Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Easy Spanish Lessons You Can Master in No Time By Jan Angelo

Spanish is a very popular language, and to be able to speak in Spanish well is very advantageous for anyone. With the many Spanish-speaking countries in the world, knowing the Spanish language will make it easier to travel throughout these countries and learn more about them. With these easy Spanish lessons, you will learn the basics that you need to master the Spanish language. Whether you want to travel to a Spanish speaking country, or you just to learn Spanish for fun, these easy Spanish lessons will surely give you the foundation that you need.

To start off our easy Spanish lessons, let us try to understand the differences between Spanish sentences and English sentences. The main difference in Spanish sentences is that the object usually comes before the verb, unlike in English wherein the verb comes before the object. For example, I love you in Spanish is Te Amo. Te means "you," while amo means "I love."

Next in our easy Spanish lessons is studying the different Spanish verbs. Spanish verbs end in either -ar, -ir, or -er. These are the indicators that the word is a verb. These suffixes indicate the tense of the verb as well as the person being referred to in the sentence.

The next thing we will learn for our easy Spanish lessons is how to ask questions in Spanish. When we ask questions in English, usually the order of the subject and the verb are interchanged; however, in Spanish, there is no need to change the order of the words. How do we know then that the sentence is a question? In Spanish, you will know that it is a question because of the intonation. If the sentence is written, you will know that it is a question because of the question marks which are found at the beginning as well as the end of the sentence.

Other lessons we will learn are how to use Spanish adjectives. In Spanish, nouns and adjectives have specific genders. Spanish adjectives that are masculine end in o, while feminine adjectives end in a. There are some adjectives however that do not end in either o or a. In this case, you can use these adjectives for feminine or masculine nouns. Also, when using Spanish adjectives, it is important to note that the adjective comes after the noun, unlike in English wherein the adjective comes before the noun. For example "A pretty girl" will be "Una chica guapa" in Spanish.

When you start learning any new language, its always difficult at first as you need to understand the structure of the language, and Spanish is no different. However, with it can become a lot easier if you choose the correct Easy Spanish Lessons

Sunday, March 1, 2009

Learn Spanish - 5 Tips to Getting Rid of the Annoying English Accent! By Sarah Dieter

If you are a native English speaker then you probably have a very obvious English accent when speaking Spanish. This is not inherently a bad thing, people will still understand what you are saying and normally do not really care.

However, if you want to learn Spanish well, then you also want to learn proper pronunciation. Don't think that you need to understand all aspects of the Spanish language before you start learning how to get rid of your accent. In fact, focusing on your pronunciation right away will actually make this much easier in the long run. Here are some simple tips to get rid of your accent.

1. Focus on Your Ears

You need to train your ears to the sound of Spanish as it is spoken by native speakers. You can do this by listening to native speakers in person or in music, on the radio, television, and even CD's. If you can, try repeating words and phrases that you hear. Doing this consistently will help train your ears on how words and phrases are pronounced. This will directly translate in your mind from listening to speaking more like a native speaker.

2. Constructive Criticism

If you are corrected by a native speaker don't take it personally. You should use this criticism to your advantage. This will allow you to understand what others are hearing and will help you understand what you need to work on. You should also encourage people that you know to correct you whenever possible. The more aware you are of what you need to change, the easier it will be.

3. Understand the Alphabet

The Spanish alphabet is simple insofar as its sounds are consistent. Once you thoroughly understand the Spanish alphabet the faster you will be able to speak those consistent sounds effectively and every time. You tend to read Spanish more coherently and quickly than anything else. This means that once you understand the sound of each letter and word, the quicker you can speak it fluently.

4. Vowels and Diphthongs

This is where most English speakers are most noticeable. Vowels and diphthongs in the Spanish language are always the same. This is not true in English language and can cause you to naturally change how you speak certain words unconsciously. Once you can say all of the vowels and diphthongs consistently, your accent will be much less noticeable.

5. Roll your R's

Most English speakers cannot roll their R's. This can be a dead giveaway when trying to hide your accent. This can be very difficult to explain how to do, so I recommend that you ask someone that knows how to already and they can teach you.

These 5 tips will help you hide your accent. In order to use these effectively, you need to practice as much as possible. Practice makes perfect as we all have heard since we were kids. I hope that these tips are as useful to you as they were for me.

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