Just today I wrote my first email in Spanish. It had a few mistakes in it - I asked someone to check it for me and they corrected what I got wrong. But it was intelligible and hopefully I will get a reply.
Here it is (corrected):
¡Hola I!
He preguntado a N como funciona el grupo L a C. Me interesa también tu punto de vista.
Más tarde quiero organizar un seminar Zoom sobre esto.
Russell
Having done that, I am now learning the numbers and need to go over the alphabet and pronunciation again.
This is the wrong way round... or is it? I don't think it is. I am learning. I can understand stuff in Spanish now and I am increasingly able to compose sentences which are not just modified Italian.
Come to think of it, I have never finished a language textbook for any of my languages - not even Esperanto. I have certainly had plenty of teach yourself books, many of which, such as Teach Yourself Russian, proved very helpful. But, like those stabilisers on your child's bicycle (remember those?), textbooks become unnecessary, as you become able to go it alone. Language textbooks are useful for starting out - and maybe referring back to - but there is no need to follow them right to the end. The main thing is to keep learning and gradually 'flush out' those remaining issues and questions. Likewise with any programme, material or course.
So, let me encourage you, if you are learning a language, by all means buy courses and use books. By all means have a plan. But the main thing is to keep learning. And if you don't manage to get to the end of a textbook, so what?
If you are interested in language learning, follow this blog.
My name is Russell Phillips. I offer online video language tuition for English and Russian - and also German, Italian and French.
My rate is GBP 9 (nine pounds sterling) per block of 15 minutes (a typical lesson might be 45 minutes), payable in advance.
Contact me via www.facebook.com/russelljamesphillips or on email at regnavit[at]gmail.com
Here it is (corrected):
¡Hola I!
He preguntado a N como funciona el grupo L a C. Me interesa también tu punto de vista.
Más tarde quiero organizar un seminar Zoom sobre esto.
Russell
Having done that, I am now learning the numbers and need to go over the alphabet and pronunciation again.This is the wrong way round... or is it? I don't think it is. I am learning. I can understand stuff in Spanish now and I am increasingly able to compose sentences which are not just modified Italian.
Come to think of it, I have never finished a language textbook for any of my languages - not even Esperanto. I have certainly had plenty of teach yourself books, many of which, such as Teach Yourself Russian, proved very helpful. But, like those stabilisers on your child's bicycle (remember those?), textbooks become unnecessary, as you become able to go it alone. Language textbooks are useful for starting out - and maybe referring back to - but there is no need to follow them right to the end. The main thing is to keep learning and gradually 'flush out' those remaining issues and questions. Likewise with any programme, material or course.
So, let me encourage you, if you are learning a language, by all means buy courses and use books. By all means have a plan. But the main thing is to keep learning. And if you don't manage to get to the end of a textbook, so what?
If you are interested in language learning, follow this blog.
My name is Russell Phillips. I offer online video language tuition for English and Russian - and also German, Italian and French.
My rate is GBP 9 (nine pounds sterling) per block of 15 minutes (a typical lesson might be 45 minutes), payable in advance.
Contact me via www.facebook.com/russelljamesphillips or on email at regnavit[at]gmail.com
Comments
Post a Comment