subject: Spanish Phrases [print this page] Spanish Phrases Spanish Phrases
If you want to learn Spanish, even if just on a survival level, there are a handful of Spanish phrases that will really come in handy for you.
Some of the phrases are regional variations but any Spanish speaker will still be able to understand you.
Now let's give you a temporary Spanish name. How about "Jorge"? It doesn't matter if you're a girl, this is just role playing!
So let's go through a typical conversation you might have with a native Spanish speaker. Let's say you're speaking with "Cecilia".
Cecilia: Hola Jorge! Como estas?
(Hola means "hello" and "como estas" means "how are you doing?". It's important that you only use "como estas" with friends and people who you generally consider on equal footing with you. If you're speaking to a boss, stranger or the elderly, you ought to use "como esta?" instead, as this indicates respect and doesn't assume any familiarity. This is important because the Latino cultures place a great deal of weight on the concept of "confianza", which is trust in another person. This is something you have to earn and if you are to presumptuous, it might make you look arrogant!)
Jorge: Muy bien, Cecilia, y tu? ("muy bien" means "very well" and "y tu?" means "and you?")
Cecilia: Muy bien, gracias. ("very well, thank you.")
Jorge: Tienes que trabajar hoy? (Tienes que means "you have to" and "trabajar" means "to work" and "hoy" means "today". So all together it means, "do you have to work today?")
Cecilia: No, gracias a dios! ("gracias a dios" means "thank god!") Que tal tu? ("que tal" in this context means "how about" and "tu" means "you". So it means "how about you?")
Jorge: Si, un poco mas tarde. ("un poco" means "a little" and "mas tarde" means "later on". So Jorge is saying he has to work a little bit later on.)
Obviously, if you want to learn to speak Spanish phrases fluently, the best way to go about it is to actually move to a country where you'd be able to speak and interact with Spanish speakers all day, every day.
Most people think that learning another language is hard but it's actually really easy. The key is to develop an emotional connection with the material.
If that's not exactly an option that you have at the moment, the next best thing is to use language learning software like the Rocket Languages Rocket Spanish course to REPLICATE a native speaking environment in the comfort of your own country.
