Spanish Phrases For Dummies

Susana Wald

• Publisher: For Dummies
• Year: 2011
• ISBN:
  9781118054291
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Spanish Language
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Studying Spanish for school, business, or travel? Learn the fun and easy way with this portable guide that teaches everyday expressions in Spanish.

Spanish Phrasebook For Dummies covers basic language information, focusing on common phrases to help you in ordinary situations, such as chatting about family, finding your way around, and generally making small talk. From job-related expressions to translations of directions, numbers, and time, it teaches real-world language skills that you can use immediately.

If you've never studied Spanish before — or did a long time ago but need a refresher — Spanish Phrasebook For Dummies is for you. With guidance on pronunciation and stress, this handy book is jam-packed with plenty of grammatical examples to help you with verbs, adjectives, gender, plurals, pronouns, sentence construction, how to ask questions properly, and more.

You'll have ample opportunity to test your Spanish language skills in these scenarios:

• Counting your money
• Measuring time and keeping track of days, months, and seasons
• Introducing yourself
• Talking about the weather
• Ordering drinks, snacks, or a full meal
• Shopping in traditional markets or the grocery store
• Engaging in tourist or other fun activities
• Tending to work or other business matters
• Finding transportation and lodging
• Taking care of emergencies

With a chapter on phrases native Spanish speakers use every day and another covering phrases fluent speakers would say, you can have fun and impress your friends with this concise phrasebook.

Chapter 1

I Say It How? Speaking Spanish

In This Chapter

Recognizing the Spanish you already know

Saying it right (basic pronunciation)

Diving into some typical expressions

I f you’re familiar with the term “Latin Lover,” you may not be surprised to know that Spanish is called a Romance language. But the romance we’re talking about here isn’t exactly the Latin Lover type — unless you love to learn Latin.

Spanish (as well as several other languages, such as Italian, French, Romanian, and Portuguese) is a Romance language because its origins are in the Latin of ancient Rome. Because of that common origin, Romance languages have many similarities in grammar and the way they sound. (The fact that they all sound so romantic when spoken is purely a bonus!) For example, casa (kah-sah), the word for “house,” is identical in looks, meaning, and sound whether you speak Portuguese, Italian, or Spanish.

This book concentrates on the Spanish spoken in Latin America. Throughout the book, we also explore the differences in the words used in these 19 countries and mention some variations in pronunciation. Latin America consists of all of the Western Hemisphere with the exception of Canada, the United States, the British and French-speaking Guyanas; and a few islands in the Caribbean, such as Jamaica, Haiti, and Curaçao, where locals speak English, French, or Dutch.

You Already Know Some Spanish

The English language is like an ever-growing entity that, with great wisdom, absorbs what it needs from other cultures and languages. You can find many correspondences between English and Spanish in the words that come from both Latin and French roots. These words can cause both delight and embarrassment. The delight comes in the words where the similar sounds also give similar meanings. The embarrassment comes from words where the sounds and even the roots are the same, but the meanings are completely different.

Among the delightful discoveries among similarities between the languages are words like soprano (soh-prah-noh) (soprano), pronto (prohn-toh) (right away, soon), and thousands of others that differ by just one or two letters, such as conclusión (kohn-kloo-see ohn) (conclusion), composición (kohm-poh-see-see-ohn) (composition), libertad (lee-bvehr-tahd) (liberty), economía (eh-koh-noh-meeah) (economy), invención (een-bvehn-see-ohn) (invention), and presidente (preh-see-dehn-teh) (president).

Bew...

Table of contents

• Title
• Contents
• Introduction
• Chapter 1: I Say It How? Speaking Spanish
• Chapter 2: Grammar on a Diet: Just the Basics
• Chapter 3: Numerical Gumbo: Counting of All Kinds
• Chapter 4: Making New Friends and Enjoying Small Talk
• Chapter 5: Enjoying a Drink and a Snack (or Meal!)
• Chapter 6: Shop ’Til You Drop
• Chapter 7: Making Leisure a Top Priority
• Chapter 8: When You Gotta Work
• Chapter 9: I Get Around: Transportation
• Chapter 10: Laying Down Your Weary Head: House or Hotel?
• Chapter 11: Dealing with Emergencies
• Chapter 12: Favorite Spanish Expressions
• Chapter 13: Phrases That Make You Sound Like a Local