If you are planning to take a trip to the Caribbean, Mexico or another Spanish speaking country there is no doubt that you want to learn some Spanish phrases you can use when you are there. You may want to just learn some phrases to help you greet others, to help you find directions, to assist you in bartering at the market or you might want to learn some romantic phrases. You don’t have to buy phrase books or attend classes in Spanish because everything you need is available online and for free. There are many Internet sites that you can use to find commonly used phrases, but they may only give you the printed words. What you really need is a site that will teach you the phrases you need in Spanish where you can see the words and hear how they are pronounced by a native Spanish speaker. While you can learn the phrases just be reading and memorizing them you may not be learning to say them properly. When you learn any new language it is important to learn how to pronounce the words correctly. Some of the common phrases you should know when speaking to a Spanish person are: – Si ?yes – No ?no – Por favour ?please – Hola ?hello – Gracias ?thank you – Buenos dias ?good morning – Buenos tardes ?good afternoon – Buenos noches ?good night – Como estas ?How are you? – Como te llama? ?What is your name? – Me llamo. . . ?My name is. . . . In Spanish the words donde esta mean where is. Once you know this all you have to learn is the specific vocabulary for specific places that you want to find, such as playa (beach), hotel (hotel), banco(bank), or bar mas cecano ( bar). Once you start learning phrases in Spanish you will quickly realize that you do need to learn more than just specific phrases and that it would be better for you to learn all facets of the language. There are many sites online that offer full courses in Spanish that won’t cost you nay money and which you can take at home. Through these courses, you will learn the Spanish alphabet and the sounds of the letters as well as how to conjugate verbs to make grammatically correct sentences. The language is easy to learn and some of the vocabulary is quite similar to English words. Once you start learning Spanish and have some knowledge of the language, when you spend some time in a Spanish speaking country or in the company of native Spanish speakers, you will easily pick up the language. Immersing yourself in the culture and the language is one of the easiest ways to learn any second language, no matter how old you are. As you hear others around you using the language, you will start to pick out words that you know and you will learn how they should be pronounced if you are not doing so correctly. You do have to determine how you learn best. Maybe you are a person that likes to have images with which you can associate words and phrases. You may be a person that likes to read the words as you hear them spoken. These ways are all possible when you take an online course in Spanish.
Posts Tagged ‘Phrase Books’
Learn a New Language by Immerging Into a New Culture
December 22nd, 2009
I was challenged to learn a new language for the first time in school. As our education system requires, every student should learn two foreign languages. Depending on the school, the students were learning English and French (as mine did) some of them English and German, and some of them English and Italian. I loved English (can’t say the same about French)!!! I tried hard to learn it. Believe me, this was a challenge in a class with 30 students and only one teacher! I learned mostly from books, reading and writing… and surprise, when the moment came to talk in English, I couldn’t find my words!!! Did you have the same problem? I know many friends who had the same experience. Some of them learned English with a dictionary and phrase books, and some of them joined English classes. Few of them became fluent in the new language fast, but most of us… we were trying and trying really hard. After many years, moving to India, I was forced to learn Hindi. A difficult language!!! Different sounds, different script, and once again learning from books did not work. I’ve tried for some time, and reached a beginner level. I was able to survive, but I wasn’t content because of the inability to share my deep feelings and experiences with my Indian friends. Miscommunication due to the lack of language knowledge made life really difficult sometimes. In that moment I learnt about OnSite Language Services, an immersion language learning program which helps English/Spanish speaking people to learn Hindi/Urdu and other Indian languages. Its motto is “Immerse to Converse”, because they believe that immersion is the best way to learn a new language. The principles of OSLS are natural, and yet I haven’t thought about them! Let’s learn as children do! What does it mean? Children learn through their everyday experience not through lessons; they acquire language which they need to use; they speak before they write and read. Through OSLS you become a child again; you learn to listen to the new language and to speak before you read or write. This does not mean that writing or reading is neglected, but the program concentrates on speaking. Being a community based language learning program, the students learn the new language mostly out in the community with natives or in private sessions with a language helper. This makes the relationships easy to build and learning culture a natural process. Of course, learning requires sweat, frustration and… humility: to recognize that you don’t know everything, to accept that people will laugh at you and to persist in having embarrassing language contacts. So, what did I learn from my language learning experience? I learned… how to learn! I learned that immersion language learning is the most efficient method to learn a new language… as long as you work hard!!!
Set Your Goals and Learn Spanish Fast Online
December 19th, 2009If you are very motivated to learn Spanish fast online, then there are several things to think about first. You can learn Spanish quickly if you follow these simple yet important tips. One important thing to remember when you start to learn Spanish online, is to realize what fast or quick actually means. People tackle language learning at different rates, and what might take years for one person to learn may only take an hour for another. Since life is not fair in this respect, it is easy for you to get discouraged and disappointed rather fast. Avoid setting yourself up for failure by making a goal before you start. Since setting up a goal is probably the most important part of learning Spanish, you must take this seriously. It would be very unrealistic to think that you could be holding long complicated conversations in a few weeks. It just will not happen. What you should do is to take a look at the situation that you will be in and see what parts of the language you will be needing to use. For example, it all you are doing is going on a nice relaxing vacation in a Spanish speaking country, then you should concentrate on vocabulary related to things having to do with hotels, restaurants, car rentals, bank machines, directions and tourist spots. If you are suddenly in a situation where you are moving on a long term basis to a foreign country such as Mexico with very little notice, then you will want to focus on all of the above, plus things having to do with grocery stores, opening up bank accounts, situations having to do with immigration and local customs. The reason for this is that it is impossible to learn everything in one shot. What works is to concentrate on a basis of things you will need right away, and then focus on building on that basis slowly. It is easier the longer you are in the Spanish speaking country as total immersion comes into play. Spanish phrase books can be a big help while you are there, so do not be afraid to use them. Remember that your goal is to make sure you are understood. It doesn’t have to be scholastically correct Spanish. One other language learning technique that you can use is to start reading and watching movies in Spanish. The best way to do it is to by a Spanish version of your favorite magazine and just start reading it. Do not make the mistake of having the dictionary next to it. This is the worst thing you could possibly do. Your goal with this is to try and recognize enough key words that you can figure out the basic idea of the story. You can keep note of vocabulary that is new but after you are done reading, then write them down on a list and every few days or so, look them up. The final word is that you can learn Spanish fast online by knowing ahead of time what you realistically can accomplish. Good luck!