Saturday 18 October 2008

Learning Spanish Lessons

Learn Basic Spanish

Spanish lessons are offered as elective courses in some schools. The Internet also offers a lot of resources to help the average user in learning this language that has become a popular second language all over the world. Because Spanish is the fourth most-used language in the world, it is not surprising that a lot of the dialects of many countries all over the world have similarities in Spanish.

To learn Spanish lessons will effectively enhance the understanding of the English language because the usual learning sessions involve direct comparisons between the grammar and sentence structuring of these two famous languages.

Of course, learning Spanish could not be done in one day, but having an open mind will surely speed up the process. The sentence structuring and pronunciation of Spanish is quite different from English. Internet programs that offer audio or video files to learn Spanish lessons with native speakers are therefore the best way to understand the language more effectively. For those who want to learn on their own, a lot of programs also offer lessons in text format.

The first thing to understand when learning a new language is the alphabet. The Spanish alphabet is almost the same to that of English, but with some significant differences including accents in the vowels and addition of ñ and double ll. The way the letters are read is also different. W is "uve doble," X is "equis," and Y is "I griega." It would be surprising for the English speaker to learn that the letters v and b do not differ in sound in Spanish; their difference lies in the usage so that B is often called as "big B," and V as "little V." Also, the accents in the Spanish vowels do not make these as a new set of letters unlike most European languages. Unlike English, too, the letters of the Spanish alphabet are of "feminine gender" and thus start with "la."

But like English, it is easy to learn Spanish lessons because the words are usually read as presented phonetically. Moreover, a lot of English words are surprisingly similar to Spanish, and these can be deduced easily. For example, "música" can be conveniently related as "music," and "embajada" is surely "embassy."

Some rules based on the Spanish alphabet should be remembered in learning the language. C is read as "ce" as in "cereal" when it comes before an e or an i. It is also notable to remember that a lot of Spanish words start with q unlike in English: example "quién" for "who" and "que" for "what." The q is usually pronounced as k, and the u is not read so that "que" is read as "ke."

The easiest to learn would be phrases used for greetings. "Hola" is easily translated as "hello" while the common word "adiós" means "good bye." "Muy bien, gracias" means "Very well, thank you," and "Mucho gusto, encantado" is "It's a pleasure to meet you."

Spanish is an enigmatic language that can translate a simple word such as "you" to different forms to suit formality. Learning it can therefore be really interesting and rewarding.

Learn more about Learning Spanish online at : http://learnspanishs.com/

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