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Experiment time: "What does the Spanish word taza mean?"


AsburySkinsFan

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Exactly, I've been self teaching Spanish for about a year and I've figured out where I've gone wrong, I keep going from the Spanish word to the English word and back instead of just learning Spanish like a child learns Spanish. If you ask a Spanish speaking child what a taza is they don't tell a cup, instead they get you a taza, but we end up translating Spanish to English and then our English to Spanish and wonder why we don't speak it well.

That's if you're taught the wrong way. My German teacher did it the right way and didn't just give us a bunch of words to memorize the meanings to. He made us act it out and ingrain it into our minds. At this point, I don't translate back and forth between German and English to have a conversation, but rather it comes straight from my German (except when there's a word I know I don't know but I need, and with my small German vocabulary).

Sadly, I could explain it analogously in computer terms, but it'd only get more complicated.

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Exactly, I've been self teaching Spanish for about a year and I've figured out where I've gone wrong, I keep going from the Spanish word to the English word and back instead of just learning Spanish like a child learns Spanish. If you ask a Spanish speaking child what a taza is they don't tell a cup, instead they get you a taza, but we end up translating Spanish to English and then our English to Spanish and wonder why we don't speak it well.

Isn't that what Rosetta Stone is supposed to do? We went to one of those booths in Salt Lake City and to this day I still remember the picture of the boy, the girl and a cup of juice and the words in Japanese that go with it.

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Exactly, I've been self teaching Spanish for about a year and I've figured out where I've gone wrong, I keep going from the Spanish word to the English word and back instead of just learning Spanish like a child learns Spanish. If you ask a Spanish speaking child what a taza is they don't tell a cup, instead they get you a taza, but we end up translating Spanish to English and then our English to Spanish and wonder why we don't speak it well.

try learning mandarin... talk about difficult.

i remember the first time i saw a chinese person texting, it would take me awhile to learn how to type like that.

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Yeah, I do think that focusing on how words translate is a major detriment. Just see how many Spanish people speak english. They often sound silly because of the way they organize words, and that's because they're translating Spanish sentences to English. I think kids learn languages faster because they're not consumed with grammar rules. They just imitate the experts.

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Yeah, I do think that focusing on how words translate is a major detriment. Just see how many Spanish people speak english. They often sound silly because of the way they organize words, and that's because they're translating Spanish sentences to English. I think kids learn languages faster because they're not consumed with grammar rules. They just imitate the experts.

Exactly, if I don't get Rosetta Stone I'm going to have to completely change the way I study, because flash cards with English equivalents are holding me back.

---------- Post added May-11th-2011 at 08:46 PM ----------

Damnit, ASF, will you just post the answer already? :pfft:

:ols: Already did, the English equivalent is cup, but taza does not mean cup, instead it means the same thing as cup.

Isn't that what Rosetta Stone is supposed to do? We went to one of those booths in Salt Lake City and to this day I still remember the picture of the boy, the girl and a cup of juice and the words in Japanese that go with it.

That's exactly what Rosetta Stone does.

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I did both at the same time....hmmmmmmm.

LOL!!

ASF, just like you I'm trying to teach myself your languague.

Something that I found very useful to learn is ... "Roberto, think in english when you're trying to say something or write some sentences"

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The most wonderful thing I've found about being bilingual is that my brain literally operates in whichever language I've used more recently. If I have a conversation in Spanish, I will think everything in spanish, count in spanish, and dream in spanish. As soon as someone talks to me in English, my brain just will do everything in english as well.

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I did a month immersion training in Cuernavaca about 12 years ago and by the end of that month I was dreaming in spanish. I had already some before I went (I was fluent as a kid from living in Colombia but lost it). If there's any way possible, the type of learning you do when you HAVE to communicate can't be replicated by rosetta stone, university classes or any other training I had in this country. Plus I had a great time there, it's a wonderful city.

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I did a month immersion training in Cuernavaca about 12 years ago and by the end of that month I was dreaming in spanish. I had already some before I went (I was fluent as a kid from living in Colombia but lost it). If there's any way possible, the type of learning you do when you HAVE to communicate can't be replicated by rosetta stone, university classes or any other training I had in this country. Plus I had a great time there, it's a wonderful city.

I wish I had the time and resources to take an immersion course, it would literally mean a month or more away from every responsibility I have, and I doubt that's going to happen any time soon.

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