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Using English to learn Spanish

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:01am
75 replies2322 views21 members subscribed
mrocharde

mrocharde

Helpful member

Posts: 131

152 helpful points

Location: Santa Pola

Joined: 31 Dec 2020

Does speaking Spanish intimidate you? Are you trying to learn but making very slow progress? What's holding you back?

I'm relatively new to Spain and the Spanish language but I'm on my way to fluency and I expect to be totally fluent before the end of 2021. I'm not just learning vocabulary; I'm learning how to build sentences without gettig bogged down in the grammar and you can learn that way too. There are numerous shortcuts that you can easily learn that take your knowledge of English and convert that into Spanish. If you can string several words together in English, you can do it in Spanish. It's easy and it's fun.

Here are two examples of a 'shortcut'

Many English words that end in ENCE end in ENCIA in Spanish.

violence becomes violencia which is pronouced vee-oh-len-see-ya
experience becomes experiencia which is pronounced ex-peer-ee-en-see-ya
evidence becomes evidencia which is pronounced ev-ee-den-see-ya

Many English words that end in MENT are the same in Spanish. All you do is add an O

moment becomes momento whch is pronounced mo-men-tow
cement becomes cemento whch is pronounced see-men-tow
compliment becomes complimento whch is pronounced com-plea-men-tow

If this sounds interesting to you, I'm putting together a course of bite-sized video lessons that will be held on Zoom and also published. There's no charge for this. Teaching others what I know will help me to get better and I'll get a lot of satisfaction in doing it. (This course is also part of a VLOG (video blog) that I've started to document my progress and I'll make an announcement about that when it is ready.

If you'd like to take part, simply reply to this message.

Michael Rocharde

killjoy

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:48pm

killjoy

Super helpful member

Posts: 3232

1849 helpful points

Location: Orihuela Costa

Joined: 4 Nov 2017

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:48pm

Nice, but there are also traps, some of them significant. One is the Spanish adjectiv eventual/eventualmente literrally translated to eventual/eventually. The meaning, however, can lead you to a complete mess. In Spain it's a polite way to say "forget it" and understand it this way from a British counterpart. The Spanish language is perhaps the only one where you can talk and talk for hours without having having said anything at the end. So, tke it easy- nohting is what it appears to be at first sight..

mrocharde

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 8:23pm

mrocharde

Original Poster

Helpful member

Posts: 131

152 helpful points

Location: Santa Pola

Joined: 31 Dec 2020

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 8:23pm

killjoy wrote on Thu Apr 22, 2021 2:48pm:

Nice, but there are also traps, some of them significant. One is the Spanish adjectiv eventual/eventualmente literrally translated to eventual/eventually. The meaning, however, can lead you to a complete mess. In Spain it's a polite way to say "forget it" and understand it this way from a British...

... counterpart. The Spanish language is perhaps the only one where you can talk and talk for hours without having having said anything at the end. So, tke it easy- nohting is what it appears to be at first sight..

Yes, of course, there are traps and nothing is easy but so many people are so intimidated with the idea of learning another language, that they give up before they really start. What I've found is a way to overcome that misapprehension and, in the process, learn a lot of Spanish in a very short period of time and have enormous fun in doing so. Learning vocabulary is one thing and it is essential but if you can't communicate clearly, you are at a disadvantage. Small successes build confidence. (If I had known what I know now, when I was learning German, French and Arabic, i would have accelerated the process dramatically).

Zafar

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:31pm

Posts: 43

16 helpful points

Location: Elche

Joined: 8 Dec 2019

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:31pm

Hi Michael

I am extremely interested and keen to learn using your method.

Iqbal

mrocharde

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 11:45pm

mrocharde

Original Poster

Helpful member

Posts: 131

152 helpful points

Location: Santa Pola

Joined: 31 Dec 2020

Posted: Thu Apr 22, 2021 11:45pm

Zafar wrote on Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:31pm:

Hi Michael

I am extremely interested and keen to learn using your method.

Iqbal

Please send me a personal message with your email and phone number. You might find the content at this page helpful

https://stuckinspain.com/spanish/

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fulhampatrick

Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 9:00am

Posts: 2

Location: Santa Pola

Joined: 5 Apr 2021

Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 9:00am

I,m interested in your methods. 

mrocharde

Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 9:28am

mrocharde

Original Poster

Helpful member

Posts: 131

152 helpful points

Location: Santa Pola

Joined: 31 Dec 2020

Posted: Fri Apr 23, 2021 9:28am

The methods are from Marcus Santamaria's Spanish Synergy courses (www.spanishsynergy.com) which are the best language courses I've ever come across (and I've tried lots of them). I'm just taking some of the key takeaways from what I've learned and sharing them to encourage people who think they can't learn for any number of different reasons. I've posted a number of  slides at www.stuckinspain.com/spanish that you may find interesting. (The concept of the Zoom sessions is to delve deeper into each of these elements and get people actually speaking Spanish and building sentences.  If you're interested in attending those, please drop me a private message with your name, phone  and email addressand i'll keep you posted.

martin1

Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 2:02pm

Posts: 69

10 helpful points

Location: Playa Flamenca

Joined: 24 Oct 2019

Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 2:02pm

mrocharde wrote on Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:01am:

Does speaking Spanish intimidate you? Are you trying to learn but making very slow progress? What's holding you back?

I'm relatively new to Spain and the Spanish language but I'm on my way to fluency and I expect to be totally fluent before the end of 2021. I'm not just learning vocabulary; I'm learning how to build sentences without gettig bogged down in the grammar and you can learn that way too. There are num...

...erous shortcuts that you can easily learn that take your knowledge of English and convert that into Spanish. If you can string several words together in English, you can do it in Spanish. It's easy and it's fun.

Here are two examples of a 'shortcut'

Many English words that end in ENCE end in ENCIA in Spanish.

violence becomes violencia which is pronouced vee-oh-len-see-ya
experience becomes experiencia which is pronounced ex-peer-ee-en-see-ya
evidence becomes evidencia which is pronounced ev-ee-den-see-ya

Many English words that end in MENT are the same in Spanish. All you do is add an O

moment becomes momento whch is pronounced mo-men-tow
cement becomes cemento whch is pronounced see-men-tow
compliment becomes complimento whch is pronounced com-plea-men-tow

If this sounds interesting to you, I'm putting together a course of bite-sized video lessons that will be held on Zoom and also published. There's no charge for this. Teaching others what I know will help me to get better and I'll get a lot of satisfaction in doing it. (This course is also part of a VLOG (video blog) that I've started to document my progress and I'll make an announcement about that when it is ready.

If you'd like to take part, simply reply to this message.

Michael Rocharde

I would like to take part in the course

mrocharde

Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 5:45pm

mrocharde

Original Poster

Helpful member

Posts: 131

152 helpful points

Location: Santa Pola

Joined: 31 Dec 2020

Posted: Sat Apr 24, 2021 5:45pm

martin1 wrote on Sat Apr 24, 2021 2:02pm:

I would like to take part in the course

Hi Martin.  Please send me a private message with your name, phone number and email address and I'll add you to the list.

In the meantime, take a look at www.stuckinspain.com/spanish

Annier999

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 12:52pm

Annier999

Helpful member

Posts: 254

237 helpful points

Location: La Mata

Joined: 28 Jul 2015

Posted: Sun Apr 25, 2021 12:52pm

mrocharde wrote on Thu Apr 22, 2021 10:01am:

Does speaking Spanish intimidate you? Are you trying to learn but making very slow progress? What's holding you back?

I'm relatively new to Spain and the Spanish language but I'm on my way to fluency and I expect to be totally fluent before the end of 2021. I'm not just learning vocabulary; I'm learning how to build sentences without gettig bogged down in the grammar and you can learn that way too. There are num...

...erous shortcuts that you can easily learn that take your knowledge of English and convert that into Spanish. If you can string several words together in English, you can do it in Spanish. It's easy and it's fun.

Here are two examples of a 'shortcut'

Many English words that end in ENCE end in ENCIA in Spanish.

violence becomes violencia which is pronouced vee-oh-len-see-ya
experience becomes experiencia which is pronounced ex-peer-ee-en-see-ya
evidence becomes evidencia which is pronounced ev-ee-den-see-ya

Many English words that end in MENT are the same in Spanish. All you do is add an O

moment becomes momento whch is pronounced mo-men-tow
cement becomes cemento whch is pronounced see-men-tow
compliment becomes complimento whch is pronounced com-plea-men-tow

If this sounds interesting to you, I'm putting together a course of bite-sized video lessons that will be held on Zoom and also published. There's no charge for this. Teaching others what I know will help me to get better and I'll get a lot of satisfaction in doing it. (This course is also part of a VLOG (video blog) that I've started to document my progress and I'll make an announcement about that when it is ready.

If you'd like to take part, simply reply to this message.

Michael Rocharde

Is this the same as Synergy Spanish by Marcus Santamaria?

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interior building work
AA Free English TV
Costa Blanca Building Specialists
Gran Alacant Insurances
Espana Dream Properties
Expat Services
Blacktower Financial Management
Thy Will Be Done
Gentlevan Removals
James Spanish School
ASSSA Insurance
Jennifer Cunningham Insurances SL
Car Key Solutions
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