jeraldina - Are We Scaring Off the Newbies?

¡Bien dicho! Creo que tiene razon, amiga. Me acuerdo absolutamente.

Gracias amigo russhuntley,

Por último, un mensaje que puedo leer sin la ayuda de un diccionario.

Me complace que tú acuerdas conmigo.

I can understand why you may feel that way but I cant agree and i think a look at the last five days posts bears me out. For my part i have continued to help newbies, created original content, translated a song, asked questions, and taken part in lesson discussions the majority of the posts have nothing to do with the schedule change. I wish i were one of a thousand voices clamouring for attention but it has never been thus

Sadly, the reason there has been less lesson discussion is rather obvious there havent been new lessons to chat about.

Im sorry you feel that we are scaring people away, it seems to me weve been round this loop before.   I have deliberately gone dark and lurked for weeks to see if there is a surge of new postings but ive yet to see it.  I wish it were otherwise but it seems that very few people enjoy the online experience. There are numerous stillborn groups as testament to the lack of desire to get involved and practice your written spanish.

However, I have no wish to upset anyone so i for one will discontinue what I believed was a perfectly calm and reasonable discussion about product development.

there is now a new pa que sepas so lets hope we see some spirited discussion. Esti says the C word!

For my part, like Russ, I came here with practically no spanish. No classes ever, only a few months probing the various podcasts before I settled here. I was greatly relieved when the clave series came out.

Por mi parte, como Russ, vine aquí con prácticamente ningún español. No clases ninguna a veces, sólo los unos meses sondeando  de los diferentes podcasts antes se establecieron aquí. Yo estaba muy aliviado cuando la serie la clave  se salió.

JP says review, but for me and some that is first exposure to [da rules, such as they are]

JP dice revisión, pero para mí y para algunos es la primera exposición a [las normas, como los son]

I think some drill on conjugation types might help newbies, but it can also hinder.  I know when I went to Sweden the neighbor's kid used to laugh once in while. I asked why. It was because my Swedish was formula based, and I tended to place all new words into the big baskets. The most common conjugations and declensions.

Creo que algunos tipos de perforación en la conjugación puede ayudar a los principiantes, pero también se puede hacer de dificultar y complicar. Sé que cuando me fui a Suecia, del niño del vecino se reían de vez en cuando. Le pregunté por qué. Es porque mi sueca   se basa de fórmula, y que tendían a poner todas las nuevas palabras en las grandes cestas. El más común conjugaciones y declinaciones.

When we make a point of learning words in context we tend to drag their baggage along with, irregular warts and all.  I think I do better in Spanish than I did at this point in Swedish.

Cuando hacemos una cuestión de aprendizaje de palabras en contexto, tienden a arrastrar el equipaje de los nuevos palabras tambien, los irregulares y todas las verrugas. Creo que me voy mejor en español que yo  fui en mi  estudie en sueco en un momento similar.

After studying Spanish 15 years ago in high school, I took it up again.  I'm studying abroad this summer, but hope to return to SpanishPod in August.  As a basic-elementary level, I still don't have the courage or confidence to post in Spanish!  (I've dabbled a couple times, but it took a while!)  I hope to be much more active upon my return. 

I guess I'll land on my point:  I don't know how SP could have been more welcoming, I'm just a wimp!  :-)  

I hope to return and help some newbies, too.

keep posting padre, it gets easier.  Ive often thought that writing a post should be the price of a download but with 55000 listeners that might strain the system a bit.

Hi everyone, thanks for this post. 

I belong to the communicative/task-based method of foreign language instruction, an approach with often shocks pure newbies for its "sink or swim" feel.  I can't tell you how many students have approached me after the first day of Spanish 101 and told me they needed to transfer to a more basic class. 

I do have some colleagues that advocate a more "newbies = delicate snowflakes" mentality, and who do more to prepare people emotionally for the shock of hearing a new language, but I don't think it's necessary.  "Sink or swim" loses it's drama quickly when you realize you're in a wading pool. 

As far as SpanishPod Newbies are concerned, I've made it a point from the beginning to encourage posting in English or Spanish.  We also have the activity stream (beta) that allows for short-answer format questions and teacher feedback. I think there is a lot for Newbies here.

Regarding the type of comments people are posting, I welcome all of them.  Yes, I'd much rather read/answer the questions and comments about language than the ones about "what's wrong with SpanishPod," but frankly, those discussions are important to me as well.  Please do keep your questions, comments, suggestions, and even your criticizms coming; your participation keeps the community vital. ¡Gracias!