SpanishPod101.com Blog

Do you remember the moment you fell in love with languages? Do you desire to learn or advance in Spanish quickly and effectively? Then you need a Spanish tutor. A common question that first-time language-learners ask is "Where do I begin?" The answer? Guidance. For native English-speakers who want to learn Asian languages, for example, timelines provided by the U.S. Foreign Service Institute can appear discouraging. However, defeating these odds is not unheard of. If you want to beat the odds yourself, one of the best learning options is a subscription to Premium PLUS from Innovative Language. As an active Premium PLUS member of JapanesePod101.com and KoreanClass101.com myself, I have an enjoyable experience learning at an accelerated... Show more

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GVvSDvYxlmU We might not always like to admit this when we’re starting to learn a language, but the truth is that one can’t speak properly without knowing how to put sentences together. If you use the wrong word order, there’s a chance that what you’re saying might have a different meaning than what you intended, or it might have no meaning at all. To avoid this, here’s the perfect article for you to learn Spanish sentence structure. You’ll soon learn that Spanish word order is actually not so hard, and that, in some ways, it’s similar to word order in English. You’ll also learn that, in fact, it’s more flexible! That means you can change the order of words a little bit more than you can in English. ... Show more

How do you say “time” in Spanish? And how do you say "What time is it?" in Spanish?  Did you know that to tell the time you should never use the literal translation, tiempo?  That’s just the tip of the iceberg, though. We’ll answer this and other questions more in-depth in this blog post! Learn everything about how to say the time in Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! Learning about telling time in Spanish, along with how to introduce yourself in Spanish, is significantly important if you want to improve your conversation skills.  Even in your native language, knowing the right way of telling the time can help you avoid misunderstandings. Well, time is so crucial in Spanish culture that learning how to tell time is as important as... Show more

Do you enjoy traveling? We do! And we know that even though it’s possible to travel to most places speaking only English, we love the feeling of being able to understand the locals, even if it’s only a few words. There’s some vocabulary that’s especially useful in these cases, such as "left" in Spanish or the four basic map directions. Asking for directions is one of the basic bits of knowledge that you most definitely need every time you travel. Even with Google Maps, you'll probably end up needing a little bit of help at some point during your trip. No battery, no data, or maybe just a complicated place to get to! In any case, it’s better to be safe. Often, when you learn directions in Spanish (or other languages), you learn how to... Show more

https://www.youtube.com/embed/5fp4uVY1woU It’s amazing how a person can permeate a country’s culture at one point in time, and have their influence carried over through the years. While Spain certainly has a number of important historical figures, St. James is arguably one of the most popular. So much so that he has his own feast day each year, which we’ll talk about in this article. Let’s get started. 1. What is Día de Santiago? On Día de Santiago, or St. James Day, Spain celebrates its patron saint. Saint James is credited with bringing Christianity to the country around the time of the Moorish occupation. However, upon returning to Israel, he was killed and his remains were sent back to Spain, near Galicia. From... Show more

Did you know that every noun in Spanish has a gender? Once you learn the words on our Spanish nouns list, and study up on Spanish nouns gender rules, you’ll be able to recognize them and speed up your learning. For even more words, you can check out the Spanish core 100-word list at SpanishPod101! Table of Contents What is a Noun in Spanish? Noun-Adjective Agreement in Spanish Essential Spanish Nouns to Know: Common Spanish Nouns List Conclusion 1. What is a Noun in Spanish? Nouns name or identify a person, animal, place, thing, or idea. Spanish nouns can be singular or plural, but the most important thing you need to know if you’re a Spanish learner is that nouns are always gendered. Let’s dig a little deeper... Show more

https://www.youtube.com/embed/Aqzon7DQKz0 What are your favorite things about summer? For me, I think it’s the food and the sunshine! I could do without all the bugs, though… In Spain, two of the highlights of summer are the Midsummer festival and the St. John’s Eve holiday. Spain is alight during this time, celebrating the longest day (Midsummer) and shortest night (St. John’s Eve) of the year. In this article, you’ll learn about traditions for St. John’s Eve and Midsummer in Spanish culture. There’s so much going on that it would be difficult to cover everything, but we’ll do our best. ;) Let’s get started! 1. An Overview of St. John’s Eve & Spanish Midsummer St. John’s Eve is a popular holiday in the... Show more

Hacer un cumplido, lanzar un piropo, or un halago: to compliment someone in Spanish. Spanish is a Latin language, also known as one of the romance languages. While this doesn’t mean the language is romantic by nature, there are plenty of sweet Spanish compliments you can offer someone to warm their heart. So, how do you say "compliment" in Spanish? Compliments in Spanish are known as piropos, halagos, or cumplidos. If you’re planning to travel to Spain or Latin America, you’ll come across many of those. You’ll be amazed by how we compliment anyone on anything. It’s our way of encouraging each other! Whenever I’m with some foreigner friends around my city, they’re always in awe about how we naturally call anyone guapo or guapa.... Show more

The gender of nouns in Spanish is part of a noun's identity. We won't be able to use a noun correctly without its corresponding article. If English (or another language with genderless nouns) is your first language, you probably freaked out when you found out that nouns have gender in Spanish. We admit that it does sound a little scary at first. But hey, if it makes you feel better, at least Spanish isn’t like German, which has three genders, or like Polish, which has a few more than that. Or Swedish, which has two genders that aren't feminine or masculine. There are many languages that use genders. Fortunately, we only have two genders, and we plan on keeping them. They might not always make sense to a foreigner (I mean, why would a... Show more

Trying to express your feelings is very important, especially if you’re learning a new language. I still remember how frustrating it was when I was trying to express myself in a new language. Sometimes I couldn’t find the words so it was easier just to give up. Well, that’s why we want to put this article out there for you, even if you’re one of those people who never (or almost never) gets angry. There will be a time when you need to express that you are angry in Spanish. Learn how to say "angry" in Spanish, how to express your feelings and when, and most importantly, how to spot when someone is being angry in Spanish toward you. Spanish is a romance language not only because it comes from Latin, but because you can express so many... Show more