No puedo oir claramente cuando personas hablan espanol.

In my case having attempted to learn from books for 1 year i find it impossible to string together words and vebs that i know to make simple conversation
I am like a 2 year old with a learing and speech problem!!

I am very exited about your spanish ear training
that is exactly what I need. Please hurry!!!

Yes, I am intrigued. Thanks for all your help!

I would like to hear more about the Spanish ear training, but was not able to enter name and email in the space - the cursor did not appear to permit that entry! I am learning Spanish as I work with your program - thanks to your methods. Thank you.

you say this is a ‘project’…please explain whether it is ‘pure research’ or just another ‘ad’

When I read your blog, I started to feel like there was hope. I get so upset and tired of asking people to speak more slowly and to repeat what they just said. I can’t wait for the next blog posting.

Same reason that made me give up on sign language - it was relatively easy from my side but when I was ‘listening’ to someone else sign they seemed to go so fast I just felt defeated. That is how Spanish is feeling to me as well.

I find it helps to watch Spanish soap opera type programs. I can get the gist of the story and it is helping a lot.

Dear Marcus, you have aptly pointed out the main difficulty which I am actually facing: the speed of delivery. That is one reason some Spanish-learning software have a built-in speed control.
Your audio newsletter will be very helpful. Thanks. Haresh.

Just had to say thank you for the wonderful lessons you’ve provided for my husband over the last year. I started learning spanish using a dictionary, a very good grammar book, two sets of lessons at the community center, and my Mexican neighbor Ely. I basically just need to keep practising and learning more vocabulary. My husband on the other hand really needed your help and that’s why I signed up for your lessons. We’ve BOTH learned so much and he’s even able to communicate with our vecinos quite well. Believe me when I say that Ely speaks very fast so these new lessons will be fantastic. When our neighbors aren’t around, we will practise our spanish with each other so that helps, but actually listening to real spanish conversations pushes the understanding to the next level. Thanks again for helping us learn an amazing language!!! Please keep the lessons coming.

Well, you hit the nail on the head. I recently went to a Spanish immersion school in Mexico and did well on the written exercises and understanding conjugations and the like. Really enjoyed that. But as soon as someone spoke Spanish my ears seem to go on strike. The discrepancy I feel between knowing Spanish and hearing Spanish inhibits me from communicating in Spanish. I am just lost. Being able to actually train my ears would be great if true.

great job Mr. SantaMaria

keep up the good work

Hi Marcus,

Tremendously well done!

Thanks for inspiring all of us with your insights.

I wish you a great progress with all your work.

All the best,

Charlles

Marcus
You are right on top of everything. I struggled with Italian for many years using the conventional approach to learning which I always felt was lacking and discouraging- Thank You

Perfect! I can sometimes pick out a few words(during the machine gun blast)and get the idea. At other times - nada! Another good idea from Marcus!

Hola,!
I bough this blessing 2 months ago and I have to tell you it works !!!
I have been struggling with spanish for over 5 years but i learned an still retain more in the now than in the $ 800 and 5 years I have spent on classes and books …. Gracias ! looking forward to the audio NL

I think (i know) my problem is the accent. Can understand a newscaster on univison or most novellas but mexicans on the bus my comprehension goes down from 90% to 5%. I don’t worry about it. Well a little.

Marcus, I could not type in my name and address in the above box, but you have it in this one.

Oh yeah! I have learned to speak Spanish preyyt well- that is to make myself understood with your audio libros. However, I still cannot understand more than a word or two per sentence in “rapidfire mode”. I cannot wait for some ear training!

Plese tell me more about Spanish ear training. I was unable to fill in the spaces above on this computer (which is not my own).
Gracias, Alison

Tell me more.I cannot access the link in the e mail.

I’m so glad you are addressing this issue. It is so hard for me to understand native speakers who speak so quickly.
Thank you,
Karen

I agree with you. I thing that this IS the problem for many of us. It sounds like a great idea. I suspect that, like your approach in the audio lessons you have done, this will be a very excellent experience. Thanks.

My best friend is Spanish speaking and was born and raised in Mexico. It is my goal to speak with her in her native language. This is the main problem I have right now is understanding when the words all run together. That, along with conjugation of verbs. I appreciate any help that I receive so I really appreciate the help these newsletters have given me.
Thanks so much.

Dear Marcus:
Good idea!
I will be looking for your audio newsletter.
Fred Young

I like your approach to learning Marcus …. i think you are right on target

I like the concept of listening to Spanish speakers and understanding them. The problem I have is that I have no one to practice with; hence I’m not learning to converse.

I think this is fabulous. I see spanish people all the time. I would love to be able to speak with them and understand their likes and dislikes. I am forty and I never knew how to speak spanish but i would love to learn. Is it to late for me. How do I get started and how do I go about taking the first step. You are amasing.

tell me more about spanish ear training

Hola marcus,
Thank you for this great Idea,whenever I hear people speaking in spanish, I could only grasp some of the words, but could never really understand them,because they would rattle off at 1000 words per minute,you are so right,we have to have an ear..Im so excited and looking forward towards your newsletter.My goal is to talk as fast as them some day..its been my dream

It is an excellent idea! I do hope you record real conversation between people on different subjects (not only airport, restaurant, etc.) from politics, to theater, to anything of which people talk, not recorded by teachers, but by “real” people without them knowing that they are being recorded. This would be real innovation and you’d be the first one to do it. Your programs are good, that would add the element of sponenaity, by the time we would be able to understand those conversation you would solve the problem which you so well describe. Thank you, and good luck.

It seems logic and interessant.

I am looking forward to Spanish ear training, because that is exactly the problem. When my Spanish friends speak, they speak the same way I speak English — way too fast!. Thank you for catching this.

I need to have the words repeated sometimes ten times or more before I can ‘hear’ it. Will this help me with this problem?

Living in Arizona I wish to learn and understand the MEXICAN Spanish dialect. Do you cover that?

You have the common sense approach. I’m eagerly awaiting your audio newsletter and your next study course.

I am so glad you are doing this. This is my number one problem is learning a language. It is easy to learn to speak, I can practice on my own all I want. But comprehension you have to do with someone else. Reading doesn’t help, because people don’t talk the way writers write. For my job, I don’t need a huge vocabulary or fancy syntax - I just need to understand people when they talk. When they talk to their kids, I understand perfectly. Adults who are learning a second (or third) language need that “bridge” that adults know how to give kids - but not other adults!

It’s hard to say no! You are working your head off to promote your product, which appears to be top notch.
I hope one day I can make the move.
Learning Spanish is difficlt for my age ( 84). Maybe one day, I will achieve my goal.

Thanks for you constant updating of your product.

ciao for now,
Roberto

You are pinpointing the real problem in spanish study.Thank you very much,you’re doing a fine job.Henri.

I think that you are pinpointing the real problem in spanish study.Thank you very much,you’re doing a fine job.Henri.

Tell me something, Why don’t you try and get the Mexicon’s to learn English. That would help a lot. Thanks

tell me more about spanish ear training.
I wasn’t able to put me name in the above spots.

Yes, Marcus. You’re approach is very good. Things that I started to pick-up on in my language classes in the Dominican Republic, you have brought together in a very concise and logical…and most especially EASY TO LEARN MANNER. This next phase is excellent.

Porque hay gente que pueden hablar como una MG-42!

Cheers Ustedes

Really looking forward to this Audio Newsletter! Hope it works:-)

Buena idea. Training the ear is exactly what I have tried to do, by listening..listening..LISTENING!

Please let me know when your training software is ready

Any help in this aera would be greatly appreciated.

I believe that your approach is excellent and would like to try learning to communicate in Spanish that way.

Buena idea

Sounds like a great idea Marcus. I would say this is my greatest obstacle to conversing in Spanish. As you may remember I am married to Colombian and have great difficulty actually hearing her and her daughters’ Spanish. I know my hearing is’nt 100% but I always thought their Spanish sounded muffled, slurred and all run together. Turns out that even other Spanish speakers think the same. It is regional dialect thing apparently. Imagine my surprise when I learn that what I heard to be one word can actually be 2 or 3 joined together. Thats why reading is so much easier. It is not so much that it is fast I don’t think, it is just normal speed for them, but it sounds fast due to the unfamiliarity of the dialog and a comparively limited vocabulary. So any assistance in the hearing department will be very welcome.

Marcus, you have done it again. As the proud owner of all your courses — and a few others — I looking forward to another learning experience that is both educational and thoroughly enjoyable. Like everyone else who has posted on the blog, I am eagerly awaiting the release of the Newsletter. Keep up the great work.

Unless you are fortunate enough to live in a border town or a spanish speaking country, gaining fluency seems impossibe. Any help with deciphering rapid speech would be great!

Sometimes I wonder whether they speak that quickly on purpose to ensure that we never understand them.

Can’t wait to try this new program.

Hi Marcus, great to hear your latest comments (habla mas despacio, por favor). After using various books and c.d.courses, I finally found a course that concentrated on training you how to speak more quickly (yours!)
Living in England means I don’t get to hear any Spanish at all, which results in difficulty when I encounter people while on holiday in Spain. Your e-mails will be more than welcome. I like the fact that you stay in touch once the course has been purchased and I have been impressed with you regular new ideas. Thank you and keep up the good work. (One added note: could you mention if there is ever an instance where something is said differently in Spain to how it would be said in Latin America or Mexico? )

Marcus. I am glad you are addressing this. Thankk you.

Bueno idea! As veces tenemos que volver a los basicos, y pues podemos adelantarnos mas una vez - mejorados y con confienza. Gracias amigo.

Dear Marcus,

Terribly well done about this newsletter idea! I am so looking forward to learning some badly needed hearing skills in Spanish. I am very comfortable with grammar, vocabulary and reading but listening is proving a hard nut to crack, and it all boils down to the neckreaking speed of many Spanish speakers. For some reason, I am unable to enter my details in the box aboce but, please, do send me the newsletter anyway.

London, UK

looking forward to this opportunity

I could not sign on in the space alloted in your email for Spanish Ear Training. I am very much interested as I have bought most of your programs

salve
Sono persiano e parlo italiano e anche parlo un po spagnolo. vorrei imparare spagnolo di piu.

Put me on your list. I couldn’t enter the information to sign up for your audio newsletter.

I find your approach to learning Spanish is so straightforward & I’ve found that just “having a go” with what I learn has helped enormously in communicating with everyone I come into contact with whilst living here in southern Spain. It really doesn’t matter if I don’t get everything right, I’m still enjoying being able to speak with people & they in turn are so kind & helpful. Looking forward to receiving your news letter.

Señor Santamaria,

Looking forward to seeing how your “project” will enhance our community (I’m in there) of learners experience. Very Much So!!!
Gracias

Dear Marcus
Great idea; At 76years I am managing the course well,especially the written,unfortunately my hearing is letting me down listening.

I bought your program for myself. I ended up sharing it with my college son. He needed one year of Spanish to graduate. After taking a long summer trip, listening to the audio for well over 6 hours, he was able to test out of have the year and progess to the next level. That saved so much time and money!
I look forward to your new project. Gracias!

I love everything you send me and can not wait for this new installment.

looking forward to training my ears!

Here are some suggestions that are helping me:

1) Watch Spanish Movies with Spanish Subtitles on.
2) Listen to Spanish Music - download the lyrics and follow along

Look forward to this approach. Also, there are a few Spanish speaking TV segments, usually news programs, (you have to search around), where the speaker is clear & slow enough to pick up not only individual words but some phrases as well. With practice, it gets easier.

Yes, though I’m making good progress in speaking and reading Spanish, I’m still having difficulity in understanding Spanish when spoken at the normal speed. Certainly, help in that aspect of learning a language would be welcomed.

Yes please, I will keep my ears open for the news

Great. Please add my name to the mailing list.

This Seems A Very Good Idea Marcus.Good Luck On This Project.A More General Point, Most Of The Course I Have Bought From You Are In The Present Tense And Chance Of Something Similar In Past And Future Tense.Por Favor.

I think this is a wonderful idea. This is the biggest problem I experience at the moment. Just as you said - thought I’m going on well and then I listen to a Spanish speaker on the net and can,t understand anything. This is really disheartening. I live in South Africa and never hear the language actually spoken.

Please send me audio newsletter

i am just getting the grip of the spanish language and you lessons are wonderful, so bring it on

Thanks. looking forward to learning more about this.

I was unable to put my name on the space to sign up for this, but I really anxious to do so. Please sign me up for this
Thank you.

Marcus:
eso es una buena idea. Please add me to your Audio Newsletter list.

I have learn’t a lot of Spanish from your lessons, a big thank you for making Spanish easy and fun to learn. But my problem has been that I can’t understand spoken Spanish. I look forward to the audio newsletter.

Just what I need. So does my daughter. She is going to study in Santiago Chile for a year. Leaves in two weeks. Will recommend this to her.Thanks.

Please add my name to the list and many thanks for all the help you have given me in the past

Hola Marcus!
This is just THE problem studying Spanish! Indeed, when you’re thinking you made just a little bit of progress, you start to speak with a real Spanish one and you understand … quite nothing anymore! I’m really excited to hear more of you!

please add me to the audio newsletter

Another first from Marcus! Please add me to the list. I love your courses. You are so right about listening to Spanish at light speed when your ear only hears at the speed of sound! Two questiona. How do you survive with the little money you charge? Is it cheap to live in Mexico? Eric

This beautiful language does not release its secrets easily. I have to work for it, and appreciate all the help I can get. I love living in Andalucia, but the local accent makes ‘hearing’ difficult. Andalucians speak very fast, and I struggle along too slowly. Your teaching is quick and thoughtful, Marcus - I consider your lessons a major discovery in my quest to understand and be understood in Spanish. Thank you.

I am interested in this program, please send more info. Also, when are
you going to have a program to learn a simple way to use a past tense?

Penny

I am interested in your ear training program. Please send more info. Also is there a program available teaching a simple way to speak in past tense (as you taught us a future tense using var a?)
Thank you,
Penny Fires

Please add me to audio newsletter

Hi, looking forward to it!!
Wish I had more time.

I have learnt so much from you and look forward to being added to your audio newsletter. Thanks

Please,
tell me more about Spanish Ear Training.

I agree that understanding the normal language is the last frontier. I can say all I want now, maybe not 100% grammar correct but people do understand and conclude its OK to rattle at full speed. THERE ARE TOO MANY SYNONYMS IN SPANISH!
My solution is to listen at least an hour a day to Telelatino news, watch plenty of spanish movies and read only spanish books to get a handle on the synonyms. Of course TV new anchors speak clearly, which I can’t say about people. But what do I do with my spare time once I am perfect? Learn russian?

Your program is really great and I have encouraged many, many people to sign up for it. Do you know of a similiar program for Mexicans to learn English?

Thank you so much,
Jack Larson

Can’t wait for your newsletter. It sounds like a great help. Sure hope its free. I’m broke.

Dear Marcus, I ‘ve learned Spanish much faster with your method of combining fixed word combinations.
Because in the heat of the battle, one can not concentrate on all that little details that makes any language so difficult.
One needs fixed drills, like in the army, when they teach you how to act under pressure.
It is called “muscle memory”and “drilling”.
Another method of my own is, as mentioned above, to watch soap series (telenovellas) to improve understanding of spoken Spanish.
Another method is listening to latin music, e.g. Ricky Martin, Shakira, or Aventura, even good old Julio Iglesias is perfect.
This helped me alot and it is fun.

Well Marcus all the comments you have received just proves what people want - so any negative remarks just need to be filed in the dustbin. I can’t wait for the newsletter - I love and understand your teaching methods because they work!

Interested. Like others are mentioning, I was unable to submit my email address in the alloted space to receive more info.

I need all the help I can get. Looking forward to your newsletter.

enjoy your course and i too have problems understanding spoken spanish. I live in Israel and only in my class once a week do I hear Spanish but that too is not enough. Please help us out. Thanks

I am interested to know your program of spanish listening.Thank you.

Hola Marcus,

you’re doing a great job, I’m learning a lot. Keep up the good work.

Marcus, I know it’s not about exams but I am sure I wouldn’t have achieved my GCSE (at the age of 68 in a class of 17-20 year olds. I was even able to pass on some of your tips. Look forward to your audio.

I was unable to enter my name and e-mail address in The Ear Training Box but would like to know more about it especially as I live in Spain. Thank you

Yes please send me your newsletter.

definitely looking forward to help in tuning my ear to the language!

I have finished synergyspanish and found it very useful, and look forward to the ear training lessons. I also could not type in my details but you have them here.

Looking forward to the ear training.

I have been learning Spanish a few months now and live in Barcelona. I have two one hour lessons with a person professora. I never remember anything and never find the time to do any additional studies, however my knowledge of the grammer and verbs and adjectives are improving nice and slowly.

I have been a coach, a teacher and an instructor which gives me a good idea how to teach and which methods work better on the different skills. Dancing or any physical skill has to be brocken down into three steps to generate memory in both the mind and in the muscles. In a few hours its possible to teach a complete beginner how to paddle a canoe and master several strokes. With windsurfing it takes a little longer but this is due to the extremes of balance and the unpredictabe nature of the wind.

Language I find is easier if you break the rules apart and explain all of the regular methods then ove they make sense and the language is complete and mapped in the mind you can then go about memorising the irregular execptions and faults of the language.

Adao

Hi Marcus, I’m enjoying learning Spanish and being able to communicate with my work colleges but it will be even more enjoyable when I can understand what they are saying to me, I look forward to the eartraining audios Thanks Marcus

Hallo Marcus
I listen to the Spanish radio, sermons in church, people at the next table etc. and think I can recognise most of the words. It’s just that I haven’t a clue what they are saying! By the time I have worked out who they are talking about (he, she or you)and waited for the subject to come at the end of the sentence (es rapido el coche)they are way ahead and I am lost. Help- I am losing confidence and feel foolish in front of my friends who think I have been studying long enough to be fluent.
Best wishes

Please hurry. I hope this will help. In the meantime, I watch Spanish television and with the benefit of DVR (or TiVo) I play segments over and over until I finally get the gist of the statements.

Marcus: Thanks once again for your gift and love of teaching spanish for all people in simplicity and ingenuity.
Roosevelt,

Hola Marcus:

Soy español, más concretamente canario. Estoy asombrado con su método de aprendizaje del español. Buscando por la red un método de aprendizaje del inglés, encontré su método de aprendizaje del idioma español el cual adquirí. Y, bueno, mi pregunta es: ¿tiene ud. previsto un curso para aprender inglés?.

Muchas gracias,
Jerónimo

I have been learning Spanish for 18 months. My teacher is fantastic and on paper i am a whiz, but when it comes to speaking i freeze up and can barely utter the gretings. This sounds like what i need. ¡Muchas gracias!

Great idea can not wait for your Spanish ear training

My other problem is the spanish Alphabet. Things like “y” “ce” “ca” “ci” “ga” “ge” etc. Do you do a Addio Lesson of the sounds of the Alphabet.

John

Mrcus, Thanks so much for your concern in helping me with my Spanish.
I am still struggling and I think most of my struggling is my fault. due to the lack of time,I have not given my spanish as much attention as I should. And you are correct the biggest problem for me is trying to understand what the spanish speaking population is saying when they are talking to me. Many of them speak a mile a minute and with different dialect as well as some with the use of slang and/or poor grammar. The conjugation of verbs as you mentioned in your newsletter is also killing me. However, I am able to understand most of what I read as oppose to what I verbally hear.

perdonne!

Marcus, I look forward to this.

You´re a professional teacher,u´ve got the psychology of impacting the teaching of Spanish to Learners like me.What i gained from this bulletin is that one has to start slowly and gradually become fast,thumbs up for you

great idea,I`m sure it will help me a lot

For some reason spanish just seems to hard to learn

This is what I am encountering now. It is not only the speed of speech but also the pitch, tone, inflection, volume, and accentuation that affect my listening clearly to what a native speaker. My dream is to not only hear everything clearly but to speak like they do in every aspect. Thank you for including me in your newsletter.

I could not enter the info needed on your blog. Thanks for the email permitting access. Ear training is EXACTLY what I need…how did you know? (grin) Thank you. You’re the first to do something about this common complaint. Can’t thank you enough.

I love the spanish course of yours I’m doing at the moment, its the best I’ve done and you teach the way its best for me to learn. So I’m very interested to hear anything you have to say re this subject. My biggest problem is hearing when people speak fast, so much easier to read than listen to Spanish! Thanks so much for this.

hurry up . it seem like i`ve been waiting for ever,thanks for everything you have done up to know.maggs

Sorry, I don’t know what the url is. I would like to be on your list for “ear training”. I have many spanish friends, and am learning spanish, but it’s still hard to follow the spoken conversations. Thanks for your help!

Well, first of all i would like to say muchas gracias a ti, i find spanish to be very nice, but tricky and rapido. But i do my very best to understand it. I love the time u take to help out. May GOD continue to bless u. Adios

listening to all the audio that you are giving me i learn a lot that a friend of mine really got surprise when i send him a spanish e-mail

An excellent idea, I have always become disheartened, when I think I am progressing, and then I end up with the often too used phrase ‘ Mas despachio’. Hopefully this will help eliminate the need for this. Keep it up.

I listen to the spanish radio, 93.1 Amor every day. I also listen to spanishes phrases from a cd I purchased over and over again. Then I try to see if I can hear the phrases and understand them when they speak on the radio. I find that learning words and then phrases helps tremendously with the speed. Don’t give up! Keep at it!

I would like to improve my spanish hearing.

THIS SOUNDS LIKE A GREAT IDEA. LOOKING FORWARD TO THE AUDIO.

Could’nt bring up the last page–but ‘m interested… Sign me up!!!!!!!

Your method is great for someone with one elementary Spanish class like me. It clarified some rules seen too quickly in class like the word para versus por and many other things. But please, try to put on a chat room. Practice is a must. It would be nice to have some real Spanish people in there. Just an idea. Bye!

Louise.

I could’nt bring up the last page also…Please sign me up…

I have pretty good verbal and reading skill for spanish but like you said Rat a tat tat and it sounds like double dutch so cant wait for ear training

A word here and there. I have convinced my Spanish family to write it down on paper. This way I see a picture and I am able to easily undertand their spoken phrases. I still need to work on thinking Spanish.
For sure, you are an inspiration.
Roberto Aug 2007

It would be nice not to feel intimidated every time a spsnish speaker reply to your greeting.Sometimes a word here and there is enough to understand the essence of what is being said but not enough to engage in conversation. Can’t wait

Patiently waiting on the ear training program. Hurry!!

To Dafna Dafna RONN-OXLEY.
Hello, Dafna. Are you the Dafna of Virtus Institute ? Please email me at daria.kirjanov@snet.net

I have pretty much the same problem as everyone else. I have learned to speak well, however i understand very little. A friend who does not speak any english tells me she cant understand why i can speak almsot perfect spanish, but not understand her. any chance on a synergy ingles course for her as well. (Smile)

I am learning with more confidence than ever before. I have made other efforts but let them fall by the way side. Your method keeps me encouraged. I use an mp3 player for the audio. Marcus, I am a little overwhelmed by your emails. I don’t want to miss anything but I am not exactly sure what or when to start on another of your offers. I originally signed up for Senergy Spanish and am only on lesson 6. I did buy Short cut to Spanish also but now when do I do it? When I recommend your course where should I suggust people start?