Any Spanish speakers out there who learned it late in life? What way is best.

I know immersion is great, but I can't move anywhere. I've wondered about this "Rosetta Stone" that I see everywhere.

I do speak fluent French (minor in French) and I did it the old fashioned way of congugating verbs and repeating sentences over and over, etc. It was pretty rapid. Within about two years I could function in Paris.

But now I'm nearly 50 and think my brain may not have what it takes for such a rigorous method.

in Quetzeltenango with a program called ICA. I was there for 4 weeks - the program even arranged a home stay with a really great family in a lovely home (I will say that I cheated a bit and paid for my instructor and I to head out and do some touring during my stay. For two weeks we went to Antiqua, Tikal, etc. With hotel rates at about $4/night, I could easily afford a room for her and I, while getting the instruction daily that I needed PLUS seeing the sights). When I got home I had an excellent start (I really needed to go deep into immersion territory to ensure I actually HAD to speak it in public - there are very few english speakers in Guatemala so you are forced to speak it for every transaction).

After that, I found you have to overcome your embarrassment at your terrible spanish and just practice it with anyone you come across who is fluent in the language!

I was 42 when I did this so I know you CAN learn a language when you are well past school age - don't let the brain drain fiction stop your quest! Never stop learning. I will tell you that being fluent in French will help you enormously - even if that fluency is in the distant past. I was/am also reasonably fluent in French and I found that helped a lot with Spanish.

Finally, I have to admit that I did try Berlitz for the spanish but I was always cheating since I never felt compelled to really put it into practice every day. That was why I had to absolutely go. away. to. force. myself. I would bet you are much more disciplined than I was and would probably fair well with some of the latest teaching aids.

:hi: Good luck!

I realize that I'm going to have to learn it, if only to understand what they're saying about me. :-)

I think total immersion is my only option.

I don't really care what they say about me but I do feel I would help them much more if I could speak Spanish.

vice versa....

good luck!

They are fun, its like playing a video game. Splurge and get the 6 or 8 cd set, not just the 2. I'm currently using the Spanish one and having a great time. (After a trip to Mexico I realized it would have been nice to have understood the bus driver when he told me I was on the wrong bus, etc.)

My husband learned French by the immersion method (it was his third language). He would do summer courses in Quebec and then moved to study at University in France for 2 years in the early 1980's.

Good luck!

He used it for spanish and claims it's great.