If 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!
Posts Tagged ‘Spanish Phrase’
Set Your Goals and Learn Spanish Fast Online
December 19th, 2009Easy Spanish
December 18th, 2009Everyone who is starting out learning the language looks for some easy Spanish to try and get to grips with it. Often they are amazed to discover that it can be a lot easier that they ever imagined.
Spanish and English share common roots with Latin in particular, and to a lesser degree, Greek as well. This means that many of the words simply need a different ending from English to become Spanish – and they will mean exactly the same thing too! Does that sound like easy Spanish? It does and it is.
Take “plastic,” for example. That word becomes “plastico” in Spanish. Well, you wanted easy Spanish, and it surely can’t get any easier than this. When English-speaking people think about learning Spanish they start to see it as one big problem. No hay problema, and if you can’t work out what that Spanish phrase means, then you do have one.
The best way to get to grips with easy Spanish is to learn all the easy words first. The grammar is a little different, but that will follow naturally. Take the phrase mentioned above: “no hay problema. ” It literally means, “not there is problem. ” It won’t take long for anyone to adjust to this way of thinking and make that, “there’s no problem,” its English equivalent. ”
However, let’s stick with the easy Spanish words first. It’s the endings that change in many cases, and it tends to be a regular thing too. As in the example of “plastic” becoming “plastico,” many other words ending in “ic” change to “ico” in Spanish. Clásico, cómico, histérico, metódico, técnico are all examples where you should have little difficulty in guessing what the English equivalent terms are.
It’s not just the “ic” ending words either. Easy Spanish get’s even easier when you bring in all the other groups, such as “abundant” becoming “abundante” in Spanish, “monument” becomes “monumento,” “pianist” becomes “pianista,” “indication” becomes “indicación,” “patent” becomes “patente,” “religious” becomes “religioso. ”
There are even better ones too. Easy Spanish can be very easy at times. How do you spell, “central”? You spell it quite simply as, “central. ” The pronunciation is different from the English (you emphasize the “a” and not the “n”), but it’s delightfully similar and certainly a good example of easy Spanish.
There are others too. Examples include words like, “animal,” “noble,” “admirable,” and “director. ” Usually these kind of words have the same meaning as in English, but sometimes they are a little bit different. The English word, “conductor” applied to a person usually conjures up a picture of someone leading an orchestra. In Spanish it means the driver of a car or other vehicle.
Sometimes easy Spanish needs a little bit of lateral thinking. A car is “coche” in Spanish. You may think at first glance that it’s nothing like the English, but think back to the days of highwaymen roaming the English countryside looking to hold up a coach. Coaches were the cars of those days, and the Spanish word, “coche” is just the modern equivalent.
There certainly are Spanish words that bear no resemblance to their English counterparts, but that’s to be expected; otherwise they would be the same language. Easy Spanish certainly exists, and it’s easy to learn too. Go on, try it!
