petmoosie: (spanish)
petmoosie ([personal profile] petmoosie) wrote2008-10-03 09:22 am
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Still need a Spanish userpic

I got to talk to one of the mothers of a Spanish-speaking child in Emily's class today. We were both late(ish) and watching the children walk down the corridor. So we tried to introduce ourselves in English and it really started working when I tried in Spanish. I mentioned that my name came from Denmark (I don't actually know the Spanish for Denmark, so I said Denmark in English). I then described Denmark as "Un penqueño pais al norte de Alemania".
She offered me a ride home, and I took her up on it. I gave her the directions in Spanish, but didn't do very well with the word "sigue"--which means to continue what you were doing. I also totally don't know what the word for stop sign is.

I am going to hope that she tells the other Spanish-speaking parents that they can talk to me in Spanish (if slowly with lots of hand gestures). There is nearly always a Spanish-speaking bunch and an English-speaking bunch at the pick-up line. More mixing might be useful.

[identity profile] wendyzski.livejournal.com 2008-10-03 02:12 pm (UTC)(link)
I'm hoping to take some Spanish classes this winter, as there is a large Hispanic population in Rogers Park and it would be nice to be able to say Hi to people. I can usually puzzle out store signs, as the roots are similar to French (which I studied) and Latin (which I've picked up).

[identity profile] petmoosie.livejournal.com 2008-10-03 02:56 pm (UTC)(link)
Good luck. There are SOOO many resources for learning Spanish, there isn't time to use them all. And you will get more out of it sticking to using a few regularly and every now and again trying something different.

I really like "Coffee Break Spanish"; it's a podcast with both grammar and vocabulary. It's Spanish from Spain, but there aren't that many differences in most conversation. The swear words are extremely different.