Visual Link Spanish Newsletter (V:1; I:19)

Visual Link Spanish™ Course only $149.95!-----

Taught at Weber State University! Taught at Weber State University! - One fact you may not have known is that during the past three years, our Visual Link Spanish™ Course has been taught at Weber State University. At WSU it costs $458 to take our 3 credit-hour course. If you purchase the course through our web site, it only costs $149.95! Click here to go to the web site. / Click here to order.

Spanish Words of the Week -----
Words taken from "Survival", Section 3 of our Complete Course.

	English	Spanish
Monday	Please	Por favor
Tuesday	Thank you	Gracias
Wednesday	You're welcome	De nada
Thursday	I'm sorry	Lo siento
Friday	Excuse me	Perdón
Saturday	Excuse me (if you need to leave or go past someone)	Con permiso
Sunday	Ready?	¿Listo/a/s?
Learn More:	Our Visual Link Spanish™ course explains the use of each word in our newsletter, how to use it, in what context, and guides you in pronunciation. Click here to learn Spanish.

Spanish Culture ----- ¿Habla usted español?

I'd like to talk about a very common mistake that many of us "Gringo's" make. Just a quick reminder from our newsletter of about a month ago that the word "Gringo" basically means "foreigner".

The mistake I want to talk about is a phrase I've heard misused so many times that I wanted let you know about it so you can say it correctly. Many times a native Spanish speaker will start speaking with an English speaker in Spanish. The English speaker will say, trying to sound intelligent and knowledgeable in Spanish, "No habla español". What the English speaker is trying to say is, "I don't speak Spanish", but what is actually said is, " You don't speak Spanish". There is a big difference between these two phrases.

The next time a native Spanish speaker starts to speak Spanish, you should say, "No hablo español". This means "I don't speak Spanish" and is pronounced [No aw-blow es-pan-yowl]. There is only one letter difference between the two phrases, but it completely changes the meaning. The word "habla" (with an "a" on the end) means "you speak" and the word "hablo" (with an "o" on the end) means "I speak". Remember, "I don't speak Spanish" is "No hablo español".

Let's change the situation a little. Let's say a native Spanish speaker directly asks you if you speak Spanish -- "¿Habla español?". Here is a simple but effective answer for them. You can say "Hablo un poquito" which means "I speak a little" this is pronounced [Aw-blow oon poh-key-tow].

Please remember to practice your Spanish with native Spanish speakers. Apart from a formal program, this is the best way to improve your Spanish. Remember to use the "Comprehending Native Speakers" section in our Visual Link Spanish™ manual to get through almost any situation with a native Spanish speaker.

Learn Spanish with free Spanish lessons.

 

¡Buena suerte! (Good luck!)


David S. Clark -- President
U.S. Institute of Languages
dave@spanishprograms.com
http://www.spanishprograms.com