I currently reside in Oklahoma, USA but live in a small village, pop 803, some 40 miles from nearest large town. As I am determined to spend my winters in Spain it behooves me the learn conversational spanish, at least enough to survive when I first arrive. I have zero spanish at this time. I have perused this forum but have not found what I need, or perhaps have overlooked it. What I am looking for is a good tape or CD series that will help me get started. On a recent trip to Tulsa I found many items at the larger bookstores that address learning Spanish but would like some input as to what may be appropriate. The Berlitz tapes seemed ok but the Barrons tapes seemed better, any input/comments would be appreciated.

Colin

I will leave it to the teachers to recommend the best CDs for you to learn with but a suggestion is to keep TV and/or radio tuned to Spanish language stations. News, music, weather, the soaps (actually a very good way to learn as the actors' faces and gestures are so expressive) and commercials will all help. Possibly your part of Oklahoma has a Spanish language newspaper? And try doing a search on the web - again, especially re Spanish language papers. You'll be surprised that a lot of words will sound / look familiar

I lived in an isolated area in Ohio when I started trying to learn Spanish; I can identify.
I've found it helpful to cruise Edward Hamilton, EBay and ABEBooks, all deeply discounted if you're careful, for all kinds of language materials. Some are better than others, all are helpful somehow. It's also good to sign up for Spanish 101 evening classes at the local Community College; I learned a remarkable amount from my local. (I was one of the only really motivated students, so I always felt brilliant!)

Lately I've been listening in my car to a pretty good CD series from Random House Living Language, called "All Audio Spanish." It's 35 lessons on 6 CDs, perfect for the daily commute. (yeah, I do use the little booklet enclosed, just to really nail it.) I have to "escuche y repite" over and over, but it at least makes me feel I am doing something Spanish-wise. I think I paid $22 for it on Ebay, brand-new.

You'll still feel overwhelmed the first day or so in Spain. Then you start getting into the flow of it, till you're swimming up to your neck and loving it. (then something embarrassing happens to bring you back to earth!)

My advice? Remember it's an adventure, difficult but often fun. Don't let the object/subject pronouns get you down. Don't take any of it too seriously!

Rebekah

the pimsleur series is by far the best audio series on earth. but it is incredibly expensive, around $350 per series and there are 3 for spanish.

also the spanish is a bit of the latin-american variety.

still, it has helped me loads.

you might be able to find them a bit cheaper on e-bay, just open a different email account to use e-bay cause the sell your email to spammers. now i get more than 200 spam messages a day.

Let me add a few thoughts and questions to this thread, as I am in a similar situation.

I am moving to Espa�a in June and am doing my best to immerse myself in all things spanish in the mean time. Specifically, I am sorking through the two thomes of Barrons 'Mastering Spanish' when in the car I listen to Pimsleurs, and while at the office the only thing I can think to do is listen to sreaming audio from radiosalamanca.com [cadena ser]. We finally got telemudo via the local cable company, and when the lady abides, on come the soaps. It sounds like a lot, but most of it bores me and I can only tolerate limited doses of each.

Netflix also has a large selection of foreign films.

What I would love is the castillian equivalent of books on tape. Perhaps something I could read along to. I know they have to exist, but tracking them down from within the US is so far useless. I've attempted to shop elcortesingles and fnac, but don't think I can ship internationally.

�Can anybody recommend a better place to find them, or perhaps another radio station as cadena ser is beginning to sound the same?

Thanks all for your support.

El Guapo:
You are TRULY motivated! I hope you don't manage to burn out on Castilian before the plane lands at Barajas.

Getting ahold of inexpensive Spanish-language books on tape can be a real challenge, esp. in the midwest. I've bought two. Both were beloved best-sellers in translation, found in the "foreign language media" dept. of my local Barnes and Noble bookshop; both were expensive.
ABE Books online also handles many of these, just plug in a somewhat recent or well-known title in English, and often the translated audio versions also appear. I've not bought audio books from them, but their regular service is as reliable as anyone's -- and they do ship overseas.
Good luck! And having leapt from Ohio on to Spain, I can tell ya it's a shocker, no matter how much you study. A fabulous shock.
Rebekah

quote:

Good luck! And having leapt from Ohio on to Spain, I can tell ya it's a shocker, no matter how much you study. A fabulous shock.

Not too much of a shocker actually. For yourself and any other mmer who cares to hear my story, here goes.
My mother is Spanish, and a sizeable portion of my extended family still lives in spain. I had the great fortune of spending many summer breaks in a pueblo just east of madrid where my abuela lives. In many ways I feel right at home in Spain. Sadly and stupidly for me, I was always too shy to actually speak spanish. My sister took to it like a fish in water and I was always afraid I would embarass myself. I could kick myself now. I am in my mid 20's, and have spent a lifetime listening to spanish while never actually speaking it. Last summer I was blessed to take be able to spend the better part of 2 months in spain, between 2 separate trips. During the first I hiked the Camino to Santiago de Compostela. I have decided to repeat the walk again in june followed by a permanent move to somewhere in the south, although if anybody knows of an inexpensive place available in madrid at the end of july I would gladly change plans. Sure, I have an aunt and uncle in madrid, but I would hate to cramp their style. As a bonus, I was recently naturalized as a Spanish citizen, making me the least fluent Spaniard on the planet. I am blesssed with great advantages, and just need to start appreciating them and stop taking them for granted.

Regarding the original topic of this post, are there any spanish web pages in spain that cater to iChatting? or IMming? Or for that matter, are there any mm-ers out there who would be willing to engage in a bit of transcontinental language learning? I need somebody who will ruthlessly correct my every mistake.

Thanks again all.

Updating an OLD thread. I have a friend from the U.S. who will be visiting here a few times over the next year, with an eye towards making the move. At the moment, he knows NO Spanish and was somewhat scarred by bad language teachers in school. He has plenty of time to learn, as he will not be making the move for awhile yet, but I would like to start him on SOMETHING so that he will have some base when he gets here. I am SUPER reluctant to just hand him a Spanish textbook, since, without a teacher by his side (or even WITH one), this seems doomed to fail. So I was thinking that perhaps this kind of conversational cd would be the best way to start. What are you thoughts on that as a method for beginners? Alternate suggestions? And, if this seems the best option-is Living Language still the best option? Thanks!