Spanish for beginners - the basics

Everyone has to start somewhere and when you learn Spanish you start with the basics. Take a look at the phrases below for some real rudimentary Spanish that will prove an excellent foundation for what you study afterwards.

Hello	Hola
Goodbye	Adiós
Yes	Sí
No	No
Thanks	Gracias
Many thanks	Muchas Gracias
You're welcome	De nada
Please	Por favor
Good morning	Buenos días
Good afternoon	Buenas tardes
Good evening	Buenas noches
Goodnight	Buenas noches
How are you?	¿Como estás?
Very well	Muy bien

See my website for more details on Spanish for beginners.

A morning at the beach

The sun is shining and the sky is blue. It must be summer, so being a Friday I spent a couple of hours on the beach (la playa). The sea (el mar) was slightly rough due to a slight breeze and so sand (la arena) got blown everywhere, but I did swim before falling asleep under the warn sun (el sol). After getting back home I had lunch and had a nap (siesta) and so now its time to work.


Want to learn Spanish? See my website for details.

Spanish fluency - an excercise to improve

If you have Puerto del Sol audio magazine or something similar I have a great little exercise to help you improve your Spanish fluency, understanding of spoken Spanish, pronunciation and vocabulary all in one. Here's what to do;

1. Listen to the audio all the way through. Try and understand as much as possible. Don't stop and don't peek at the text! Note down what you DO understand.

2. Listen to the audio again, this time pausing when necessary.

3. Take the text and read it while listening to the audio. Mimic the speaker as best you can and keep up no matter what.

FC Barcelona matches in August

Although they stay away from the August heat in Barcelona, FC Barcelona return at the end of August to play host to Inter Milan in the Gamper Trophy.

Although it is a competition in name the reality is that the match is actually a friendly match played against an invited team - always one of the top teams in Europe.

After a summer tour to the far east and a match against Bayern Munich in Germany, this will be the first opportunity to see the newly strengthened squad play at home. Miss it at your peril.

See FC Barcelona Tickets for more info.

More on reading Spanish

Yesterday I wrote how you can choose to increase your Spanish vocabulary, or use your reading to develop coping mechanisms that help you understand when you are missing information or your brain just isn't up to speed :-)

After that I decided to add a new page about reading Spanish to the website as I think it's great info that can help you improve your language skills.

Let me know what you think.

Reading Spanish

One thing to bear in mind when you read Spanish is your learning aim. Are you trying to increase your vocabulary or are you trying to improve your ability to understand Spanish?

At first sight they may appear to be similar; in fact they are two very different skills.

If you stop each time you can't understand a word and look it up in the dictionary then your Spanish vocabulary is sure to improve, bit by bit.

But if you just carry on reading you are training yourself to fill in the knowledge gaps by looking at the bigger picture, just like happens when someone speaks rapid Spanish to you.

You can read more about learning Spanish from my website.

Study Spanish

Study Spanish - yeah right, but how?

There are dozens of courses, different methods, and immersion courses in Spanish speaking countries - which is best for YOU?

OK, good question; can you sepnd 3 months in a Spanish speaking country? No, because you can't afford the time, can't move your family, or some other reason.

No problem, that option isn't going to work for you.

So, choose something that will. Learn more about how to study Spanish.