#minespanish

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Spanish Learning Through YouTube

Here are 4 amazing YouTube channels that’ll improve your Spanish MONUMENTALLY (if you actually put in the work and use them lol, I’m so guilty of sleeping on good resources. Learn from my mistakes and use these up!!!) :D

Butterfly Spanish

She’s so nice and her passion shines through. She teaches you a ton of stuff from beginner and beyond. And it’s like practical so you can actually go out and use what you learned immediately.

Channel Description: Learn Spanish for free with Spanish lessons that cover grammar, pronunciation, vocabulary, tips & tricks, and cultural aspects for all Spanish levels. I want to make you confident speaking Spanish, and to encourage you and provide you with all you need to make your dream of speaking Spanish come true.

Learn Spanish with Ouino

This is a program that costs money; however, they have a ton of free videos on YouTube that are AMAZING. Their vocab videos are okay, but their conversation builders are spot on! If you follow along and take the time to lightly memorize the dialogue, you’ll be having natural and fluent conversations in no time. I haven’t tried the paid version, but I do recommend the youtube channel.

Learn Spanish with SpanishPod101.com

An amazing, free, online resource with listening, reading, and vocabulary videos to help you become fluent. I personally love their listening practice videos like the one above. If this one is too easy for you, they have plenty of more advanced ones. If it was too hard, they also have lower levels and plenty of explanations :D

Easy Spanish

Channel Description: We are a non-profit project aiming to help people learn languages through authentic street interviews. Our videos show local language and culture in natural, everyday situations – something you can’t find in regular media. Each episode has a specific topic and is produced in one of our many partner countries around the world.

[thewordsweresimple]

Favorite Disney Song Lines in Spanish

Frozen - Let It Go

- El viento me abrazará (The wind will embrace me)

- No puedo ocultarlo más (I can’t hide it anymore)

- No me verán llorar (They won’t see me cry)

Pocahontas - Colors of the Wind

- Si no entiendes qué hay aquí, solo es tierra para ti sin colores en el viento descubrir (If you don’t understand what’s here, its only Earth to you without colors in the wind to discover)

The Princess and the Frog - Almost There

- Mamá no tengo tiempo para bailes (Momma, I don’t have time for dancing)

Mulan - Esta es la Lección

- Tierra, sol. Sí, no. El silencio y tu voz (Earth, sun. Yes, no. Silence and your voice)

- Actuar sin dudar (Act without doubt/hesitation)

- Es normal tener temor (It’s normal to be afraid)

Moana - I Am Moana

- Sé de una isleña muchacha, aislada está del montón... le da a su familia honor (I know an island girl, isolated from the rest... She brings her family honor)

- «Moana llegaste ya, Moana escucha: ¿sabes quién eres tú?» (”Moana you’ve arrived. Moana listen, do you know who you are?”)

- ¿Quién soy yo...? (Who am I?)

- Exterior no es la voz, es clamor desde el alma (The voice isn’t external it’s an outcry from the soul)

Frozen - For the First Time in Forever

- Finalmente y como nunca, alguien en mí pondrá atención (Finally and like never before, someone will pay attention to me)

- Lo que hay en ti no dejes ver, buena chica tú siempre debes ser (It that is in you don’t let it be seen, a good girl you should always be)

- No has de abrir tu corazón, un movimiento en falso y lo sabrán (You mustn’t open your heart, one wrong move and they’ll know)

Moana - How Far I’ll Go

- Nunca la perfecta niña he sido (I’ve never been the perfect daughter)

- Mi voz interior canta otra canción ¿Qué está mal en mí? (My inner voice sings a different song, what’s wrong with me?)

- ¿Y será que me dice desde ahí "ya ven a mí"? (And could it be that it’s telling me from there, “Come to me”?)

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A Telenovela for Bad Listening Skills?

Do you ever feel like you virtually can’t hear the words spoken in Spanish? Like you just don’t have any listening skills at all?

We’ll I’ve got the telenovela to cure that.

Extra - Series para aprender español :

According to… the internet lol:

Extr@ is a language education television series scripted in the format of a Friends-esque sitcom, and is mainly marketed for middle school and high school language classes. Four versions were made, each in a different language; English, French, German, and Spanish.

The plot is that a guy with a very basic understanding of the target language comes to live with his pen pal.

I’ve watched a good amount of it and it’s actually entertaining. If you’ve been struggling, give it a chance! It might be the resource you’ve been searching for.

[thewordsweresimple]

Venir (Spanish Verb of the Week)

Venir (to come, to arrive)

Examples (from SpanishDict):

El tren viene de Andalucía. (The train comes from Andalusia.)

Vine a la casa para almorzar. (I came back home for lunch.)

Esta comida viene ya hecha. (This food comes pre-made.)

Los subtítulos de la película vienen en inglés. (The subtitles for the movie are in English.)

El perro vendrá cuando tenga hambre. (The dog will be back when it’s hungry.)

Avísale a Sofía que sus amigas han venido por ella. (Tell Sofia her friends have come to pick her up.)

Tu cumpleaños viene ya mismo. (Your birthday is coming up soon.)

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Pensar (Spanish Verb of the Week)

Pensar (to think)

Examples (from SpanishDict):

No lo pienses más, ¡actúa! (Don’t think too much, just do it!)

Pienso que ya debería estar en casa. (I think he should be home by now.)

Estaba pensando estudiar mañana. (I was planning to study tomorrow.)

Ella se piensa la hija preferida de la familia. (She thinks of herself as the favorite child of the family.)

¿qué piensas de ella? (What do you think of her?)

Phrases (from SpanishDict)

Lo pensaré (I’ll think about it; I’ll think it over)

 cuando menos lo pienses (when you least expect it)

pensar en algo/en alguien/en hacer algo (to think about something/about somebody/about doing something)

piensa en un número/buen regalo (think of a number/good present)

no pienses mal… (don’t get the wrong idea…)

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Llegar (Spanish Verb of the Week)

that damn preterite

Llegar (to arrive, to come)

Examples (from SpanishDict):

¿Sabes si ya llegó Miguel? (Do you know if Miguel has arrived yet?)

Voy a llegar al restaurante un poco atrasado. (I am going to get to the restaurant a little late.)

El fin de semana llegó lentamente. (The weekend came slowly.)

¿Llegas al teléfono desde la cama? (Can you reach the telephone from the bed?)

No llego a la bombilla para cambiarla. (I can’t reach the bulb to change it.)

No me gustan las faldas que llegan hasta el piso. (I don’t like skirts that touch the floor.)

Después del aguacero, el agua me llegaba a la rodilla. (The water came up to my knees after the downpour.)

Obama llegó a la Casa Blanca a principios de 2009. (Obama came to the White House at the beginning of 2009.)

No llegarás a rico haciendo el vago. (You won’t become rich by slacking off.)

Con esa persistencia llegarás lejos. (You’ll go far with that persistence.)

Mi sueño es llegar a los cien años. (My dream is to live to be a hundred.)

Con la información proveída, demuestra cómo llegaste a tu conclusión. (With the information provided, please show how you came to your conclusion.)

Nuestras tierras llegan hasta el río. (Our lands stretch to the river.)

Esta ruta no llega al mar. (This route doesn’t go to the sea.)

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How I Keep My First Language Out of the Picture: Watching Anime with Spanish Subtitles?!

The main two languages that I’m learning are Japanese and Spanish. But I often have the problem that I’m always thinking in my native tongue, English.

I found a solution for that, that works for me. I’m not sure if this would help or hurt anyone else, or confuse someone, but here it is:

I use one language to learn the other.

This is mainly possible because my Spanish skills are a lot better than my Japanese ones. But also because I choose to use one skill area of the first language to improve another skill area of the second. What do I mean by this?

If I’m watching anime, I keep it dubbed in Japanese (so the Japanese audio is playing), and I watch it with Spanish subtitles. That way if I want to understand what the heck is going on, I’ll either have to rely on my Spanish reading skills or my Japanese listening skills.

This leaves ABSOLUTELY no time or energy to be thinking in English. Or even slightly using it. I find that after doing this for even 30 minutes to an hour, I’m able to go to either of my target languages and comprehend far more than I did before.

Things with Spanish audio and Japanese subtitles are a lot harder to find imo, so I don’t usually do that. But I do occasionally look for learning resources targeted towards native Spanish speakers learning Japanese. Or I just look up new Japanese vocabulary using Spanish dictionaries. This is easy because all of the beginner material I’m learning in Japanese are concepts that I’ve already learned in Spanish.

I would not recommend this as the main way of learning any language unless you’re really comfortable in either, because concepts can get confusing and it could become a mess if the translations of the two languages are just way too different from each other. BUT, if you need a quick way to get your native language out of your head so that you can really get into your target languages, I would give this method a try. 

[thewordsweresimple]

Seguir (Spanish Verb of the Week)

Seguir (to follow, to continue)

Examples (from SpanishDict):

Sígueme y te enseño el camino a casa. (Follow me and I will show you the way home.)

No sigo tu lógica. (I don’t follow your logic.)

 Debes seguir las reglas y no romperlas. (You must follow the rules and not break them.)

Puedes parar ahora y seguir más tarde. (You can stop now and continue later.)

¿Seguimos o prefieres tomar un descanso? (Shall we carry on or would you rather have a break?)

No podemos seguir así. Hay que hacer algo. (We can’t go on like this. We have to do something.)

¿Tu hermana sigue acusándote de haberle robado la pulsera? (Is your sister still accusing you of stealing her bracelet?)

Mi hijo sigue en Londres por el trabajo. (My son is still in London for work.)

¡Siga, por favor! (Please, go on!)

Seguimos bailando hasta no poder más. (We kept dancing until we couldn’t go on anymore.)

Sigan por el malecón unos cinco minutos y verán el restaurante a la derecha. (Carry on along the boardwalk for five minutes and you’ll see the restaurant on your right.)

Sigue todo recto hasta el banco y luego doble a la izquierda. (Keep going straight ahead as far as the bank and then turn left.)

Seguimos sin saber si van a venir a la boda o no. (We still don’t know if they’re coming to the wedding or not.)

 Mejor que aplacemos la salida porque sigue nevando. (We’d better delay our departure because it is still snowing.)