Introduction
Gaining mastery over your first language is as easy as learning to walk. One day it’s all goo-goo ga-ga, and the next you’re stringing together words like a born orator. Picking up a second language, particularly when you’re not immersed in it, is quite a bit more challenging. You have to set aside the conventions of your own language and get up to speed on new rules, structures, and vocabulary all at the same time.
Sure, you can pick up a handful of phrases overnight and perhaps recite the alphabet and count to ten by the end of the week, but that’s not going to get you through a normal dinner conversation or enable you to understand foreign soap operas. You need some serious training to reach that point. Fortunately, Spanish All-in-One For Dummies, along with some practice, can get you there.
About This Book
Spanish All-in-One For Dummies is a comprehensive guide to acquiring Spanish as a second (or third or fourth or fifth) language that delivers the information and instruction in easily digestible, bite-sized chunks. It’s the closest thing to a Spanish language immersion program you can get off a bookshelf — addressing both spoken and written Spanish and presenting it in the context of real-life situations. Think of it as your own personal tutor, reference book, and workbook all rolled into one.
This book is not a class that you have to drag yourself to twice a week for a specified period of time. You can use Spanish All-in-One For Dummies however you want to, whether your goal is to pick up a few common words and phrases, write a Spanish-speaking pen pal, or travel to a Spanish-speaking country. We set no timetable, so proceed at your own pace, reading as much or as little at a time as you like. You don’t have to trudge through the chapters in order, either; just read the sections that interest you.
And don’t forget to practice by using the CD at the back of this book for help in pronunciation. The only way to really know and love a language is to speak it. Throughout the book, we give you lots of words, phrases, and dialogues, complete with pronunciations. Only a sampling of them are on the CD, but we’ve provided a broad selection that should serve most of your basic needs.
Conventions Used in This Book
To make this book easy for you to navigate, we’ve set up a couple of conventions:
Spanish terms are set in boldface to make them stand out.
English pronunciations, set in italics, accompany the Spanish terms.
Whenever we include the phonetic pronunciation of a Spanish word, we also use italics to denote any stress you add to that word. (See Book 1, Chapter 1 for more on pronunciation and stress.)
As you begin to use this book, you will no doubt notice that we chose a rather conventional method to introduce the different verb conjugations — a conjugation box, which looks like this:
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pedir (e to i) (to ask for) |
|
|
pido |
pedimos |
|
pides |
pedís |
|
pide |
piden |
This handy little tool acts like a mental billboard. It displays the Spanish verb, its English meaning, and then conjugates the verb, presenting the three singular conjugations in the left column (for I; you informal singular; and he, she, it/you formal singular) and the three plural conjugations (we, you informal plural, and they/you formal plural) in the right column. Some even include an example sentence below the conjugations at no extra charge.
Vocabulary chart: Vocabulary charts provide a quick rundown of common words or expressions, typically providing the Spanish word in the left column with its English equivalent in the right column. In some cases, the charts contain additional columns to illustrate different forms, such as a present participle.
Language learning is a peculiar beast, so this book includes a few elements that other For Dummies books don’t, such as the Talkin’ the Talk dialogue. One of the best ways to learn a language is to see and hear how it’s used in conversation, so we include dialogues throughout Books I and IV. The dialogues come under the heading “Talkin’ the Talk” and show you the Spanish phrases, the pronunciation, and the English translation.
Also note that because each language has its own ways of expressing ideas, the English translations that we provide for the Spanish terms may not be exactly literal. We want you to know the gist of what’s being said, not just the words that are being said. For example, you can translate the Spanish phrase de nada (deh nah-dah) literally as of nothing, but the phrase really means you’re welcome. This book gives the you’re welcome translation.
Foolish Assumptions
To write this book, we had to make some assumptions about who you are and what you want from a book called Spanish All-in-One For Dummies. Here are the assumptions we’ve made about you:
You know little or no Spanish — or if you took a Spanish class some years ago, you don’t recall much of what you knew.
You’re looking for more than your average conversational Spanish lesson, but you want that, too.
You want to have fun and pick up a little bit of Spanish at the same time.
If these statements apply to you, you’ve found the right book!
How This Book is Organized
This book is actually six books in one, each of which tackles Spanish and Spanish language acquisition in a different way. In the following sections, we provide a brief description of what you can expect to find in each book.
Book I: Speaking in Everyday Settings
This book focuses on the spoken word and allows you to get your feet wet and wade in slowly. We begin with the bare basics, including some guidance on proper pronunciation; introduce words for numbers, colors, dates, and time; show you how to initiate conversations with greetings and small talk; and then place you in various situations where you pick up Spanish in everyday settings, including grocery stores, restaurants, department stores, and even in emergency situations.
Book II: Grasping Basic Grammar Essentials
In Book II, we get more formal as we introduce you to the various rules and regulations that govern the Spanish language. Don’t worry, we start out very slowly with the building blocks — the parts of speech, including nouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs — before moving on to slightly more involved topics like conjugating verbs in the simple past, present, and future tenses. In very short order, you’ll be constructing your own original expressions in complete sentences! You also discover how to ask questions, spice up your expressions with adjectives and adverbs, and build your own prepositional phrases.
Book III: Mastering More Advanced Grammar Essentials
Consider this book a more advanced course in Spanish grammar than Book 2. Here, you discover how to issue commands with the imperative mood, take action on object pronouns, talk about yourself with the reflexive, wish and hope with the subjunctive, and double the number of verb tenses with the helping verb haber.
Book IV: Spanish at Work
Even if you’re fairly fluent in everyday Spanish, you may have trouble communicating with customers or colleagues at work because the words and phrases you need so specific to your line of work. To assist you with your Spanish on the job, we’ve included several chapters that deal with various professions and workplace scenarios:
Healthcare workers
Law enforcement professionals
Educators and administrators
Banking and financing professionals
Office workers
Hotel and restaurant managers
Builders, mechanics, and factory workers
Real estate professionals
Gardeners and landscapers
Book V: Appendixes
At the very back of this book, just before the index, we provide four appendixes for quick reference:
Appendix A: Verb conjugations for regular and irregular verbs
Appendix B: Spanish-to-English dictionary
Appendix C: English-to-Spanish dictionary
Appendix D: About the CD
Icons Used in This Book
You may be looking for particular information while reading this book. To make certain types of information easier for you to find, we’ve placed the following icons in the left-hand margins throughout the book:
This icon highlights tips that can make learning Spanish easier.
Languages are full of quirks that may trip you up if you’re not prepared for them. This icon points to discussions of these weird grammar rules.
If you’re looking for information and advice about culture and travel, look for these icons. They draw your attention to interesting tidbits about the countries in which Spanish is spoken.
The audio CD that comes with this book gives you the opportunity to listen to real Spanish speakers so that you can get a better understanding of what Spanish sounds like. This icon marks the Talkin’ the Talk dialogues you can find on the CD.
Remember icons call your attention to important information about the language — something you shouldn’t neglect or something that’s out of the ordinary. Don’t ignore these paragraphs.
Where to Go from Here
Like all For Dummies books, this one is designed for a skip-and-dip approach. You can skip to any chapter or section that catches your eye and find a mini-lesson on the topic du jour. If you’ve never had any instruction in Spanish or much exposure to it, we encourage you to begin with the first four chapters of Book I. These chapters form the foundation on which you can start building your knowledge.
Books I and IV present a more conversational, situational approach, for when you need to know a few key words and phrases and you don’t have time for the rules or you need some specialized vocabulary you can’t find anywhere else.
When you do have time for the rules, spend some time cozying up to Books II and III, where true Spanish mastery is laid and hatched. This stuff is the meat-and-potatoes Spanish . . . or should we say rice and beans?
