I am excited to announce the Visual Link Spanish 12 Days of Christmas, which began yesterday. If you follow us on Twitter and Facebook, you should already be aware of this. The Visual Link Spanish Level 1 course is broken up into 13 sections like greetings, comprehension, and travel. Customers who purchase Level 1 receive mp3 audio lessons from each of the sections. We are giving away those audio lessons for free. The best way to stay updated is to ‘Like’ us on Facebook and ‘Follow’ us on Twitter.
There are a few Spanish audio courses which are sold for hundreds of dollars. Each day you get the audio from 1 section for free. Be sure to pass this along to all your friends, neighbors, and acquaintances who have a burning desire to learn Spanish online.
Just because it’s the Christmas season doesn’t mean you need to spend every penny that you have. We want to help out your pockets. We do our best to keep our prices low so that if someone has the misfortune of spending all their money on Christmas, it won’t be because of us. If you happen to receive or give the gift of Visual Link Spanish this Christmas season, then know that you will be giving and receiving a gift that will last a lifetime and open doors for your future.
Once again, the best way to stay updated on our deals is to ‘Like’ us on Facebook and ‘Follow us’ on Twitter. We will be having a few Christmas Spanish video lessons soon, and we will be posting those here on the blog, on Twitter, and on Facebook. You can access all of our free Spanish video lessons on the Visual Link Languages YouTube channel.
I have dreamed of days when I could go shopping and buy whatever I wanted without worrying about the bill. It would also be fun to go to really nice restaurants, order the most expensive items, and not worry about the bill. Unfortunately I haven’t quite made it there yet. I find myself adding up prices in my head and counting the costs. This post will give you some Spanish idioms which involve ‘la cuenta’, which means ‘counting’, or ‘the bill’.
la cuenta | counting, bill
La cuenta es cuenta. | Business is business.
El gerente se rindó y dijo que la cuenta es cuenta. | The manger gave up and said business is business.
pasar la cuenta a alguien | to make someone pay for it
El problema es que todos quieren pasar la cuenta a otra persona. | The problem is that everyone wants to make someone else pay for it.
Me gusta pasar la cuenta a María sin que lo sepa. | I like to make Maria pay for it without her knowing it.
ajustar cuentas con alguien | to get even with someone
¡Yo ajustaré cuentas con ella! | I’ll get even with her!
Después de la lucha, juró que ajustaría cuentas con su oponente. | After the fight, he swore that he would get even with his opponent.
tener cuentas pendientes con alguien | to have unfinished business to settle, to have a bone to pick with someone
Kris Humphries tiene cuentas pendientes con Kim Kardashian. | Kris Humphries has a bone to pick with Kim Kardashian. Tengo cuentas pendientes con mi contador. | I have unfinished business with my accountant.
They say that money can’t buy happiness. I’d like to see whether or not that’s true someday with my own money. Have fun and do your best not to be overcome by all the cuentas this holiday season.
The Christmas holiday season can be a lot of fun for many reasons. Giving and receiving gifts is a significant part of the holiday season. Parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors and co-workers have thought about gifts for months. Here are a few reasons that you should consider asking for and giving away software from Visual Link Spanish as gifts:
It’s a gift of knowledge that will last. Do you remember what you received for Christmas last year? 2 years ago? 5 years ago? Give yourself and others the opportunity to open new doors through the acquisition of a new language. Open the door to new experiences and new people in your life.
Achieve a new goal. Learning Spanish may have been on your bucket list for a long time. It is easy to set a goal, yet it is obviously much more difficult to begin working on that goal and even harder to stay motivated. The Visual Link Spanish method will help you achieve your goals and stay motivated.
It is FUN. Many of our customers have tried other programs including Rosetta Stone, Rocket Spanish, TellMeMore, and others. They have told us that they became disinterested with the other programs because they became bored with the programs they were working with. We believe that learning a language can be fun. It does require hard work, but that doesn’t mean it can’t be fun. In our Level 1 course, you get 489 lessons, games, and activities. Unless you haven’t slept in days, you won’t be falling asleep while using our software.
You can get it for a great price TODAY. You can get any product on the Visual Link Spanish online catalog for 55% off. This sale ends tonight at 11:59 Eastern Standard Time with this coupon code and link:
Did you enjoy the video? I hope that you learned something. I hope you are now more ready to spread some Christmas cheer through volunteering and practicing your Spanish at the same time. Visit Visual Link Spanish on Facebook and practice your new Spanish for volunteers vocabulary. Give a little bit of yourself and your time to someone else this Christmas season.
Here is the vocabulary from the video:
Hi, my name is…
Hola, me llamo…
What’s your name?
¿Cómo te llamas?
Nice to meet you.
Mucho gusto.
How can I help you?
¿En qué puedo ayudarte?
I am here to help you.
Estoy aquí para ayudarte.
I am a volunteer and I want to be your friend.
Soy voluntario y quiero ser tu amigo/a.
How are you?
¿Cómo estás?
I am doing well, thanks.
Estoy bien, gracias.
Can you help me?
¿Puedes ayudarme?
This is for your family.
Esto es para tu familia.
Merry Christmas
Feliz Navidad
Questions of the week:
Where do you like to volunteer?
¿Dónde te gusta servir como voluntario?
I look forward to your responses to the question of the week. This could be a great way to raise awareness of your favorite volunteer organizations. In addition to raising awareness, you will automatically be entered to win free Visual Link Spanish software just for participating with us on Facebook.
If you are looking for a special gift for a family member or friend who wants to learn Spanish, we are having our Christmas Blowout sale right now on the Visual Link Spanish online catalog. Use the coupon code 55CHRISTMAS for 55% off everything on the catalog page. It ends December 9th at 11:59 EST.
If you didn’t learn anything for Junior High or High School Spanish, don’t worry – you’re not alone – neither did I or anyone else I’ve ever talked to…or at least not enough to carry on a real conversation with native Spanish speakers.
Let me be clear up front that the fault usually doesn’t lie with our Spanish teachers – they’re generally very creative, hard working and underpaid. The challenge is the old-style curriculum they’re required to use. They’re using the same tools that have been used for hundreds of years – text books…and in this economy, some don’t even have text books. Granted, some are slightly more advanced technologically and have “software” that comes with the text books. However, it is usually a glorified picture dictionary on CD or simple quiz system. It’s not a system for teaching Spanish.
To put it succinctly, Junior High and High School Spanish curriculum isn’t meant to teach you to converse in Spanish, it’s meant to teach you lists of vocabulary, grammar rules and verb conjugations.
I’ll continue on my personal vendetta in a minute, but first, I want to show you my favorite Spanish YouTube video that illustrates what is learned from the first semester of Spanish in the academic school system. This video is so funny because it is completely true!
Hopefully you thought that was as funny as I did.
Now back to my personal vendetta.
Unfortunately, you really don’t learn to converse with native speakers in academic Spanish (Junior High, High School and even most colleges). Sadly, in many cases it is simply a waste of time.
My first daughter took Junior High Spanish and regressed from the Spanish I had taught her as a child. She was embarrassed to speak with proper pronunciation because nobody else in her class did (including the teacher unfortunately).
Personally, after taking 2 years of Spanish in Junior High, I finally learned Spanish after living abroad for 2 years. I also got a degree in Spanish and taught it for 3 years at a university.
From my frustrating experience teaching academic Spanish at a university using the horse-and-buggy approach, the Visual Link Spanish course was born.
I knew there had to be a better way – a way that could teach proper, grammatically correct Spanish, without having to memorize word lists, rules and focusing on verb conjugations – similar to the way kids learn, but using the resources of the adult mind.
After years of research, heavy collaboration from native speakers, and teaching hundreds of people in the community and business setting, we had developed a system that gets you conversational quick by categorizing words into different groups that can be used like building blocks to form sentences. We then spent the next 10 years turning it into the software and online Spanish lessons we have available for you today in a 1-month free trial.
Now, there you have it, the birth of the Visual Link Spanish course – a result of over 16 years of intense research and development to give you the best experience out there for learning Spanish. We firmly believe that statement and our customers also affirm it.
¡Gracias por estar conmigo! (Thanks for joining me!)
Christmas Blowout – 55% Off all Sale Prices in Catalog!
In Time for Christmas + Free Shipping in US!
Ends Friday at 11:59 pm (EST)Our physical courses should be sold out by the end of December; then we will convert to downloads/online.
Your coupon (below) is good for 55% off current sale prices on all products in our online catalog (ONLY UNTIL FRIDAY AT 11:59 P.M. EST):
As I was thinking what to write about this morning, I was suddenly overcome with sleepiness. Naturally, I knew I should write about sleeping. The Spanish verb ‘dormir’ means ‘to sleep’. Here is a list of Spanish idioms that use a form of the verb ‘dormir’. Notice how I tell you what the word means, and that I use it in a sentence.
el dormilón, la dormilona | sleepyhead, someone who sleeps a lot
No me gusta despertar a mi hijo. Es un dormilón. | I don’t like to wake up my son. He’s a sleepyhead.
¿Son las once de la mañana ya? ¡Qué dormilón! | It’s already 11 in the morning. What a long time I slept!
dormir a alguien | to deceive someone, to pull the wool over someone’s eyes
El empleado nos durmió a todos y se quedó con la lana. | The employee deceived all of us and kept the money.
El jefe durmió a sus empleados y los despidió. | The boss deceived his employees and fired them.
dormir como un tronco | to sleep like a log
Suelo dormir como un tronco. | I usually sleep like a log.
Ojalá que mi hija pueda dormir como un tronco. | I hope that my daughter can sleep like a log.
dormir la mona | to sleep it off
Vete a dormir la mona. | Go sleep it off.
Tomaba demasiado y durmíó la mona. | He was drinking too much and slept it off.
As the weekend draws near, I hope that you will be able to get enough sleep. More importantly though, I hope that you can use these phrases in your Spanish conversations.
What do you like to do in the Winter (Spanish Video Lesson)
Winter Spanish Video Lesson
We would love to know what you like to do in the winter. Come share on or Visual Link Spanish Facebook page on Friday where we can all practice Spanish together. I love teaching Spanish and I love learning more and more Spanish. If you like our blog, Facebook page and/or Visual Link Spanish products, be sure and share with friends. You can use the social media tags at the top of each blog post. We would also love to hear from you! Comment at the bottom of each blog post. You can ask questions, post comments or share experiences you’ve had in learning Spanish.
Jake and I hope to see you on Facebook this Friday. Come join us to practice Spanish. If you haven’t purchased the Visual Link Spanish course yet, we have some great Christmas deals going on. You can start right here at our learn Spanish free online page.
The Christmas holiday season can be a lot of fun for many reasons. Giving and receiving gifts is a significant part of the holiday season. Parents, grandparents, friends, neighbors and co-workers have thought about gifts for months. Here are a few reasons that you should consider asking for and giving away software from Visual Link Spanish as gifts:
