What to do about language (spanish)

[blackarrowmoose]

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Hey everyone, im a freshman in college and im currently in a pre-med track.

Ive always had trouble learning languages, i remember when i was little i hated grammar and phonics, etc. (while learning english)

Im in college now and there is a 4 semester language requirement. I chose spanish since its such an important language but its making my head spin. I can handle chemistry, calculus, etc with just simple studying and practice, but no matter what i do to learn spanish i always feel discouraged.

The teacher speaks so fast that i can hardly ever understand what shes saying, and although if i ask she does go back and repeat, i still find myself puzzled over words.

I dont want this to bring down my chances of applying to med school come time, what should i do??

 

[klaostima]

find yourself a spanish girl/boyfriend. that will help immensely.

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

Studying language isn't easy. There are however many methods of learning a language ( which you'll need to figure out yourself) versus chemistry or calculus where the teacher teaches you how to actually learn the subject and then you practice it using problem sets.
I personally associate things. So I take a bunch of pictures of certain actions or objects and try it to associate what the action is. Or flashcards.
However the hardest part of learning a language is switching on the grammatical component. That requires literally practicing hours in the real world.

 

[tlaloc87]

find yourself a spanish girl/boyfriend. that will help immensely.

that's the only reason i ever date anyone--to learn a new language.

in all honesty, it really does help immensely to date someone who speaks the language fluently. in the last couple years i've reach conversational proficiency in two languages in addition to the two i speak at home. but that was just an added bonus of the relationship, not the main reason for entering it.

 

[Barcu]

Hey everyone, im a freshman in college and im currently in a pre-med track.

Ive always had trouble learning languages, i remember when i was little i hated grammar and phonics, etc. (while learning english)

Im in college now and there is a 4 semester language requirement. I chose spanish since its such an important language but its making my head spin. I can handle chemistry, calculus, etc with just simple studying and practice, but no matter what i do to learn spanish i always feel discouraged.

The teacher speaks so fast that i can hardly ever understand what shes saying, and although if i ask she does go back and repeat, i still find myself puzzled over words.

I dont want this to bring down my chances of applying to med school come time, what should i do??

Find additional opportunities to practice outside of class. I'm sure there are clubs. Or many times, a department will have a set time where anyone who is interested can meet up with others for coffee or something and just talk.

The first thing about language is that it is a two way street. It is communication after all. The best way to learn is with other people, unlike sciences which can be learned alone.

 

[Total180]

I would suggest getting a tutor. They can explain the grammar stuff in English to you, so that you will understand. The lower level Spanish classes are actually very very easy. Usually each test consists of vocabulary (flashcards!), a grammar concept, and some culture. A Spanish major tutor will usually know the teacher and/or how their tests usually are. At my school I was a Spanish major at my school and I also worked in the language lab...basically just a place with a couple of tutors for each language. It is free to all students and would definitely help. One tip though as someone who saw a lot of it. DO NOT USE FREETRANSLATOR.COM. For anything. It is blatantly obvious because it translates word for word, and Spanish word order is different from English.

 

[unhappytnt]

You can always go abroad, but then again:

http://www.theonion.com/articles/semester-abroad-spent-drinking-with-other-american,1498/

 

[wristbandMD]

If Spanish is giving you trouble, switch to a language that is more like English. German is very close to English and very easy to learn, form what I've heard.

 

[unhappytnt]

If Spanish is giving you trouble, switch to a language that is more like English. German is very close to English and very easy to learn, form what I've heard.

No, dude. I am majoring in German and have attended a German highschool to boot, but I am still having trouble with it. 😀

 

[Drrrrrr. Celty]

No, dude. I am majoring in German and have attended a German highschool to boot, but I am still having trouble with it. 😀

German is easier to learn than English though.

 

[unhappytnt]

German is easier to learn than English though.

I tend to disagree. I may be biased because I only started learning German later in my life, but I find that its grammar is much more complicated than that of English. Also, there's the problem of articles. An American writer trying to learn German once mused about the articles in the language. I don't remember who he was but it was something like this: German is the only language where a tree is masculine, its leaves neutral, and its branches feminine. 🙂

 

[tlaloc87]

I tend to disagree. I may be biased because I only started learning German later in my life, but I find that its grammar is much more complicated than that of English. Also, there's the problem of articles. An American writer trying to learn German once mused about the articles in the language. I don't remember who he was but it was something like this: German is the only language where a tree is masculine, its leaves neutral, and its branches feminine. 🙂

There was an interesting NYT Magazine article (Does Your Language Shape How You Think?) from a couple weeks back that brings up the issue of articles how they influence people's perception of the inherent gender of an object. I seem to recall they focus mostly on differences between German and Spanish articles. Pretty interesting read though.

 

[unhappytnt]

tlaloc, very interesting read, thank you. The article also refers to the quote I mentioned. The "famous American writer" is Mark Twain. How stupid of me to forget that!

 

[Richardh]

to blackarrowmoose-if you're taking spanish as a class and you're having some trouble don't take the class while you're taking other pre-med required courses. instead as already mentioned go abroad to Spain or Mexico and learn the language. it would potentially make your applicaiton better because you can state that you had abroad experience and at the same time have spanish under your belt 🙂

 

[kevster2001]

Take the summer between freshman and sophmore year off to study abroad in Spain. That kind of crash course can never be replicated in a 3 hour/ week class

 

[LizzyM]

Take the summer between freshman and sophmore year off to study abroad in Spain. That kind of crash course can never be replicated in a 3 hour/ week class

Go to Mexico or Puerto Rico or even South America.... the accent is closer to what you'll hear spoken in the US....

Live with a family. Ideally, a family that speaks very little English. Make friends with locals, not other American students. Watch plenty of local TV. After you've gained some fluency try attending foreign language movies (Russian, German) with Spanish subtitles. Realizing that you understand it will blow your mind.

 

[toastedcheese]

This sounds counterintuitive, but if you're bad at languages sign up for Chinese to fulfill your requirement. I was the same as you, physics, chem, ochem were no problem, but I was having real trouble with Spanish.

Advantages of Chinese:
1) It's totally nonintuitive for most westerners, so you won't be at a disadvantage vs. other students who just seem to 'get' Spanish or French. The teachers don't expect you to 'get' it, so they speak slow and don't throw in any vocab that you didn't cover in the book.

2) Because it's so different, they only expect you to know the vocab words that are taught in each section. Whereas in Spanish it seemed like they just expected me to know lots of words by osmosis, in Chinese class it's very clear: know these 20 words for Chap 1, these 20 words for chap 2, ect.

3) At the level you'll be taking it, the grammar is very easy and there is no conjugation of verbs.

4) Yeah, it's kind of pain in the ass memorizing how to write the characters, but if you have problems with language the way I do you have severe trouble with spelling in both English and other languages anyway. In Chinese class, everyone has trouble remembering how to write the characters, so you're not at a disadvantage.

5) Almost everyone sucks at the pronunciation the first year, so it won't matter if you're no good at it.

I did this and it totally worked. I was having trouble passing Spanish, but getting A's in Mandarin was no problem. Just my two cents.

 

[PsychEpathic]

Find a job working as a cook, cleaning lady or gardener. You'll be forced to learn Spanish then...all your co-cooks, co-cleaning ladies and co-gardeners will help you...

 

[dragonbush]

I am awful at languages. I ended up taking two years of college french and then studying abroad. One of the most helpful things I would do is to watch movies. I would start by watching movies I knew really really well (like Pixar movies etc) so that I know the lines in english, and I would watch them in french with french subtitles. Helped SO much. At about this level, I would also watch in english with french subtitles. As I got better, I would watch in french with french subtitles. Then when I felt I had a much better grasp, I would watch in just French.