Experiences learning Spanish?

[BboogieXVII]

I'm in a variety band that does a lot of songs in Spanish so when I learn vocals/lyrics, I'll run them through a translator and pick up a lot of Spanish that way. Living in SoCal also helps.

Shakira! When I recently heard her song "Estoy Aqui" I knew that meant "I am here". I have not really studied Spanish much before. This reminded me that to learn Spanish from being an English speaker might not be that hard. So I started studying Spanish,because I was inspired by Shakira.

 

[Perrygoround]

My main inspiration for learning English (outside Highschool lessons, and before living in England) were also songs. When I was a teenager I read lyrics from Aerosmith, Guns & Roses, AC/DC, Pearl Jam, The Rolling Stones... with an E/S dictionary in my hand. And I discovered a lot of words not covered in the academic books, I must say. Axl Rose taugh me how to curse in English XD
If Shakira is inspiring someone to learn Spanish, all I can say is that English has better inspirators than Spanish

 

[BboogieXVII]

My main inspiration for learning English (outside Highschool lessons, and before living in England) were also songs. When I was a teenager I read lyrics from Aerosmith, Guns & Roses, AC/DC, Pearl Jam, The Rolling Stones... with an E/S dictionary in my hand. And I discovered a lot of words not covered in the academic books, I must say. Axl Rose taugh me how to curse in English XD
If Shakira is inspiring someone to learn Spanish, all I can say is that English has better inspirators than Spanish

Shakira is good enough for me.

Plus I'm finding that the Latino top 40 (and other stuff in Spanish) contains some really good music.

 

[slobake]

Worked a lot of jobs with Spanish speaking people. I could speak a little already but wasn't afraid to "dive in" when I was around people who spoke Spanish. I would mimic what they said and then ask them to tell me what it meant. Most Spanish speaking people seem happy to teach you their language.
I know mostly Chicano and Mexican Spanish. I wouldn't call my self fluent but I know enough to have a simple conversation.
Then I married a woman with parents from El Salvador and Nicaragua. Her mom from El Salvador didn't like my Spanish at first and I had to "unlearn" a few choice expressions. I became very close to her parents and they overlooked my broken Spanish. Her father used to introduce me to his friends as the white sheep of the family.
Sadly, they have both passed on. I was closer to them than I was to my own parents. I couldn't bring myself to call her father papa like all his children did. One day I just started calling him Papalooski. He seemed to like it and it caught on.
We still speak a lot of Spanglish in our home.

 

[Funky Ghost]

Shakira is good enough for me.

Plus I'm finding that the Latino top 40 (and other stuff in Spanish) contains some really good music.

Her hips.

They don't lie.

 

[DirtDog]

Look for reading and listening opportunities in your immediate environment.

Me, I learned my "franglais" by reading the backs of cereal boxes when I was a kid. "Prix gratuit" were the first French words I learned. Also by watching sports in French, esp. the French broadcase of Hockey Night in Canada - "la première étoile"!

 

[BboogieXVII]

Look for reading opportunities in your immediate environment.

Me, I learned my "franglais" by reading the backs of cereal boxes when I was a kid. "Prix gratuit" were the first French words I learned.

Yes, there are a multitude of ads around, on the radio and television. That's why I still have a T.V. I suppose. Anything written is gold and usually easy to mine.

 

[FatFunk]

You'll find that there are dozens of verb tenses... don't panic, but be prepared.
Still, you can get away for a while with the basics.

 

[BboogieXVII]

You'll find that there are dozens of verb tenses... don't panic, but be prepared.
Still, you can get away for a while with the basics.

Can you give some examples? Do you mean stuff like:

We have done.
We will do
I have done
she has ridden.
etc. etc. etc.

this is interesting and complicated.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

There's a saying, and it actually works, try it.

Una pallabra por dia.

One word a day. Pick an everyday thing, like shoes, street, sandwich, whatever. Use it. Every day pick a new noun. After about a month, switch to verbs, then adjectives, etc.

One thing about Spanish is that it opens up Portuguese and Italian, too. Similar words and rules of grammar.

In Italian = una parola per giorno ...

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Spanish is nothing with regard to verbs tenses if compared to Italian ... ehm ... ok I’m hijacking the thread ... sorry for that

 

[FatFunk]

Can you give some examples? Do you mean stuff like:

We have done.
We will do
I have done
she has ridden.
etc. etc. etc.

this is interesting and complicated.

I just found a list. Again, don't panic.
Invalid Link Removed

 

[slobake]

Spanish is nothing with regard to verbs tenses if compared to Italian ... ehm ... ok I’m hijacking the thread ... sorry for that

SANTA CACHUCHA!

 

[BboogieXVII]

I just found a list. Again, don't panic.
Invalid Link Removed

Bookmarked it.

 

[Perrygoround]

Shakira is good enough for me.

Plus I'm finding that the Latino top 40 (and other stuff in Spanish) contains some really good music.

Not for me.
I have to say, growing up and living in a country invaded by latin music, I have grown to hate all the Latin Hits and the like. That's what happens when you are overexposed to something you find annoying even on small dosis. You end up hating it over anything else.
If somebody captures me and wants to torture me Guantanamo-Style, then grab any CD full of Latin-Po Hits (Shakira, Reaggeton, Despacito and all that crap) and I will confess whatever and ask you to kill me before the next song. But please, stop torturing me!! Also, in the other hand, if somebody ever wants me to join a fight against something, it will be it. In my oppinion, the worst social problem in the modern world is latin music.
I even changed my group of friends in my late teens when my frieds from school started going out to meet girls in places where latin music was the thing. Better alone that having to listen to that even one more time. I remember once I was in the bus going to class where 6 of my most hated artists came in the bus radio on a row... I really considered throwing myself out of the window of that bus while riding...
I was joking, of course, but the stories are true and, seriously, I HATE latin commercial music with all my soul.

I respect people that likes it, when they are not listening to it close to me, though. I dislike the noise, not the people. Surprisingly, some of them are good people (including my old friends) XD

 

[BboogieXVII]

Not for me.
I have to say, growing up and living in a country invaded by latin music, I have grown to hate all the Latin Hits and the like. That's what happens when you are overexposed to something you find annoying even on small dosis. You end up hating it over anything else.
If somebody captures me and wants to torture me Guantanamo-Style, then grab any CD full of Latin-Po Hits (Shakira, Reaggeton, Despacito and all that crap) and I will confess whatever and ask you to kill me before the next song. But please, stop torturing me!! Also, in the other hand, if somebody ever wants me to join a fight against something, it will be it. In my oppinion, the worst social problem in the modern world is latin music.
I even changed my group of friends in my late teens when my frieds from school started going out to meet girls in places where latin music was the thing. Better alone that having to listen to that even one more time. I remember once I was in the bus going to class where 6 of my most hated artists came in the bus radio on a row... I really considered throwing myself out of the window of that bus while riding...
I was joking, of course, but the stories are true and, seriously, I HATE latin commercial music with all my soul.

I respect people that likes it, when they are not listening to it close to me, though. I dislike the noise, not the people. Surprisingly, some of them are good people (including my old friends) XD

To me it's all new. When should I start experiencing problems with Latin pop?

BTW Iam bored with but don't hate most of what is on USA radio stations.

 

[slobake]

To me it's all new. When should I start experiencing problems with Latin pop?

BTW Iam bored with but don't hate most of what is on USA radio stations.

Not a big fan of American pop music either. To me, it is mostly boring pabulum. I am sure there are some talented artists and I am not knocking them or anyone who likes that music, it is just not for me, yet.
Come to think of it I have never been a big fan of boring pop music. Jimi Hendrix released "Electric Lady Land" in 1968. In the same year you could turn on the radio and here this piece of shinola. Always made me want to destroy the radio. There was other really annoying pop songs I hated growing up but this was the worst:

 

[BboogieXVII]

Sorry to be so rhetorical, I don't think I will hate most of the Latino pop for a while. At least until I am good at translating it.

I know most pop has crap lyrics.

 

[Perrygoround]

To me it's all new. When should I start experiencing problems with Latin pop?

BTW Iam bored with but don't hate most of what is on USA radio stations.

You may never experience such problems, as you seem to like it in the first place and apparently you are not being overexposed to it.
One man's heaven is another man's hell, you know

And as you like it, take advantage of it and use it to learn the language. If you like the song, is funnier learning by singing than just reading a text book.

 

[FatFunk]

Not for me.
I have to say, growing up and living in a country invaded by latin music, I have grown to hate all the Latin Hits and the like. That's what happens when you are overexposed to something you find annoying even on small dosis. You end up hating it over anything else.
If somebody captures me and wants to torture me Guantanamo-Style, then grab any CD full of Latin-Po Hits (Shakira, Reaggeton, Despacito and all that crap) and I will confess whatever and ask you to kill me before the next song. But please, stop torturing me!! Also, in the other hand, if somebody ever wants me to join a fight against something, it will be it. In my oppinion, the worst social problem in the modern world is latin music.
I even changed my group of friends in my late teens when my frieds from school started going out to meet girls in places where latin music was the thing. Better alone that having to listen to that even one more time. I remember once I was in the bus going to class where 6 of my most hated artists came in the bus radio on a row... I really considered throwing myself out of the window of that bus while riding...
I was joking, of course, but the stories are true and, seriously, I HATE latin commercial music with all my soul.

I respect people that likes it, when they are not listening to it close to me, though. I dislike the noise, not the people. Surprisingly, some of them are good people (including my old friends) XD

Well... I'm latino, and all the examples you mentioned really get on my nerves too...

Music is a terrific way to get into another language. Most of my early english knowledge came from songs.
But, you can find pretty much any type of music in any language nowadays. If you're interested in spanish, you don't necessarily need to listen to "latin music". There are terrific "spanish speaking" rock bands, hip hop, soul artists.

Also, keep in mind that spanish will be different in different cultures. It's not the same spoken in Spain, Mexico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, etc, etc, etc.
Supposedly, the purest latino spanish can be found in Colombia, so put on some Sofia Vergara videos and repeat after her....
(just kidding, she actually overemphasizes her latin-ness a little bit).