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Words of the Week -----
Words taken from the "Communication" Section of our Complete Course.
| English | Spanish |
| Monday | I want | Yo quiero |
| Tuesday | She wants | Ella quiere |
| Wednesday | to use | usar
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| Thursday | the computer | la computadora |
| Friday | the fax | el fax
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| Saturday | the Internet | el internet |
| Sunday | the phone | el teléfono |
| Hear Newsletter Words! | Buy our Complete Spanish Course which has around 1,000 words with audio/visual lessons and then read our newsletter each week to review!! |
Culture ----- Practice with the Natives!
Before we start on this week's topic, there were two responses from last week's newsletter that I wanted to share with you:
The first one was from Rotem in Israel.
This was a great story about the kwaw - care.
Here in Israel we call oats "Kvahker" for the exact same reason. (but maybe also because it is easier then saying "Sheebolet Shooal" which is what oats is in Hebrew.
Other funnies like that are:
Oranjada = Orange aid (cool aid)
Poos = pause (when a kid takes a break in a middle of a game)
Akordim = chords for music (derived of the word "a chord" + the plural Hebrew ending)
Sikim = sick days you get from the military doc.
Ambreks = hand break in a car
and many more that I can't think of right now but dawn on me all of a sudden here and there...
The second one is from Amy in Puerto Rico:
Thanks for your story about kwaw-care. My two favorites are that my car is a Bol-bo. And I learned recently how to say a gas station Takes-ah-coh. (Texaco) With the accent on the ah. I am in Puerto Rico.
Buenas Dias, Amy Eisenhour
Now on to This Week's Topic:
We talked about this about 4 months ago, but periodic review of this topic is important to your success in learning Spanish!
Apart from a good Spanish program like ours, one of the most important things you can do to improve your Spanish skills and really become fluent is to converse with native speakers.
Many people are very nervous about striking up a conversation with a native Spanish speaker. They're worried that maybe they'll say something wrong or that the native speaker won't understand them. They're also worried about saying things incorrectly or possibly getting embarrassed.
To really learn Spanish, I'm challenging you this week to start a conversation with a native Spanish speaker. Once you get over the fear of the initial conversation, I think you'll be amazed at how easy and comfortable it is to talk to them. In general, Spanish speakers are some of the friendliest people in the world.
Here are a few phrases that I recommend to get you started. First you could say "Hola, Qué tal" [Oh-law, Kay tall] which means "Hi, how are you?". Next, you could say "Me llamo Dave" [May yaw-moe Dave], or in English "My name is Dave". Of course, you don't want to say your name is "Dave" unless your name really is "Dave". Finally, to spark some conversation, you could say "De dónde es usted" [Day doan-day es oo-stead] which means "Where are you from".
Here is my assignment to all of you newsletter readers. Are you ready? Practice the phrases above and set a goal of when you are going to approach a native speaker. Once you have done it and had a conversation in Spanish, send me an e-mail and let me know how it went. I'm eager to hear from you!
¡Buena suerte! (Good luck!)
David S. Clark -- President
U.S. Institute of Languages
dave@spanishprograms.com
http://www.spanishprograms.com
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