Learning Spanish?

[WaylonJennings]

Seems that every news job in particular I see posted these days at places like journalismjobs.com urges bilingual candidates. Understandable in urban areas today, obviously.

How tough is it to learn? I'm thinking about giving it a go - in today's market, it probably pays to grab every advantage you can. Seems like baseball writers should be plowing that path, as well, though I'm not sure how many do know it. Probably education and urban issues beat people, as well.

 

[Chi City 81]

Buena suerte.

 

[BTExpress]

Я желаю Вам удачу

 

[beefncheddar]

Studied Spanish for four years in high school. Did pretty well at it, too. Even now I can still hold my own writing and speaking it.

[stephena]HOWEVAH[/stephena]

When I got to college I took the test to see whether or not I could test-through the class and get credit. The second they hit the button on the tape and asked me to transcribe what it said I knew there was no way I would EVER be fluent.

There's a HUUUUUGE difference between knowing the words and being able to speak the language in anything other than a "please can you slow down ... alot" manner.

 

[BTExpress]

There's a HUUUUUGE difference between knowing the words and being able to speak the language in anything other than a "please can you slow down ... alot" manner.

Exactly. The Russian I am involved with is an English teacher. She can match me in speed when it comes to typing in English. But when we speak, she almost always asks me to slow down.

 

[GBNF]

There's a HUUUUUGE difference between knowing the words and being able to speak the language in anything other than a "please can you slow down ... alot" manner.

Exactly. The Russian I am involved with is an English teacher. She can match me in speed when it comes to typing in English. But when we speak, she almost always asks me to slow down.

If she looks anything like the girl on your profile, she's worth it, broken English or not...

 

[Batman]

I took three years of German in high school and two semesters of Russian in college.
Once we got past the introductory words and phrases phase and started conjugating the 43 different kinds of verbs I was lost. At one point I was kind of proud that I could count to 10 in five different languages. Now I'm down to three or four.
Best German phrase I remember:
"Dein mutte ist eine imbisstube"

And I can almost count to 10 in Russian. Almost.

 

[SF_Express]

I took three years of German in high school

Same as me, plus one in college. College class was a total joke, everything was open dictionary, guaranteed to learn nothing. Not that not knowing German has hurt me.

MY most remembered phrase is:

Ich habe eine verapredung (I have an appointment.)

I'd love to learn Spanish but have misfired on several attempts to start.

 

[buckweaver]

Took two years of Spanish in high school, and three years of German in college. Should've swapped 'em. Learned more German than I need, learned less Spanish than I want. Don't remember much of either anymore.

But hey, I can still count to 10: ein, zwei, drei, vier, funf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn.

 

[Batman]

Should've put in a translation for "Dein mutte ist eine imbisstube". It means, "Your mother is a snack bar."
That got huge chuckles from the 10th grade German II class, and might still be a useful putdown.

But hey, I can still count to 10: ein, zwei, drei, vier, funf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn.

One thing I DO remember from all that German is how to count. I think I could go to a thousand.

 

[buckweaver]

Best part of German class -- well, aside from the hot German T.A. -- was watching "Lola Rennt" and being introduced to Franka Potente years before the Bourne movies came out. One of my favorite foreign-language movies. Word of advice: Don't watch the one with English voiceovers. It's awful.

 

[STLIrish]

I've made several half-hearted attempts to learn Spanish since I started in this biz (wisely, I took Latin in high school). Now I can muddle through a few very basic introductory/I write for the newspaper/please find me someone who speaks English phrases. But that's about it
I don't think I'll ever be even conversational unless I can somehow spend a significant amount of time surrounded by other Spanish speakers. That's how pretty much every Anglo I know who can actually carry on a conversation in Spanish learned. You just don't absorb it taking one community college class a week.
But somehow I don't think a three-month sabbatical to Mexico is in the cards any time soon.

 

[Football_Bat]

Took two years of Spanish in high school, and three years of German in college. Should've swapped 'em. Learned more German than I need, learned less Spanish than I want. Don't remember much of either anymore.

But hey, I can still count to 10: ein, zwei, drei, vier, funf, sechs, sieben, acht, neun, zehn.

You forgot the umlaut on funf, dummkopf!

 

[Cansportschick]

Seems that every news job in particular I see posted these days at places like journalismjobs.com urges bilingual candidates. Understandable in urban areas today, obviously.

How tough is it to learn? I'm thinking about giving it a go - in today's market, it probably pays to grab every advantage you can. Seems like baseball writers should be plowing that path, as well, though I'm not sure how many do know it. Probably education and urban issues beat people, as well.

Waylon, it not tough to learn. I would recommend you giving it a shot.

 

[Italian_Stallion]

After watching a high school soccer coach speak to his team in Spanish during a match, I had the same interest. But why learn that language when we're all going to be speaking Arabic when Obama is elected? ;-)

 

[forever_town]

I took two years of high school Spanish and two or three years of college Spanish. Of course, I had additional motivation to do so: My dad's side of the family is Cuban.

Then again, I haven't had as much occasion to use my Spanish lately as I would like. Thus, if I'm in a reporting situation, I fall back on English. Some of the interns I've had working for me have been able to conduct interviews in Spanish.

 

[Cansportschick]

I use "entrevista" way too much when talking in Spanish.

Also the saying, "Mi Casa et Tu Casa"...used it most recently on a Christmas card. It is an inside joke ;D :

 

[Gold]

I took two years of Spanish in high school and a couple of semesters in college.

I met my wife, who lived in Mexico and was visiting her sister in the US, in 1993. I went down to visit her over a Columbus Day weekend and spent four days down there. I learned more in four days than I did in all that time in school.

I also went to France in 1990. I got a guide book with phrases, and before I went out to visit museums, I would try to learn a couple of phrases.

The problem is that the school and guidebooks don't help you would when the responses come back at 90 miles per hour. The other problem is that once there are a couple of words you don't understand, it is like getting lost and hard to find your way back.

My wife's best subject in her school time in Mexico was English - she wanted to learn as a 10 to 12 year old because of rock songs in English and TV shows like the Brady Bunch and the Partridge Family. She would also know Moody Blues songs and I thought she knew a lot more English than she actually did.

Shortly after we were married, we were in a store and saw a sign that said Clearance for a sale. She pronounced it "CLEAR - EN - SEE". I had to turn away so I wouldn't crack up, but it is still funny when I think about it and we laugh about it. Yet, when you think of it, that would be exactly the way you pronounce it what you think of it.

Unless you are going to make a committment to learning it and spend a lot of time and go somewhere for more than a month, it isn't likely to work beyond being able to order food in a restaurant or giving basic greetings. I can carry on a conversation with my wife's parents, and it is easier face-to-face compared to the telephone. But it is difficult sometimes to find the right word and I generally can't tell funny stories.