I was recently promoted in my job. However, I have to learn to speak Spanish fluently. What is the best way of learning Spanish? I took Spanish when I was 14. (Iam now 50 years old).My company will pay for me to learn Spanish. Need advise from experts.

Many thanks.
mclarke

I imagine you've thought of this...
LIVE IN SPAIN!!

And heck, if your company is going to pay for it, you should make sure they think you're a REALLY slow learner and will need a LONG, LONG stay to get fluent!

Buena suerte!

What about the courses offered by the Instituto Cervantes ?. Aren't they available in the US?.

Also, you may have a look at the new Spanish internet courses which the Universidad de Las Palmas is offering.

From a linguistics point of view, its going to be tough to learn to speak Spanish fluently. In reality, you're brain lateralizes itself to whatever its native language(s) is after puberty. After that, everything you learn about a language is pure memorization. Just be sure to practice, practice, practice. I would also definitely recommend a trip, if not a long stay somewhere where you will have daily exposure to Spanish. Studying will only get you so far, and unfortuantely, the older we get the more difficult learning a language is.

For a company to promote a 50 year old with the request to learn to speak a second language FLUENTLY begs the question: how do you define fluently? I agree with Expressdance that post-puberty language acquisition is difficult but if you do what you can to immerse yourself in the language and don't worry that your accent is not native, you will be able to communicate.

I would look into an immersion (foreign site) language school that will focus on small group oral interaction but also includes enough structure to help you move beyond memorized responses.

Next I would read, read, read. There is TONS of research that says you can acquire and augment vocabulary with reading. Even if you don't always know what you are reading keep at it. Often news magazines, or gossipy People en Espanol, Hola, Buen Hogar type publications where you are already familiar with the information in the article. Ususally they have many pictures also to aid comprehension. Read for cognate recognition, compare and contrast similarities to English.

Hire a tutor. One on one oral interaction (maybe to talk about the news articles you have just read!).

Watch one of the Spanish language TV channels. Commit to watching the news, the weather, the commercials everday on Univision, or Galavision or any other channel available in your area.

My favorite is to buy some Spanish language music/songs and sing. Most CDs come with the lyrics or you can get them off the internet. When I was in high school I learned all my direct and indirect object pronouns from songs (not to mention some very romatic and poetic vocabulary...put togethr in ways I never learned with the ALM method!!).

Spain, of course, has many language immersion programs, but there are also many all over Mexico and Latin America. Cuernavaca, Oaxaca and Merida are popular areas to study in Mexico as is Costa Rica in Central America.

The students I have had who have had the MOST success in learning to speak Spanish are NEVER the straight A kids...rather they are the kids who DARE (albeit making mistakes)to open their mouths and talk. As has already been mentioned practice, practice, practice.

Pronto hablara por los codos, ya lo vera!

I agree. Real verbal fluency (including understanding what people are saying to you, without requiring them to slow down) requires lengthy stays in a country where the language is spoken, and you are required to use it, and listen to it, all day in everyday life. I really think it cannot be achieved just by attending classes.

To give an example, I studied French in high school for 7 years before I made my first trip to France. I could read classical French drama in the original, and recite the imperfect subjunctive of irregular verbs. But when I got to France I couldn't understand the woman in the bread shop! A depressing experience.

I know that language teaching has changed since my high school days, but there's still no substitute for simply having to use the language in a place where it is the only language in use.

So, mclarke, tell your employers that if they really mean "fluent" they're going to have to send you abroad!

Congratulations on your promotion, MClarke! Or I should say: ¡enhorabuena! You may find it difficult to achieve 'fluency' in Spanish: the Foreign Service Institute used to offer several language 'package' courses (books, tapes, etc.) that you might want to look into (I think one could buy a set).
It's a course they used to train their people who were being assigned to a Spanish speaking country.
Read books originally written in a language other than Spanish (translated to Spanish). There's less idiomatic expressions. Then you can progress to Spanish authors - contemporary, please. It's not necessary to learn the Spanish of Cervantes.
Like the others, I favor total immersion, at least for a short time. But you must be selective about that also.

Hi there... I'm just embarkeing on a self-study course by Michel Thomas ( www.michelthomas.com ) - has anyone come across this tutor and his methods?

After just a few hours with the CD I am able to grasp the content of a native conversation and even form a few, slow repsonses.

If the company is paying, the Michel Thomas schools say that you should be conversational within a week - less if he teaches you (at $10k an hour, he better be good). The method does away with learning by rote and homework...

thoughts?

[ 05-09-2001: Message edited by: MadridMan ]

My fellow MMs
Thank you so much for your guidance. After gathering information, my plan of action to learn Spanish are as follows: 1)attend a classroom setting (I learn better where there is some sort of competition and obligation to learn). I will probably attend classes during my working hours – (2X week). 2) Turn the TV channels of Spanish stations such as UNIVISION, etc. 3) Force my husband (who is from Panama to speak to me in Spanish at home); 4) converse with my boss in Spanish at work. My work will involve coordinating lots of trade missions to South America, Mexico and Brazil (I will learn Portuguese once I have a level of comfort with my Spanish. Basically, I need to be able to converse in Spanish. Muchas gracias para ayudar habla espanol. (I hope I said it right?)
mclarke

oh my goodness, your husband is from Panama??? Que esperas para hablar espan~ol en casa! A combo of classroom, home, and a few weeks in a real immersion setting will do you wonders. Can my students intern with your company? Sounds like a great job environment!

[ 05-09-2001: Message edited by: rgf ]