how to learn another language?

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I have been hired as a Hospice Case Manager and I live in South Florida. Majority of people here speak Spanish and Creole.

I really want to be able to communicate with my patients. Obviously, I can only speak English.

So.... I really want to learn Spanish. So I went to the library but the materials are so overused and I wonder how else I can get help.

I am looking for suggestions! A tutor perhaps? I don't have a lot of money, considering I'm a new grad too and paying off loans.

I would love to try Rosetta Stone but OMG it's soo expensive.

Thanks, Lisa

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Sorry, I wish I had a better suggestion, but I've heard that Rosetta Stone is by far the best. I know brand new it's around $600, but maybe you could find a used set on Craigslist or Ebay!

Also, think of it as an investment. Being able to speak Spanish can make you more valuable to your employer, and should you ever look for another job I'm sure that having "bilingual" on your resume would put you at the top of the list.

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Specializes in ER, Trauma.

Rosetta Stone would count as continuing education for your license, and a work expense for taxes. And still it's way too expensive. That said, the best I'm told is some kind of total immersion program. Pick up a part time job at an ethnic store?

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Make a Spanish friend :-)

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Don't give up on the library language CD's. You might have to reserve them; they are popular for good reason.

That is the cheapest option.

I speak some Spanish, and found the Pimsleur language CDs from the library helpful in improving my language skills.

Look at community college courses too. A simple Spanish 101 will get you off to a helpful start.

Perhaps you could find a Spanish major from a nearby college to do a little tutoring?

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Go to your public library site and see if they have the Rosetta Stone series. I know some do esp. the Spanish.

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Lisa,

There is a book Spanish for Health Care Workers by william c Harvey,MS

that has some good reviews. You could most likely find it at

Borders or Barnes.Noble to see if it would be helpful.

Good luck with your studies.

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Thank you all so much for your suggestions. I did pick up some Cd's from the library, but there is no workbook with it. So i feel a little lost.

I really just don't know where to begin.

I think I really need to find a spanish speaking friend!

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Great, thanks for asking this question. I will assume you speak only one language at this point. Good. In answering your question you can find rosetta stone on craigslist. Put an ad in the " wanted section" You should get a few hits right off. Many people bought it, never used it and just want 20 dollars for it. Not sure, sometimes people try and sell copies of it. The copies work fine but in some countries that would not be kosher. One more thought on rosetta stone, it is all flash. It is not even a good start. Some people love it, not me. Pimsular is the way to go. Love it better than a Spanish friend. The next problem is after you master like the first three levels your going to head into the Spanish market only to find out they no speak formal Spanish. Your whole day will be ruined, you just spent the last three month pouring over these tapes and now everything is worthless. I was walking down the street and heard two woman speaking Spanish. I understood it perfectly. I asked them in Spanish if they understood me. Yes no problem, it was just like on the tapes. Unlike what I was hearing everyone else speak. Make a long story short, learn formal Spanish. Learn it very well. Then learn Mexican. It really is not all that different. Barnes and noble has some slang Spanish books, and I fell out of my seat laughing because the first twelve phrases were basically all I was hearing all day at work. One more option is to rent a room from a family that only speaks Spanish. Wow, you will learn at light speed. Learning a new language is like have a brain transplant. Remember, you can only learn so much in one day, you must keep on studying everyday. And when you stop you will forget it. Good luck

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i'm a white american guy who learned spanish and then portuguese. i've seen the rosetta stone software and i can't see how it can teach you a language. rosetta stone is good at marketing, not teaching a language as far as i can see. i took one college course in spanish but it was recently as an elective to satisfy my degree requirements. it was a good refresher and would be useful if you're learning for the first time, if you are also practicing. i recommend taking a college spanish course or two. american high school spanish was a joke, and i went to a good high school.

this is how i did it:

1. realize there's no magic bullet. unless you can live in mexico for a couple of years, you can't learn effortlessly. buckle up. it's tough but really rewarding. it's said learning a new language is the most difficult intellectual endeavor. but little boys and girls learn spanish all the time in south america. it can't be that hard! you will be a serial killer of the language and will embarass yourself. be humble about it. it happens

2. get a verbs book and study how verbs are formed and used.

3. get a book on grammar. you will learn a lot about english grammar when learning a 2nd language and that makes the 3rd language much easier. learn where pronouns go and how to make common sentences

4. get a book on vocabulary and make flash cards using excel or by hand on index cards.

for clarity, all language have the 3 parts above, nouns, verbs and grammar (the rules for combining nouns and verbs). bingo you have a language.

5. practice. a little every day is best. i couldn't listen to tv or radio because it was so boring to me. but many say that is really useful. try it for sure. i practiced at church in a spanish speaking congregation. the people there often spoke no english and that really helped. it required me to respond not just listen. many kids of spanish speakes who grew up here say that can understand and not speak. it's because they don't practie replying to their parents or grandparents. force yourself to reply and strike up conversation. read a lot. don xijote, children's books and books for teenagers are good. the newspaper will sometime use a lot of colloquial phrases that it will take a thousand years to sort though.

6. give it time. if you were really studious and had a good memory, you might be fluent in 6-8 months. more realistically, give it a couple of years at a consistent pace. you will be shocked that one day you get the joke or understood that commercial.

language cheats. the below tips can cut your time for sure:

tip 1: you only use about 400 words every day, all day, if that. once in a while you say words like "trade tariffs" or "crash test rating" but not very often. so learn your 400 words. man, boy, cat, dog, street, chair, smile. you use about 10-20 verbs all day every day. sleep, walk, talk, remember, bathe. learn those too. don't learn "ski lift" or any of that yet. once you know the language some and hear someone telling you about their trip, you'll learn "ski lift" just by inference.

tip 2: learn your occupational nouns and verbs. bed, patient etc.

tip 3: most spoken speech is past tense so get familiar with the two or three common past tense conjugations. they're really common and easy to pick up. "i went here with my friend and he told me that he wanted..." all simple past tense.

tip 4: we don't learn speech as kids one word at a time. we learn phrases like "how are you?" and "what are you doing?" learn theses phrases and know what all the words mean. "no sabia" means "i didn't know". "el me dijo" means he told me... and then you can fill in what he told you. those phrases will rattle off really quickly if you've practiced them. if you know what the words in the phrases means, you can mix and match more easily.

after i learned spanish, i married a portuguese girl so i started learning portuguese to speak to my mother in law. i picked up simple conversational portuguese in about 2 weekends! not lying. i can even just speak straight spanish to my mother in law and she speaks to me in portuguese and we have little trouble understanding each other. they are really similar. italian is also very close. you have to train your ears to hear the words and sounds.

hope that helps!

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BTW:I like Pimsleur too. It was a nice way to simulate conversations. But it's expensive and unnecessary. Do people with expensive treadmills in their house run more that people who don't? No.

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What about taking classes at a community college? Many offer night classes (depending where you live)

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