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Tips for Learning Spanish

Having moved to a Central American country a little over a year ago, I know what it is like trying to learn a second language. In this case, the language is Spanish, and even though I believe Spanish to be one of the simpler languages to learn, the process is still a tough one.

What I would like to share with you are a few simple strategies for making your experience learning Spanish a little less painful and much more efficient.

Learn the Helper Verbs

Verbs such as "Poder" and "Querer" (to be able and to want, respectively) are invaluable pieces of the puzzle. As soon as you can, learn the verb conjugations for these verbs. They are known as helper verbs because you can put them together with other verbs to create complete sentences. For example, "Yo puedo hablar" means "I can speak". By adding any number of different verbs to the end of "Yo puedo" you can create a myriad of sentences.

Learn the Verb Estar

Another extremely important verb to learn is "estar", which means "to be". The importance of learning "estar" becomes clear when you realize that it can be combined with the "ing" form of any number of other verbs. What do I mean by the "ing" form? In English, we have words like "talking", "reading", "eating". In spanish they have these types of words as well ("hablando", "leyendo", and "comiendo"). If you know the conjugations of the verb estar, all you need to do is add the "ing" verb forms to the end of your sentence. For example "Yo estoy hablando" means "I am talking".

Realize the similarities

There are thousands of words in Spanish that very closely resemble English words. For example, "eternidad", "hospital", and "farmacia" mean "eternity", "hospital" and "pharmacy". By realizing that many Spanish words closely mimic English words, you can often create sentences in a pinch using words that you know will be similar.

What books, programs, or audiotapes do I recommend? I have heard good things about Rosetta Stone and Rocket Spanish, although I've never used either myself. In terms of books, the "Magical Key to Spanish" is dense and a ton of work to get through, however, if you do all the exercises as described you will have a firm grasp of the language. The next step? Put it into practice in a foreign country! Only by speaking with the locals will you fully realize your ability to speak a second language.

Learn more about this author, Kaarina St. John.
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