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Special Tips to Learn Spanish

 
More and more people these days are interested in learning Spanish as a second language. It is definitely a beautiful language filled with romance and delightful expressions.

There are many types of courses you can take to learn Spanish, and there are some tips that you can incorporate in your learning to help you seem more proficient at speaking Spanish even if you are just a beginner.

One of the first things one must learn to do to speak Spanish properly and to come across as a skilled speaker, and not a hack or a novice, is to properly roll your "r's." This can take some diligent practice, especially if your first language is English since speaking English correctly does not require you to roll your "r's."

Spend time doing nothing but practicing a series of words that either start with the letter "r" or that have double "r's" in them. Practice and practice until the rolling of the "r's" is natural to you. If you want to learn Spanish and be taken seriously when you try to communicate, you will have to master this.

Also, you must learn when to roll your "r's" and when NOT to. For example, the word "perro" means dog and you would roll the "r" because it is a double "r." If you do not roll the "r" you will actually be saying the word "pero" which is the same as the conjunction "but" in English.

Conversely, if you roll the "r" when you are trying to say "pero" you will be saying "dog" when what you meant to say is "but" and you will get some very strange looks from those you are trying to communicate with. This is just one simple example, but there are many similar instances, so be sure you know the correct spelling of the word you want to say so that you pronounce it correctly with or without the rolling "r's."

Most people who want to learn Spanish, and many who have already taken Spanish language courses, do not understand that to properly speak Spanish, you must use a different set of muscles in your mouth and throat. In fact, if you don't notice any fatigue or soreness in your facial muscles, especially around your mouth, after speaking Spanish for a length of time, you are probably not pronouncing the words correctly.

You can test this simple by lightly placing your hands to either side of your mouth while speaking, first in English, then in Spanish. Choose a passage that you can read in both languages. Do your best to pronounce the Spanish passage correctly. You will feel how many more muscles you use around your mouth while speaking Spanish compared to speaking the same passage in English.

If you don't notice this difference, you need to listen to Spanish speakers more closely and emulate them better. As this other set of muscles develops through your practice as you learn Spanish your pronunciation will become more and more like that of a native Spanish speaker.

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