Learning Spanish? Help?

Question

I wish to learn Spanish. But where can I get a software to downlaod for freet o hep me enhance my learning??

Answer 1

The best way to learn is first by ear and then by eye in my opinion.

Ask yourself: do you wish to speak first and then understand the grammar or do you want a well-rounded lesson via the slow and steady process? Either way, the best thing to do is locate that which suits you for fast acquaintance of the knowledge.

Software programs are a knowledgeable source, but it tends to pull you away from person-to-person dialogue, the very essence of communication.

To have a fast lesson in spanish, acquaint yourself with the most basic nouns and verbs. For instance, some very basic verbs are:

SER (or ESTAR)- to be (the latter is temporal while the former is more of a permanent usage)
TENER (or HABER)- to have
PENSAR- to think
QUERER- to want
BEBER (or TOMAR informally)- to drink
COMER- to eat
DORMIR- to sleep
TRABAJAR- to work
COMPRENDER- to understand
HACER- to do or to make
DECIR- to say

Notice that the verbs as you see them now in their UNCONJUGATED form have endings such as -AR -ER and -IR. These endings will change upon CONJUGATING. There is also another change you will see.

For instance: to say: "I want.." in spanish is to say "Yo quiero.." and not "Yo querer.." To use a verb in it's unconjugated form is in the context of a GERUND. To start a sentence like "Learning is necessary", you would say "El aprender es..". In this case, "El aprender es necesario".

The other change is in the spelling inside of the verb. The E in QUERER becomes IE. Some changes in this fashion are E>IE, E>I and O>UE.

This rule does not apply to every single verb but to specific stem-changing verbs.

Some nouns to learn are:

Name- NOMBRE
Number- NUMERO
Telephone- TELEFONO
Table- MESA
Chair- SILLA
Computer- COMPUTADORA
Paper- PAPEL
Plastic- PLASTICO
Door- PUERTA
Bed- CAMA
Room- CUARTO
Disc- DISCO
Cat- GATO
Dog- PERRO
Puppy- PERRITO
Wall- PARED
Water- AGUA
Land- TIERRA
Sea- MAR
Box- CAJA
Towel- TOALLA
Paper Towel- TOALLA DE PAPEL
Bottle- BOTELLA
Juice- JUGO
Apple- MANZANA
Orange (Fruit)- NARANJA
Banana- PLATANA
Strawberry- FRESA
Fruit- FRUTA
Shoe- ZAPATA
Soccer- FUTBOL
Football- FUTBOL AMERICANO

There are many words that can be easily translated into english from spanish and vice-versa. These are called COGNATES. On the flip side, there are also words that do NOT translate directly and can be confused. One example is:

ASISTIR- to attend

This verb looks like "to assist" but as you can see it isn't. If you wanted to say "assist" you could use this verb because it is synonymous:

AYUDAR- to help

In fact, many words in english that translate into spanish will be synonymous instead of cognates, so the next best thing to have that will aid you in the learning process is a thesaurus. Another example of a synonymous word is:

VERIFICAR- to verify, or "to make sure"

Also, there are phrases, called IDIOMS, that will not translate directly from one language to another, and can be learned via the acquaintance process.

Keep in mind that in this romance language of spanish, words are separated by male and female connotations with the "EL" or "LA" designation: "El carro" or "La caja". You see here that the male word ended in O while the other ended in A. It is a good way, not the only way but a good indicator of a word's gender. Words such as "El día" (the day) obviously do not fit that mold.

Okay, to answer your question directly, there are many sites on the web that offer free verb conjugation. It isn't a download thing but one concerning website usage. To enhance your learning, do so with the aid of your ear, listening to words, phrases and sentences being spoken in a learning environment.

One form of sentence-learning is to learn via sentence FRAGMENTS, like prepositional phrases. For example:

Near the house- Acerca de la casa.
Over the fence- Sobre la cerca.
Outside the car- Afuera del carro. (do not say "de el", say "del")
Inside the bathroom- Adentro el cuarto de baño.
During my class- Durante mi clase.
In front of the mirror- En fruente del espejo.
In the street- En la calle.
After work- Despues de trabajo.
Before work- Antes de trabajo.
During work- Durante el trabajo.

Another way of learning words is to learn their opposites right alongside them:

Día- Day
Noche- Night

Sol- Sun
Luna- Moon

Caliente- Hot
Frío- Cold

Blanco- White
Negro- Black

Adentro- Inside
Afuera- Outside

Encendido- On (Encender- to turn on)
Apagado- Off (Apagar, to turn off)

Arriba- Above
Abajo- Below

Also, for your information, some automotive words (or PALABRAS AUTOMOTRICES):

Oil pan- Carta de abajo.
Starter- Arrancador (or, una marcha informally).
Alternator- Alternador.
Voltage Regulator- Regulador de voltaje.
Amps- Amperes.
Windows- Las ventanas, or los vidrios.
Brakes- Frenos.
Rotor- Disco.
Spark Plugs- Bujías (literal translation is "Candles").
Gaskets- Empaques.
Shocks- Amortiguadores.
Tires- Llantas.
Axle- Flecha.
U Joint- Cruzeta (literal translation is "Cross").
Dashboard- Tablero.
Headlights- Los luces en fruente el carro.

I hope this has enhanced your learning. It may also help you to either put down on paper or type immediately what you have learned to aid you in the process of memory recall.

Also, comprehensive language coverage can be found in college-level course manuals. If a particular college library will not allow you to purchase anything without being a student, try to find similar study guides in places like HALF-PRICE BOOKS. You might just find some software there as well.

Answer 2

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Answer 3

These days you can learn how to speak Spanish over the internet. Check out this online course, it's voted as the best Spanish online course of all time: http://www.rocketlearner.com/spanish The course is very easy to follow, I was able to learn Spanish in just 3 months.

I live in New York City, I wanted to go to a Spanish language teacher but that would have cost me over $800 per month. Good thing with this internet, $800 it's a lot of money for me.

Answer 4

first of all try searching free download software on the internet if that doesnt work then try ' www.spanishprograms.com' or www.learnspanishtoday.com. and if these still arnt any good then if you live in UK go to WHsmiths they sell a learn spanish pack that contains cd-roms and books etc for about £15.
hope that helps :)

Answer 5

If you have a especially interested in finding out Latin American Spanish then you should take a course https://tr.im/qocXQ a on the web program of Spanish

Answer 6

I was studing Spanish at school for a year but I was thinking more about my megadrive and which game to play when I got home than paying attention to what the teacher was saying.

Answer 7

Hola, I too am learning Spanish and have downloaded free, a lovely easy card system that you can interact with.

www.byki.com

I am in England and it was free to me I hope it is free to everyone.

Suerte (good luck)

Answer 8

You can contact me if you want... I am a native spanish speaker... I can help you with a lot of things.

Me puedes contactar si quieres... Soy un hablante nativo de español... Te puedo ayudar con muchas cosas.

Answer 9

Well I'm learning it at school and we have tapes and all that stuff but some of websites I use are www.mflgames.com or it might be org or .co.uk I'm not sure

But if you wanna learn check your local college or school see if they do lessons out of work/school hours

Answer 10

go to WHSmith/Curries and buy a 'learn spanish' cd software

Answer 11

Here's a site with lots of lessons and resources:
http://www.spanish.about.com

You can't download any software here but you can download audio files!