In addition to listing common phrases, the book also offers dialogues that show these phrases in context. Plus, there are cultural lessons staggered throughout to prepare you to make and keep friends. “Spanish Among Amigos Phrasebook” also offers activities, making this a terrific study tool. However, the lists of common phrases also make it useful as a reference book. rolled r: Written "r" at the beginning of the word, or "rr" between vowels. It's a trill, a multiply vibrating sound. Whereas most English speakers can learn to tap out a single r, many adults learning Spanish find this sound impossible to produce; in this case, pronouncing it like a Spanish r or fumbling out a d-r will be better understood than pronouncing it like a long English r.

Review a complete interactive transcript under the Dialogue tab, and find words and phrases listed under Vocab. OPEN Abierto ( ah-bee-AIR-toh) CLOSED Cerrado ( sehr-RAH-doh) ENTRANCE Entrada ( ehn-TRAH-dah) EXIT Salida ( sah-LEE-dah) PUSH Empujar ( ehm-POO-har) PULL Tirar / Jalar ( TEE-rar/HAH-lar) TOILET Servicios / Aseos ( sehr-BEE-thee-yohs / ah-SEH-aws), also S.H. or S.S.H.H. for Servicios Higiénicos MEN Hombres ( OHM-brays)/ Caballeros WOMEN Mujeres ( moo-HEH-rehs) / Señoras DON'T SMOKE No fumar/fume ( noh foo-MAHR/FOO-may) FORBIDDEN Prohibido ( pro-hee-BEE-doh)The best part of this book, though, is the opportunity it gives the reader to practice what they have been learning. Sound like a native by utilizing the pronunciation tips, which varies between regions. Lonely Planet’s phrasebooks also offer both a phrasebook component and a dictionary, so they’re a handy all-around tool for travelers. s like 's' in "son": sopa; in Spain, it is often pronounced like a soft, palatised "sh" at the end of a word or syllable. t like 't' in "top": tapa v like 'b' in "bed" (but no aspiration) at the beginning of a word and after 'm': vaca, pronounced BAH-kah. A soft vibration sound almost like English 'v' elsewhere. To distinguish v from b when spelling, one says "vay chica" or "bay grande" to indicate which; native Spanish speakers may not hear the difference between "vee" and "bee". But some Spanish speaking countries do say the 'v' as in "vine" with the teeth on the lower lip. w like 'w' in "weight" in English words, whisky, pronounced "WEESS-kee"). Like 'b' in "bed" in Germanic words. x like 'x' in "flexible" ( flexible). Like 'ss' in "hiss" at beginning of a word ( xilófono). Like a throaty 'h' in the words México, mexicano, Oaxaca, and oaxaqueño. y like 'y' in "yes": payaso. Like 'y' in "boy": hoy. Pronounced like a Zh ONLY in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay as in 'Zhivago',: yo no sé, pronounced "zhaw naw seh". z like 's' in "supper" (Latin America), like 'th' in "thin" (Spain): zorro. See c above. Diphthongs [ edit ] To give you an idea of the themes covered in our phrasebook, here are some of the topics you’ll be able to talk about with the help of this Spanish travel guide: 🙋‍♀️ The Basics

Common travel phrases like ¿Donde está el hotel? (Where is the hotel?) and ¿Cuánto cuesta? (How much does it cost?) may be great for doing touristy things, but if you want to make friends, you may want some more interesting conversation. a like 'a' in "father" e like 'ay' in "pay" or 'ai' in "hail" when stressed; may take on more of a 'e' in "pet" sound when unstressed i like 'ee' in "see" o like 'o' in "stone" u like 'u' in "rule" y like 'ee' in "see". Very rarely used at the middle or ending of words. Consonants [ edit ] b like 'b' in "bed" (but no aspiration) at the beginning of a word and after 'm': boca. A soft vibration sound almost like English 'v' elsewhere. See v below. c follows the same pronunciation pattern as in English. In most cases it is pronounced like 'k' in "kid": calle, doctor. When followed by 'e' or 'i', it is like 's' in "supper" (in the Americas, the Canaries and some parts of the Philippines) or 'th' in "thin" (Spain): cine ( THEE-nay) ch like 'ch' in "touch": muchacho d like 'd' in "dog": de. In some dialects, a 'd' between two vowels is pronounced with a bit of softness, halfway between the normal 'd' and the 'th' in "the": pasado. You're usually fine just using the 'd' sound. f like 'f' in "fine": faro g when followed by 'e' or 'i', like a throaty 'h' ( general = heh-neh-RAHL), otherwise like 'g' in "go" ( gato). In the clusters "gue" and "gui", the 'u' serves only to change the sound of the consonant and is silent ( guitarra), unless it bears a diaeresis, as in "güe" and "güi" ( pedigüeño). In between vowels, it tends to be voiced and not guturral. gu, gü when followed by another vowel, like 'Gw' in Gwen ( agua, cigüeña, Camagüey) h silent: hora= OR-ah. Pronounced like a softer 'j' only in foreign words. j like a throaty 'h' in "ha": jamón; k like 'k' in "kid": kilo The letter K is only used in foreign words (kárate, kilo, Kiev, etc.). l like 'l' in "love": lápiz ll like 'y' in "year"; pronounced like a Zh as in 'Zhivago' only in Argentina, Uruguay, and Paraguay: llamar. In at least some parts of Costa Rica and Colombia, pronounced as the English "j" or "g," as in the words "ginger" or "ninja." Also pronounced like 'ly' as in the English word "million" in northern Spain and in the Philippines. m like 'm' in "mother": mano n like 'n' in "nice", and like 'n' in "anchor": noche, ancla ñ like 'ny' in "canyon": cañón, piñata p like 'p' in "pig": perro q like 'q' in "quiche" (always with a silent "u"): queso, pronounced KAY-so r, rr Spanish has two 'r' sounds both of which are different from their counterpart in English. Some effort should be made to approximate each of them, to help listeners distinguish between perro ("dog") and pero ("but")... or perhaps to understand you at all: Verb conjugations are introduced slowly and Madrigal chose to introduce the past tense first rather than the present tense as is typical with most Spanish textbooks.

Why Use a Spanish Phrasebook?

A Western Romance language, Spanish is closely related to and mutually intelligible with the other romance languages to an extent, such as Portuguese, Catalan, Italian and Romanian. English and Spanish share variants of approximately one third of their words (via Latin), although the pronunciation tends to be very different. Each phrase is also accompanied by audio by a native speaker. Not only can this help you perfect your pronunciation, you can also play it for native speakers if you’re not comfortable speaking. The pronunciation guides below approximate one Latin American accent. As mentioned above, the most salient difference in Castilian Spanish is that z , as well as c before i and e , is pronounced like the 'th' in "think" instead of the 's' in "sink". Good pronunciation cannot be represented by English approximations. If you pronounce these phrases as shown here, your amused listeners will probably understand you, but after listening to their pronunciation for a while, you can ignore what we have suggested here. Basics [ edit ] Spanish spelling has the pleasant characteristic of being very phonetic, with only a few clearly-defined exceptions. This means that if you know how to pronounce the letters of a word, it's relatively easy to sound out the word itself. There are many ways to learn Spanish, face-to-face classes in a language school, live online classes, mobile apps, distance learning online courses, etc.

Plus, you can use phrasebooks regardless of whether your Spanish ability. If you know Spanish, they can be helpful tools to ensure your phrases are spot on. If you don’t speak Spanish, they’re essential to communicate clearly. This makes phrasebooks a versatile tool regardless of your skill level. When speaking, times are given in AM/PM form (but saying de la mañana (morning), de la tarde (afternoon), de la noche (evening/night) or de la madrugada (late night) to distinguish between AM and PM. Rarely do Spanish speakers use the 24-hour system in conversation. On the other hand, in most countries, times are rendered in 24-hour format (as in Britain), with a colon separating hours and minutes: Additionally, if the accent marks a diphthong a syllable break occurs between the two vowels of the diphthong. Books may be a traditional way to learn Spanish, but that doesn’t mean they should be discounted, on the contrary!Spanish ( español), also known as Castilian ( castellano), is the third most-spoken language in the world (after English and Mandarin Chinese), with around 540million speakers. Originating in Spain and spoken by most residents there, it is also an official language in Mexico and all of Central America except Belize (though it is widely understood there as well), and of most countries in South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela. Spanish as a second language is generally understood to some level in most of the rest of the continent. The Spanish verb tense system is fairly similar to English, but all six person/number combinations take different endings in the indicative. The formal "you" ( usted(es)) takes a third-person verb. Spanish has genders, so a man says encantado and a woman says encantada. The indirect object and the animate direct object are both marked by a. single r: This sound is created by putting the tip of the tongue up against where the front of the roof of the mouth meets the upper teeth, very similar to the action English speakers make to pronounce l or d. To an English-speaking ear, it may sound a bit like a combined "d-r". Take care to pronounce r separately when it follows a consonant; a blended English tr will not be recognized in the Spanish word otro ("other"), which should be pronouced more like "OHT-roh". This is a Spanish grammar book and covers all of the important areas, but this book is very successful in making grammar easily digestible. Learn all the vocabulary in any video with FluentU’s robust learning engine. Swipe left or right to see more examples of the word you’re on.