During this week most Spanish towns mark the occasion with processions, where statues of saints and characters from the bible are carried aloft through the streets, often by people wearing costumes consisting of long robes and tall pointy hats which cover their faces. These people are called Nazareños, and are meant to represent the people of Nazareth. The mood of these processions is very sombre.

On Palm sunday worshippers attend mass, and the children take palm leaves with them which are then blessed by the priest. There is usually a procession depicting the triumphant entry of Jesus into Jerusalem where everyone carries large palm fronds. These fonds are later burnt, and the ashes are placed on the foreheads of the penitent worshippers on Ash Wednesday.

Throughout Spain, and indeed the spanish speaking world, most towns and cities celbrate Easter in their own distinctive way.

Synergy Spanish was created by Marcus Santamaria, and it’s object was to attempt to make learning Spanish as easy as possible. The way he approached this was by the use of ‘cognates’ — words which are very similar in Spanish and English.

The key selling point of the course is that by acquiring a vocabulary of just 138 words, you will be able to develop basic conversational skills in Spanish.

The course is an audio course consisting of five sections ranging in complexity from novice to advanced user. The audios are roughly 15 to 20 minutes in duration.

Many people have reported great results with Synergy Spanish. It is a great course to get you started, but if you wish to gain fluency in the language, you will need to progress to a more in depth course.

Our Verdict — A great way to get started!

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Well here are some good reasons for you to think again about learning Spanish.

It might be a good time to learn Spanish.  You may never have thought of learning another language before.  Many people go their whole lives without knowing more than one language.  Yet, others like the challenge.  They find plenty of reasons to learn Spanish. 

If you travel to a Spanish-speaking country, it helps to know the language.  When you learn Spanish before you go, you can be ready to take care of all your basic needs while staying at your destination. 

You will know how to ask for directions and understand the answers.  You can be the first of your group to figure out the menu at a foreign restaurant and help the others to order.  If you learn Spanish, your trip will be pleasurable instead of frustrating.  This is because you can communicate well enough to handle situations as they come up. 

Another reason to learn Spanish is to be able to speak to others in this country.  For example, a Spanish speaking person might be sitting next to you at a sporting event.  If you don’t know Spanish, you will be reduced to smiling and gesturing.  However, if you’ve taken the time to learn Spanish, you can hold a polite conversation with the person.  You might even make a friend. 

You can help out in emergencies in this country if you learn Spanish.  Many times, there is a Spanish speaking person who is in need of assistance.  If no one trying to come to their aid can speak their language, their troubles could get worse.  Yet, if you learn Spanish, you can make yourself useful in situations like this by finding out what the person needs. 

All the major cities in the US have significant Latino populations.  To fully reach their target customers, most businesses will do best if some of their employees learn Spanish.  These employees can be clerks in stores, receptionists in office buildings, or anyone who deals with many people.  This service will help both the business and the consumer. 

Businesses that deal via the internet, phone, and correspondence with companies or individuals in Spanish speaking countries often have to bridge a communication gap.  Many times the employees, especially in small companies, just fumble through it without really knowing the language.  These business dealings can go much better if employees will learn Spanish. 

It’s fun to learn Spanish with your children.  It gives them a new skill which they can use later in life.  At the same time, you get to spend quality time with them doing something you can all enjoy.  The kids will take to it quickly because language learning comes easiest to the young.  This is a good reason to learn Spanish with your kids. 

If you enjoy the arts, you may have a good reason to learn Spanish.  If you know how to read it, you can read all the works of the great Spanish speaking writers in the original language.  You can watch foreign films from Spain or Latin America without relying on the subtitles.  And, you can understand the words of Spanish songs. 

These are just a few of the reasons people have to learn Spanish.  Some people’s reasons are much more personal than this.  No matter what your reason, you will find that you enjoy learning Spanish as much as you will enjoy being able to speak it.

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In the modern global climate, many people of diverse ethnic backgrounds are migrating to work in the richer Western economies. Many of these people do not speak English so it is clearly advantageous to have people on the payroll who speak Spanish and of course other languages.

Some industries specialise in selling their services into ethnic communities for example insurance services and financial services. In the USA many professionals working in these sectors are beginning to find that it is becoming increasingly desirable to be able to speak Spanish, or that it is necessary to employ staff who can speak Spanish.

Many sales compnaies these days will actually fund language lessons for their staff because the sales process relies so heavily on communication skills, and if you can’t speak the language, you can’t communicate, can you?

When someone has learned Spanish and they are able to bring that skill into their workplace new opportunities may open up for them. some obvious places where their skills can be employed are in customer service, and medical fields. Postings abroad are also a possibility in larger enterprises, and some employees could find themselves occupying an ambassadorial role for the organisation which employs them.

Learning Spanish (or another language) can be a way for an employee to increase their income, gain more prestige in the workplace, and even perhaps (in these uncertain times) make their employment more secure. The skills required to learn Spanish – application, tenacity, patience, focus, attention to detail -  are all valuable to employers in their own right and will almost certainly be duly noted.

So, the purpose of this post is to let people who are only looking at the RSS feeds, get some idea of the sort of information that is made available on the site.

Currently the main content of the site is in these areas:

The homepage:
Beginner’s Spanish

A Section Called Spanish Lessons
This section contains lessons entitled:
Spanish Language
Spanish Greetings
Spanish Words
Spanish Phrases
Spanish Numbers

There is also a section entitled Spanish Classes
This section currently contains lessons entitiled:
Spanish Classes
Spanish Immersion Courses
Learn Spanish Fast
Spanish Translation

There is also one other section called Spain – Spanish Culture
At present it contains just one lesson entitled (topically):
Spanish Christmas

So, If you want to start learning Spanish, get stuck in!

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“Christmas is a coming and the geese are getting fat!” It’s hard to believe but there are now just -191 days to Christmas
It seems like this year has only just started, but when you look back, it has been a long eventful year.

Have you ever wondered how Christmas is celebrated in Spain? The Spanish have rather a different approach to Christmas, they really enjoy the Festive Season.

If you would like to know more about how Christmas is celebrated in Spain, we have a great article  that you can read entitled Spanish Christmas.

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It is not commonly understood that English verbs are by no means dissimilar to Spanish verbs. Many people struggle with verb conjugations. Conjugating verbs involves using the first, second and third “person” singular, or plural for instance I, you, he, she, it, we, or they.. 

We conjugate verbs in English as well, we just don’t even realise we are doing it. For example, in English we would say “I am”, and “you are.”Conjugating Spanish verbs works in precisely the same way. 

In Spanish, there are a few more forms of these “persons” for you to learn, but it is not at all difficult. The good news is that in the main, these verbs use pretty standard endings. Master the endings and you are then able to apply them to the infinitives. 

The root form of any verb is its infinitive. In English we would recognise infinitives as verbs prefaced with the word “to”. For example “to be”, “to go”, “to see”, and so on.  In Spanish infinitives are expressed as a single word for instance “hablar” which means to speak. Learning Spanish infinitives provides you with a good foundation for leaning Spanish verbs. 

There are always exceptions to the rule, and, as in English, you will sometimes encounter irregular verbs. A example of a regular verb might be “I go”, you go”, “they go” etc. An example of an irregular verb is “I am”, “you are” and so forth. 

An example of an irregular verb in Spanish would be “ser” this would be rendered as “yo soy”, “tu eres”, “ella es”, “nosotros estamos”, and so forth, as you can see they are all different.

The other really important elements of verb conjugation are the tenses. These take the form of past, present, future and a few other refinements. 

Mastering verb conjugation in Spanish – the person, and the tenses – is one of the most important areas of mastering the language. Once you have accomplished this, and with a little acquired vocabulary, you will soon begin to find that you are able to carry on simple conversations. 

Of course there is a lot to take in when you are getting to grips with Spanish verbs, there is a lot to learn and understand, but you will find many similarities with English, and it is really not all that difficult.

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