Savage_Rob wrote on 12/31/69 at 16:00:04: Living in Texas, I'll start with Spanish.
Rob,
as a Eng-Spa translator with over 15 years of experience, and based on my experience as an English teacher in my early years after college, my recommendations would be:
- Take advantage of the Spanic population in Texas and approach them in Spanish with simple phrases, like "Hola, cómo está? (Hi, how are you?)", "Gracias" (thanks), "Hasta Luego" (See you later), etc.
- Practice, practice and more practice. Don`t let the fear to mistakes refrain you from speaking (we all did MAJOR mistakes when learning foreing languages, and many Hispanics will understand that, and some may even correct your grammar or pronunciation errors).
- Watch TV in Spanish, it will help your ears to get used to the entonation, vocabulary, etc.
- Read in Spanish as much as you can; it helps build up vocabulary, as well as will allow you to practice your fluency. Read aloud, and listen to yourself.
- Consider that there are some sounds in Spanish that do not exist in English and viceversa (the rolling "RRRRs" are the best example)
- Try to travel to an Spanish-speaking country, where your only chance to get through is speaking the local language (you will notice is much faster than 1-hour classes, Chile is a gorgeous country with excellent wine, salmon, fruit and landscapes to die for)
- Practice, practice and more practice (see second paragraph above and continue down)
If and when you are here, let me know so I can show you around.
Best,
RW
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