First step to Spanish Language

1.	Be realistic. This will involve time and effort. The more you put in, the more you get out. Set realistic goals with your tutor.
2.	Learn the Spanish Alphabet below.
3.	Learn the Spanish Verb System. Not as complicated as its often made out to be	Hablo  Hablas  Habla  Hablamos  Habláis  Hablan
4.	Read aloud in Spanish every day for 10 minutes (leave a spanish magazine or book beside your bed and do it as soon as you wake up).
5.	Put your CD from the book into your car and listen to it even on very short trips. If you are on your own its a great opportunity to repeat and practice as loud as you like!  And its fun to do it with a partner!
6.	Enter a Spanish chatroom on the Internet.  Find a Spanish partner who can't speak English (a bit desperate but it works).
7.	Put on Spanish subtitles when you are watching a DVD or, better still, watch it in Spanish with English subtitles.
8.	Put on Spanish radio whilst you are busy doing other things.  It is not important that you understand - your brain will pick up on the intonation and accent.
9.	Go to Spanish meetup groups (they usually meet in pubs) where you will meet other peoplepracticing their Spanish and having fun.
10.	Expect to make loads of mistakes, and to keep on making mistakes - think about the number of mistakes you made when you were learningEnglish and how embarrassed you felt about   that?
11.	Label your furniture (small post-its) with its equivalent in Spanish.
12.	Congratulate yourself for having the courage to go forward and do something different. Party with it!!!!

GETTING STARTED

1.  The Spanish Alphabet is formed by the following twenty-nine letters:

a, b, c, ch, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, ll, m, n, ñ, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, za, b, c, ch, d, e, f, g, h, i, j, k, l, ll, m, n, ñ, o, p, q, r, s, t, u, v, w, x, y, z  

The names of the letters of the alphabet are:

A: a	E: e	J: jota	N: ene	R: ere	W: uve doble
B: be	F: efe	K: ka	Ñ: eñe	S: ese	X:equis
C: ce	G: ge	L: ele	O: o	T: te	Y: i griega
CH:che	H: hache	LL: elle	P: pe	U: u	Z: zeda or zeta
D: de	I: i	M: eme	Q: cu	V: ve

                       

These letter names are, of course, prounounced with Spanish pronunciation; not "ay," "bee," "cee," (as in English), but: 

"ah," "bay," "say" ("thay," in Spain), "chay," "day," "ay," "AY-fay," "gay"," "AH-chay," "ee," "HOH-ta," "kah," "AY-lay," "AY-yay," "AY-may," "AY-nay," "AY-nyay," "oh," "pay," "coo," "AY-ray," "AY-rray," "AY-say," "tay," "oo," "OO-vay," "OO-vay DOH-blay" (or "DOH-blay OO"), "AY-kees," "EE gree-AY-gah," and "SAY-tah" ("THAY-tah," in Spain).

Consonant Pronunciation

Some consonants are pronounced in a markedly different way from their equivalent in English. The most important of these differences are as follows:

1.  b and v have the same sound:

     bueno    barba    vino    varios

2.  (i) Before a, o and U: c is a hard sound as in come: 

   

     campo arranc  coste banco cuando

     (ii) Before e and i: c is a soft sound as in the English th in

         thin:

      cena    acento    cine    incidente

3.  (i) g - before a,o and u, g is a hard sound as in go

         garage    ganar    gordo    gol    gusto

    (ii) before e or i; g is a sound made in the throat, like ch in Scottish 'loch'

         gente    gerente    giro    gitano    dirige

   (iii)  gu followed by a is pronounced 'gw' (as in Gwen):

          guapo    agua    guardar

   (iv)  gu followed by e or i is a hard sound (as in 'go'): u is silent:

          guerra    llegué    guitarra    Miguel

    (v)  In the combinations gue and gui a diaeresis is placed over the u.

          This indicates that the sound is 'gw' (as in Gwen):

          averigue    verguenza    arguir

4.    h  h is always silent: hombre is pronounced 'ombre' 'otel' etc

5.    J  is a sound made in the throat, like ch in the Scottish 'loch':

          hijo    jardin    Jorge    paja    Méjico

6.    ll  ll is pronounced like lli in 'pillion';

          llave    calle    llegar    hallar

7.    r, rr 

      (i)    A single r at the beginning of a word is normally 'trilled' r 'rolled',

              eg. the r in el río. Otherwise it is a single trill or 'flap' as n cara.

     (ii)    rr, as in burro, sierra, is not considered to be a separate letter.  It

             cannot be split to form part of two different syllables.  It is always

             rolled like the Scottish 'r'.

8.    x - x is pronounced

       (i)  between vowels; can be either 'ks' (as in expert) or 'gs'

            (as in example):

            exento    existir    exito

       (ii) before a consonant: 'ks' or, more usually 's';

            excepto    exclamar    experiencia

9.    z  In Castillian Spanish (spoken mainly in the North and centre of Spain)

       this sound is pronounced like 'th' in 'thin.  In much of Spain and Spanish

       America the sound is 's'.

       zona    zigzag    zozobra