Necesito practicar mi español

I don’t have a memoria mágica /ma-hee-ka/. Necesito practicar mi español. Normalmente I have to try to remember a new word every day for 2 weeks before I can produce it on demand. No memoria mágica.

Practica makes possible! /po-see-blay/

Unos aspectos de pronunciación

1. An –e on the end of a word always makes a sound. It is as if importante is importantay. There are lots of words like this: norte, normalmente, frase.

Could you say these frases out loud?

• Un café solo es a black coffee en inglés

• Un café con leche es a coffee with milk en inglés

• Un chocolate caliente es a hot chocolate en inglés

It might be un poco difícil to remember to do this, because there are so many words en inglés that have an –e silencioso on the end (love, share, snooze, convince). Don’t worry. Poco a poco you get used to it.

2. The letter “j” makes a /h/ sound, like in the town Nerja /ner-ha/.

You may have heard of the singer Julio Iglesias (his name translates as July Churches). En español Julio es /hoo-lio/. Julia sounds nothing like Julie! Imagine calling your amiga Julia “Hoolia”. Is she a hooligan?

Could you say these names out loud? If you’re not sure, just have a go!

• Javier Jara Jacinta

• Jesús Jiron Jacome

• José Justo Jerez

This is another one that takes quite a bit of getting used to. Personalmente I think Jesús /hay-soos/ is the strangest, but it kind of works, because it sounds like “Hey Zeus”. That might help it stick en tu memoria.

Repaso = Review

This bit isn’t in Spanglish, it’s in Spanish. See how you get on with understanding it. Concentrate on the words you understand. Guess what the rest means from what you already know. Above all, don’t worry.

1. Ruth y su familia van a Nerja de vacaciones.

2. Maxi es un amiga en Los Apartamentos Rosas.

3. Lee y Elise van al gimnasio.

4. Ruth y Maxi van al bar para conversar y hablar en Spanglish.

5. Es imposible hablar español perfectamente.

6. Es possible hablar Spanglish perfectamente.

Frases útiles

Your personal phrasebook. Why not keep these in your back pocket until you know them?

1. ¿Habla inglés? = Do you speak English? (Don’t say the “H”).

2. Hablo un poco de español = I speak a little Spanish, (don’t say the “H”!)

3. Necesito practicar mi español = I need to practice my Spanish.

4. Un café solo, un café con leche, y un chocolate caliente = a black coffee, a white coffee, and a hot chocolate. (Say the –e on the end of the words, and give your “un” an “ooon”).