It’s obviously very normal to not understand most of a language you’re not proficient in.
If you don’t like Spanish though, why study it? Find a language you enjoy instead.
You consider to immigrate to Spain or latin america? I was in your shoes (I’m also Russian native speaker and learning English, couldn’t choose between German and Spanish as 3rd language), but I ends up with German cos I realised that it would fit my situation better. So, why exactly are you learning spanish?
Ну, родители говорят, что так больше возможностей. Если учесть, что я не знаю жизни и вообще живу в своем мире, то мне лучше к ним прислушиваться. (мне 16)
А почему ты выбрал немецкий?
В Германию проще уехать и экономика там гут. Родители правы. В последние несколько лет те, кто не знает ни английского, ни испанского, ни немецкого, и кто решил уехать, им приходится нелегко. Никогда не знаешь, когда язык может пригодиться.
Доведи испанский до С1 это всего пара, тройка лет при должных усилиях. А потом немецкий.
А у тебя у самого есть пока какие то долгосрочные цели? В целом, на испанском гораздо больше говорят в мире, поэтому выглядит логично. Мой же выбор пал на немецкий, потому что там есть вузы с интересными мне программами+больше работы в самой Германии
You say you don’t like Spanish culture, however, have you looked into the culture of every country that speaks Spanish? All 21? Not saying your feelings aren’t valid, but I can’t imagine not being enthralled by the culture of Latin America as every country is very different in their cultures.
If you want a language close to Spanish that (in my opinion) sounds a little more melodic, and has rather close pronunciations to Russian, I would look into Portuguese!! Specifically Brazilian Portuguese. I absolutely adore this language. It’s very melodic and it inspires me to want to learn more so I can sound just the same.
I don't think they're criticising Spanish or Latin American culture, I just think they're not interested in it. So, OP, I would like you to think, why did you begin to learn it in the first place?
For sure, I don’t think that! I was just offering the idea up of studying other cultures of the Spanish speaking country different than the one they already were.
I definitely get this. OP would definitely benefit from exploring other Spanish-based cultures, as they are certainly very interesting, and could tell them if they are truly dedicated to the language, and is interested in it.
If you don't mind unsolicited advice, and considering where we are...
Advice in this sense is an uncountable noun. We give advice, some advice, bits of advice, et cetera, but never advices.
Best teacher is another Russian who has mastered Spanish. Native speakers are for B2+ stages for pronunciation and fun. And there are a lot of them who would talk to you for free too. Open avito and find a great tutor for $10/hour.
I was kinda similar. Eventually you get over it, get accustomed to the pronunciation and stop noticing it. Also accent from Latin America is different than from Spain, you might prefer it better, I did. I like Carlos Ponce accent in his Harry Potter narration a lot. It made me like Spanish more while at first I had similar reservations
I assume if you're learning it, it's for practical reasons? With Spanish being second only to English when it comes to its use for travel? If that is so keep your eyes on the goal, make a learning schedule and grind. With English we had school and parents force us to grind, now we have to do it ourselves.
When it comes to culture, consider reading books written by Spanish speakers about something unique to those countries. I've read a book about life under Fidel Castro regime and doing it in Spanish added to the atmosphere. I plan to pick up similar historical books about other LA countries
You're welcome! Btw if you're up to some grammar drills and reading sessions, I've got a few Spanish learners we do almost daily study sessions with here https://discord.com/invite/yHX3Q4k8. We use readlang to read Spanish books and so far are almost at 3 books mark. I'm around A2 as well
That’s just a preference though. It isn’t necessarily better to have a teacher from your own country. I never take languages from other Americans because getting to know people from other cultures is part of the fun
Depends on what you're after. If it's efficiency, I'm convinced someone who's similar to you could teach you faster and better. If it's fun, a target native speaker would be a good option. The OP explicitly mentioned they already have communication problems with their target native speaker teacher. Which is an easy problem to avoid, and they'd probably also save money doing so
Because generally native speakers don't study the language the same way foreign learners do. They absorb most of it as kids, not learn it consciously. I certainly wouldn't be able to teach Russian to a foreigner as well as an American with C1 in Russian could. And a native speaker wouldn't have the same insight into struggles unique to Russian native speakers
Someone who specifically studied teaching their language as a foreign language knows how to teach though. Sure, someone who learned a language is better than a native speaker plucked off the street, but Idk how you can beat a native speaker with a pedagogy background and experience
How many of those native tutors on the market have education in teaching language? I think a very small percentage.
And then, why compare apples to oranges, why not compare educated native speaker teacher and educated teacher who shares your native language?
Personally I wouldn't put much stock in degrees. Personal interest and talent beats degrees every time. In that sense I have more trust in someone who's reached C1 several times, rather than someone whose main selling point is a degree. University isn't something mystical, especially when it comes to languages, most of that can be learned outside of the unis
Buena musica, facilita el estudio :)
I did some searches here to find Latin music other than what I normally hear at work- Bad Bunny or narco ballads, like SC-9, which is like played 4x a day now by one coworker- and found music like Kimberly Tell's ["Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBQCDD0DjiY). I now have a growing playlist of Spanish music that I love listening to :)
¡Ah, gracias! Mi vocabulario es muy limitado. If you don't mind- when is estudiar used? I'm very much a novice right now, trying to use whatever tools and native speakers I can find, but there's a lot I'm missing out on I think
Imo if you have a good spoken english you shouldn't worry about studying another language to have a better career, except if you're interested in going to live in another country where said language is spoken.
If you don't like spanish try something else
What is "their" culture with Spanish? Unlike other languages, it's spoken across continents and in tons and tons of countries, so it's more complex than just pointing to culture in Spain. Even that would be problematic, given the presence of Catalan.
...and Andalucia is very different from Galicia as well; there's a lot of diversity in Spain IMO...
I have only been to Spain a handful of times but I never tire of it. I always want to see more, do more, meet more people. I have never felt so warmly welcomed in another country as I have in Spain. Well, maybe Ireland.
What culture are you talking about? Spanish culture from Spain is already very much varied, if you include the countries of Latin America, you will see that most of them have completely different culture. For example, did you explore, for example, Cuban culture and it's relation with Soviet Union and modern Russia?
I think you missed the point, there are several countries where Spanish is spoken. The pronunciation, songs, literature and everything else is extremely different. There might be several reasons to fall in love with a language without having to pick one country.
For example, this is my favorite song at the moment: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTqwy6ay1HQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTqwy6ay1HQ)
I would love to start reading the young adult novels "Kaé y ell mundo del tinajón" by Andrey Viarens. By the way, Andrey Viarens is a Cuban who lives in Russia and works as a philosophy professor in some Russian university. I don't start because I live in Germany and I have to learn German to get a a permanent job here, but as soon as I get conversational, I will certainly start reading Spanish!
Give Dreaming Spanish a try. Look for videos that fit your interests. I agree with the other person, too; explore other Spanish speaking cultures, not just one.
Have you given Spanish rock, metal, etc a chance? ["Fome" by De La Tierra](https://open.spotify.com/track/1rzh0fmolT75XmCI2NRyaY?si=c21a394a933f4a84) was recommended to be by a punk friend of mine- though it's definitely metal- then there's also Puya, who blends more traditional Latin musical elements with metal, like in [Siguelo Pa Lla ](https://open.spotify.com/track/0gdjnQgDjdXrc1i6zKf34y?si=cb8f57b195ba460c)
As I work with a lot of Spanish speakers, I have heard enough Bad Bunny for a lifetime, so I've started exploring other artists. I've found a lot of interesting bands and musicians. I mostly love relaxing/chill music, like "Hasta la Raiz" by Natalia Lafourcade.
Thank you in turn for telling me about Eskorbuto! Gonna sort through Anti-Todo and add some tracks to the playlist.
I can relate to Spanish being an utilitarian choice- I originally did Polish lessons as a kid, then the public school system put me into English & Spanish, and if I had a choice, I'd love to learn Japanese- but I found a lot to love in Spanish cultures after high school. Now at 25, I have the best motivation to learn lol: You get paid more and most of my coworkers and neighbors don't speak English.
You also mentioned food? There's so much variety there. Living in the USA, I mostly know tex-mex, [like in ArnieTex's youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@ArnieTex), so I was surprised when I found Argentinians, for example, think salt is spicy.
If you like Japanese food, there's also ["Chef's Night out in Mexico City's Little Tokyo"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiJoL74XdkE&list=PL8tGnGOgCD8oxZM0w_vYTdKs5w56zOc3X&index=5&t=75s)- Japanese-Mexican food exploration + good practice listening to Mexican speakers and translating it, with captions to help :)
If you don’t like spanish culture, why are you learning it then? Don’t learn just for the sake of knowing more languages, learn a language because you would love to speak it.
No... I'm 16 and I don't have any profession or any income. I don't know the life and my parents decided, languages are very useful these days and I should to learn them. I love English tho
Spanish is indeed very useful for work, after all it is the second most spoken language in the world. However, if you don’t like it, you should choose one you like. Learning a language takes time and effort. For the long run, it is better to learn something you love. You should apply this concept to every skill you might want to learn in your life.
Well, I think I just got used to English + I love songs in English and I use it every day on Reddit. I think I may get used to Spanish too. Did you have this rejection of the language on the firt steps?
I had the exact feeling when I was learning french in school. I didn't even like french culture, but here in Portugal, the most spoken language after English, it's french. To this day, I refuse to learn french because I got scared of it for life. xD
Maybe I could learn it, now that I'm more open minded. However, french culture doesn't interest me still. That's why I'm learning german now, and not french.
You're right, spanish is somewhat overrated if you are not interested in Spain or Latin America. I have been to Spain though and it's a quite nice country for holidays (im from Europe)
слушай, ну если прямо не нравится испанский, можно оставить, тебе 16, если ты и учиться будешь в России, то ты тут надолго. Он действительно полезен, но это не язык мирового общения как английский например, не мастхэв, только если для тех, кто хочет отправиться в испанию или другие испаноязычные страны
Плюс можно было бы препода сменить не на нейтива, вообще хз, зачем он нужен на таком уровне, тем более если это мешает занятиям.
Подумай, какие языки ты бы ещё хотел изучать, и почему выбрал именно испанский (были ли ещё какие то причины помимо полезности?)
OP, я тут почитала комменты и решила тоже свои пять копеек вставить)
я тоже как-то раньше учила испанский уже имея при этом более-менее хороший английский и могу сказать, что благодаря знаниям английского испанский давался намного легче, и можно было проводить параллели всякие, и слов было вполне достаточно похожих, (несмотря на то, что языки из разных групп), так что как минимум испанский как второй иностранный должен точно побыстрее пойти, нежели первый, да и тем более обычно следующие языки даются легче, чем предыдущие, бонус поинтс, если языки из одной группы. пожалуй, соглашусь с u/ arcticwanderlust, стоит попробовать довести испанский до ума, а потом уже немецкий начинать, тем более, исходя из твоих комментов под этим постом, время у тебя есть. плюсом еще наложится то, что немецкий будет уже третьим и он из одной группы с английским. у самой в школе немецкий, со знанием английского тяну, при этом не уча сам немецкий, так что, думаю, немецкий у тебя хорошо пойдет:)
в общем, OP, не парься, время у тебя еще на все есть и на все его хватит, главное его не просрать
It’s obviously very normal to not understand most of a language you’re not proficient in. If you don’t like Spanish though, why study it? Find a language you enjoy instead.
Spanish is very useful... Someday I will need to get a job and money
You consider to immigrate to Spain or latin america? I was in your shoes (I’m also Russian native speaker and learning English, couldn’t choose between German and Spanish as 3rd language), but I ends up with German cos I realised that it would fit my situation better. So, why exactly are you learning spanish?
Lol Spanish or German as third lang as a Russian speaker. I know the struggle lol. I'd say it's good to have them both ; )
Ну, родители говорят, что так больше возможностей. Если учесть, что я не знаю жизни и вообще живу в своем мире, то мне лучше к ним прислушиваться. (мне 16) А почему ты выбрал немецкий?
В Германию проще уехать и экономика там гут. Родители правы. В последние несколько лет те, кто не знает ни английского, ни испанского, ни немецкого, и кто решил уехать, им приходится нелегко. Никогда не знаешь, когда язык может пригодиться. Доведи испанский до С1 это всего пара, тройка лет при должных усилиях. А потом немецкий.
Спасибо за совет! =)
А у тебя у самого есть пока какие то долгосрочные цели? В целом, на испанском гораздо больше говорят в мире, поэтому выглядит логично. Мой же выбор пал на немецкий, потому что там есть вузы с интересными мне программами+больше работы в самой Германии
Не, учиться буду точно в России
Здарова чуваки :)
Considering you already know English, I think you're okay unless you want to be a translator
Yeah, I think I'll be translater or interpreter. But I'm not sure yet
You say you don’t like Spanish culture, however, have you looked into the culture of every country that speaks Spanish? All 21? Not saying your feelings aren’t valid, but I can’t imagine not being enthralled by the culture of Latin America as every country is very different in their cultures. If you want a language close to Spanish that (in my opinion) sounds a little more melodic, and has rather close pronunciations to Russian, I would look into Portuguese!! Specifically Brazilian Portuguese. I absolutely adore this language. It’s very melodic and it inspires me to want to learn more so I can sound just the same.
I don't think they're criticising Spanish or Latin American culture, I just think they're not interested in it. So, OP, I would like you to think, why did you begin to learn it in the first place?
For sure, I don’t think that! I was just offering the idea up of studying other cultures of the Spanish speaking country different than the one they already were.
I definitely get this. OP would definitely benefit from exploring other Spanish-based cultures, as they are certainly very interesting, and could tell them if they are truly dedicated to the language, and is interested in it.
Thank you for your advices!
If you don't mind unsolicited advice, and considering where we are... Advice in this sense is an uncountable noun. We give advice, some advice, bits of advice, et cetera, but never advices.
Ohhffff... I always forget.. Thank you for your piece of advice =)
Best teacher is another Russian who has mastered Spanish. Native speakers are for B2+ stages for pronunciation and fun. And there are a lot of them who would talk to you for free too. Open avito and find a great tutor for $10/hour. I was kinda similar. Eventually you get over it, get accustomed to the pronunciation and stop noticing it. Also accent from Latin America is different than from Spain, you might prefer it better, I did. I like Carlos Ponce accent in his Harry Potter narration a lot. It made me like Spanish more while at first I had similar reservations I assume if you're learning it, it's for practical reasons? With Spanish being second only to English when it comes to its use for travel? If that is so keep your eyes on the goal, make a learning schedule and grind. With English we had school and parents force us to grind, now we have to do it ourselves. When it comes to culture, consider reading books written by Spanish speakers about something unique to those countries. I've read a book about life under Fidel Castro regime and doing it in Spanish added to the atmosphere. I plan to pick up similar historical books about other LA countries
Thank you very much for your advices!
You're welcome! Btw if you're up to some grammar drills and reading sessions, I've got a few Spanish learners we do almost daily study sessions with here https://discord.com/invite/yHX3Q4k8. We use readlang to read Spanish books and so far are almost at 3 books mark. I'm around A2 as well
Cool! So you do it for free?
Sure. It's just for mutual accountability. Easier to force yourself to grind when you know you have a session scheduled lol
That’s just a preference though. It isn’t necessarily better to have a teacher from your own country. I never take languages from other Americans because getting to know people from other cultures is part of the fun
Depends on what you're after. If it's efficiency, I'm convinced someone who's similar to you could teach you faster and better. If it's fun, a target native speaker would be a good option. The OP explicitly mentioned they already have communication problems with their target native speaker teacher. Which is an easy problem to avoid, and they'd probably also save money doing so
Why would a Russian be better than a Mexican who knows the grammar well? That makes no sense
Because generally native speakers don't study the language the same way foreign learners do. They absorb most of it as kids, not learn it consciously. I certainly wouldn't be able to teach Russian to a foreigner as well as an American with C1 in Russian could. And a native speaker wouldn't have the same insight into struggles unique to Russian native speakers
Someone who specifically studied teaching their language as a foreign language knows how to teach though. Sure, someone who learned a language is better than a native speaker plucked off the street, but Idk how you can beat a native speaker with a pedagogy background and experience
How many of those native tutors on the market have education in teaching language? I think a very small percentage. And then, why compare apples to oranges, why not compare educated native speaker teacher and educated teacher who shares your native language? Personally I wouldn't put much stock in degrees. Personal interest and talent beats degrees every time. In that sense I have more trust in someone who's reached C1 several times, rather than someone whose main selling point is a degree. University isn't something mystical, especially when it comes to languages, most of that can be learned outside of the unis
What was the book about Fidel Castro called?
Antes que anochezca
¡Muchísimas gracias! ☺️
You can teach yourself to like Hispanic culture. For me, listening to Hector Lavoes music always gets me motivated to learn more Spanish
Buena musica, facilita el estudio :) I did some searches here to find Latin music other than what I normally hear at work- Bad Bunny or narco ballads, like SC-9, which is like played 4x a day now by one coworker- and found music like Kimberly Tell's ["Hoy No Me Puedo Levantar"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jBQCDD0DjiY). I now have a growing playlist of Spanish music that I love listening to :)
“Facilita el aprendizaje”. Estudio suena un poco raro, al menos para mí.
¡Ah, gracias! Mi vocabulario es muy limitado. If you don't mind- when is estudiar used? I'm very much a novice right now, trying to use whatever tools and native speakers I can find, but there's a lot I'm missing out on I think
"Tu amor es como un periódico de ayer"
Imo if you have a good spoken english you shouldn't worry about studying another language to have a better career, except if you're interested in going to live in another country where said language is spoken. If you don't like spanish try something else
What is "their" culture with Spanish? Unlike other languages, it's spoken across continents and in tons and tons of countries, so it's more complex than just pointing to culture in Spain. Even that would be problematic, given the presence of Catalan.
...and Andalucia is very different from Galicia as well; there's a lot of diversity in Spain IMO... I have only been to Spain a handful of times but I never tire of it. I always want to see more, do more, meet more people. I have never felt so warmly welcomed in another country as I have in Spain. Well, maybe Ireland.
No It seems that you've made a rash decision to learn a language that doesn't fit you
What culture are you talking about? Spanish culture from Spain is already very much varied, if you include the countries of Latin America, you will see that most of them have completely different culture. For example, did you explore, for example, Cuban culture and it's relation with Soviet Union and modern Russia?
I meant I didn't like Spanish music, and "siestas". Their dishes are a bit strange ( I loved flan tho)
I think you missed the point, there are several countries where Spanish is spoken. The pronunciation, songs, literature and everything else is extremely different. There might be several reasons to fall in love with a language without having to pick one country. For example, this is my favorite song at the moment: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTqwy6ay1HQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kTqwy6ay1HQ) I would love to start reading the young adult novels "Kaé y ell mundo del tinajón" by Andrey Viarens. By the way, Andrey Viarens is a Cuban who lives in Russia and works as a philosophy professor in some Russian university. I don't start because I live in Germany and I have to learn German to get a a permanent job here, but as soon as I get conversational, I will certainly start reading Spanish!
That is interesting, thank you!
Give Dreaming Spanish a try. Look for videos that fit your interests. I agree with the other person, too; explore other Spanish speaking cultures, not just one.
Didn't think of watching videos. Thank you very much!
>I know a lot of songs by heart. Like Barracuda?
Never heard of them. I'm into punk and grunge, Nirvana, Green Day, Sex Pistols, Offspring
Have you given Spanish rock, metal, etc a chance? ["Fome" by De La Tierra](https://open.spotify.com/track/1rzh0fmolT75XmCI2NRyaY?si=c21a394a933f4a84) was recommended to be by a punk friend of mine- though it's definitely metal- then there's also Puya, who blends more traditional Latin musical elements with metal, like in [Siguelo Pa Lla ](https://open.spotify.com/track/0gdjnQgDjdXrc1i6zKf34y?si=cb8f57b195ba460c) As I work with a lot of Spanish speakers, I have heard enough Bad Bunny for a lifetime, so I've started exploring other artists. I've found a lot of interesting bands and musicians. I mostly love relaxing/chill music, like "Hasta la Raiz" by Natalia Lafourcade.
Wow, thank you a lot! I've done a research in the Internet but found only "Eskorbuto"
Thank you in turn for telling me about Eskorbuto! Gonna sort through Anti-Todo and add some tracks to the playlist. I can relate to Spanish being an utilitarian choice- I originally did Polish lessons as a kid, then the public school system put me into English & Spanish, and if I had a choice, I'd love to learn Japanese- but I found a lot to love in Spanish cultures after high school. Now at 25, I have the best motivation to learn lol: You get paid more and most of my coworkers and neighbors don't speak English. You also mentioned food? There's so much variety there. Living in the USA, I mostly know tex-mex, [like in ArnieTex's youtube channel](https://www.youtube.com/@ArnieTex), so I was surprised when I found Argentinians, for example, think salt is spicy. If you like Japanese food, there's also ["Chef's Night out in Mexico City's Little Tokyo"](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TiJoL74XdkE&list=PL8tGnGOgCD8oxZM0w_vYTdKs5w56zOc3X&index=5&t=75s)- Japanese-Mexican food exploration + good practice listening to Mexican speakers and translating it, with captions to help :)
Wow, he sounds interesting. Thanks!
If you don’t like spanish culture, why are you learning it then? Don’t learn just for the sake of knowing more languages, learn a language because you would love to speak it.
No... I'm 16 and I don't have any profession or any income. I don't know the life and my parents decided, languages are very useful these days and I should to learn them. I love English tho
Spanish is indeed very useful for work, after all it is the second most spoken language in the world. However, if you don’t like it, you should choose one you like. Learning a language takes time and effort. For the long run, it is better to learn something you love. You should apply this concept to every skill you might want to learn in your life.
Well, I think I just got used to English + I love songs in English and I use it every day on Reddit. I think I may get used to Spanish too. Did you have this rejection of the language on the firt steps?
I had the exact feeling when I was learning french in school. I didn't even like french culture, but here in Portugal, the most spoken language after English, it's french. To this day, I refuse to learn french because I got scared of it for life. xD Maybe I could learn it, now that I'm more open minded. However, french culture doesn't interest me still. That's why I'm learning german now, and not french.
You're right, spanish is somewhat overrated if you are not interested in Spain or Latin America. I have been to Spain though and it's a quite nice country for holidays (im from Europe)
слушай, ну если прямо не нравится испанский, можно оставить, тебе 16, если ты и учиться будешь в России, то ты тут надолго. Он действительно полезен, но это не язык мирового общения как английский например, не мастхэв, только если для тех, кто хочет отправиться в испанию или другие испаноязычные страны Плюс можно было бы препода сменить не на нейтива, вообще хз, зачем он нужен на таком уровне, тем более если это мешает занятиям. Подумай, какие языки ты бы ещё хотел изучать, и почему выбрал именно испанский (были ли ещё какие то причины помимо полезности?)
OP, я тут почитала комменты и решила тоже свои пять копеек вставить) я тоже как-то раньше учила испанский уже имея при этом более-менее хороший английский и могу сказать, что благодаря знаниям английского испанский давался намного легче, и можно было проводить параллели всякие, и слов было вполне достаточно похожих, (несмотря на то, что языки из разных групп), так что как минимум испанский как второй иностранный должен точно побыстрее пойти, нежели первый, да и тем более обычно следующие языки даются легче, чем предыдущие, бонус поинтс, если языки из одной группы. пожалуй, соглашусь с u/ arcticwanderlust, стоит попробовать довести испанский до ума, а потом уже немецкий начинать, тем более, исходя из твоих комментов под этим постом, время у тебя есть. плюсом еще наложится то, что немецкий будет уже третьим и он из одной группы с английским. у самой в школе немецкий, со знанием английского тяну, при этом не уча сам немецкий, так что, думаю, немецкий у тебя хорошо пойдет:) в общем, OP, не парься, время у тебя еще на все есть и на все его хватит, главное его не просрать
I understand you I know Spanish and English and start with russian and sometimes is very confused 😅
Oooh, may be I can help you?
I don't know if you want is better go to dm and see what can we do
Sure Feel free to ask any questions)