The arrival and settlement by the Conquistadors started a change in the cultural landscape of the Americas. The indigenous population of countries like Mexico, Peru and Guatemala were exposed to a new language, different foods, and a totally different way of life. Similar experiences happened to the slaves who were brought to work in Spanish colonies such as Cuba and Hispaniola.

Today Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world. The country with the largest Spanish-speaking population happens to be Mexico, a former colony and not Spain, the mother country. The spread of Spanish language and culture has tremendous influence on twenty countries with nineteen of those countries located in the Americas. It is obvious that outside of Spain, Latin America is the melting pot for Spanish culture.

There are other countries and regions that have also come under the influence of this language. Countries such as the Philippines have been influenced by Spanish language after they have been colonized by Spain for about 300 years. Other countries especially those within the Caribbean region retained elements of Spanish language in their dialects from passing between the hands of Spanish and other European colonization at some time in their history.

In recent times immigration has been responsible for the spread of the Spanish language and culture. A growing Hispanic population in the United States and Canada to some extent has led to the growth of a new culture and way of life.

For those persons who want to move away from the traditional classroom setting there are a number of online courses available. Some of the basic ones are free while others require a fee. Many of these `online courses provide the resources whereby students can participate in aural as well as oral activities. In addition to doing online courses students can also purchase cassettes tapes, CDs and DVDs that are designed to teach Spanish. Whether the student chooses the online method or the tapes, CDs and DVDs one has to have a certain level of self discipline to learn Spanish this way.

Just like any language the most effective way of learning it is living in a country of the target language for a period of time. In this way the student is forced to learn the language. This is also the perfect opportunity to become immersed in the culture. It is almost impossible to separate the language from its rich culture. To this end many countries have seen fit to tailor programs and packages to suit the needs of the students. Countries like Costa Rica and Chile have designed excellent packages.

Verbs – All verbs end in either ar, er, or ir. Verbs can be either regular or irregular. Regular verbs are very easy to conjugate once the rules for the ending of these verbs are adhered to. Irregular verbs on the other hand have several different ways of being conjugated. A person can become familiar with them after using certain verbs over a period of time.

Verb tenses – Spanish tenses are not as simple as they are used in English. In addition to the present, past, and future tenses there are others such as the imperfect and the subjunctive. One has to know when to use the preterit and imperfect although both relate to past events. In translating, ‘the children were playing when I entered the room’, one has to take into account the difference in tense of the two verbs.

Adjectives – adjectives are usually positioned after the noun they describe. They also reflect the gender of the nouns and ‘s’ is added when they modify plural nouns.

Nouns – Each noun is preceded by an article. An article is ‘el’ or ‘la’. They denote the gender of the noun. Generally words that end in ‘a’ are feminine nouns and those that in ‘o’ are masculine but there are exceptions to the rule.

Tildes and accents – These are very important especially in written Spanish as this can change the meaning of a word completely. For example, the word ‘mamá’ means mother while ‘mama’ signifies breast.

Exclamation points and question marks – These are used at the beginning and end of a question or exclamation -   íHola! ¿Cómo se llama?

Castilian dialect was the original language of Cantabria in the north central region of Spain. It has now become standard Spanish. It is distinguished by a lisp of certain consonants.

Euskara is the dialect of the Basque people in Northern Spain. It is interesting to note that although many of the words are pronounced as the words in Spanish, linguists have found that there are no real connections between Euskara and Spanish.

Catalan is the official language of Andorra and it is also spoken in some region of Northern Spain. It has an alphabet similar to that of standard Spanish but the words and pronunciation vary.

Andalusian is the second most spoken dialect in Spain after Castilian. It is mostly spoken by persons in the south of the country. There are a number of linguistic differences between it and standard Spanish such as the omission of final consonants.

Outside of Spain there are a number of differences in the dialect of the Hispanic countries. Argentine Spanish has a number of differences when compared with other Spanish-speakers in Latin America. Their dialect is characterized by the use of ‘vos’ and the different pronunciation of ‘ll’ and ‘j’.

Many of the differences between the Spanish-speaking countries in Latin America are found in the meaning and pronunciation of words. For example, ‘guagua’ means bus in some countries while in others it refers to a baby.

The use of English words in the Spanish dialect is very common in some countries particularly in Mexico and Puerto Rico.

The following list gives some of the more popular Spanish words.

• cafeteria –  (from cafeteria) the origin and literal meaning is coffee store or coffee house.
• banana – it was introduced to the New World by the Spaniards who may have gotten it from West Africa.
• chocolate – although its origin is from the Nahuatl xocolatl it was the Spaniards who introduced it to Europe and the rest of the world.
• tomato – this is from the Spanish tomate and the Nahuatl tomatl.
• taco – originally from Mexico
• tortilla – its literal meaning is ‘a little cake’.
• rio – (from río) means river. This is widely used in some English speaking countries – Rio Grande (large river).
• mosquito – it means little fly – the ending ito or ita denotes the diminutive.
• macho – it means male
• el Niño/la Nina – weather phenomena characterized by extreme weather conditions. El Niño which means the Christ child or little boy was used to describe the unusual weather pattern because it normally occurs near to Christmas.
• salsa – it means sauce – it is also the name of a type of music that originated in Cuba from a blend of different genres.
• cigar – cigarro – original meaning is to smoke rolled tobacco leaves.

1. Have an open mind. The learning process becomes much easier if one has an open mind and believes that learning will take place. If there are mental blocks towards learning the language it will be difficult to comprehend even the simplest rule.
2. Speak it. Although learning any language comprises the four skills of listening, reading, writing and speaking the majority of Spanish learners especially adult learners will have the opportunity to speak the language more than the use of other skills. Speaking the language will increase confidence, and provide pronunciation practice.
3. Find opportunities to read and listen to the language. Just like speaking these two skills are also important. Listening to native Spanish-speakers will help the learner to become accustomed to different accents.  Reading materials in the target language is also important. It is an excellent exercise to learn new vocabulary.
4. Have access to a good Spanish-English dictionary. A good dictionary will not only provide the meaning of words but will also give the part of speech, gender of the word, synonyms, antonyms, etc.
5. Become immersed in the culture. It is impossible to learn Spanish language without becoming familiar with the culture. This helps in the understanding of certain habits and customs which are many times related to the vocabulary.
6. Attend events and cultural activities. Watch a Spanish movie. Make friends with Spanish-speakers. Spend some time watching and listening to Spanish channels. The more lasting activity is paying a visit to a Spanish-speaking country.

The countries where Spanish is the official language are:

Spain – it is the mother country for all Spanish speaking countries. This includes the Canary Islands which is a Spanish Autonomous Community.

Equatorial Guinea – It is the only Spanish country on the African continent.

Central America

Mexico – Mexico has the largest population in the world. There is also a large Mexican population in the United States as well as in Canada.

Guatemala

El Salvador

Honduras

Nicaragua

Costa Rica

Panama

South America

Colombia

Venezuela

Ecuador

Peru

Chile

Bolivia

Uruguay

Paraguay

Argentina

Caribbean

Dominican Republic

Cuba

Puerto Rico

In addition to the United States there are some other countries that have a large Spanish speaking population. Belize in Central America has a large number of persons who speak Spanish. It is the only country in Central America where Spanish is not the official language and the only one in that region that was colonized by Britain.

Spanish was the official language of the Philippines until 1973. A considerably number of the country’s inhabitants still speaks the language today. Spanish has also influenced Tagalog which is now the first language for many Filipinos.

Spanish is also widely spoken in Gibraltar.

One of the main reasons is the popularity of the language. It is the second most spoken language in the world so there will be plenty of opportunities to use the language. It is not one of those languages that are restricted to only a few regions. Spanish speakers are to be found in every region of the world.

Another reason why Spanish should be chosen is the high demand for bilingual speakers. Especially in the Western Hemisphere many high paying jobs require the use of one or more languages. Areas such as education, health care, social work and journalism have many opportunities for persons who learn Spanish. Many times persons who are able to speak and understand Spanish have the advantage of getting employment over persons who are not bilingual.

Many colleges and universities require students to study Spanish. If someone has done Spanish before entering these institutions it may make life more bearable for them. They can spend time doing other courses.

Spanish is a relatively easy language to learn. It has a similar alphabet to English, French, Italian and other languages. The phonology is practical. One the learner gets to learn the basic sounds of the vowels and the consonants pronouncing the words will be less problematic.

Learning a new language especially Spanish helps to make an impressive resume. It adds to one’s intellectual characteristics. It also helps one to feel accomplished on realizing that that he has the ability to communicate in another language. It gives a sense of satisfaction and achievement and that’s why learning Spanish is so important.

SCHOOL                                                          HEALTH

arte – art                                                                 hospital – hospital

clase – class                                                             paciente – patient

estudiante – student                                              termómetro – thermometer                                                                                          medicina – medicine

ingles – English                                                               vitaminas – vitamins

matemáticas – Mathematics                                             farmacia – pharmacy

música – music                                                               TRANSPORT

profesor – teacher                                                            autobus – bus

TIME                                                                          tren – train

hora – hour                                                            bicicleta – bicycle

minuto – minute                                                  motocicleta – motorbike

momento – moment                                                   helicopter – helicopter

segundo – second

PROFESSIONS                                                                 ANIMALS

secretaria – secretary                                                  ratón – rat

ingeniero – engineer                                                   tigre – tiger

médico – doctor                                                   elefante – elephant

carpintero – carpenter                                                        león – lion

piloto – pilot                                                           animal – animal

jardinero – gardener

policia – police

mecánico – mechanic

SPORTS

beisbol – baseball

voleibol – volleyball

fútbol – football

tenis – tennis

COUNTRIES AND CITIES

Inglaterra – England

Londres – London

Nueva York – New York

My boss always wanted to learn Spanish but didn’t have the luxury of time to be able to attend a regular Spanish language course offered in a school. He was always busy with work and usually attended conventions or business meetings overseas. My boss’s birthday was coming up and everyone in the office wanted to give the best birthday present to impress him. Since I knew my boss was very interested in Spanish, I searched the internet for Spanish Courses that were affordable enough for me to buy yet informative and interesting enough for my boss. It’s a good thing I ran into Rocket Spanish. What I liked about it was that it was very affordable for me. And since it also included games and also featured culture lessons I was so sure that my boss would enjoy it. Fortunately, my boss liked his present and purchased a couple more for his daughter and his sister. Thanks to Rocket Spanish, I was given a 5 day paid vacation from my boss!