| In the last article I talked about mental | | | | greetings for example - hello (hola) goodbye |
| preparation. If you are thinking about learning | | | | (adiós), good morning (buenos dÃas), |
| Spanish then it makes sense to think carefully | | | | good afternoon (buenas tardes). In these |
| about what you hope to achieve and how you | | | | examples you might have noticed that the |
| hope to achieve it. This is because the learning | | | | translation of the English word used for "good" is |
| process is likely to be a long one and full of trials | | | | both "buenos" and "buenas". This is because one is |
| and tribulations. It is wise not to underestimate | | | | masculine and the other is feminine!! If you are |
| yourself. | | | | not sure what I am talking about then don't |
| In this article I'm going to talk about what I did | | | | worry. I will talk much more about gender in later |
| when I was first thinking about learning Spanish. | | | | articles. |
| That was about four years ago now. At the time | | | | The point here is that when learning new Spanish |
| I knew nothing of the Spanish language, so for | | | | words or phrases you are probably going to |
| me it was a case of starting right from the very | | | | notice differences in the way they are used that |
| beginning. | | | | you don't fully understand. If you are anything like |
| My concepts of how other languages worked | | | | me you will always be asking yourself "why?" My |
| were really very basic. I thought all I had to do | | | | advice is not to get too bogged down in trying to |
| was to take any English word and simply learn | | | | understand these things too quickly. It will |
| what the equivalent word in Spanish was. | | | | probably just frustrate you! |
| Therefore I could simply put the words together | | | | As well as learning useful words and phrases you |
| and hey presto I would have a complete | | | | of course need to make sure that you can |
| sentence. It didn't' take me long to realise that this | | | | pronounce them correctly! The only way you can |
| basic theory rarely works! | | | | do this is by hearing some examples. It is |
| For example, "I always buy strong coffee". In | | | | important to make sure you pronounce Spanish |
| Spanish, " siempre compro café fuerte". In | | | | words correctly right from the beginning. If you |
| this sentence there appears to be no Spanish | | | | don't then you will pick up bad habits that will |
| word for "I" and the word for "coffee | | | | become more difficult to shake off later on. |
| (café)" comes before the word for "strong | | | | Spanish pronunciation is something you will |
| (fuerte)". This is only a simple example but it | | | | probably want to study separately during your |
| shows how my basic theory falls down. The | | | | studies. It is a good idea to do this early on. The |
| Spanish word for "I" is "yo", but it is often not | | | | good news is that Spanish pronunciation is far less |
| used in Spanish sentences because the | | | | complicated than English pronunciation. I will be |
| construction of the verb it is used with already | | | | discussing this in more detail in later articles. |
| tells us that "I" is being referred to "compro = I | | | | So, you need to start learning new Spanish words |
| buy". Secondly, in Spanish, adjectives usually come | | | | and phrases whilst making sure that you |
| after the nouns that they are used with whereas | | | | pronounce them correctly. When I first started |
| in English they usually come before them. "strong | | | | learning Spanish I bought a basic level Spanish text |
| coffee = café fuerte". | | | | book. I had about a six weeks before I was |
| If you know nothing about Spanish as I didn't then | | | | about to embark on a long trip to Central and |
| you might already be a little confused. At this | | | | South America and my goal was to finish the |
| stage it probably isn't worth thinking too much | | | | book before the six weeks was up. One of the |
| about how the structure of the English and | | | | first things the book taught me was how to |
| Spanish languages might differ. You will simply | | | | introduce myself by saying what my name was |
| come to realise these differences as you | | | | and where I was from. It came with CD's so that |
| progress through your studies. However, I think it | | | | I was able to check my pronunciation. |
| is important to remind yourself right from the | | | | In the next article I will talk more about my early |
| very beginning that learning Spanish won't be as | | | | studies and some of the pitfalls I encountered |
| easy as simply matching English and Spanish | | | | whilst trying to plough through a basic level text |
| words! | | | | book in six weeks. I will also talk about the |
| Of course if you don't know any Spanish words | | | | different ways you might want to think about |
| then you are not going to be able to make any | | | | how learning Spanish best works for you. Buying |
| sentences, regardless if they are grammatically | | | | a text book might not suit you. Maybe you would |
| correct or not. You need to start learning some | | | | prefer to study online or entirely from audio CD's! |
| words and phrases. Try thinking about some of | | | | Whatever you choose get yourself started. Start |
| the most common every day phrases in English. | | | | learning some basics. Hasta luego..... |
| You could start by learning some common | | | | |