Thread: Hello everybody!!!

I am Gabriela from Argentina and I am new in the forum! I am willing to help whenever I can and I hope we all can share our knowledge and experience in this field!

Greetings!

Hi Gabriela,
I am also new to the forum and I'm hoping maybe you or someone else can help me. I am an elementary school teacher working on my Masters Degree in bilingual education. I need help answering the following:
What are the linguistic challenges facing spanish language speakers & why could they be problematic when trying to speak English?

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Carmen

Originally Posted by CMPerez

Hi Gabriela,
I am also new to the forum and I'm hoping maybe you or someone else can help me. I am an elementary school teacher working on my Masters Degree in bilingual education. I need help answering the following:
What are the linguistic challenges facing spanish language speakers & why could they be problematic when trying to speak English?

Any help you can give me would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

Carmen

Hello Carmen! Thanks! Regarding your questions, when you talk about linguistic challenges, in which sense or in which area...I mean, is it when we learn the language or the everyday use of it? If you could be more specific, I'd be glad to help you!
Regards

Gabriela,
Thanks for your quick response! It would be the students who are learning English.

Thanks,
Carmen

Well, first of all you have to bear in mind that they come from different places. Spanish derives from Latin while English from the Angle-Saxons' language. You have big differences in grammar, in Spanish you know that there is a very complex verbal system while in English the use of the subject which is compulsory because of almost no differences in the verbs. You also have differences in structures, in the use of the passive voice in both languages, huge differences in pronunciation which cause a lot of problems to Spanish native speakers when learning English. You can develop all these categories or concentrate in one or two and make a full description of them.

Hope this can help you bu tif you need anything else, you can keep on asking and writing.

Regards!

Gabriela,
Would you mind giving me some real world examples? My paper is due on Sunday and I could really use your help.

Thanks,
Carmen

Cotty,
Thank you so much for your help! I appreciate it very much. This linguistics class is overwhelming me & I never thought to seek out a forum like this early on.

Muchas Gracias!
Carmen

Hello Carmen,

I totally agree with Cotty. I like the idea of presenting some of your students' problems. There are no better examples than those ones. Try searching the Web also because there are many books and papers written about this topic.

Saludos,