Ahh, but you must remember that people learning English have it much, much worse. It's difficult in Spanish to learn which tense to use when and how. But at least once you have that, it pretty much follows a standard pattern. We have irregular verbs everywhere in English.
But I do understand the frustration. I struggle with it all the time.
Remember, you can't see everything in one trip. Assume you will return. (Rick Steves)
Posts: 143 | Location: Green Bay, WI USA | Registered: 16 April 2002
Hey Shiloh, as an American with absolutely no blood ties to Spain, Latin America nor anything remotely related to any of the aforementioned places, I feel your pain.
I learned Spanish from scratch and it takes time.
Practice those verbs, it is the ONLY way to get them down, especially the ever so frustrating irregulars
There is a great book out there called "501 Spanish verbs" (same book for many languages), do a search for it online or go to any major bookstore, they will have it. Sleep with it under your pillow
Work on the nouns too, "Ostia" is with an "H" --> "�Host�a!" (sorry, once a teacher always a teacher ). A good resource for doubts like this is the RAE DICTIONARY.
HOW DO YOU GUYS GET THE UPSIDE DOWN PUNCTUATION AND ACCENTS? I HAVE 4 OF THE 501 VERB BOOKS, SPANISH, JAPANESE, CATALAN, AND ITALIAN. THEY'RE GREAT, BUT I THINK MY BIGGEST PROBLEM IS MY MOUTH GETTING AHEAD OF MY BRAIN. I NEED TO SLOW DOWN AND WORK UP TO TALKING QUICKLY. THE PROBLEM IS IN ENGLISH, I THINK, WRITE, TALK, AND TYPE QUICKLY AND TO ME IT IS A STEP BACK TO SLOW DOWN WITH SPANISH...OH WELL, SE LA VIE.
Oderant dum Metuant
Posts: 109 | Location: Barcelona, Catalunya | Registered: 16 November 2002
jejej! That's C'est la vie! We're going to drive you nuts! But you hit the nail on the head! I know its frustrating not being able to be as quick as in English, but its not your native language: SLOW DOWN! You'll learn it faster and once you have it learned, you'll get it down pat! We all make mistakes! I joke with my friends that if I get something wrong in Spanish, no biggie! I don't always get it right in English! And I'm bilingual! No matter how fluent you are, or even if you're a native speaker, you're going to make mistakes! So don't be too hard on yourself, and like Jer says, it takes time!
Besides, I imagine that if you're italian is any good, it probably confuses things a bit... when I was younger I had to to French, Spanish and Portugese AT THE SAME TIME! Yuck! What a mess! Some years later I attempted german... let's just say that I use german when I want to use french, and french when I'm trying to use german, and I just gave up on the portugese! The'll have to do with my Spanish!
Siguiendo mi propio Camino de Santiago
Posts: 387 | Location: Madrid | Registered: 19 October 2002
YUP, MY PROBLEM IS I CAN LEARN LANGUAGES BY LISTENING...CAN'T WRITE THEM WORTH A DANG AS SHOWN BY C'EST LA VIE. I PICKED UP CATALAN IN 3 MONTHS AND CAN CARRY ON A CONVERSATION, BUT IF I HAD TO WRITE A N0TE...LET;S \JUST SAY IT WOULDN'T BE USEFUL.
Oderant dum Metuant
Posts: 109 | Location: Barcelona, Catalunya | Registered: 16 November 2002
Shiloh, I will tell you how you can get those accents out of your computer: � alt0161 � alt0191 � alt0225 � alt0237 � alt0241 � alt0209 � alt0243 � alt0250
Good luck!
Posts: 69 | Location: Belgium | Registered: 18 December 2002
I recently had a friend tell me that I spoke spanish without using verbs. I asked him if he understood what I was saying and he said yes. So I repied, Verbs who needs them..If Im understood that is all that matters now. But of course someday I will have to make the effort.
I had a lovely conversation yesterday with the Guatemalan man at the car wash. He spoke not a word of English. He said my Spanish was good! :l: I thought I would never learn enough Spanish to speak coherently, but with a little patience and a lot of practice, I can watch Spanish TV. I have learned to speak very slowly and think about what tenses to use, and yes, I make mistakes, but hey, so does everyone. It'll happen for you.
I was typing a message in Spanish the other day and noticed the above list for typing accents is missing the accented "e". Does anyone know what that is?
Remember, you can't see everything in one trip. Assume you will return. (Rick Steves)
Posts: 143 | Location: Green Bay, WI USA | Registered: 16 April 2002
Sorry Qu�pasa. I did not wrote how to find the "�" because I have a european keyboard and so of course I have a key for the � and also for the �, the �, �, �, �, �... so I didn't know the code for these ones.
Posts: 69 | Location: Belgium | Registered: 18 December 2002
). A good resource for doubts like this is the 
- rent or buy a cell phone from me for your stay in spain, more info at 
- already have a cell phone, get a spanish SIM card for it at 
We all make mistakes! I joke with my friends that if I get something wrong in Spanish, no biggie! I don't always get it right in English! ![[Embarassed]](redface.gif)
No matter how fluent you are, or even if you're a native speaker, you're going to make mistakes! So don't be too hard on yourself, and like Jer says, it takes time! 
Some years later I attempted german... let's just say that I use german when I want to use french, and french when I'm trying to use german, and I just gave up on the portugese! The'll have to do with my Spanish!
