Suggestions...best way to learn Spanish in Miami

[charlottere]

Originally Posted by SFLrunner

I am moving to Brickell next month and want to learn to speak Spanish. Any suggestions on the best way to do this? Classes??? Rosetta Stone??? I already speak Russian and some French so I am hoping to pick up Spanish as well

...just need to open the door of your home just kidding or maybe not. Most people in Miami is bi-lingual or multilingual. You'll hear a lot of different accents.

Since you are already a multilingual individual learning Spanish could be easier. I think the Rosetta method could be good; Also, I think tutoring or private lessons would be great to accelerate the learning process.

Here is a link Language Learning with Livemocha | Learn a Language Online - Free! this is an online community to practice languages.

Good luck!

[Robyn55]

Originally Posted by SFLrunner

THanks everyone. I think I will try hiring a personal tutor and some tapes from the library

Depends how much you want to learn - and how quickly. My husband needed Spanish for business - and had intensive lessons with a private tutor. I don't know if his tutor is still giving lessons to private individuals (last I heard she had some corporate clients). If you're interested in her contact info - send me a DM - and I'll ask my husband.

My husband also took some Italian lessons from a retired UM professor in Miami for a vacation (it's easy to pick up some Italian when you speak Spanish). He liked the lessons - but he liked the Italian lunches the professor prepared for him even more .

These days - when my husband wants to learn a little of a language for a vacation - he uses the Pimsleur tapes (which teach conversational skills - not writing skills). So far he has taken Japanese - German and Hebrew - and he also used Pimsleur to brush up on his French. He is really good at languages - but some of these languages were very difficult. I think Spanish is one of the easier languages to learn (I took 8 years in school - decades ago - and still can get by on a primitive level even though I left Miami 15 years ago and rarely get to use the language these days). Robyn

[stayinghonest]

I've been living in Miami my whole life and have started to learn Spanish since grade school. My best suggestion is to learn it through daily conversation with people and visit heavily Spanish-speaking areas like Hialeah or Little Havana. I found learning it through classes, especially honors Spanish, was the best so you can understand the grammar and using verbs correctly.

[intelfan11315]

You definitely do not have to go to Little Havana to learn Spanish in Miami. I learned Spanish living in Miami myself... there's Spanish literally everywhere you go... in any part of Miami. I studied every day on my own using Rosetta Stone and a grammar book, then I'd go out and use only Spanish when I went out. I was able to hold conversation and do whatever without any English after about 6 months.