Lessons

Dr. Spanglish

What follows on this page are not so much 'lessons' but all sorts of tips and tricks, ideas and concepts that I've successfully used to learn Spanish and to teach English to Spanish-speakers. My aim is not to 'teach' you but 'coach' you on how to learn and improve what you're already doing.

Remember, language is very often about 'communication', not always 'perfection' (and certainly not at the start!). So I want to explain this to you using my metaphor of building a perfect bridge or using stepping stones to cross a river (ie. real, practical survival communication, as I learned in Thailand first time out). Watch the short video here:.

Similarities and Differences (Similitudes y Diferencias)

English has EASY verb conjugations in the present (only 3rd person singular), past (no conjugations) and future (will + verb). No preterito/imperfecto split
No masculino/femenino
No 'tu/usted/usted', just 'you' (singular formal, informal, plural)
No ‘ser/estar’, ‘saber/conocer’ etc
'This, that, these, those' are all you need (not complicated and gender-based este, esta, esto, ese, esa, eso, estes, estas, estos, eses, esas, esos, aquel, aquella, aquello)
Spanish is phonetic (nice and easy!), however......(BOOOO !!) English has horribly Inconsistent Spelling and Pronunciation

Clues in the Origins:

French Connection: Learned French at school? Look for clues between French and Spanish: la lune (la luna/moon), porquoi? (por que?/why?), venir (venir/to come), un, deux, trois, quatre, cinq (uno, dos, tres, cuatro, cinqo/1,2,3,4,5)
Latin: words like: audio, felicitas, calidus ... which give us clues about the meaning of Spanish words... audio (sound), feliz (happy), caliente (hot) etc
Close Enough (to guess): placer/pleasure, dificil/difficult, profundo/deep or profound....
Hidden Meanings: words like evitable, ferretería... which with a little lateral-thinking give us clues.... eg something that is inevitable in English is unavoidable: evitar in Spanish mean to avoid
Click here for more 'Hidden Meaning Words'

Words with Similar Endings ('Friends'):

Here you can guess and be correct about 80% of the time
They come in groups of words with endings like: –ion, –ista, –ente/ante, –mente, –ate, –ible/able, –dad/tad ....(and more)
Click here to practice examples of 9 (of apparently 25) groups

False Friends:

Beware! Now that we just presented how many words are practically the same in English and Spanish, you need to know that there are many which aren't: in fact some of them can be really embarrassing: eg. decepcion, preservativos, experimentar etc
Click here for more 'False Friends'

Beware of the Opposites:

English has a lot more specific prefixes that make adjectives into their opposites: eg: non, un, in, im, dis..... (nonconformity, unhappy, incapable, impossible, dissatisfied) also –less (useful/useless).
These don’t often correspond directly in Spanish, although Spanish also has its own specific opposite-prefixes. eg: fortunate/unfortunate (afortunado/desafortunado), happy/unhappy (feliz/ infeliz), ability/disability (capacidad/incapacidad) etc

The Present:

English uses Present Continuous much more for ‘in action’ than Spanish, and only Present Simple for habits, routines, frequency, generalities and facts.
Spanish uses Present Simple much more for ‘in action’ than English: ‘que haces?’ (‘what are you doing?’) ‘I’m going to the shop’ (‘me voy a la tienda’). Consider if you heard: ‘what do you do?’ (you'd react: "when? you mean in a specific situation? frequency, habit?").....
A common habit for English speakers learning Spanish is to over-use the Spanish Present Continuous: 'que estas haciedo?' ('what are you doing?' ...literally) 'Me estoy yendo a la tienda' (YEUK! ... please don't do that!). Fall back on Spanish Present Simple more.
A common habit for Spanish speakers learning English is to over-use the Present Simple in more specific scenarios that shouldn't use it: 'What do you do?' ('que haces?') 'I go to the shop' (... we would have to ask 'when? how often?' etc)

Verbs Which Don't Exist in English:

Many Spanish verbs don’t exist in English. For some, we would use ‘to be + adjective’...
Here are some common examples:

Alegrar(se) (to be happy about something)
Agradecer (to be grateful)
Nacer (to be born)
Mejorar/se (to get better)
Opinar (to believe/to give one's opinion)
Amanecer (to greet in the ‘early morning’)
Desayunar (to breakfast / to eat breakfast)
Almorzar (to lunch / to eat lunch)
Cenar (to dinner / to eat diiner)

Also: Cheat: use notes! a piece of paper in your pocket when you go to the market to buy bananas! And remember, the old lady selling you the bananas is NOT evaluating you for perfect grammar and verb conjugation!

And don't translate (so much). Learning and mastering a language is so much more than just translating, especially word for word, which can often lead to complications, and when a whole expression doesn’t allow that. For example:

"How old are you?" = "Cuantos años tienes?" not: "Que viejo eres?" nor "How many years have you?"

However, there are many times you need new vocabulary and on-line I find www.spanishdict.com much more accurate and reliable than say, google-translate.

There are several Useful phrases or questions which can be like a key to a door, when you run across a word or expression you don't know or can't remember. With these few keys, you can get through almost any temporary lapse or block.

For example:

"What does XXXXX mean?" / "Que significa XXXXX?" (don't be tempted to change the word-order)

"How do you say XXXXXX in Spanish?" / "Como se dice XXXXXXX en ingles?"

(You can also substitute 'write (se escribe), spell (se deletrea) or pronounce (se pronuncia)' for 'say' in the above)

"I don't understand: Can you repeat that (more slowly) please?"

"No entiendo: puede(s) repetirlo (mas despacio) por favor?"

Context is King!

Whether you're ordering food in a restaurant, taking a taxi in a new city, watching TV, using your laptop to navigate the internet, most situations are common across most countries and cultures: it's just that we use different words and expression to define and communicate in them.
For that reason, knowing the context of whatever situation in which you need to use your new language is like having an overview-map at the start, as these common situations often talk about the same things. For instance if you are in a restaurant in El Salvador and the waitress comes to your table, most likely she is going to be asking you things like "Are you ready to order?" or "What would you like to drink?" and you will combine your skills at communication by speaking, pointing to the menu or whatever is needed to get the job done. I find when I am asking for the bill across a busy, noisy restaurant, I mouth the words "la cuenta, por favor" and immitate the signing of a cheque on my hand with an imaginery pen. That is universal, I think.
Another trick I use (and you can too) is when I get in a taxi in a city I have never been to and don't exactly know where we're headed (!) I strike up chit-chat with the driver. Sometimes, like in Panama city, the local accent is so strong I don't understand more than say 20% of what the driver says, but I use context because there are only so many (or so few) topics you can cover in a 15 minute taxi ride. Quite likely he has a family and has been driving his cab all day (and night!). Ask him about that. Tell him where you are from (with the standard lines you've by now memorised!) and make friends. A friendly driver will not mess you about if he feels connected. And if he says stuff to you you can't quite grasp, try repeating back to him in your Spanish what you think he said ("Did you just say your kids are 14 and 18?"... and he'll say, "yes... wow, you speak good Spanish by the way!").
As I have said before, many of these tips and tricks take advantage of the illusion of having to be perfect in your second language, when you don't. It's smoke-screens and mirrors, mostly !!

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Many Uses of 'Get':

Modern English uses the verb 'to get' in so many situations, often in place of a more accurate verb like to obtain, to receive, to become etc (more directly translated in Spanish as obtener, recibir, conseguir etc).
It usually depends on the context of what's being said of course.
Click here to see a more comprehensive list of ways to use 'get' and where possible, their Spanish equivalent