Learn Colombian Spanish #3: Everyone is “a la orden”
It literally means "at the order" but translates to something more like "at your service", it's what servers in restaurants or people selling things on the street say to let you know they're ready to receive your order. I suspect this isn't exclusive to...
Learn Colombian Spanish #2: “Qué pena” Does Not Mean “What a shame”…Like in Every Other Country
Instead it's a very polite way of saying "I'm sorry", frequently heard from service workers like waiters when something goes wrong for the customer. I've had a waiter say it when I dropped my own money and he picked it up for me, just the other day when a...
Learn Colombian Spanish #1: Pronunciation of “y” and “ll”
Soft "j", that's how. Colombians pronounce the double-L and y as a soft j sound, like the j in "jay", e.g. "llegar" = "jay-gar", "yo" = "joe", etc. This is in contrast with the traditional pronunciation of those two sounds that you'll hear in Spain as well...
A Brief Guide to Regional Variation of the Forms of Address (Tú, Vos, Usted) in Spanish
This is actually an excerpt from a longer article I'm currently in the process of writing (should be out in a few weeks, when it is I'll edit this) about Spanish pronouns. It's just a brief guide to the form of address used in each country (regional variation, which...
Spanish-Speaking YouTubers Who Are Excellent for Intermediate Spanish Practice (not lessons, intended for native speakers, great for improving listening comprehension)
This is what a lot of people are looking for but they either don't know it or don't know how to describe it: Spanish-language videos that are interesting/entertaining, intended for native speakers (that is, these videos are not over-simplified for Spanish-students),...
I’m touring South America for a year starting with Colombia
First, I must apologize for...several things: not putting out content with any kind of consistency (here or on social media networks like instagram), not updating a myriad of posts that need updating, and for not talking to you about this until now. My...
Spanish Conversation Connectors: “it seems to me”, “all joking aside”, “I presume”, etc. – 4 Pages Worth!
A recent conversation with a subscriber to my email list, Michael Rosenthal, led to him sending me a document that I think the rest of you will find useful. It's a list of what Anthony Lauder calls "conversational connectors". Anthony runs the site...
List of Best YouTube Spanish Lessons – Short Description and Sample Video Included
Ok, I'm going to start a list of YouTube Spanish lessons I recommend, that is to say YouTube channels that teach Spanish and, in my opinion, do a good job of it. This list will be continually updated and maintained (as it will need to be in order to remain current...
Learn Spanish for Real #9: Four Ways to Say Somebody Is Naked!
1. En pelotas This literally means "in balls" (hence the photo) per the modern definition of "pelota", but that's not what it refers to at all (it's not using the modern definition of "pelota"). Contrary to what many people think, "pelota" here doesn't mean "ball" at...
You’re always learning (at an advanced level that usually means cultural stuff)
So I just started watching Ocho Apellidos Catalanes and I'm immediately running into words and phrases I don't know. I've been learning Spanish for something like 9 years now. "What, don't you speak Spanish yet?" No one ever really "speaks" any language in the sense...
Spanish Pronunciation: Quickly Learn to Pronounce Any Spanish Word No Matter How Difficult
This is a simple technique I developed on my own as part of the Telenovela Method years ago and I've just never gotten around to writing about it because it never occurred to me how much trouble most people have learning Spanish pronunciation (note: this actually...
Best Way to Find Language Exchange Partners While Traveling
Ask a local. No, not for a language exchange. Ask a local for a place to post a request for one. You want a bulletin-board/classifieds type setup run by either the city or a local university. In particular, look for where local university students (and...
The 2nd Edition of The Telenovela Method is Out! Both Paperback and E-book Available!
I finally got the 2nd edition of my book published (was supposed to happen last fall, turns out self-publishing was a lot more complicated than I thought it was going to be). A lot of you had asked if a print version of the first edition was available, so that was...
Finally: Affordable, Unlimited, Online Spanish Group Classes for Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced Students | GoSpanish Review
I just finished trying a new service called GoSpanish and I'll cut to the chase: flat rate of $35 per month for unlimited Spanish classes at four different levels with high-quality teachers, class sizes averaging 2-6 students, and which you can participate in from any...
Learn Spanish for Real #8: “That rings a bell / sounds familiar!” and “sonar”/”resultar”
Awkward title, but accurately descriptive. We're going to talk about the ways you can say essentially the same thing in Spanish: "That rings a bell" or "That sounds/looks familiar". This is going to revolve around two verbs: "sonar" and "resultar",...
Glossika Review: A Supplement, But a Damn Good One
Glossika is a course that's gotten very popular recently and as such curiosity got the better of me and I decided to give it a try. That, plus I'm learning German (still as a beginner, I've had some lulls in my learning of it so I'm not as far along as I'd have...
Benny Lewis’ Language Hacking (Italian) Course Reviewed
This is to be a general review of the whole Teach Yourself Language Hacking course authored by Benny Lewis. Though the one I tried was the Italian course, they're all structured pretty much the same and utilize the same method, so a review for one will cover the rest...
Learn Spanish for Real #7: “Pain in the neck/ass”
I remember talking with a language exchange partner years ago and I wanted to say that something was, as we colloquially say in English, a "pain in the neck", so I made the mistake most inexperienced language learners make in such situations and just...
Learn Spanish on YouTube #3: Christian Corom
This channel is just my sort of thing, and I suspect it will be for a lot of you as well. Are you interested in traveling? Are you interested in learning about foreign cultures and people? Are you interested in the perspective and first impression a foreigner has...
Why You Should Learn Spanish from the News: 3 Short and Simple Reasons
This is just going to be a very brief post where I explain my current preference for Spanish-language news as a source of material to learn Spanish from. It applies more to those at an intermediate or higher (B1 and up I'd say) than to beginners, though...
