Thanks for your newsletter. I was reading your article on styles of learning. I originally had Spanish clases in high school where I was taught things like ¿Te gusta la biblioteca? and it gave me some vocabulary, but as far as speaking Spanish it was worthless.
Then many years later, borne from my desire to learn, I got a Spanish/English dictionary, started watching Spanish TV every day, started listening to Spanish radio. I started learning about the great Latin music artists and culture. I used translation websites, downloaded lyrics from bilingual artists like Enrique Iglesias, Gloria Estefan. I talked with my friends who are fluent, bought People magazine in Spanish. In short my method is total immersion.
In a year and a half native Spanish speakers say my Spanish is very good. I'm still striving for fluency, but I'm at a good level of understanding. Of all I do find the television especially beneficial because you both see and hear. With a new television you can have the words on the screen, which really helps as well.
I think what really helps me is the daily hearing of Spanish and using my mind to think in Spanish. Maybe this is helpful to your readers. I know many people take clases to learn; I'm not against clases but I think doing everything makes learning go much, faster and actually experiencing how Spanish is used.
Sincerely,
Jim Anderson
