Cien preguntas para tu pareja de correo electrónico
...............................
Just about the best way to practice your Spanish without the expense of a trip abroad is to chat with native speakers of Spanish through the Internet.
Warning! If you choose to get involved in chat rooms or online forums, use all the caution you would use when walking down a street in a city you've never been in before. Never give out your full name, nor your phone number, nor your postal address. But enjoy yourself! If you become uncomfortable with what the other person is saying, stop talking to them. It's that simple. You owe them no explanations nor good-byes. Just close the chat window and go to another chat room or invite someone else to chat.
Having trouble
getting someone to talk to you?
- Open the "Cien preguntas" page and start asking questions.
- Invite someone to a private chat (double click on their name).
- Ask them where they live, then ask questions about their town.
- Ask about their favorite food; ask how to make something they like.
- First learn about currently popular sports teams in their country, then ask about their likes and dislikes about those teams.
- Ask what kind of music they like.
- Say, "Estudio espanol, quisiera practicar."
- Type
something to them
frequently, even if it's only "momentito..." or they'll think you're
chatting with someone else and will leave.
Don't understand
something?
Ask "Qué quiere decir _______?"
Such as: Que quiere decir cebiche?
Or just say "No comprendo."
Chat environments
contributed by Scott
Shannon, his comments included:
ElChat.com - this is a very large and easy to use site. 124 different rooms w/ no need to register, etc.
Spanish Chat - this one is real easy- my favorite. No registration, no commitment, but lots of rooms & topics.
RedPlaneta One of the
businer
chat sites, RedPlaneta has been useful for a lot of classes.
CLICK
HERE to read instructions on how to use RedPlaneta
espanglishchat.com - this is a bi-lingual site intended to help Spanish speakers learn English and vice-versa. An interesting site to just read, in that a lot of native Spanish speakers hang out fielding questions & translating back & forth. Not such a good place to practice because lots of conversations move toward using English more than Spanish.
YupiMSN - this is essentially the Mexican version of MSN, and has a omplete range of chat rooms & topics. It does, however, require some time to register and get Microsoft's .NET Passport to use the Chat feature (Microsoft ALWAYS wants something...). But, you don't need to turn over anything vital and it only takes about 5 minutes- hey, it was all in Spanish and even I could do it!
My Language Exchange.com - this is a really cool site. It lets you search a database of people from 114 different countries who have signed up noting their native language and their desire to help with their own, or learn other languages. It has chat rooms (but they are really full and sometimes difficult to get into, I think they need a few more servers...) This site would probably be best used to generate a pen-pal type conversation using e-mail.
LatinChat.com another large and easy one. 13 different "zones" with 5-10 rooms per zone. Lots of ages and topical rooms, some huge and some quite small and managable for conversation. No registration needed, make up a nick-name and chat...
Virtualismo This one is pretty easy too, lots of rooms, many ages, no registration, etc.
Universia
One last good one-- Very easy, no registration, small but serious user
group- (lots of women w/out the rutting males) This one
lets
you add symbols for emotions like mundohispano... but you can't seem
to cut & paste
^%$%$#$%!!
I just spent 45 minutes there in a real conversation ;-) and now I
can't
show it! asi es vida...
Online
chat and forums for Spanish language learners
Warning!
this is about.com, which used to be a really fine place until
they
put a bazillion pop-up windows all over the place. So if you can
put up with closing them all, it's still a really fine place.
WebEntrada web boards
If you like to take your time, try participating in a web board (foro) in Spanish. You don't even have to write. Just go on in and spend some time reading the details of the lives of people who are finding companionship on the Web.
If you do post something, please go back a day or two later and answer any people that have responded to you. It's only polite.
CLICK
HERE to get to a list of web boards.
MundoHispano
Okay, so MundoHispano is
my baby.
My son and I, plus a ton of Spanish-speaking programmers and a handful
of really dedicated teachers, created this text-based virtual world,
back
in 1994. The thing is still running, but the technology is so old
(it is only text, after all), that few people visit it any
more.
Wander around inside it sometime, even if no-one is logged on, and
you'll
feel like you've made a round-the-world trip.
| MundoHispano-
MOO for Spanish language learners and native speakers
This is an entire text-based virtual world that makes it possible for you to create your own rooms and objects, as well as chat in real time with other students and native speakers of Spanish logging on from around the world. MundoHispano has has been developed over the past eight years, mostly by native speakers of Spanish. Many of them are programmers, and they've created thousands of "rooms" and hundreds of programs that can help you learn Spanish as it's actually used by Spanish speakers. The learning curve on a MOO is a little steep, but it's worth it because the rewards can be tremendous. |
 |
The above site needs a wee bit of updating, but basically, you need to download the Pueblo client in order to connect to MundoHispano.
If you want to just download without reading a lot of instructions, try either of these sites:
http://www.engl.niu.edu/mday/529/pblo201.exe
http://www.slcc.edu/wc/pblo201.exe
After
installation, select
the Pueblo icon to start the program from your start menu. Pueblo
should
start and you will briefly see a Pueblo title screen and then the main
program screen with "Edit your personal list" on it among other things.
To make a quick link to MundoHispano MOO from you main Pueblo screen,
select
"Edit your personal list." The "Personal World List" box should appear.
| Click on
the "Add" button.
In the "World Information" box that next appears. Enter the
following
information:
Name:
MundoHispano
admiral.umsl.edu Okay
To connect, click on the link to MundoHispano, and when you see the MundoHispano login screen, do as it says: type connect guest |
 |
