Learn Spanish for Love

Learn Spanish - Introductions

2006-04-13T08:32:00.000-07:00

Moving on to the Rocket Spanish Mini Course Part 4, this part of the course returns to look at some written Spanish.

It's all about Spanish introductions and greetings - essential material if your visiting a Spanish speaking country even for a short time.

Here we learn expressions such as:

Encantado (Like the old English expression Enchanted)

EI gusto es mío (The pleasure is mine - again like the old English expression)

¿Cómo te llamas? (What's your name - literally, how do you call yourself)

Me llamo Antonio (I'm called Antonio)

¿De dónde eres? (Where do you come from? - literally, From where are you?)

Also introduced at this point is the concept of masculine and feminine words in the Spanish language. In general, masculine words end in an "o", and feminine in an "a". Apparently the same applies to the adjectives which must agree with the nouns to which they relate. So Spanish is much like most European languages in this way.

However, they leave it at that for the time being so as not to complicate matters.

One interesting little point I've learnt here is that, if you don't understand something somebody says while talking to you, it's more natural to say No entiendo, rather than the expression which first comes to mind and everyone knows, No comprendo !!! It's the difference between "I don't understand" and "I don't comprehend" - obvious really!

Well, that's it - another useful little lesson in the basics of learning Spanish. Take a look yourself. It's free to sign up for this mini Spanish course. Here's the web address again: Rocket SpanishUntil next time.

Let's go learn Spanish !

Learn Spanish - Speaking

2006-03-11T12:19:00.000-08:00

Moving on to the Rocket Spanish Mini Course Part 3 -

Greetings again, but this time a full 25 minutes of audio going into depth on how to greet people in Spanish, how to respond to greetings, and how to explain either that you either don't speak Spanish, you do speak Spanish, or you speak only a little Spanish.

A lot of repetition, but it drives the necessary vocabulary home. This is actually quite necessary. I don't know about you, but whenever I've been trying out a new language in another country - and this certainly happened to me when I first moved to France - one of the biggest problems is always getting the brain to work quick enough and co-ordinate with the mout to be able to respond to someone sufficiently quickly and intelligibly - even with the simplest of phrases. That's because it's still not coming out naturally.

And it needs to be (almost) instinctively, without thinking. So I think that this is the right approach to learning Spanish - get those basic, fundamental, essential phrases firmly engrained in the brain so that they appear at the right times without having to think to hard and seeming to be lost for words.

So here we go again:-

¿Cómo te llamas? (what's your name?)

¿De dónde eres? (where do you come from?)

Soy de los Estados Unidos (I'm from the United States)

Repetitive - yes. But not boring. These guys seem to be able to put it all together - even the simplest stuff in an interesting and practical way. Take a look yourself. It's free to sign up for this mini Spanish course. Here's the web address again: Rocket Spanish

Until next time. Let's go learn Spanish !

Learn Spanish - Greetings

2006-03-02T15:19:00.000-08:00

Learning Spanish - Minicourse - Part 2

¿Cómo está usted?

You've guessed it - ¿Cómo está usted? means "how are you" in Spanish.
but hadn't we just leant that to say "how are you?" in Spanish, the expression is ¿Cómo estás?

Well, the difference is that this new form is a more polite form of the greeting tu use with people we don't know so well or have only just met.

I suppose that Spanish then is just like many other European languages in this way. It's the same sort of idea as in French and German.

So, Part 2 of the Rocket Spanish Mini Course goes into a lot of detail explaining some basic greetings in their various forms, pretty much hammering them home and considers both male and female speakers.

It also explains how to reply to these greetings and what to expect in response. So you shouldn't be lost for words.

This second part of the mini Spanish course is in written form - no audio this time - so you get to see the Spanish words written down and come to grips more with reading as it relates to the spoken Spanish.

This little course seems to be alternating between audio components and then the written Word.

So far so good! The pace is just about right for me - a complete novice to learning Spanish and who doesn't have too much time to spare on copious Spanish grammar exercises.

Take a look yourself. It's free to sign up for this mini Spanish course. Here's the web address again: Rocket Spanish

Now let's go learn Spanish !

Learn Spanish - Rocket Spanish Minicourse

2006-02-25T13:46:00.000-08:00

Learn Spanish - a Minicourse

¡Hola! ¿Cómo estas?

And yes - right again! The above expression means "Hello! How are you!"

I've just embarked upon the Rocket Spanish 6-day minicourse and I'd like to give you my initial opinions. Obviously, I've only just started so I can't tell you so much, but nevertheless there's enough already to get a good "feel" as to the quality and how it's likely to progress.

The course is created and presented by Mauricio Evlampieff who comes from Chile and is therefore a native Spanish speaker. Now, this course is both written and audio, with apparently much emphasis on speaking. So the audio component is very important.

The first part of the course comprises about a quarter of an hour or so of very thorough drilling in basic greetings. We're introduced to a very small amount of vocabulary - but presented very clearly with much repetition and places where you can repeat it yourself and then hear the correct pronunciation immediately afterwards.

Throughout the audio Mauricio is heard in conversation with the program's editor, Amy Waterman, a young North American lady by the sound of it, but who seems to achieve the necessary clarity of diction so the listener can easily follow the conversation.

I think that this pairing is realistic. I imagine that most users of this course will be North American, so Amy will give them a point of reference. As for myself, of course, I'm European, so the American accent is very evident. No problem!

The audio recordings are available to listen to online, or you can download them to your computer, possibly even later onto an iPod or similar device to listen to in the car. If find that courses such as this make ideal driving companions!

A comment I must make is that the audio is first rate. So full marks for what sounds like professional studio quality audio. This is really very good, since in such a course, clarity of the audio is of paramount importance.

I can't wait to find out what's in part 2 of the course. Why not join me? The minicourse is free, so you've nothing to loose. Here's the link again: Rocket Spanish

Now go learn Spanish !

Learn Spanish all the way

2006-02-23T10:42:00.000-08:00

¡Hola amigos! - Yes, that's Spanish, and means "hello friends!"

(note the fascinating inverted exclamation mark in front of Hola. That's how it's done in Spanish. It's also the same with question marks - an upside down one at the beginning of the sentence and one the right way up at the end). Certainly leaves no doubt!

This blog charts my personal journey to learn Spanish. I've learnt other languages in the past but never Spanish. And I've not done a lot of language learning since leaving school. So this Spanish learning project is quite a challenge. I wanted to chart my progress on the web. Not only to try to gain some more discipline while I learn the language, but perhaps it will also encourage others who want to learn Spanish as they watch my progress.

Why do I want to learn Spanish? Well, quite simply, I want to go and live, at least for some of the year in Latin America. I'm also single and unattached. And what better way to get to know a country than to date a person from that country, right?

One slight difficulty. Although Latina chicks seem to be totally gorgeous, most tend to speak little or no English. So if you want to say even "hello", let alone ask for a date, you'd better get started and learn some Spanish.

So let's get on with it! Oh, yes - in case you're wondering, the method I'm using is called Rocket Spanish. I looked at virtually all the courses I could find and that one seemed the best for me - starting with no Spanish and taking me forward to being competent in the shortest time.

Perhaps others would like to try it and we can compare notes and encourage one another! At least take a look and let me know your opinions.

Here it is again: Rocket Spanish

Thanks for reading so far.

Go learn Spanish !