Everyone knows that the best way to learn any new language is to immerse yourself in the language and culture. If that is not possible for you in your situation and you do want to learn to speak Spanish there are other routes you can take. One of these is through a free home study course available online.
You can stay at home and continue to work while you study at your own pace. Although you do have to learn Spanish verbs and how to form sentences, you do need to have a excellent command of Spanish vocabulary of you hope to speak the language fluently.
Depending on your reasons for learning Spanish, there may be specialized vocabulary that you need to learn. You do have to realize that in order to carry on a conversation you will need to know other words as well. For this reason you could divide the vocabulary into themes and learn words for each theme that will eventually cover all the basics. Some of these themes could be:
– Seasonal words: This includes the vocabulary for special events, such as Christmas, Easter and holidays. Christmas Eve in Spanish is ochebuena?and Christmas present is egalo de navidad?
– Weather: Talking about the weather is one way to have a casual conversation with anyone.
– The Parts of the Body: This includes vocabulary that describes one physical appearance.
– Food: When you dine in a restaurant it is vital to be able to read the menu and order your meal.
– Adjectives: You need to learn the vocabulary to help you describe a person, a location or an event.
By listening to native Spanish speakers as they read passages that you see on your computer screen, you will easily pick up the vocabulary and its proper placement in a sentence. There are many different types of games that can help you learn the vocabulary as well.
While adults may reckon learning through games and songs is silly, it is the way native Spanish speaking children gain mastery of the language. For example, when you play a game in which the cards have a picture of the word and the Spanish word printed beneath, you will see how simple it is to remember the word. One of these games is a memory game with cards spread out face down. You turn over one card and then try to find its match in the rest of the cards.
Watching children educational programs in Spanish is another simple way for adults and children to pick up vocabulary words. If you use close captioning while you watch so that the words that come up on the screen are in English or in your native language, you will be able to know what the characters on the program are saying.
For those wishing to learn some simple words in Spanish that they can use to help them get around easily when they visit a Spanish speaking country, there are phrase books available at bookstores with the most well loved words translated from English. Pick up one of these books and take it with you so that you can refer to it whenever you need.
