p>Learn Spanish in Spain
By Mike McDougall

Spanish is undoubtedly the growth language in the world at the moment; it is now spoken by an estimated 352 million people as a first language (with a further 417 million speaking it as a second language) making it the second or third most widely spoken language in the world. Hispanic nations are also showing strong economic growth so the potential for work opportunities in Spanish speaking countries for those learning Spanish, is increasing everyday. Spanish is now arguably the second most influential language in the world behind English and in all is spoken in 21 countries around the world. South America, with the exception from Brazil, is entirely Spanish speaking, as well as areas of Africa, the Caribbean and an ever growing Hispanic community in the USA. Which such a huge and diverse Spanish speaking world community, it’s without a doubt one of the most useful languages to learn – a Spanish language course could open up many opportunities in terms of work and travel throughout the Spanish speaking world.

Spanish language schools in Spain and South America offer students more than just the opportunity to study Spanish in the classroom. The concept of cultural immersion encourages students to extend their learning to outside the classroom. Students get the chance to interact with locals in everyday situations whether it’s simply ordering some food or attempting a full-blown conversation on the day’s issues. This is also a great help in giving students a solid cultural grounding, many language schools in Spain offer extra-curricular activities and excursions to assist with this process. The whole experience of a foreign country adds to the excitement, not only do you get the chance to learn Spanish but you also get the chance to discover beautiful cities (like Barcelona, Madrid or Seville), sample the joys of Spanish cuisine first hand and experience the warmth and good nature of the Spanish people.

Language schools such as Babylon-Idiomas (http://www.babylon-idiomas.com/eng/htm/learn-spanish-spain.htm) offer learning centres in four major Spanish cities (Barcelona, Madrid, Seville and Valencia) as well as in Costa Rica and Argentina as well – all very diverse and extremely different environments in which to learn a language and all with their own cultural nuances and wonderful sights to offer; from the eco-tourism and amazing wildlife of Costa Rica, to the majestic architecture of Gaudi’s “Sagrada Familia” in Barcelona.

It is important to remember, however, that spoken Spanish is not identical in the different regions of the Spanish state. In fact, its pronunciation and lexical characteristics can vary to a very significant extent from one place to another. However, the maintenance of a unified, standard, version of the Spanish language and of its written form is guaranteed by the Real Academia de la Lengua Española. The Academia sets the rules to follow in order to speak and write in a way that is accepted by all the different Spanish speakers.

Mike McDougall has five years experience working as a travel writer and marketeer. He is currently working to provide additional content for Babylon-Idiomas (http://www.babylon-idiomas.com/eng/htm/learn-spanish-spain.htm) , a Spanish language school with an excellent presence in Spain and Latin America.
This work is covered by a creative commons licence: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/2.0/uk/

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Six Keys to Help You Learn Spanish Online
By Patrick Jackson

This article consists of six tips to help
you learn Spanish online. If you follow these
six tips, you can be sure that you will
learn to speak Spanish online much easier.

Key Numero Uno to Learn Spanish Online:

“Stay motivated”

I think everyone that studies
a foreign language will experience
a time when they are becoming less and less
motivated. You may feel that you are
losing your desire to learn Spanish online
around the same time that you have reached a plateau.

If you feel that you are losing your desire
to learn to speak Spanish online,
try planning a trip to a Spanish speaking country.
Since you will want to get the most out of
your trip, this should motivate you to study.

Here’s another tip to help you stay motivated and
to make you want to learn to speak Spanish online.
Find a native speaker that you are romantically interested
in. Since you will probably want to impress him or
her with your Spanish, this should motivate you
to keep studying and make you want to learn Spanish
online. You will also notice that you
are making progress quicker by practicing your
Spanish with a native speaker and that should also
motivate you to keep studying and practicing Spanish.

Of course, this tip only applies to single people
or other people without a significant other.

Key Numero Dos to Learn to speak Spanish Online:
“Don’t Be Afraid of Making Mistakes”

Make lots of mistakes. And then after you have made
lots of mistakes go make some more mistakes. And then
go make some more mistakes.

Many people are afraid of making mistakes
when learning Spanish online. If you really
want to learn to speak Spanish online, then you
have to accept the fact that making
mistakes is part of the learning process.
The more mistakes you make, the quicker
you learn to speak Spanish online.

If you are not making mistakes, that’s probably
an indication that you are not making
the effort to learn Spanish online.

Some people will try to learn to speak Spanish
online by ONLY listening. Their reasoning is
that once they learn enough Spanish that’s
when they will begin trying to speak Spanish online.
But I can I assure you that it doesn’t work that way.
It works in reverse.

That is, once you start trying to speak Spanish
and making mistakes that’s when you will begin to
learn to speak Spanish online. Not the other way around.

So go ahead and make mistakes. The mistakes
aren’t there to embarrass you. The mistakes
are there to help you master Spanish.

Key Numero Tres to Learn Spanish Online:

“Focus on how to speak Spanish”
Don’t focus on “why Spanish is Spoken
the way it is”

Many people have sent me emails with questions
such as why is it “me gusta” (I like) instead
of “me gusto” or why is it “me toma” instead
of “me tomo”

Of course, I could easily answer these questions.
(And I do) But the objective is not to try equate everything
in Spanish with English or your native language.

Accept the fact that Spanish grammar is different
from English grammar. And focus on the objective
of any language — which is to communicate effectively.

And in order to communicate effectively, you only
need to understand and be understood. It is not
necessary that you understand each and every
grammatical facet.

Trying to do so will only hinder your learning and make
it difficult to learn Spanish online.
Imagine trying to teach a 4 yr old the definition
of a direct pronoun vs. an indirect pronoun.
We would never attempt such a thing. But the
4yr old child is still fluent in his or her
native language.

So make your goal to understand and be understood.
Focus on “how to speak Spanish”
Don’t focus on “why Spanish is Spoken
the way it is.”

Key Numero Cuatro to Learn to Speak Spanish Online:

“Master the Fundamentals”

Many people spend their time learning
a bunch of Spanish vocabulary that they could
go a life time and never use. That’s
because the words are hardly used
in normal everyday conversation.

If you want to learn to speak Spanish online without
Wasting anytime, I advise you to master
the fundamentals. When I say the
“fundamentals” I am referring to
the basic vocabulary and basic grammar.

I know adults that have studied Spanish
for a few years and they know thousands
of words in Spanish. Although they may
be proficient in Spanish, I would not
consider them fluent. On the other hand,
a three or four year old native Spanish-speaking
child can speak Spanish fluently. It is not
because the child knows thousand of words in Spanish.
The child may only know about a thousand words
or less in Spanish. But the child has mastered the fundamentals.

Mastery of the fundamentals is what separates
the proficient from the fluent.

If you really want to learn to speak Spanish online
make it a priority to master the fundamentals.

Key Numero Cinco to Learn Spanish Online:

“Take Advantage of downtime”

Finding time to study can be a challenge.
Many people just don’t have the time
to sit down and study. But who said that
you have to be sitting down? If you are
waiting in line at the bank or waiting at the
doctor’s office, turn on your mp3 player
or ipod and listen to an audio Spanish lesson.

If you drive to work everyday, that’s
an excellent opportunity to practice your favorite
audio Spanish course. If you like to jog or
exercise on a stairmaster or treadmill,
bring your mp3 player or ipod with you
and listen to your favorite audio Spanish course

Instead of watching the 10′ clock News. Watch
“Las Noticias” Instead of watching a movie
on HBO, watch a movie on HBO Latino.

So to those that say “I just
don’t have the time to learn Spanish online.”
My response is that you can make excuses
or you can learn to speak Spanish online.
But you can’t do both. The choice
is yours.

Key Numero Seis to Learn to speak Spanish Online:

“Become an Imitator”

Some Spanish courses do not put much emphasis
on pronunciation. I think that is a big mistake.

If you really want to be understood, you must try
to mimic native speakers.

Have you every experienced someone that
asked you for directions or some other question
and you were unable to assist the person because you didn’t
speak her language. And then you suddenly
realized that the person was actually speaking
English but her accent was so thick that you
thought the person was speaking another language.

The same thing happens to Spanish ears. If
you do not develop good pronunciation, you will
not be understand.

If you say the word “dad” in Spanish and you do
not stress the appropriate syllable, a
native Spanish speaker may think that you are
talking about “french fries.” To English ears
the difference may be very subtle. But to the
Latin American its the difference between
“dad” and “potatoes”.

So focus on mimicking native Spanish speakers.

I hope that you enjoyed these 6 Tips to Help You
Learn Spanish Online and that they truly help
you in your journey to learn to speak Spanish online.

Patrick Jackson

Patrick Jackson is a self-taught speaker of Spanish and the founder of the Learning Spanish Like Crazy method. Webmasters, feel free to republish this story. It must remain unedited and whole. All resource/footer copy including this statement must remain intact and unedited. All links must remain clickable. Learning Spanish Like Crazy makes it quick and easy to learn Spanish. Download free audio Spanish lessons at: http://www.learningspanishlikecrazy.com

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How To Learn Spanish Quickly and Easily
By Mark Eastwood

Spanish is a very useful language to learn as it is the world’s second most popular language.

Outside of the popular coastal tourist resorts a basic knowledge of Spanish is invaluable. Even in the tourist resorts you will find the Spanish will not go out of their way to speak English to you. If you try a few words and get stuck you tend to find they suddenly can speak a bit of English!

The bottom line is that if you are moving to Spain and looking for work you might as well not bother if you don’t learn the language. If you are a tourist then obviously you don’t have to learn the language, you will get by, but learning a few basic words or expressions will actually add to the enjoyment of your holiday as you delight the locals (and yourself).

I don’t think it is fair to describe learning any language as easy but if it’s any consolation, there are hundreds of English words that are virtually identical in Spanish - so you already know a lot of Spanish vocabulary!

TIPS ON LEARNING SPANISH

* Get motivated. The best way to do this is to imagine your ideal outcome. If you don’t do this you will most likely fail when you start hitting a few inevitable hurdles. We all go though this stage but if you have burned into your mind the positive results that will follow then you will succeed where thousands have failed. Imagine something like getting a job in your dream destination or having a relationship with a handsome Spaniard or meeting a pretty Senorita!

* Take baby steps to build your confidence. Remember that the first objective is to master a few basic words like hello, goodbye, thank you etc. This will give you confidence to go forward - DO NOT start learning long and complex words.

* Buy a good book or better still a good tape series where you can hear the language and how it sounds. Obviously you need to buy this but there are books that you will waste months on and get nowhere and there are books where you will start to be able to speak and learn Spanish very quickly.

* Don’t be afraid. Fear is a terrible emotion. You have to try and speak Spanish to people otherwise you won’t know how you are progressing. It really doesn’t matter that you will make mistakes, it is only by making mistakes that you will learn. The worst that can happen is that the person who are talking to will not understand you, yes it’s frustrating but don’t beat yourself up about it.

* Go to Spain. Visiting Spain itself is a great motivator to learn the language. If you don’t keep practising what you have learned then you will be surprised at how quickly it is forgotten.

* As much as you want to learn Spanish, there must be other people who are equally keen to learn English - place an ad and try finding someone who you can trade with.

* Spanish grammar is different to English - leave it at that. Don’t keep trying to make sense of it in English terms - just concentrate on being able to communicate with people - otherwise you will end up confusing yourself.

* There may be thousands of Spanish words but you only need to learn a fraction of them. If you analysed your own vocabulary during the day you would be surprised to find that you are not speaking like a dictionary but instead use a very limited amount of words. Spanish is the same, you just need to know the most commonly used words.

* Turn wasted time into valuable time. Learning Spanish is great when you are doing things like driving, jogging, waiting for someone, ironing, cooking the dinner etc. The more time you practice the quicker you will accelerate your learning.

Copyright Mark Eastwood. Feel free to use this article online and in your email newsletters as long as you leave it intact and do not alter it in anyway. The byline and biography must remain in the article.

Mark Eastwood lives on the Costa Blanca coast of Spain and is the publisher of http://www.CostaBlancaUncovered.com - The site for tourists visiting the Costa Blanca coast of Spain as well as residents and people considering moving to this popular area known as the ‘California of Europe’.

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Learn Spanish - 10 Reasons Why
By Steven Gillman

Why learn Spanish? Almost five years ago I met the most wonderful woman in my life in Ecuador. I’m not sure we’d be married today if I hadn’t learned a little of the language before going there. Finding true love is not the only reason to learn Spanish, though. Here are ten more.

1. To understand better. Like it or not, you’ll hear as much Spanish as English at the Miami airport, and in many other places now. Wouldn’t it be nice to understand what people are saying, and what the announcements are?

2. To be able to help others. Our bank has a branch at the grocery store, and this past week a farmer who didn’t speak English was ready to leave without his money or groceries. It felt good to be able to help him out.

3. To improve your brainpower. A new language expands the range of your possible thoughts. There are concepts and expressions in each language that don’t exist in others. These can give you new ways to think.

4. To change your perspective. In Spanish, you say “I have fear” (yo tengo miedo). Psychologists tell us that thoughts like “I am afraid” create too much identification with the feeling. It’s healthier to think “I feel fear,” or “I have fear,” and in Spanish it’s automatic.

5. To improve your memory. Did you know that most people experience a general improvement in memory from studying a language? Studies prove it.

6. To age more slowly. Learn Spanish to slow the aging process? It’s true. It has been demonstrated that you can halt the age-related decline in mental function by learning a new language.

7. To get a better job. Knowing more than one language always looks good on a job application, and Spanish is the most useful one to learn.

8. So you can enjoy ALL the channels on your cable TV.

9. So you can order without help in a TRUE Mexican restaurant.

10. So you can say hello (hola) to your neighbor.

Learn Spanish for whatever reason you want, and you’ll get all the benefits above as well. There is one more reason to learn Spanish: You’ll be able to make new friends. My wife is glad I learned.

Steve Gillman has been working on his Spanish with his wife Ana Blum, a native of Ecuador. Together they have built a website where you can get free lessons in Spanish. Visit: http://www.TheSpanishLesson.com

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