A recent survey showed that over 70% of people living in the city of El Paso spoke Spanish at home, despite the fact that the first language of El Paso is officially english. So it’s pretty clear that El Paso is an excellent city to learn Spanish in! By far the most important thing to do when learning Spanish is to practise, and in el Paso you will have absolutely no trouble finding the opportunities to do so, as the native Spanish speaking communities in El Paso are so extensive.

If you are planning to learn from a school, here are few of the more reputable ones offering courses in El Paso: Language Plus (www.languageplus.com), La Paz Language Academy (www.lapazacademy.com) or El Paso Community College
(www.epcc.edu). However, because El Paso is such a Spanish city people often find that it’s easier, cheaper and more convenient to learn using a home-study Spanish course.

The quality in home-study language courses has increased dramatically in recent years, and today they are just as good as any classroom based course, but much cheaper and easier to fit into your day. If you’d like to read a review of the best of these courses, go here: Rocket Spanish Review

Over the last couple of years the number one reason that home-study Spanish courses have risen in popularity is actually because you can learn at a much much faster pace, classroom-based courses tend to move quite slowly – at the pace of the slowest students.

To read more about learning Spanish in El Paso, go here: The Spanish Side to El Paso

Whichever way you decide to go, another reason that you should learn Spanish in el Paso is the huge demand for Spanish as a skill in the El Paso job market. Most employers these days are simply looking for people who can speak Spanish! So many customers for all types of businesses in El Paso are Spanish speakers these days. Knowing Spanish will really give you a head start over the competition when looking for any job in El Paso.

If you’d like to read about Spanish lessons in San Antonio, go here: Spanish Lessons in San Antonio

I often wonder how many enthusiastic people have said “I want to learn Spanish” and then given up in annoyance when they discovered that what they’d been taught was of no use whatsoever to them in the Real World. It’s like going to Spain after taking a Spanish class at school and realising that being able to say “The dog sleeps quietly under the chair” is not particularly beneficial when all you want to do is have a bit of witty banter with someone cute on the beach. Many, many language students have been put off by their experiences with courses teaching “incorrect” Spanish, or dated words and phrases that would be not be spoken by any native Spanish speaker.

Nowadays, thankfully, online language learning programmes have stepped in to offer courses and software that are specifically designed to give you a proper grasp of real conversation skills and vocabulary that you’ll be able to use in day-to-day life, whether that’s in a business situation, or in a social setting. If you want to learn Spanish, it’s much more satisfying to come away from each lesson with a few more useful phrases committed to memory than struggling repeatedly with grammar rules and dated, irrelevant roleplays like you might have done at school.

So why not get started right away? For Example, take a look at this short list of basic Spanish phrases. All of them are useful in Everyday situations, and if you take a little time to learn them, you’ll give yourself a great confidence boost, which keeps you motivated and eager to build on your knowledge. The more you can practice, the more you will strenghen your knowledge of the language, which in turn will only make learning all the boring grammar rules so much easier.

No hablo español – I don’t speak Spanish.
 

Believe it or not, this is the most useful sentence you can learn in any language! It’s particularly useful if you’re going to be travelling – all travellers have experienced the despairing feeling that comes with a native speaker pouring forth what sounds like gibberish, but it really does give you a tiny sense of accomplishment if you can interrupt the person by explaining that you don’t understand in their own language. It actually earns you a lot more respect from the native speaker, too! They will appreciate a tourist making the effort to speak basic Spanish words and phrases, and will very often then go out of their way to help you if you show that you’re trying. So, for this reason, why not try to learn some “common courtesy” words:
 

Hola – Hello

Por favor – Please

Gracias – Thank you

¿Cuánto? – How much?

Perdón – Sorry

No entiendo – I don’t understand

¿Habla inglés? – Do you speak English?

Online language sources can provide you with a really solid foundation if you want to learn Spanish, giving you the confidence to start speaking whatever you’ve learned on a daily basis. And my the number one tip: you want to learn to speak Spanish? Then start speaking Spanish! It will surpise you just how fast you’ll be able to build up your range of vocabulary and phrases if you actually put in the effort to practice them. Give it a try – and start learning Spanish!
 
 

Do you want to know how to learn Spanish fast? Is it one of those things you’ve been wanting to do for ages but haven’t made it past “Hola”? Are you excited to learn, but have no idea where to begin? Well, welcome to the age of the internet, where the answers are all at your fingertips! You can learn a language from the comfort of your computer chair, which certainly beats having to go to school.

There are lots of language learning methods out there, from the officially approved to the slightly unorthodox — so with a little planning, you can come up with a language learning system that works best for you.
 
Now, for adults learning foreign languages, time is often an important factor. So let’s say you’re trying to figure out how to learn Spanish fast: what are the best tips and tricks?

Firstly, don’t assume that “old school” methods are the best. Children are usually taught foreign languages by learning to read and write at the same time as to listen and speak, but consider how you learned English (or whatever your native language is). Did you, as a baby, learn to write full sentences and master grammatical rules while you were sounding out your first words? No – children enter into the world of linguistics simply by listening to conversations going on around them in their day to day lives.

 Eventually, as their ears and brains become accustomed to the sounds that they hear, they become able to pick out individual words and repeated patterns. Believe it or not, this is one of the best things you yourself can do if you want to learn Spanish fast! Be sure to Listen to the language being spoken as much as possible. How you do this is up to you, and whatever opportunities you have, but here are a few suggestions to get you started:
 

• Find an online Spanish-teaching site or CD, where you can listen to sample words and sentences being spoken.
• If you have Spanish speaking friends, then be sure to converse with them in Spanish as often as possible, this really helps you with developing sounds.
• Watch episodes of your favorite TV shows dubbed in Spanish.
• Date a native Spanish speaking Person! That might sound stupid to some, but trust me, it’s a solid way of learning how to speak and understand Spanish really quickly.
• Better than of all these is the “total immersion” method. Go and visit or live in a Spanish speaking country. You’ll be fluent in no time.
   
  Another top tip is this: don’t be shy. Too many of us fail at learning languages because we’re too scared of making a mistake when we speak. You need to accept it: you’re going to make mistakes. Lots of mistakes. No one will expect you to be word perfect straight away, but you need practice — so get rid of the self consciousness and just start talking.

To learn Spanish fast, you’re going to have to be committed. Set aside a little time every day to practise what you’ve already learned, and to “top up” your vocabulary and grammar knowledge. Get a good study book with practice exercises, and work your way through it. Write phrases and vocabulary on post-its and stick them around the house in places where you’ll see them often. Label various household objects in Spanish. Whilst your reading the words, practice say them aloud.
 
The more time and effort you put into your language study, the easier it will be for you to learn Spanish fast. Anyone can do it — and once you’ve got it, it’s yours for life!

Well, I didn’t learn to speak Spanish online, but knowing how to speak Spanish did help to save my life, reallyMore about that later though.

Before we get started, you need some background. Through some very unfortunate circumstances, I woke up to find that I was a single father with 4 very needy teenagers. All teenagers need love and affection, but without a mother present, the need was only magnified.

So, I got the clever idea of trying to find a suitable partner south of the border, for myself and for my children. Right or wrong, my thinking was that a Latina would be much more inclined to accept me, my family and dire circumstances than I had experienced with local women.

I got this impression from living in Spain years before, plus I was rather fluent in Spanish. When I weighed it all together, it made sense to me.

Unless you have been in similar shoes, it is impossible to comprehend the incessant demands of doctor/dentist/school/sports/friends on a daily basis. I also was working as much overtime as possible to pay for everything, usually 50 hours a week.

I began this adventure by trying to learn to speak Spanish online, and soon I had made friends with a woman in Mexico. You don’t need to learn to speak Spanish online to meet a Latina, but that is actually a good way.

Within a few months I decided to take a trip and visit the Mexican woman I had come to know. She was very enthusiastic and eager to have me come for a visit. The story of my visit is the subject of another story, a good story at that. After I met my new Latina friend I knew in 5 seconds that this would never work, but the problem was that I was scheduled to be there for 10 days!

Realistically, my only option was to make the best of it and learn all I could about speaking Spanish, Mexican culture, how the interior social life really was, and so on. This may have been quite complicated and all, but it really was better than trying to learn Spanish online!

After a few days we took a jaunt to one of the many huge state parks in the middle of nowhere. The plan was to find a hidden waterfall she had heard about, deep in the woods. This was a welcome distraction, so after eating with the locals for breakfast, we were on our way.

I insisted that we eat with the locals, so we found the open air market where there were lots of mangy dogs and lots of flies . I wanted to be like the locals, so I ate what they ate-big mistake. Within an hour I was in total weakness with terrible diarrhea and a fever.

After drinking some fruity concoction that was supposed to cure me, we left for the waterfall. The drink actually did help, but I was so weak still. This made me walk much slower than normal, and I soon found myself wondering why there were mansions out in the middle of this park.

Very quietly, she told me that they were narco-trafficker mansions. I asked her if this bothered her, but she rolled her eyes and told me it was us stupid Americans who had the drug habit. The way she and most everyone else viewed it, they were just farmers and businessmen supplying the Americans with what they wanted.

I was taking pictures of a mansion, when suddenly I realized I was all alone and there was a pick-up truck coming up the tiny trail toward me. Strange, this trail was so small I wondered how a truck could even manage.

To my great dismay, the truck had 6 passengers, 3 in front and 3 in back. These men were Mestizos, half Spanish and half Indian. These people are very dark and have deep black eyes, and I was scared. Scared to death. These guys were probably warm and gentle souls who read bedtime stories to their kids, but I was mortified.

The truck stopped, they got out and all 6 of them walked over to me! This is the end, they will kill me, cut me into little pieces and feed me to the wild animals. Not a soul will ever know either!

There was only one thing to do: speak with them. I took a slow, deep breath, played as casual as I could and started chatting with them in Spanish.

It worked! We chatted a bit, they relaxed their machetes and nodded for me to keep moving on. They chopped the brush on the roadside for 30 seconds and I very smoothly and very quickly moved on down the road, minding my own business!

This story shows you a very good reason to to learn to speak Spanish online! Learning Spanish online is the fastest way to become conversant, aside from immersing yourself in the country and culture. You don’t have to get in a situation like I did to appreciate your Spanish language skills, but you will certainly be able to make your own memories and friends.

Since living in Spain and traveling in South America, Randy Hough has continued to learn Spanish and test program after program to find the best. You can read his reviews and comments on his site: http://CompareSpanishLanguageCourses.com

Compare the benefits of various Spanish language courses and find what fits your learning style.

Spanish originated in the northern part of Spain. It then spread to the Kingdom of Castile. Spanish is also known as Castilian. The language spread to the Americas, Africa and Asia Pacific region along with the expansion of the Spanish Empire. This was during the period between the fifteenth and nineteenth centuries. Spanish is now one of the official languages of the United Nations, the Organization of American States, the European Union, the African Union, the Organization of Ibero-American States, the Latin Union, the Union of South American Union, the North American Free Trade Agreement and the Caricom. It is also the official language or one of the official languages of the countries of Argentina, Chile, Bolivia, Colombia, Cuba, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Ecuador, Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama, Nicaragua, Peru, Paraguay, Venezuela and Uruguay besides the U.S, Puerto Rico, Equatorial Guinea and Spain.

There are many reasons why Spanish is becoming more popular. Economic activities that are linked to Spanish speaking countries are major reasons. This includes trade and tourism. Increase in the popularity of Spanish is visible in Portugal, Brazil, Italy, France and the United States.

Spanish learning has caught the imagination of many ardent learners. They would like to learn Spanish that will see them interacting easily and effectively with Spanish speaking people in matters of functioning while dealing with day to day matters. A number of Spanish learning programs have been created to suit these emerging felt needs. Many of these programs are designed for easy learning. They can be downloaded. Spanish Rosetta of Rosetta Stone is a program that employs Dynamic Immersion. This is a technique that provides images which are then linked to words and phrases. This gives easy association to the learner making learning easy and enjoyable. It helps in better retention of the learning.

The program bases the learning on getting the speakers associate words with images such as pictures to make the learning grounded well. It uses a speech recognition system so that you can get an immediate feedback on how well you are able to say and read the words. Grammar is handled lightly in this program. You can check out in the Internet for this down loadable program. Obviously this is easier to learn than the classical language learning course.