New Year!

Sat, 7 Jan 2012 13:27:15 +0000

Good goals. Maybe I'll change mine: 1) Do more pushups (200+ per day) 2) Use my Spanish to seduce Penélope Cruz 3) Learn how to surf.

Spanish Only : A MANLY NEW YEAR

Tue, 3 Jan 2012 13:57:19 +0000

Feliz año nuevo a ti también, Matt :-)

Spanish Only : Is Using Flashcards Bad?

Sat, 5 Nov 2011 18:28:40 +0000

Nope, people ask me that all the time but it's not possible in an easy way. You guys should set up a community project...

Spanish Only : Is Spanish really that easy?

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:59:19 +0000

Scott, I think you worry too much. If you misinterpret a word or sentence, who gives a damn? When you hear it in other context enough you'll know you had its meaning wrong and you'll know the right meaning.

Spanish Only : Can Learning Grammar Be a Shortcut to Fluency?

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 19:57:46 +0000

Just stop studying grammar and pick it up again when you know something is right but not why it sounds right ;-)

Spanish Only : Have a Solid Frame

Fri, 21 Oct 2011 09:14:12 +0000

You don't learn Spanish by visualizing it, you motivate yourself by using visualization and then learn Spanish. Also, there are some exercises you can do, all of which you can find in books on NLP (I recommend NLP: The New Technology Of Achievement to get started).

Spanish Only : Learning while you sleep? No way José!

Tue, 18 Oct 2011 10:16:41 +0000

I got it off a free photo site. Can't remember which one, but I didn't have to attribute, so don't ask me.