I live in the u.s . My parents are saying that its better to take spanish because its the second spoken language in america and that most jobs look for people who speak spanish?? I want to take french because i want to be different from everyone else and i heard colleges like it more. which language is better to take? Thank you

Im honduran. About 95 percent of my family including my parents both speak english and spanish... I grew up not really speaking spanish. When I was little my mom tried teaching me but when I would go to school It seemed like I would get confused between the two languages english and spanish. So Teachers told my mom that I had a speech problem. So long story short in order to prevent problems in the future for me My parents just taught me english, never to really learn spanish again.

I am 20 years old now. If I hear a spanish person talking or when my parents talk in spanish I pretty much know exactly what they are saying. Most times I can repeat back in english word from word what I just heard in spanish. & Sometimes I get confused or thrown of by a certain word but I'm always on point as far as what the topic was regarding. So I'm not dumbfounded at all as far as spanish is concerned. BUT the problem comes when I have to speak back! I get tongue tied, I have to double think how to conjugate this word or that one. If I want to know what something means in spanish i have to ask or look it up. When 9 times out of the 10 i heard the word million of times before... FUNNY THING IS, I can read and write spanish(writing is not soo so perfect) but everything in spanish i perform so well in except speaking it. I guess its because i started learning through hearing and years ago when i got serious about it I started reading it. Then in highschool i took a spanish class for about three years where i learned more and also wrote in spanish...... I tried getting my parents to help, but sometimes my mom is impatient when i ask what this and that means. And she talks spanish to me because its something we are so use to doing. My Dad never speaks spanish, even in Honduras. Because he grew up on an Island where they only spoke english, and just recently he started speaking spanish often because of where he works but i think he prefers english better..... So right now its only me teaching myself, my only sources that I have is hearing others when they speak and an online translator. So I was wondering what can I do, to perfect at it speaking wise?? Thank You

I grew up learning both Chinese and English. Chinese is my first language, but I started learning English in nursery school by age 2, so now, I excel in English more than Chinese, even though I still only speak Chinese with my parents. Why is it that my English surpassed Chinese? Also, does bilingualism have anything to do with learning other languages? I started learning Spanish in school in 6th grade, and I'm a junior now, but people are always surprised to learn I'm the top of my advanced class when there are French/German speakers who struggle a bit. I go to an int'l school and alot of my classmates are bilingual, so I don't get why it seems so hard for them to learn Spanish, or even French. My Chinese teachers have always said I learned Chinese really fast as a kid. I love learning languages and want to learn French in college, but I'm just wondering, are language learning skills genetic or innate?

Sorry I asked more than 1 q. but just answer as fully as possible. Thanks!

I am bi-lingual I speak both Spanish and English and I am currently learning to speak French. But because of the fact that both my parents and family speak spanish I am force to also speak spanish at home and english at school. I came to this point where my english vocab crosses with my spanish one when I'm talking spanish and vice-versa. And when I'm in french class its worst! Is there any way I can improve my grammer in all three languages and avoid that annoying language brain-fart?

I'm hispanic and my parents are fluent spanish speakers but I cannot speak fluent spanish. I can understand most of the language and I can have simple conversations in spanish but I can't speak it as if it was english for me. What can I do to learn how to speak the language? Besides just being around the language at home. Are there any programs that could help me, like rossetta stone? The only problem with that is that i feel like i already know too much.

I'm writing my best friends mom a letter to show her my appreciation, and she doesn't speak very good English. I'd really love it if you could do it in conversational Spanish and not standard. I'd like to say "Dear 'Mom', thank you so much for everything that you have done for me. I really love your house and your wonderful family. You're the first parent besides my own that really likes me. All my other friends parents think I'm a bad person. Thanks again. Love Love Love, Alexsis."

i have this podcast for ipods, actually 2
-Discover Spanish
-Insta Spanish
I have a lot of Spanish speaking friends, that why I want to learn!
They help me out a lot, but I want to be able to speak it fluently. So when i go to there house, there parents would understand me.
im 14........how fast you think i will learn?

I would like to become fluent in Spanish somewhere down the road, but my main priority for right now is to learn enough Spanish to be able to communicate with my students' mono-lingual parents. Are there any good books/tapes/cd-roms/dvds/etc. that would provide kind of a quick fix? I can read Spanish pretty well, but cannot speak, write or understand spoken Spanish very well.
I'm not interested in opinions about whether students should speak English in school; that was clearly not the question. I would like to communicate with my mono-lingual parents, so that their students have the best possible opportunities for success, and thus would like to know what the best way to learn Spanish quickly is, so that I can accomplish that. Also, I'd like to put out there that being literate in more than one language increases your intelligence, your ability to communicate and your ability to understand other cultures and other languages.
And, by the way, I teach Language Arts/Reading

Schools now are mandated to teach Spanish to students. Any student who refuses will be suspended or expelled. Next will be parents and the general population. What is your reaction to this?

SO Im going to spain to strengthen my spanish, my parents are sending me there but I get to choose wherever I want to go.
I know nothing about spain so Im just very hesitant as this is my one time shot to choose a place I will be staying.

I want alot of friends, and I want alot of fun, I want to be able to by my fresh food at markets.
I dont know whether I should choose barcelona or salamanca. I know all about barcelona speaking catalan but Ive been told that over 80 percent of people there speak spanish anyways.
Also how much is the living expenses difference between the 2 cities? ( in terms of eating out,Bars, transportation, food etc)
The accomodation need not apply.

I know some basics, all of my family speaks Spanish except me and my sister. My parents just never took the time to teach us, I'm 24 now I want to speak it and be able to read and write it. And I also want my kids to be able to speak it and not go through there life not know it either. What books
or software should I buy to help me out. And how should I teach my children.

it would be very interesting for me to know people's opinions about this. you see, even though i was born, raised in America and i have never been anywhere outside of America, Spanish was my first language! My parents only spoke to me in Spanish when i was very little. I didnt start speaking English until i started school, when i was 5. Then English came so naturally to me and i never had any trouble learning or speaking it. i am proud of my heritage and my first language(Spanish). i never want to forget my Spanish, even when i move to the UK someday. I speak it everyday as well as English!! So what does it sound like to you when you hear someone speak Spanish???

i NEED to learn spanish and FAST i need to learn spanish by like next sunday do you have any ideas of how to i have tried to learn spanish i just cant remember it my friends and all their parents speak it and their parents dont speak english i wanna be able to talk to them in spanish so yea thanks

I have some friends that speak Spanish because their parents speak it, but they feel uncomfortable because they grew up being discriminated against for speaking it.

Now that is political correct to speak it shall I force them?
Alorhali: It's not free will it's just some bad programming.

Calimecita: My approach consists on speaking only Spanish to them, and if they answer in English I tell them "Speak Spanish!".
Ok guys, first of all, thanks for answering and giving a fresh perspective.

For the ones that are answering to make them feel comfortable and to respect them and all of that, I understand that they feel uncomfortable because when they were kids maybe a teacher yelled to them "NO SPANISH!" or the kids didn't want to play with them because they were mexicans, or that they went through school feeling inadequate and discriminated... However, that was the past, they are not kids anymore they are grownups, and those days are gone, now it is politically correct to speak Spanish, so they should leave behind those memories... Do you have another point of view to refute that argument?
Cool Dr. Shorty, good questions:

1) Spanish is my favorite language.
2) I have many friends, some of them spent time in Spanish speaking countries, other have parents with limited knowledge of Spanish, and must speak well when we are by ourselves. They don't have that excuse.
3) Different places, what makes them more uncomfortable is when there are people that may discriminate them around, like what the other user posted.
4) I want to force them because it's more natural to speak it.

Here's the whole story.

My wife and I disagree every so offer about life. And we have a sticking point when it comes to speaking different languages. I am an American born citizen and so is my wife. She is 1st generation American. Her parents are from Guatemala (Central America). She constantly speaks Spanish about me to her family. Her family speaks English very well. But when ever I ask her what she said or what the other people said about me she says nothing. That gets to bug a little. I say that it is rude to talk about me in Spanish and her not telling me about the conversation that I was in. Do you think that this is rude? I have asked people that I know that speaks Spanish and people that don’t. She says that they are biases and they are my side. And by the way I am trying to learn Spanish to speak the language with them. So I am asking you what do you think is it rude to talk about someone in a different language when the subject is next to you?

I am 15 years old almost 16 and I am FULL Latina Puerto rican and Mexican and my parents speak fluent Spanish and English, they never taught me Spanish and I bug them about it up til this day. I've been dying to learn to speak fluently and I have a job at a Spanish supermarket it would really help. any suggestions??

I just don't get it. I'm in high school taking my SECOND year of Spanish and it's driving me crazy. It just doesn't seem fair. If immigrants are coming to our country why do WE have to learn THEIR language? I already have enough schoolwork to worry about. Now you tell me I have to learn a new language while I'm at it?

I think we've done enough for them by letting them come and start a new life or whatever (which is fine by me) but I think the least they could do is learn OUR language.

And Don't say I don't have to, because I DO HAVE TO. I donno if it's just my state or whatever, but in order for me to get a high school diploma, I need two years worth of Spanish.

So tell me, how is this fair? How do they justify something like this?
Except I wont go to a Spanish Speaking country, and guess what. If I ever want to, I will learn spanish then. The school system trying to make me cram it into my mind wont help me. As soon as I am tested on something on spanish, a week later I've forgotten it.

And no, me or my parents didn't chose for me to take spanish, my state REQUIRES it for me to get a diploma...

My new boyfriend comes from Peru, and his whole family speaks fluent spanish. Although he and his parents can speak english fluently, his grandparents do not at all, and when I meet them for the first time (in probably 6-7 months) I want to be fluent in spanish, also.

So I have time to do it, but I'm wondering that with the help of my boyfriend, which spanish study course is the best for me? I am willing to pay up to 0, but that's my cap. If anyone has any experiences with these, please let me know how it helped you!

10 points goes to whoever helps me out the most and gives me reasons why I should choose the website/program. Thanks!
Okay, well I don't need to be FLUENT in 6-7 months, but I'm just assuming that will be enough time to carry a nice, polite conversation.

i moved to spain about a month ago and i will be finishing my high school here...and my parents are taking me to a spanish school and i dont speak spanish, the high school is opening very soon and every time i think about it my heart beats so fast!!! please give me some advice??

Does Gulledge Elementary in the Plano School District force kids to learn Spanish?
Any information about Robinson Middle School in the Plano school district, and Jasper High School would be appreciated (please don't link to the PISD website, I've already looked there. I'm looking for feedback from parents/teachers of kids in the school district now)
I read feedback from a parent on GreatSchools.net that said their child who attended this school got Spanish instruction and music instruction at this school twice a week. I don't want my child getting Spanish instruction twice a week.
let me make this extremely clear. I do not want my elementary school child being force fed Spanish. I don't care about job opportunities when they grow up. I am not going to choose to live in a school district that forces my child to learn Spanish. Please tell me which schools in the Dallas area do not force elementary kids to learn Spanish?

From where are your parents?
I have 72 friends.
Do you have a watch?
we have many students here.
The boys have to clean the house.
She has my book and pen.
I am going to the store.
Are you going to school?
We are going home.

My parents are from Argentina, and Spanish was my first language until I was 2... but living in America I lost my accent. But I can still speak Spanish pretty well, except my grammar is off because I was never formally educated on the language, I just learned by ear... My parents would speak to me in Spanish and I would respond in English.

So, is Italian easy to learn if the person already knows Spanish?

Isn't this America? Why do we have to learn to speak Spanish? Especially in Queens...this is not fair.

If they want to live in this country...learn English..my parents did it....Im not gonna learn Spanish just to please the customers.
I feel discriminated.

I'm fluent in Spanish thanks to my parents and since it's my first language. I'm fluent in English as well since it's my second language which I learned at a young age from school, friends, etc. I only speak spanish at home or when the moment calls for. I speak English to and with all my friends at work so it is my main language. Would it be easier for me to learn Spanish to Italian or English to Italian? I'm referring to txt books and such. What do you all think??

I have to write an essay about my hopes and wishes for the future in spanish and using the subjunctive. How exactly would you say things like:

I hope to become a doctor. "Espero que...."
My parents want me to have a nice family....
Etc...
If I had a big house, I would be happy...

Im starting to feel the pressure to learn it because of work, and its a necessity to learn it for future careers I know this. I cant wait to learn it. My parents are of Latino descent, but they never really taught it to me. I do understand most it though... its mainly the speaking that I suck at.

Any help suggestions?

I would appreciate it...

My parents are refusing to let me study Spanish for GCSE and are saying that Mandarin is the language I have to take because its more useful and will set me further in the future. I know that this isn't true because its practically the most spoken language in the world because 1 in 5 people are chinese, and they only have their mind focused on mandarin because we live in hong kong, where i am not planning on staying after highschool.

1. He went back home at 8:00 pm
2. It was almost dinner time
3. But Pablo noticed something strange
4. His parents weren't home either!
5. Pablo panics because of this
6. Who is going to prepare dinner?
7. Macaroni is his favorite food.
8. Upon to run around (While running around), he looks at the calender
9. He sees that his parents were gone for the week
10. Perhaps he forgot about that

I don't get it.
I'm a refugee from Somalia. My parents worked their butts off to get us Visa's here. We all learned english and tried our best to get jobs. Today we are fluent in english, have houses, and own jobs.
So why make the country learn spanish?
Can't they learn english?
Other immigrants from other countries learn english before getting here or take classes when here.