Learning Spanish Giveaways

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Learn the Spanish for Coming and Going (they aren’t exactly the same)

Do I say ‘I am coming’ or do I say that ‘I am going’?

Coming or Going. When to use the verb ‘venir’ as opposed to ‘ir’ is a topic in Spanish that always drove me crazy.

I cannot recall how many times I said to a Spanish speaking friend on the phone or elsewhere ‘Vengo a tu casa’ (I’m coming to your house) or ‘Vengo a la tienda ahora’ (I’m coming to the store now) or a similar phrase. Only to be corrected and told ‘No, dime ‘vas’ (‘No, tell me ‘you are going’)

My response was usually, something like ‘I’m coming to  your house, I’m going to your house. What’s the difference?’

Well, unless you leave in England, there is no difference. In the U.S., I can say ‘I’m coming to your house.’ Or I can say ‘I’m going to your house.’ And I can say either one without fear of being corrected even by an English scholar.

But not in Spanish . . .

The verbs for coming (venir) and going (ir) are not interchangeable
in Spanish.

The Spanish textbook rule of thumb is that you cannot come (venir) to a location other than where you are at that moment. You can only go (ir) to location that is somewhere other than where you are at that moment. ‘Venir’ is used to refer to your present location. Where you are at that very moment. Or in a much larger sense, the city, state or country where you are presently.

As I said, that’s the textbook rule. But I have my own rule of thumb. And it
has worked well for me for years. And now I want to share it with you . . .

I think of the Spanish verb ‘venir’ the same way I think of the English verb
‘to arrive’ (‘llegar’).

Surely, I wouldn’t tell a friend on the phone — in any language — that
‘I’m arriving at your house now’ when I am still home just putting my jacket on. Well, maybe I would if I was on my cell phone and he or she had no idea where I really was and I didn’t want him or her to realize how late I was going to be. But that’s not the point I’m trying to make.

If in English, I wouldn’t use the verb ‘to arrive,’ then I wouldn’t use the verb ‘venir (to come)’ in Spanish.

Por ejemplo (for example), if I am ready to leave my house to go to a friends house, I wouldn’t    call hims and say ‘I’m arriving at your house
now’ (except as mentioned above). So I wouldn’t use the Spanish verb ‘venir’ in this case. Instead, I would use either ‘ir’ (to go) or ‘irse’ (to leave)

Voy a tu casa ahora (I am going to your house now) Me voy ahora (I am leaving now).

I hope this helps you determine when to use the verb ‘venir’ and when to
us ‘ir as you continue learning Spanish.

Say It in Spanish – Another Way

Hola

I have a very valuable tip that you can use when communicating in Spanish. It’s the kind of tip that may come in handy in an emergency
situation .  . .

If you cannot think of the word that you want to say in Spanish, say it another way.

I remember a conversation that I had in Spanish with a cab driver from the
Dominican Republic when I first started learning Spanish.

I’ll never forget that day because the weather was awful. There was so much rain that day. And my clothes were drenched as I stood on a corner trying to flag down a cab.

Finally, an unoccupied cab pulled up. After I got in the cab and realized that the driver was a native Spanish speaker I began to practice my Spanish with him. He was very impressed.

I am not sure if he was impressed with my Spanish speaking skills or impressed with the fact that an American had taken the time to learn his language.

At some point in our conversation I wanted to say that it was raining like cats and dogs. But not only could I not remember how to say cats and dogs, I also couldn’t remember how to say or conjugate the Spanish verb for ‘rain.’

But like most people learning Spanish (or even people that aren’t learning Spanish) I knew how to say the noun for water in Spanish: ‘agua’

For some reason, I was also able to remember the Spanish verb for ‘to go down’ or ‘to come down’ –which is ‘bajar.’

So I said to  him ‘el aqua está bajando.’ A closer translation of that would have been ‘the water is coming down.’ His response to that was ‘Sí, está lloviendo’ (Its raining).

Even though I could not remember the Spanish verb ‘llover’ (to rain), I was still able to make myself understood and get my point across.

When the cab driver finally reached my destination, I wanted to say ‘at the traffic light.’ But for some reason the word for traffic light (semáforo) just seemed to escape me. No matter how hard I tried, I could not think of the word for traffic light (semáforo). He must have passed 3 or 4 traffic lights as
I sat there speechless trying to find the word for traffic light. And the rain was still pouring outside.

And he was a typical New York cab driver –driving like a maniac — even in the rain. And at the rate I was going (and at the speed that he was going) I was going to be about 10 miles from my destination by the time I figured out the word for traffic light. And my clothes were already soaked.

Then he passed another traffic light or two, and I finally realized that if I cannot think of the word for traffic light, then I should just say the word or phrase for traffic light another way.

I knew the word for light (luz) and the word for traffic (tráfico).

That’s when I shouted ‘la luz de tráfico.’ And the cab driver stopped at the traffic light.

Speaking Spanish in this manner may not score you any points with your Spanish speaking friends, customers, clients, co-workers, or employees, but it will help you get your point across and make yourself understood.

And that may be all that’s required in an emergency situation. Maybe in an emergency with a Spanish-speaker in the U.S. or your country. Or maybe in an emergency situation while traveling abroad as a tourist in Latin America
or Spain.

I hope that you’ll never find yourself in an emergency situation where you must speak Spanish and cannot think of the vocabulary word phrase that is correct, but if you do, then just say it another way.

By the way, we  posted another on-line Spanish lesson, here’s the link:

http://www.learningspanishlikecrazy.com/Spanish_Grammar/Lesson021.html

Gracias!

Learn Spanish and avoid hasty (if not nasty) comparison

One of the most confusing topics for me in Spanish was ‘making comparisons.’

I guess that’s because in English the rule is pretty simple. In English
we use  a ‘more…  than’ construction. (e.g. She has more magazines than he has.)

Generally, in Spanish when making comparisons one uses a ‘más… que’ construction. But there are exceptions . . .

I remember feeling so confident because I thought that I had mastered the topic of making comparisons in Spanish. Or so I thought.

I was so confident that I could make comparisons in Spanish because I was able to say things such as ‘Pedro tiene más libros que Carlos’ (‘Peter has more books than Charles has’)

But the real shocker came to me when I was in the gym and I was speaking to a native speaker from Peru. We were admiring how a man in the gym who was more than 70 years old was in such great shape.

And I said to the Peruvian man ‘El tiene más que setenta años’

There’s only one way that I can describe the look on the Peruvian man’s face when I said that.

My sister has a set of plates that appear as if they were made from some type of ceramic substance. Every time a fork, knife or other utensil is scraped across one of those plates, the plate releases the most excruciating noise that I have ever heard in my entire life.

When I said to the Peruvian man ‘El tiene más que setenta años,’ his
facial expression suddenly looked as if he had just heard me scrape a fork across one of my sister’s plates.

Of course, I would not want this to ever happen to you. So we have put together a lesson on the topic of Making comparisons.

Here’s the link:

http://www.learningspanishlikecrazy.com/Spanish_Grammar/Lesson020.html

A Spanish Course Outline

Hola

A LSLC student emailed  us and gave us a helpful tip on learning Spanish.

She  said that we should create an outline or syllabus of LSLC level one. That way if a student wishes to return to a lesson in order to review a particular topic, she will be able to easily find the topic she’s looking for.

So we have put together an outline for you.

Here’s the link.

http://www.learningspanishlikecrazy.com/outline.html

I hope that you find it helpful.

Achieve Your Learning-Spanish Goals

Hola

I think everyone that studies Spanish or any other foreign language
goes through a stage where you think that your progress has plateaued
and your once rapid results have been reduced to a snail’s pace.

I just thought I’d share with you one of my favorite techniques that I have
used for getting pass a plateau, and moving forward to achieve my learning-Spanish goals.

But I will only disclose this technique to you under one condition.

You have to promise me that you won’t laugh at it. I’ll give you a heads-up
and let you know in advance that it may sound a little silly. I am almost too
embarrassed to tell you about it.  But I can assure you that it works.

I actually stumbled upon this technique by accident years ago when I decided that I wanted my son to learn Spanish. He was three years old at the time. So I bought him a Barney VHS tape in Spanish.

You do know who Barney is, right? That’s the purple Dinosaur. He’s
a television character for children.

At the time my son was still at the age where he was still crazy about Barney. So I was absolutely sure that he would watch the Barney VHS tape in Spanish.

This was also around the same time when I felt that my Spanish speaking skills had plateaued. And since my progress had slowed down, I was becoming discouraged. And because I was discouraged, I was studying less and less, and questioning if I had the ability to ever speak Spanish fluently.

And then it happened . . .

One day I walked by my son’s room while he was listening to the Barney VHS tape. And to my surprise I could understand nearly everything that was being said in Spanish on the Barney tape.

Maybe  it was because children do not use vocabulary that is as extensive
as an adult’s. Or maybe it is because children don’t use grammar that is as
complicated as an adult’s.

Whatever the reason was, I understood nearly everything that Barney and
the children were saying in Spanish.

When I learned how much I had already progressed, I became motivated again and I just couldn’t wait to get started studying more Spanish.

I don’t think I ever told anyone else this before, but before I got back to my
studies, I snuck out the house that same evening and went to Toys R Us
and bought two more Barney VHS tapes in Spanish. Not for my 3 year old son, but for me.

I was probably the only grown man in the world watching a Barney VHS
tape at 2:00 in the morning. But that didn’t bother me because I was improving my Spanish language listening skills, and becoming motivated to learn more Spanish as the Barney tapes made me realize how much Spanish I had already learned.

So if you ever feel that you have reached a plateau and your progress has really slowed down, my advice is to do what I did.  Of course I know that you cannot find VHS tapes today. But you can find the same programs
for children on DVD.

Since the Spanish words will not be as extensive an adult’s vocabulary,
the Spanish will be easier for you to understand. And most important — you will increase your motivation to learn more Spanish because you will appreciate how much progess you have already made.

Learn Spanish Fast

It’s about 3:15 AM. I am writing this because I cannot sleep. That’s because I am so excited because  I think that I have finally ‘cracked the code’ to learning how to speak Spanish.

I think that I have finally figured out the formula to learning how to speak Spanish easily and as soon as possible, and I am so excited about it that I want to share the formula with you right now.

I don’t know about you, but I have had many Spanish instructors tell me
to ‘just take your time and go at your own pace.’

As much as I hate to admit it, I have also been guilty of giving  people
the same advice.  That kind of advice may be great advice for the person that just enjoys learning Spanish as a hobby with no particular goal in mind. But this isn’t sound advice for the person that really wants to speak conversational Spanish or the person that wants to speak Spanish fluently.

When I look back I realize that my greatest breakthrough in learning Spanish came when I created a ‘sense of urgency.’ NOT when I took my time.

When I ‘created a sense of urgency’ and set clear written goals with concrete deadlines about the learning-Spanish materials that I wanted to cover I began to make the most progress.  For example, if I wrote down a goal of completing a certain home study course in 30 or 60 days as opposed to completing it ‘whenever’ I found that I learned Spanish
a lot faster. When I wrote down a goal of meeting with a private instructor twice a week as opposed to ‘whenever I can make it,’ I learned Spanish quicker.

Here’s another tip . . .

I also found that it was important that the goals were challenging. Its doesn’t help much to say that I am going to finish a home study course in a year when the course should be completed in 90 days. But by ‘creating a sense of urgency’ and having a written goal of completing the same course in 8 weeks or 10 weeks, I made progress quicker –a lot quicker.

My experience has also been that if I don’t set a deadline, completing a Spanish course or Spanish book never gets done.

And this is probably the biggest tip about setting your learning-Spanish
goals . . .

Your goals must be ‘action’ related as opposed to ‘results’ related.

Here’s an example of an ‘action’ related goal. ‘I am going to finish the LSLC course (or Pimsleur Spanish or Rosetta Stone Spanish) in 90 days.’

Here’s an example of a ‘results’ related goal: ‘I am going to be able to speak
Spanish fluently one year from today.’

When I used to set results-related goals of learning how to speak Spanish if
I didn’t accomplish the goal I would feel as if it had adversely affected my confidence to speak Spanish and my motivation to learn it.

I guess that’s because we have a lot more control over the outcomes of the action-related goals that we set than the results-related goals that we set.

So to sum it all up, here’s the formula for learning how to speak Spanish easily and fast. You need to:

1. Create a Sense of Urgency
2. Set clear written goals with deadlines
3. Make sure the goals are challenging
4. Make sure that the goals are ‘action’ goals.

If you create a sense of urgency, and set and accomplish clear, written, challenging, action goals with deadlines, your dreams of speaking conversational Spanish or speaking Spanish fluently will soon become
a reality.

By the way, here’s a link (below) to another Spanish lesson (text). We have already covered ‘adjectives’ a great deal. But the topic of adjectives has so many exceptions.

This lesson covers the ‘exceptions.’ And believe me, as you will soon discover from this lesson, there are many, many, exceptions.

Here’s the link:

http://www.learningspanishlikecrazy.com/Spanish_Grammar/Lesson019.html

How I got started learning Spanish

Hola

Since we added the FSI bonuses to our Platinum package of LSLC, I have
received a lot of emails from people asking questions about FSI Spanish.
And since we started LSLC, I have received alot of emails asking me
how I got started learning Spanish.

So I figured here’s my chance to kill 2 birds with one stone.

I started learning Spanish as a hobby when I was 16 years old.
Being able to speak more than one language was just something
that I always wanted to do.

So when I was 16 I asked my parents to buy me a Spanish course.
I cannot remember if it was a Barnes & Noble catalog or some other catalog, but I found the FSI Programmatic Spanish One course on cassette.

When people ask me ‘what is FSI?’ I usually respond  that FSI (Foreign Service Institute) is a division of the U.S. Department of State. But I found a more accurate but more wordy and boring definition online: ‘The Foreign Service Institute is the Federal Government’s primary training institution for officers and support personnel of the U.S. foreign affairs community, preparing American diplomats and other professionals to advance U.S.
foreign affairs interests overseas and in Washington.’

In any case, the Foreign Service Institute has created a number of foreign-language-learning courses.

Back to how I got started learning Spanish . . .

Although I cannot remember if it was a Barnes & Noble catalog, but one thing that I am absolutely certain of is the price of the FSI Programmatic Spanish One cassette course when I was 16 years old. It was only $39.95 at the time. I remember so well because I remember trying to convince
my parents that the price of the course was ‘only $39.95.’

Their argument was that no matter how much or how little it costs, I was only going to study one or two cassettes and then put the course in a closet
and forget that it  even existed.

Well, they gave in to my wishes. But I guess that they were right because
after one or two cassettes the things that matter most to 16 year olds
took over my interests (sports and teenage girls). And the FSI Programmatic Spanish One cassette course went into a closet or maybe a garbage can — never to be seen again.

Then yea rs later, when I was about thirty years old I became interested in learning Spanish once again.

I lived in the Bronx at the time. And there was a ‘Comida Latina’ restaurant where I would have lunch or dinner about 2 or 3 times a week.

There was a woman named Nancy that worked in the restaurant. Nancy
was from Puerto Rico but she did not speak much English.

I know many people from Puerto Rico speak English and Spanish. But Nancy spoke very little English.

For lack of a better description, Nancy was a Jennifer Lopez look alike. So
I wanted to learn Spanish just to be able to communicate with Nancy better. I guess a more honest statement would be that I wanted to learn Spanish just to impress her.

So I bought the same cassette course that my parents had bought me when I was 16.

By that time the price of FSI Programmatic Spanish One had risen to 139 bucks — which is still a lot less than the 225 bucks that they want for the CD course at many other web sites.

But I ordered it anyway. And after FSI Programmatic One, I was addicted
to learning Spanish. Learning another language had become one of the most rewarding things that I had ever done in my entire life.

So next, I bought FSI Programmatic Two. And then Baron’s Mastering Spanish One and Two. Then Pimsleur 1, 2, 3, 4 and plus. Then Rosetta Stone 1 & 2, and Michel Thomas, and many others. And tons of learning Spanish books. As well as  group classes in New York City.

Well, that’s my story. Unfortunately, I don’t have a happy ending to it
for you. Someone recently told me that Nancy, the J Lo look alike from the Comida Latina restaurant was now happily married with 2 kids — and now she looks nothing like Jennifer Lopez.

About FSI Spanish . . .

I received a couple of emails with questions about the FSI Spanish Level 3 (Advanced Spanish) and  Level 4 (Advanced Spanish) that we  added as bonuses to Platinum LSLC CD pacakge.

FSI Spanish Level 3 and 4 are NOT a continuation of FSI Programmatic
Spanish One and FSI Programmatic Spanish Two.

FSI Spanish Level 3 (Lessons 31 to 45) and FSI Spanish Level 4 (Lessons 46 to 55) are a continuation of Barrons Mastering Spanish Level One (Lessons 1 to 15) and Barrons Mastering Spanish Level Two (Lessons 15 to 30) both sold at Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble.

But I’m not sure why Barrons calls the course ‘Barrons Mastering Spanish’ instead of ‘FSI Spanish.’

How colors and race are used in Latin American Spanish

Before I started LSLC (Learning Spanish Like Crazy) I used to practice law. I didn’t practice much criminal law but I remember one incident that stands out in my memory.

One summer when a colleague of mine was ill I agreed to cover a Criminal case for him in Bronx Criminal Court. There was a warrant out for his
client’s arrest.

I spoke to his client over the phone and he agreed to turn himself voluntarily at the precinct. I accompanied him and we arrived at the precinct together.

Upon our arrival my client recognized the witness against him. He was a
20-something-year-old white male that stood about 6 feet tall and
weighed about 200 pounds. He looked like he might have played football
quaterback in high school.

While at the precinct, I could overhear two Latino detectives speaking to each other in Spanish and discussing the case.

I tried to understand what they were saying to each other. One thing that
was clear to me was that they kept calling the witness against my client
a ‘blanquito’ .

This was around the same time when I had reached the topic of diminutives’ in my Spanish studies. But this was still around the same time when I would try to relate each and every Spanish vocabulary word to a word that I knew in English.

That technique can be useful many times but there are exceptions when it is of no use or does more harm than good. Apparently this one…

As I kept hearing the two Latino detectives refer to the witness as a ‘blanquito,’ I thought about which  word in English sounds a little like ‘blanquito.’

I could only think of one. And that was ‘blanket.’ And my Spanish Grammar and  Vocabulary book had just taught me the topic of Spanish diminutives.

My Spanish Grammar and Vocabulary book had just taught me that the ‘diminutive suffix -ito/ita is added to nouns to add a note of smallness or endearment.’

So I reasoned that the two detectives were referring to the witness against my client as a ‘small blanket’ or ‘dear blanket.’ Which apparently didn’t make any sense.

On my drive home from the precinct I gave it some more thought. I tried another approach. Instead of thinking which words in English sound like ‘blanquito’ I thought about any words that I had learned in Spanish that sound like ‘blanquito.’

Caramba!  There was one word that I had learned and it sounded like ‘blanquito.’ That word is  ‘blanco’ — The color white.

At that point, I didn’t know if I was more confused or less confused. Why were the two Latino detectives referring to the 6 foot, 200 pound 20-something-year-old white male as the ‘small white male’ or even
more confusing: the ‘dear little white man’?

What help my Spanish Grammar and Vocabulary book had been!

It wasn’t until I explained the incident to a Spanish-speaking friend that I understood what the two Latino detectives meant when they used the
term blanquito.

In order so that you can avoid this pitfall, we have put together a Spanish lesson so that you understand how colors and race are used as you learn Latin American Spanish.

Interestingly, most of the things about this topic, I didn’t learn from  how-to-learn Spanish books. And believe me, I have read plenty of them. Instead, native speakers had to explain these things to me. Usually after I improperly used a Spanish ‘color’ or improperly used a Spanish adjective to denote race.

Here’s the link for the lesson:

http://www.learningspanishlikecrazy.com/Spanish_Grammar/018.html

Learn Spanish Regular Verbs in the Present Tense

Do you want to know the quickest way to learn how to speak Spanish fluently?

Learning how to speak Spanish fluently or any other language is pretty easy
once you know the main key.

The easiest way to learn Spanish is through mastery of the fundamentals. I guess as human beings that is the key to learning any new skill whether it is speaking a foreign language, driving a car, playing golf or running a successful business.

So why is it that so many people spend so much time learning very specific
vocabulary and grammar only fit for speaking to brain surgeons and rocket scientists?

Don’t get me wrong. There is a time for learning advanced grammar and vocabulary. But that comes only after you have mastered the fundamentals — and not before.

Very recently on my way to a doctor’s appointment, I met a native English speaker who told me that he can ‘speak Spanish fluently’ and that he had even lived abroad in Latin America. To prove it to me, we had a conversation in Spanish.

Although his vocabulary and grammar were correct, it appeared as if he was struggling to to say each word. In fact, it took him so long to say each sentence in Spanish that he caused me to be more than 30 minutes late to my doctor’s appointment.

At least two times while he was struggling to speak Spanish to me I was tempted to interrupt him and  scream  ‘WHAT DO YOU THINK I HAVE ALL DAY OR SOMETHING!’

If it takes someone that much effort to get their sentences out in Spanish, I would not say that the person speaks Spanish fluently. Would you agree?

And I can tell you why his words did not flow effortlessly.

He probably knew more words than the average 4 year old native Spanish speaker. And with out a doubt his grammar was probably better than
a 4 year old native Spanish speaker. So why is it that a 4 year old native Spanish speaker speaks Spanish fluently and he doesn’t? And why did he have to struggle so much just to say each word in Spanish?

It’s because unlike a 4 year old native Spanish speaker, he hadn’t mastered the fundamentals of Spanish. When I refer to the ‘fundamentals’ I am referring to the most basic Spanish vocabulary and grammar.

If you are really serious about mastering Spanish and speaking it fluently, the key to doing so is through mastering basic grammar and vocabulary.

We have prepared another Spanish lesson for you to read. And yes, it does cover the basics or fundamentals.

Its is on the topic of one of the most basic  Spanish grammar topics: Regular verbs in the Present Tense.

Although this is probably a topic that you are already familiar with, the key to speaking Spanish fluently is not a matter of familiarity with the fundamentals. It’s a matter of mastery of the fundamentals.

So I encourage you to read the lesson and do the exercises at the end of the lesson. At the very least it will be a nice review for you and it will serve as a confidence booster by showing you how much you have already learned.

Aquí tiene:

http://www.learningspanishlikecrazy.com/Spanish_Grammar/Lesson017.html