ourspanishblog

[ourspanishblog]

¡Nuevo video!

Practice your listening skills while knowing a little bit more about me :)

#Spanish #Learn Spanish #Listening #listening comprehension #practice #50 things #intermediate #advanced

[ourspanishblog]

New video today! :D 

#Spanish #learn Spanish #Beginners #listening comprehension #pronunciation #ir a #going to #voy a #vowel linking

[ourspanishblog]

¡Hola a todos! Hello everybody!

I brought you a poster in which you can write everyday the date, weather and your mood in Spanish.

Click here to download the .zip file with the posters, explanations and cheat sheet.

Or you can download one by one here:

HOY porsters

HOY explanations

HOY cheat sheet

How to use it

FIRST

Print the poster that you like the most. The size is an A4 page.

SECOND

Then you can laminate the poster. You can get it laminated in a stationary store or you can do it yourself with contact paper.

You can also print the cheat sheet to have it next to your poster.

THIRD

Write on it!

Remember to use a whiteboard marker! I don’t recommend to use color markers for drawing because the ink doesn’t get removed completely. And please, never use Sharpie markers or any other oil based marker!

Have fun!

#Spanish #Studying Spanish #español #Practice #print #weather #mood #fun

[ourspanishblog]

Hola...Perdón

¡Hola a todos!

He estado muy ocupada estos meses por mi trabajo y octubre también va a ser un mes muy ocupado. Les pido disculpas porque no he publicado nada en mucho tiempo. Pienso seguir publicando, pero tal vez sólo una publicación a la semana, o tal vez más pero más cortas. Quiero seguir con este blog, no lo voy a dejar, así que haré lo posible para mantenerlo vivo. 

¡Muchas gracias por seguirme!

***

Hello everyone!

I have been very busy theses last months because of my work, and October is also going to be a busy month. I apologize because I haven’t post anything in a long time. I plan to keep posting, but maybe just one post a week, or maybe more but shorter. I want to continue with this blog, I won’t leave it, so I will do my best to keep it alive.

Thank you for following me! 

[ourspanishblog]

¡Hola! Estoy en la escuela segundaria, y trabajo en un restaurante donde mucha gente hablan español, y no puedo hablar con ellos tan efectivamente. Tienes algunos sitios donde puedo practicar los tiempos verbales del futuro, y los madatos o algo como ese? Cualquier cosa puedes darme va a estar muy beneficio para mi. ¡Oh! Tambien la diferencia entre para y por. Tengo mucha dificuldad con ese. Gracias, tambien lo ciento de los errores.

¡Hola!

Future Explanation:

Informal Future (Ir + a)

Simple Future Regular Forms and Tenses

Irregular Simple Future Forms

You can make the exercises at the end of every explanation.

Other Exercises:

StudySpanish 

Learn Spanish Feel Good

Todo Claro (Ir + a)

Todo Claro (Simple future)

Imperative Explanation:

Spanish Imperative Mood

Imperativo regular e irregular en español

Study Spanish

You can make the exercises at the end of every explanation.

Other Exercises:

Learn Spanish Feel Good (end of the page)

Todo Claro

Por & para

You can check my previous post about this, here. :)

#Spanish #español #Learn Spanish #q&a #studyblr #langblr #future #imperative #commands

[ourspanishblog]

Hi there, I'm taking college level Spanish this fall and I wanted to know if you had any recommendations on note taking and studying? I really want to do well.

¡Hola!

These are some things that I use when learning a new language.

Notes

Classify the new information

You can take the last pages of your notebook or have a separare notebook for this. You can classify all the new words by grammatical use, for example, nouns, adjectives, verbs, adverbs, etc. I do this classification because I’m very meticulous, but you can make your own classifications. For example:

words (nouns)

describing (adjectives & adverbs)

actions (verbs)

connectors (prepositions & conjunctions)

phrases

others

You can label your classifications however you like as long as it makes sense to you. This is just to keep the new knowledge organized.

Also make another classification for grammar. For example:

patterns (Tener + que + [verb] - Tengo que estudiar)

conjugations (regular verbs and main irregular verbs)

rules (things like “más …. qué (more …. than)”, about indirect object  pronouns, etc.)

don’t forget (for example “a” before people “Conozco a Mariana [I know Mariana], “Saludé al profesor” [I greeted the profesor]”).

And any other classification you need.

Quick notes

I know sometimes teachers speak too fast and you have to write down everything very quick. If the teacher writes on the board or says something new that you consider important, write it in a post-it or make a notes box in a corner of your book or notebook, so when you have more time you can classify the new knowledge, and later you don’t have to be like “where did I write it? I’m sure it was somewhere here”.

Long and difficult explanations

First, don’t use your pretty notebook for this, just use any paper or recycled paper. Then find all key points and key words, then you can make bullet lists, tables, mind maps or diagrams to organize the information. Use colors, drawings, arrows, boxes or anything that helps you understand the explanation. Don’t try to make it look pretty in the beginning because you will find yourself starting over and over again. Just try to find logic on the topic. Then, when you feel you finally understood you can write it again clean and neat, if you want. Try to make your notes as simple as you can :)

Make your notes look good

I’m sure you have seen all those beautiful notes out there in the studyblrs, but not all of us can make such pretty notes. However, there’s a video of @studyquill which I found very useful and easy to help you make your notes look better. You can take a look here.

Memorization

There are many memorization techniques, but I highly recommend mnemonics and memory palace. You can learn about it here.

Mnemonics

Sometimes it’s difficult to find words to create mnemonics, but you can use websites to help you out. If your native language is English you can try Wordplays or RhymeZone. I’m sure there are websites like these in many languages.

So, for example you want to learn the word “jugar” (to play).

First, you have to know how it sounds. You can use forvo for this.

Look for words that have the letters or rhyme with “hoo” and “gar”

We have for example “hoop” and “garden”

Now try to make a story with these words. The funnier or weirder the better.

We have for example. “I PLAY with a hoop in the garden.” Now you have to make it look weird or funny so your brain doesn’t forget it. Remember if the mnemonic is too obvious or natural your brain just will throw it away because it will think it’s not important. So maybe you can imagine that you are playing not with just one hoop, but with 20! and the garden is super big, or like a jungle or has your favorite flowers. Try to exaggerate everything you can. I recommend you to close your eyes and feel it while repeating the little story you just created.

Done!

I know it sounds silly and weird, but trust me, it works. Remember mnemonics work better if you create them. This takes time at the beginning, but it will help you retain better the information for a longer time. If you keep practicing it will get easier.

You can also make flashcards to keep remembering the words, only the Spanish word and the translation! You can write your mnemonics in a notebook or a document. You can try Anki to make your flashcards, or you can make your own decks on Memrise, too.

You can use it with everything you want, like irregular verbs. For example we have the verb “poder” (can) but when you conjugate it, it becomes “yo puedo”. So you can imagine that you CAN swim in a pool with an elephant and you can add some dogs if you want. Again, make it look funny, maybe the pool has a weird shape or the water is pink or green. Maybe the elephant is wearing a swimsuit and the dogs are swimming with floating boards. You can create whatever helps you remember difficult stuff.

Memory Palace

For regular verbs, we can make a longer story. For example, AR verbs as hablar, in present is: Yo hablo; Tú hablas; Él, Ella, Usted habla; Nosotros/as hablamos; Ustedes, Ellos hablan. So we have to remember the endings -o, -as, -a, -amos, -an. Here we can use the memory palace.

Choose any location that you remember very well, like your house, your school, your town’s park, your room, your car etc. (I will use my house for this example).

Choose 5 places in that location, like living room, bathroom, dining room, kitchen, garden. Try to make a linear journey from point A to B, C, D and F.

Here comes the story. First I place myself in the living room and wow! I’m covered with oil, but why? At least is an aromatic oil, it smells like fruits. Then I go to the bathroom and omg! I’m sorry you were there asking the mirror about your future, I thought that was only on fairytales. Then I go to the dining room and I see my brother (he) and sister (she) with an important business man (usted) at the table, and wait a minute, that man is Abraham Lincoln in person! in my house? This is weird. Then I go to the kitchen and I find my friends, mis amigos, but there are so many big mosquitos we have to kill them all! When we finish I go to the garden where there are many scientist and they are looking for an antidote in the weird flowers I have in the garden, I think it’s an antidote for mutant ants.

Now remember the key words: yo-oil; tú- asking the mirror; él, ella, usted- Abraham Lincoln;  nosotros - amigos, mosquitos; ustedes, ellos - antidote. So the endings are yo -o; tú -as; él, ella, usted -a; nosotros -amos; ustedes, ellos -an.

Done!

Also try to remember your story backwards and without order, for better retention. So, what’s the ending for “nosotros”? You just have to remember the kitchen where, me and my amigos had to kill big mosquitos. So the ending is -amos. Now, the verb cantar (sing) is regular too. How would you say “they sing”?, just remember the scientists in your garden looking for an antidote, so the answer is “ellos cantan”.

You can make this with anything you want. I recommend you a book, it’s called Unlimited Memory by Kevin Horsley. It explains many memory techniques for beginners.

I hope this has helped you! Happy learning! :)

#Spanish #español #Learn Spanish #q&a #studyblr #langblr #note taking #memorize #back to school

[ourspanishblog]

How do you say your total is or amount due is in Spanish? -I'm a cashier

¡Hola!

Su total es de …Su total es de $15 (quince dólares)Su total es de $9.50 (nueve dólares con cincuenta centavos) 

:)

#Spanish #español #q&a

[ourspanishblog]

¡Hola! I'm a beginner in Spanish and I'm self learning. I'm looking for a website or online book on which I can focus because right now I'm using various sources and it's reaally messed up. ¡Gracias!

¡Hola!

If I had to choose only one site to focus on, that would be:

Profe de ELE

This is a very complete website. It has videos, activities, exercises, readings, podcasts, and it’s free! :)

Or,

StudySpanish 

It has easy explanations and quizzes. And you can learn from beginner to advanced level. :)

I hope you like it! 

#Spanish #español #learn Spanish #langblr #studyblr #q&a #resources #website

[ourspanishblog]

Hola, una española aquí :) Me encanta lo que estás haciendo para ayudar a los demás a aprender español y además me parece increíble el esfuerzo que le pones a cada contestación, ¡Sigue así! Los demás son muy afortunados de tener un blog como este a su disposición.

¡Muchas gracias! Me motiva mucho que también otros hispanohablantes aprecien mi trabajo. Gracias ^_^

#gracias

[ourspanishblog]

hola! yo estoy casi terminada con mis cursos de español que estoy tomando en universidad, pero quiero continuar aprendiendo español sin tomar clases por mi universidad (yo probablamente necesitaré pasar mi tiempo con otros materias). sabes algunas maneras para aprender niveles avanzados de español por internet? yo busqué en mi colegio comunitario local pero el nivel más alto de clases allí es algo que ya haría aprendido. lo siento por algunos errores. y gracias de antemano!

¡Hola!

Podrías hacer algunos ejercicios de nivel B2 y ver qué tal.

RutaEle

Examen DELE B2

Charla en español

Profe de ELE

Practica español

Si todavía es fácil para ti, podrías probar los niveles C1 y C2.

RutaEle

Todo Claro

Examen DELE C1

Examen DELE C2

Charla en español

Profe de ELE

Practica español

Algunos podcasts:

Notes in Spanish 

News in Slow Spanish (Advanced)

PodClub

Radio ambulante

También te recomiendo leer muchos libros, ver muchos videos, series, y hablar con mucha gente, por supuesto. 

Considero que este podría ser el momento en que intentes cosas nuevas, cosas que nunca has hecho en español. Como leer el periódico, leer un libro completo, ver una película en español sin subtítulos, escuchar y aprenderte canciones en español, escuchar podcasts de tu interés, escribir un diario en español, hablar con personas de diferentes países etc. Todo lo que, tal vez, no has hecho por inseguridad o por miedo, puedes intentarlo ahora que es el momento de mejorar y alcanzar todavía un nivel más.  

Espero que te haya servido y ¡feliz aprendizaje! :)

#Spanish #español #learn Spanish #langblr #studyblr #advanced #b2 #c1 #c2 #improve #q&a

[ourspanishblog]

¡Hola! I'm about to take Spanish 2 (in high school) and was wondering if you had any recommendations for apps, videos, podcasts, music, etc. to help me out. Gracias ^^

¡Hola!

Here are some websites that teach Spanish by levels. 

Todo Claro

Amauta

El patio

You can check other sites that I posted here.

Apps:

Spanish (Spain) Memrise - it includes short videos.

Spanish (Mexico) Memrise

Busuu

Clozemaster - learn Spanish words in context

Beelinguapp - read and listen to short stories in Spanish

Podcasts:

Coffee Break Spanish

¡Hola Viajeros!

Videos:

Spanish101

Music: 

These are my recommendations of easy and slow songs.

Lento - Julieta Venegas

Vivir mi vida - Marc Anthony

Fotografía - Juanes ft. Nelly Furtado

Compartir - Carla Morrison

Somos Dos - Bomba Estéreo

You can also listen to Disney songs in Spanish. :)

I hope this was useful :)

#Spanish #español #Learn Spanish #langblr #studyblr #resources #songs #beginner #q&a

[ourspanishblog]

Hi I'm a cashier at target and I have many customers who speak Spanish only and not English. Im currently taking Spanish in high school but I feel like it's still not advanced enough to help me communicate with my Latinx customers. Could you please post some helpful phrases that I could use in Spanish? Thanks a lot

¡Hola! I hope this is useful :)

Phrases:

¿Es todo? - Is that everything?

–Sí, es todo. - Yes, that’s everything.–No, todavía faltan unas cosas que va a traer mi esposo. - No, there are still some things that my husband is going to bring.

¿Encontró todo lo que buscaba? - Did you find everything you were looking for?

Sí. - Yes.No, me faltaron unas cosas. - No, I missed some things.

¿Necesita una bolsa? - Do you need a bag?Son 10 centavos más por bolsa. - It’s 10 cents more per bag.

– Sí, por favor. - Yes, please.– No, gracias. - No, thank you.

$25.99

Son veinticinco con noventa y nueve.

Son veinticinco dólares con noventa y nueve centavos.

¿Tiene algún cupón? - Do you have any coupon?

Su tarjeta fue rechazada, ¿lo intento otra vez? ¿o tiene otra tarjeta? - Your card was declined, do I try it again? or do you have another card?

– Sí, una vez más, por favor. - Yes, one more time, please.– Aquí tengo otra. - I have another one here.– ¿Por qué? - Why?

– Tal vez hubo un error de conexión. - Maybe there was a connection error.– Lo siento, ha estado pasando durante todo el día. - I’m sorry, it’s been happening all day.

Su cupón ya no es válido porque expiró hace dos semanas. - Your coupon is no longer valid because it expired two weeks ago.

Aquí tiene su cambio y su recibo. - Here’s your change and your receipt.Aquí tiene su recibo. - Here’s your receipt.

Aquí está su cambio y su recibo. - Here’s your change and your receipt.Aquí está su recibo. - Here’s your receipt.

¡Gracias por su compra! - Thank you for your purchase!¡Que tenga buen día! - Have a nice day!

#Spanish #español #learn Spanish #langblr #studyblr #q&a #phrases #cashier

[ourspanishblog]

Learn Spanish with Township! :)

You have probably seen this game before, Township. It’s one of those games where you have to build a farm and a city and you have to keep growing vegetables and making different items to keep growing. 

Well, I’m going to share with you something that I have been doing recently to learn my target language, Korean. So I can study and play at the same time 😅

You can download this game to your cellphone or your computer. Whatever you feel more comfortable with.

This is how it looks like. You have the settings to change the language. And you have a helicopter to send items to your citizens, and this is what we are going to work with.

1. Every person has a little dialogue. So choose a dialogue, and then take a screenshot.  2. Then change the language to Spanish. 3. Go to the same dialogue and take another screenshot.

4. Then you can cut the images so you only have the dialogue. 5. Paste the images on your favorite notes application.�� 6. Now you can take notes about vocabulary, phrases, grammar or anything else you don’t know.

You can use different dictionaries like, WordReference, SpanishDict or Linguee.

You can compare both dialogues and look how they translate the ideas and expressions. Of course it is not translated word by word, but the message and the feelings are the same.

Another thing I do is to memorize the dialogue. This way my brain gets used to the words, and the expressions. If you don’t know how to pronounce a word you can go to Forvo. 

If you have more questions about vocabulary and grammar that you couldn’t find in the dictionaries, you can ask in HiNative. 

I also use Beelinguapp to do exactly the same thing. This is an app where you can find short stories in many languages.

I hope you find this useful and fun! :)

#Spanish #learn Spanish #español #langblr #studyblr #games #township #self study

[ourspanishblog]

I really liked your blog, you are really good at it. Thank you for this its so helpfull mucho graciasss

¡Muchas gracias! :)I’ll keep working hard. ^^

#gracias

[ourspanishblog]

Hello! Tengo una pregunta...me gustaría aprender el español de negocios (business spanish), soy de alemania y me voy a Uruguay en mayo. Tienes algunas ideas para aprenderlo? No sé, un libro, un podcast, una serie...? O una página web? Muchas gracias por tu respuesta, me encanta tu blog! G r a c i a s !!

¡Hola! Aquí tengo algunos sitios para ti. Espero que te sirvan. :)

Vocabulary

123 Teach Me

Fluent U

E-spanyol

Videos:

Learn Spanish words for business

Business vocabulary in Spanish

Preguntas en una entrevista de trabajo

You can watch videos about the major you are studying or studied.

Administración. Conceptos básicos

Negocios Internacionales Clase 1

Finanzas en acción #1

¿Qué es marketing?

Principios de la contabilidad

Paid courses:

121Spanish

Lengalia

You can also find a teacher on Italki and tell them about what you need to learn.

Reading:

El Financiero

Asociación de Marketing de España

Marketing y Finanzas

Entrepreneur

Emprendices

Desarrollo de Negocios Internacionales

Global Negotiator

Podcasts:

Empréndete

Libros para emprendedores

Vida Entrepreneur

LanaYPodcast

Emprendedor Universal

Disruptivo

#Spanish #Learn Spanish #español #q&a #studyblr #langblr #negocios #business #resources

[ourspanishblog]

Do you know of any gender neutral pronouns in Spanish? Like a Spanish equivalent of 'they/them'

¡Hola!

That’s an interesting question. We don’t really have a neutral “they” because sometimes we don’t need it, or we use the masculine, or we mention both genders.

When we have a phrase where we have a possessive adjective we just use the one that belongs to “el/ella”.

Possessive adjectives:el/ella: su, sus

For example:

Cada estudiante tiene que hacer su tarea. - Every student has to do their homework.

¿Quién dejó su billetera en la mesa? - Who left their wallet on the table?

Cada persona es responsable de sus desiciones. - Every person is responsible for their decisions.

¿Quién ya terminó sus ejercicios? - Who has finished their exercises?

In these phrases “su” and “sus” refer to her and him. Remember su/sus depend on the object, not the person.

We also use the conjugation for “ellos/ellas” when we don’t know exactly who did the action, or it’s nor relevant.

For example:

Colgaron sin decir nada. -They hung up without saying anything.

Me dijeron que el paquete llega en siete días hábiles. - They told me the package will arrive in seven business days.

¿Por qué cerraron la calle? - Why did they close the street?

Cambiaron la fecha. - They changed the date.

Remember in Spanish we don’t always say or write the personal pronouns (yo, tú, él, ella…) so we just conjugate the verb for the singular second person (él/ella).

For example:

Si alguien quiere ir al baño tiene que avisarle a la maestra. - If someone wants to go to the bathroom they have to let the teacher know.

Cada cliente tiene que saber cuánto tiene que pagar. - Every client has to know how much they have to pay.

Si alguien me conociera, sabría que estoy mintiendo. - If someone knew me, they would know I’m lying.

But when we need to use a noun like friend, teacher, doctor, and so on, we usually use the masculine one, when talking about general things.

For example:

Un amigo debe ser sincero. - A friend must be sincere.

El maestro debe conocer muy bien su materia. - The teacher has to know their subject very well.

Me da miedo ir con el dentista. - I’m afraid to go to the dentist.

Si amas a alguien déjalo ir, si regresa siempre fue tuyo, si no, nunca lo fue.- If you love someone, let them go, if they return, they were always yours, if they don’t, they never were.

However, some people prefer to write both genders, especially in writing. For example:

Una amiga o un amigo debe ser sincero.

El maestro o la maestra debe conocer muy bien su materia.

Me da miedo ir con el dentista o la dentista.

Si amas a alguien déjala o déjalo ir, si regresa siempre fue tuya o tuyo, si no, nunca lo fue.

But of course this makes the sentence very long and a little awkward, some people only use it when it is very important to point both genders.

When we need a plural noun, according to grammar, it’s also correct to use the masculine one. For example “niños” can refer to girls and boys. But nowadays people are finding ways to neutralize words.

For example, people sometimes write:

niñ@s

niñxs

niños(as)

niños/as

But none of these are official or grammatically correct, and we can’t pronounce them as a single word. So the only correct way to write this is naming both “niños y niñas”. In official documents, at least in Mexico, women are first, so they write “niñas y niños” or “las niñas y los niños”. But if we write men first is acceptable too.

There are some nouns that are used for both men and women, like “estudiante” it can be “la estudiante” or “el estudiante”. In these cases we can write “las y los estudiantes” or “las estudiantes y los estudiantes”

For example:

Las niñas y los niños tienen derecho a la educación. - Girls and boys have the right to education.

¿Qué hace una doctora o un doctor? - What does a doctor do?

Las y los estudiantes deben guardar silencio durante la clase. - Students should be quiet during class.

Cómo tener una buena comunicación con las adolescentes y los adolescentes. - How to have a good communication with teenagers.

I hope this has helped :)

#Spanish #español #Learn Spanish #q&a #langblr #studyblr #neutral #genders #they #their

[ourspanishblog]

Hi there! I have a question that's been kinda bugging me for the past few days and I can't seem to find the answer. In Spanish qué means 'what' and cuál means 'which' right? How come if I saw 'what is your number' it's ¿cuál es tu numero de telefono? Instead of qué es tu numero de telefono? Or 'cuál es tu color favorito' Instead of 'qué es tu color favorito'. Thanks!! Hope you understand what I said lmao

¡Hola!

I made a post about qué and cuál, you can check it here.

So cuál is not only which, it can also be what in English.We use qué for general/universal things, and cuál for specific/particular things. Somebody’s name, personal information or personal interests are specific things, only for them. So that’s why we use “cuál”. 

We use qué for general information or dictionary meanings.

For example, I can ask:¿Qué es la vida? - What is life?

But if I want to know something more specific about life then I ask:¿Cuál es el significado de la vida? - What is the meaning of life?

Another example:¿Qué son las estrellas? - What are stars?¿Cuál es la estrella más cercana a la Tierra? - What is the closest star to Earth?

So, questions with qué just look for information about the existence of “life” and “stars”. But questions with cuál look for specific features about “life” and “stars”.

“¿Qué es nombre?” means “What is name?” as the existence of the word “name”, the dictionary meaning of “name”. That’s why it doesn’t make much sense if you ask “¿Qué es tu nombre?”But “¿Cuál es tu nombre?” is a question that looks for someone’s specific feature or characteristic. 

I hope I didn’t confuse you even more.😅

#Spanish #español #learn Spanish #q&a #langblr #studyblr #qué cuál #que #cual #what which