Keeping Motivated

I love learning Spanish and have fun most of the time. Sometimes though I get frustrated and need some additional motivation to keep moving forward. Even though they aren't about learning spanish, I subscribe to an achievement Ezine. First of all it's free, did I mention I love free stuff. The Ezines are from a few different motivational speakers and are emailed to me. Sometimes I read them everyday to keep me motivated, sometimes I only read them when I need a pick me up. They offer stories and motivation with life and success in general so I just apply it to my journey of learning Spanish. I put a link on the top right if you would like to sign up for the achievement Ezines and check them out for yourself. Did I mention they are free, and they don't send spam.

Right now I am trying to get down the difference between the preterite and the imperfect.

The preterite generally refers to past actions that are seen as complete.
example -
Jose habló dos horas.
Jose spoke for two hours.
(implied beginning and end)

Jose habló con su amigo.
Juan spoke with his friend.
(implied beginning and end)

The imperfect generally refers to past actions that are not seen as complete.
example -
Los chicos hablaban en inglés.

The boys used to speak in English.
(no definite beginning or end)

The biggest thing I have to remember is generally. I have been trying to read Spanish articles so I can see these differences in use and try and get a handle on when to use which.

buena suerte

Voice chatting

I have been voice chatting wity my spanish friend for a while now and I can't believe how much it has improved my spanish. At first it was discouraging because it seemed like I didn't know anything but I stuck with it and am so excited about the progress I've made.

At first the pen pals that I found only wanted to text chat on messenger or exchange emails. This was helpful for my writing and it gave me time to look things up before I would write back but I was looking to voice chat and actually start speaking spanish. I searched for while to find a friend that wanted to voice chat, but I was persistent and it paid off.

Polyglot is a good site and it's free but I couldn't find anyone that wanted to voice chat. I went to My Language Exchange (links to both are on the right) and although they charge a minimal fee it was worth it. I actually only signed up for one month and I found 2 people to voice chat with so I didn't sign up for another one. I think it's around $6 for 1 month and the best thing is they don't auto renew your membership so you don't have to remember to cancel.

We use skype to voice chat and it is great. It's free for voice chatting and it is clear. I haven't tried yahoo or msn messengers in a while but I have heard they are pretty good as well.

First Post

I started this blog to give tips to other people that are learning spanish or any foreign language. I have tried many different ways to help my spanish. I have taken classes at the local college, I have tried many self study courses, read books, even private lessons. I want to share the courses and strategies that have helped me the most, and hopefully there will be a suggestion or two that work for you.

I would appreciate any feedback from the suggestion in this blog as well as any tips or ideas you would like to share that aren't listed here.