When I lived in Mexico I taught English in multinational companies to Mexican executives with very little time to study. As people get older they believe it is more difficult to learn. This is not true, the only reason it is more difficult is that we have less time than a child does. So try and incorporate learning into your daily activities.
You can practise singing to this Youtube video!
1) Aim to learn 10-20 words a day, write them on a piece of paper or card (by writing them out it will help you remember, do not print) carry this around with you all day and stop for a second every so often when you have a coffee break and read them, just before you get in the car to drive somewhere look at them and then practise as you are driving, when you get home on an evening test yourself and any you dont know, pass over to the next day
2) Post it note the whole house up. Get a load of post it notes and write down the word for as many things as you can that are in your house in spanish) stick them to the items, so for example stick on a door a post it note saying " puerta" . Now every time you go past it, you will subliminly read it and learn it. As you learn a word then write a phrase underneath, so add " abre la puerta" ( open the door) to it
3) When you watch a dvd, put spanish subtitles on
4) When you are here in spain always order in Spanish and push yourself to ask questions and strike up a conversation, its free! and spanish people love it if you try to speak their language! Check my Restaurant guide out for places to go and get superb food and practice your Spanish http://polarisworldandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/07/restaurants-in-region.html
5) Advancing a little now, grammar and verbs, sorry there is no fun way to learn these, you just have to do it the old way. The best books I have found are the "practice makes perfect" range
Learn your verbs Conversational spanish Basic spanish you can purchase on amazon on above link
6) A trick to learning a verb or grammer, is buy some A2 card and write the tenses on it that you are learning, stick it on a wall near your tv and on an evening everytime a commercial break comes on read the grammar on the piece of card. Also before you drive to work, read it while having a cuppa, then practice as you drive to work
7) Learning Spanish CD´s or Apps. Listen to them in the car, at the gym, while cleaning, immerse yourself . EARWORMS is great I use it for learning Arabic and French. See my review here:
http://polarisworldandbeyond.blogspot.com.es/2013/08/learning-spanish-earworms.html
8) Pronunciation. Is very simple in Spanish.
Vowels (all of them are short not drawn out)
A - is like CAT not cake
E - is like VET not meet
I - is like BIT not bite
O - is like HOT not Hotel
U - is like HUT not humour
Now practice them, over and over again
C - is inbetween a Z and a TH if before an E or an I, otherwise it is like the C we all know
So try and say CINCO (five) you would say it like THIN-CO
G - is very much like the scottish CH in loch before an E and an I or like a gutural J other letters
H - is invisible - doesnt exist - so Spanish people would call Harry potter - Arry potter
J- These are like the Scottish CH in loch again, or like a gutural H,
Ñ - is called NYE and that is how its pronounced NY . So Mañana (tommorrow) is pronounced manyana.
LL - this is between an y and a J , almost like a soft J. llamar (to call) is like Yjamar
Q is like K
RR is a scottish roll of the R´s -practise with the word regrigerator!
V - is very soft- almost undistinguishable from B
W - hardly exists in spanish so is very much like a V
8) Learning numbers - in everyday life there are numbers everywhere, so as you are driving, test yourself with number plates and road signs, in everyday life test yourself with phone numbers ect...
Here are the basics to get you started
1 - uno
2- dos
3 - tres
4 - cuatro
5 - cinco
Hola - Hello
Adios - Goodbye
Gracias - Thankyou
Buenos Dias - Good morning
Buenas tardes - good afternoon
Si - yes
No - no
Naranja - orange (pronounced naranha)
Limon - lemon
Coca Light - diet coke
Caña - small beer (pronounced canya)
Tanque - large beer
Vino Blanco - white wine
Vino Tinto - red wine
Vino Rosado - Rose wine
La cuenta - the bill
If any of you go to a class here in Spain that you can reccomend then let me know the details and will post it on here.
You can practise singing to this Youtube video!
1) Aim to learn 10-20 words a day, write them on a piece of paper or card (by writing them out it will help you remember, do not print) carry this around with you all day and stop for a second every so often when you have a coffee break and read them, just before you get in the car to drive somewhere look at them and then practise as you are driving, when you get home on an evening test yourself and any you dont know, pass over to the next day
2) Post it note the whole house up. Get a load of post it notes and write down the word for as many things as you can that are in your house in spanish) stick them to the items, so for example stick on a door a post it note saying " puerta" . Now every time you go past it, you will subliminly read it and learn it. As you learn a word then write a phrase underneath, so add " abre la puerta" ( open the door) to it
3) When you watch a dvd, put spanish subtitles on
4) When you are here in spain always order in Spanish and push yourself to ask questions and strike up a conversation, its free! and spanish people love it if you try to speak their language! Check my Restaurant guide out for places to go and get superb food and practice your Spanish http://polarisworldandbeyond.blogspot.com/2010/07/restaurants-in-region.html
5) Advancing a little now, grammar and verbs, sorry there is no fun way to learn these, you just have to do it the old way. The best books I have found are the "practice makes perfect" range
Learn your verbs Conversational spanish Basic spanish you can purchase on amazon on above link
6) A trick to learning a verb or grammer, is buy some A2 card and write the tenses on it that you are learning, stick it on a wall near your tv and on an evening everytime a commercial break comes on read the grammar on the piece of card. Also before you drive to work, read it while having a cuppa, then practice as you drive to work
7) Learning Spanish CD´s or Apps. Listen to them in the car, at the gym, while cleaning, immerse yourself . EARWORMS is great I use it for learning Arabic and French. See my review here:
http://polarisworldandbeyond.blogspot.com.es/2013/08/learning-spanish-earworms.html
8) Pronunciation. Is very simple in Spanish.
Vowels (all of them are short not drawn out)
A - is like CAT not cake
E - is like VET not meet
I - is like BIT not bite
O - is like HOT not Hotel
U - is like HUT not humour
Now practice them, over and over again
C - is inbetween a Z and a TH if before an E or an I, otherwise it is like the C we all know
So try and say CINCO (five) you would say it like THIN-CO
G - is very much like the scottish CH in loch before an E and an I or like a gutural J other letters
H - is invisible - doesnt exist - so Spanish people would call Harry potter - Arry potter
J- These are like the Scottish CH in loch again, or like a gutural H,
Ñ - is called NYE and that is how its pronounced NY . So Mañana (tommorrow) is pronounced manyana.
LL - this is between an y and a J , almost like a soft J. llamar (to call) is like Yjamar
Q is like K
RR is a scottish roll of the R´s -practise with the word regrigerator!
V - is very soft- almost undistinguishable from B
W - hardly exists in spanish so is very much like a V
8) Learning numbers - in everyday life there are numbers everywhere, so as you are driving, test yourself with number plates and road signs, in everyday life test yourself with phone numbers ect...
Here are the basics to get you started
1 - uno
2- dos
3 - tres
4 - cuatro
5 - cinco
Hola - Hello
Adios - Goodbye
Gracias - Thankyou
Buenos Dias - Good morning
Buenas tardes - good afternoon
Si - yes
No - no
Naranja - orange (pronounced naranha)
Limon - lemon
Coca Light - diet coke
Caña - small beer (pronounced canya)
Tanque - large beer
Vino Blanco - white wine
Vino Tinto - red wine
Vino Rosado - Rose wine
La cuenta - the bill
If any of you go to a class here in Spain that you can reccomend then let me know the details and will post it on here.
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