Almost Perfect…

Spanish Verb Tenses has almost all the attributes of a superior learning tool.  It…

1. Follows A Logical Progression - The workbook starts with the easy stuff, the present indicative, and progressively works its way through more difficult subject matter such as the preterite vs imperfect, perfect and progressive tenses, and finally the subjunctive mood.
2. Contains Clear, Concise Grammar Explanations - Each section of each chapter is prefaced by a brief explanation of the grammar point about to be drilled.  While short, the explanations build on each other and are clear enough that even absolute beginners will be able to follow along provided they start at the beginning.
3. Contains Tons And Tons Of Drills - There’s no getting past it:  learning Spanish requires massive amounts of drilling to pound proper usage into your brain, and there’s no shortage of that here.  Amazingly enough, the drills are varied and interesting enough that you never really get bored.  Each section will take you an average of 20 or 30 minutes each, which is long enough to really learn the material you’re focusing on but not long enough to become terribly monotonous.
4. Requires You To Generate Complete Thoughts - Most grammar workbooks out there simply have you fill in the blank with the correct conjugation of a given verb.  Thus, after a few problems your mind goes on conjugation-autopilot as you mechanically complete the rest of the exercises.  The problem with that approach is you never quite integrate vocabulary, grammar, and conversational skills that way.  I mean the correct verb is given to you, along with its meaning.  You’ll never learn that way.  Spanish Verb Tenses, on the other hand, forces you to generate complete sentences on your own in response to some prompt, often without telling you which verb to use.  This keeps you constantly on your toes trying to figure out what form the correct response should take as well as the appropriate vocabulary to use.  Trust me, you will learn natural sentence structure much better this way and retain a lot more vocabulary to boot.
5. Every Chapter Ends With A Writing Assignment - Every chapter contains at least one (sometimes two or three) short writing assignments where you are either given an English paragraph and asked to translate it (in the beginning) or given a topic and asked to generate a completely original Spanish paragraph on the subject all on your own (towards the end of the book).
6. Covers Every Verb Tense And Grammar Aspect In The Language - I can’t think of anything this workbook misses, off the top of my head.  It covers every tense and aspect of Spanish verbs you need to know, including the infamous subjunctive mood, when to use the preterite vs imperfect, and common special constructions involving specific verbs (ir a- et al).

…But Not Quite Perfect

Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses is very much a master of the domain it purports to teach.  It claims to teach you everything you need to know about Spanish verbs and it accomplishes that goal very, very well; however, it doesn’t delve into aspects of Spanish grammar not related to verbs, such as pronouns, prepositions, noun gender, etc (for that, I highly recommend its companion workbook Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Pronouns And Prepositions).

Additionally, its impossible to get any real conversational practice from an $8 workbook.  Spanish Verb Tenses will teach you to form Spanish sentences, no doubt, but there’s a big difference between being able to write Spanish and being able to speak Spanish.  Thus, you’ll either need to purchase a good audio program for conversational practice or hit up your local Mexican restaurant.  But overall, this is a very small nitpick.  It’s only $8 after all.

Buy Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses and its companion Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Pronouns And Prepositions from Amazon today.

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How I’m Brushing Up

In order to brush up on my Spanish skills and get prepared to hit the ground running when I land in San Juan a month from now, I’m spending about an hour per day studying the language. Since I already know the language and am only brushing up, I can afford to focus my efforts only on the areas I’m most lacking in.  Here’s what I’m doing.

• Watching Spanish films and listening to Spanish radio - The Puerto Rican accent is a difficult one for many learners.  As such, I think my listening skills are probably where I need the most work.  While most of what I’ll hear in films and on the radio isn’t Puerto Rican Spanish, any exposure to an authentic Spanish accent will help tremendously.
• Breaking Out The Old FSI Spanish Course - I’ve decided to break out part two of my FSI Spanish distribution of choice, Barron’s Mastering Spanish series.  I should be able to complete part two of the FSI course in less than a month, which will significantly improve my rusty spontaneous conversational abilities.
• Completing A Spanish Verbs Workbook - I decided to use this as an opportunity to try out The Ultimate Spanish Verb Review and Practice workbook.  It looked promising in the store, sharing many of the characteristics that made Dorothy Richmond’s Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses workbook so effective.  So far, I like it a lot, although I still like Richmond’s workbooks better.  I hope to write a full review of it when I get a chance.  I chose to focus on the verb system because verbs arguably play a more important part in being understood in Spanish than in English.
• Practicing Spanish With Anybody And Everybody - I have a few friends willing to speak Spanish with me on a semi-regular basis.  This will prove to be the most valuable learning tool I have.  If you don’t have any Spanish-speaking friends, you can practice as Mexican restaurants or join a language exchange at your local Latin American Association (most major cities have one).
• Reading El Hobbit/ The Hobbit (Spanish Edition) - Okay, so this is more for pleasure than anything.  I’ve been slowly working my way through the Spanish edition of this Tolkien classic for a little over a month now.  It’s written at a level easy enough for an intermediate student to understand without having to look too many words up in the dictionary.

How do you brush up on your Spanish skills after a long period of not using them?  Is there anything I’ve missed?

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Customer Reviews Are Most Likely To Be Unbiased Opinions

That’s an interesting question and has a simple answer:  while there are plenty of honest reviews out there, even by people who stand to gain something from your purchase decisions (I do my best around here!), there are also plenty of people who will stop at nothing to make a quick buck.  So where to find unbiased opinions?  I think customer reviews of products on the major eCommerce sites, like Amazon.com, are a great start.  Even here, however, there are a few caveats.  Here are a few guidelines to help you sort the good from the bad.

• Be Wary Of Products With Only A Few Reviews - Customer reviews are more likely to be objective for larger, more popular products than smaller ones.  For example, the Rosetta Stone customer reviews section on Amazon currently has over 130 reviews and counting.  While a few of these reviewers may have an agenda, the vast majority are likely to be honest people with something to say that they feel is important.  By contrast, a small product with only two or three reviews could easily be manipulated by the author and a few friends.
• Be Wary Of Products With Only Stellar Reviews - No product is perfect, not even the best.  Any honest product review will draw attention to the product’s faults as well as strengths.  For example, FSI Spanish is a very effective program, but it has the disadvantage of being incredibly boring.  Similarly, Rosetta Stone excels at teaching pronunciation but is a bit weak in the grammar department.  A product with only positive reviews should set off an alarm in your head that maybe, just maybe, somebody is trying to make the product seem better than it really is.
• Look For References For Competing Products - Often times, reviewers will attempt to compare and contrast the product in question with other popular products in the same niche.  These reviews can be gold mines of information because they allow you to get an idea of the strengths and weaknesses of both products without having to spend any money.  For example, the very first customer review of Fluenz Spanish (a software package gaining in popularity) is titled “Fluenz and Rosetta” and gives a detailed side-by-side comparison of what the author both likes and dislikes about both software packages.  It would be wise to learn from the experience of this reviewer rather than waste your own hard-earned cash.  You may not agree with their opinion, but at least it offers a different perspective.

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How Hard Will I Have To Work?

In order to keep up with such an accelerated schedule, you’ll have to put in an absolute minimum of one hour per day, every day, no exceptions.  Yes, this includes weekends and holidays.  If you don’t consider yourself to be “good” with languages, you might even have to put in closer to two hours per day.  It sounds like a lot, and it is, but you’ll get out of it what you put in.  Just think of the sense of accomplishment you’ll have when you’re able to discuss current events with the natives in South America barely three months from now!

How Much Will I Have To Spend?

I’m not going to lie, you’re going to have to spend some money if you want to learn this quickly.  The gold standard would be to travel to a Spanish-speaking country and hire a private tutor for three months.  While this would undoubtedly be the most effective way to learn, I’m going to assume most of you have neither the money nor the time off work to do something like that (I sure don’t!).  If you can swing it, I can unhesitatingly say you should go for it.

The less-well-connected among us will need an effective substitute for in-country learning.  Once again, I find myself coming back to my two favorite learning programs:  Pimsleur and Rosetta Stone.  All three levels of Pimsleur can be purchased for around $300-350 total from Amazon and you can pick up Rosetta Stone used for around $450.  If you can’t afford to spend more than $100, you should check out FSI Spanish.  It’s not quite as effective as Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone, in my opinion, but in terms of bang-for-the-buck it’s quite a bargain.

Additionally, you’ll need two excellent (but very inexpensive) grammar books that come highly recommended and a set of vocabulary cards.  Altogether, you can expect to spend anywhere from $100-$550 depending on which route you want to take.  If it were me, I’d go with the most expensive package that includes Rosetta Stone because I’m a visible learner.  Aural learners will probably want to go with the all-audio Pimsleur program.  FSI will suffice if you’re on a budget, but the more you spend upfront, the quicker you’ll learn.  FSI is very effective, but it’s boring and can be quite a headache to deal with.

Are There Any Other Tools I’ll Need?

Yes, there are two excellent grammar books I think you absolutely can’t go without:  Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses and Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Pronouns And Prepositions, both by Dorothy Richmond.  These are by far the best two Spanish grammar books on the market and cost a measly $8 each.

You’ll also need a set of good Spanish vocabulary cards.  There are plenty to choose from, but pretty much any set out there will do because they mostly contain the same common words.  I’ve used Modern Spanish: Bilingual Vocabulary Cards and I don’t have anything bad to say about this particular set.

How Do I Do It?

Once you’ve got your tools, the methodology is simple.

• Start Your Flagship Program - Whether you chose Pimsleur, Rosetta Stone, or FSI, start working through your chosen program for between 30 minutes to an hour-and-a-half per day.  Some days will probably be longer than others.  If you’re working with Rosetta Stone or Pimsleur, each level will take you approximately 30 days to complete, give or take a few days.  With FSI, each of the two levels will take more like 45 days to complete.  It is important to make sure you completely master each section before moving on.  If you rush through a unit without really understanding it, you’ll only impede your progress later on.
• Practice Makes Perfect - Methodically work your way through both of the Practice Makes Perfect grammar workbooks for approximately 15-30 minutes every day after completing work on your flagship program for the day.  While the above programs will teach you to listen and speak, they won’t teach you much in the way of grammar.  That’s where these workbooks come in.  Working 15-30 minutes per day on these workbooks will put you on course to finish right around the 100 day mark.  Personally, I’d start with the Verb Tenses book but that’s totally up to you.
• Learn 10 New Vocabulary Words Per Day - Since the 1000 most common Spanish words make up approximately 80% of everyday speech, its imperative that you ramp up your vocabulary as quickly as possible.  Following my tips for learning Spanish vocabulary, you should find this task relatively eash to accomplish.  As little as 15-20 minutes scattered throughout the day should be more than adequate to learn 10 new words most days.

Rinse And Repeat

If you follow my advice and work consistently for 1-2 hours each and every day, you’ll find it’s much easier than you think to reach your goals.  Once you’ve succeeded, the most important thing is to keep working towards fluency.  If you take a break to reward yourself for a job well done, you risk losing motivation and never starting again.  Keep at it and good luck!

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What Does This Mean For Learners?

This is good news for learners.  Inevitably, beginners observe the amount of vocabulary unknown to them and begin to feel like it’ll take years to learn enough to be able to carry on a conversation.  The 1000 number above, while it sounds like a lot, really isn’t.  Following my vocabulary card approach, most students should be able to learn an average of 10 new vocabulary words per days in an average of 20-30 minutes scattered throughout the day that would otherwise be wasted and unproductive anyway.

What Are The Most Common Spanish Words?

Knowing which words are most useful is another trick entirely.  Most decent vocabulary card sets more or less contain to the most useful words to know, but not always.  Similarly, I have seen some vocabulary lists in the past with seemingly no connection to reality;  the FSI program in particular is bad at this (just how many ways are there to ask for a cigarette, anyway?).  Fortunately, the most useful source I’ve come across is also the cheapest.  There is a book called 1001 Most Useful Spanish Words that sells for just $2 on Amazon, brand new and contains the most accurate list of common Spanish words I’ve seen yet.  Realistically, an $18 total investment between 1001 Most Useful Spanish Words and a good set of vocabulary cards is probably all you’ll ever need, because it’s much easier to absorb new vocabulary organically once you’ve reached an advanced Spanish level.

Ready to get started?  Buy 1001 Most Useful Spanish Words and Modern Spanish Bilingual Vocabulary Cards from Amazon today and get stared on the road to fluency!

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The Mechanics

The RR is formed by flapping the tongue against the front roof of your mouth.  The mechanics of it are really quite simple, it just requires a lot of practice to get right.

• Imagine your tongue flapping flapping like a flag in a strong wind
• Now try purring like a cat with your tongue flapping like that flag

A Challenging Practice Phrase

Once you can kinda-sorta form the proper sound with your tongue, there’s nothing left to do but practice.  Following is a Spanish tongue twister with practically every word containing a trilled rr sound.  If you can manage to recite this phrase correctly, you’ve no doubt mastered the trill.  Good luck and remember, it will take hours of practice to master.

Erre con Erre Cigarro
Erre con Erre Barril
Rápido corre el carro
Repleto de ferro en el ferrocarril

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Uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinco, seis, siete, ocho, nueve, diez, once, doce, trece…

Veinte y uno, veinte y dos

treinta y uno, treinta y dos

cuarenta, cincuenta, seisenta, ochenta, noventa, cien…

Easy, Right?

The pattern is simple enough to remember.  The problem is that native Spanish speakers rattle them off so quickly it’s difficult to make heads or tails of what’s being said.  Even advanced Spanish learners have trouble with numbers.  Embarrassingly, they can still cause me quite a bit of trouble from time to time, because it’s something that can’t be practiced with a book and it’s not something audio programs the likes of Pimsleur focuses on.

How Best To Learn Numbers In Spanish

Unfortunately, I think this is truly an area where “practice makes perfect.”  I don’t know of any secret tools or techniques that are truly effective for this type of thing.  So why did I bother writing this post if I don’t have any ideas on how to overcome the problem in question?  I think it’s important to remind ourselves there’s no substitute for hard work.  Often, we as consumers come to believe there’s a secret formula or easy answer for every problem we might have.  Thus, we become susceptible to falling for every scam in town.  Sometimes, you just have to do things the old-fashioned way.  Nobody said learning Spanish would be easy, did they?

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Keep On Keepin’ On

As with most skills, improvement in Spanish competency tends to come in quantum leaps, not incremental gains.  It is important to try to force yourself to remain focused when it seems like you aren’t making any forward progress.  Rest assured, your brain is absorbing information every bit as rapidly as before, it just hasn’t managed to put all the various pieces together yet.  Eventually, probably sooner than you think (especially if you follow my advice on pushing through learning plateaus) something will click in your brain and all of a sudden, out of the blue, you’ll see dramatic improvements in a very short period of time.  Topics that seemed impossible to master just a few weeks earlier will now seem insanely simple.  You’ll probably find look back and wonder why you had so much trouble to begin with.

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Switch It Up To Push Through To The Other Side

Fortunately, the solution to a plateau in almost any discipline is the same:  change it up.  What do bodybuilders do when they are no longer seeing the gains they once were?  They change their routine, attacking their muscles from completely different angles often tricks the body into building muscle again.  This makes perfect sense when you consider the reason for the plateau in the first place was that your body had adapted to having the same stress placed on it day after day, week after week.  A new workout introduces new stresses, stresses your body is completely unprepared to handle.  Hence, muscle growth resumes.

The same idea can work for you when your Spanish efforts reach a plateau.  The reason for the plateau is that your mind has become accustomed to the same old stimulation over and over again.  It’s not that what you’ve been doing isn’t effective, it’s just that you’ve saturated your brain from that particular angle for now.  The solution, as with bodybuilding, is to change it up.

If you’ve been focusing on grammar drills using the FSI program, for example, put that program down for a week or two and focus on beefing up your listening or reading skills.  A good Spanish read will reinforce the vocabulary you’ve already learned and expose you to new vocabulary you probably wouldn’t come across in a typical grammar book.

Similarly, if you’ve been using a  program like Pimsleur or Rosetta Stone that minimizes the importance of grammar drills and you’ve reached an impasse, it might be worth it to pick up a quality grammar workbook like Marcial Prado’s Advanced Spanish Grammar or my all-time favorite Spanish grammar workbook, Dorothy Richmond’s Practice Makes Perfect: Spanish Verb Tenses for a while.  The grammar you learn from these workbooks will not only help you advance more quickly through your program of choice, but will help your brain switch gears and challenge it in new ways.

This brief interlude can make all the difference in the world between advancing your Spanish to the next level and struggling with a demoralizing plateau.  Besides, if learning Spanish becomes a boring chore, you’ll probably stop doing it.  Switching things up a bit can help out with that aspect, as well.

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1. Spanish is usually spoken very quickly
2. Native speakers tend to slur words together, blurring their boundaries

That said, there are several steps you can take that will dramatically improve your listening skills over time.

How To Develop Spanish Listening Skills

Of course, the best way to improve your listening skills is to engage in actual conversations with native Spanish speakers.  Unfortunately, most of us don’t have a lot of opportunities to do that on a daily basis (although you probably do have some opportunities).  Barring real-life interaction, here are a few ways to improve your comprehension.

• Watching Spanish Talk Shows On Television - Most major cities have at least one Spanish television station.  Talk shows in particular offer excellent listening practice because they tend to feature real people speaking naturally, in contrast to the exaggerated speech on most soap operas.
• Watching Spanish Movies - Watching Spanish movies is a great way to hear a variety of accents spoken in a (mostly) natural manner.
• Listening To Spanish Radio - Okay, most disc jockey’s take care to speak slowly and clearly enough to be easily understood by everybody, so the radio isn’t the best way to hear Spanish spoken in its natural setting.  However, the radio is also the most available source of listening practice since you can do it every day on your way to work.

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