How to Learn Spanish Phrases Fast

You need to have basic bilingual abilities for a job or just want to be able to communicate when you're on vacation in Mexico. Either way, you have the same problem - you need to know how to learn Spanish. You don't need to be able to hold a long conversation with someone, but you do need to speak some basic phrases and understand a few things people say to you. Reading enough to understand signage would be handy, too.

Now comes the tough part. You have limited time for learning. You can't take four years of Spanish at your local college to get up to speed. So, is it possible to learn a few phrases in that time or should you just forget it?

Surprisingly enough, you can probably learn some of the most essential Spanish words in just a day. I like to watch America's Next Top Model for those rare glimpses of a photo shoot (really rare when you consider it is a show about modeling, for crying out loud!) and saw a group of models learn some Greek words in a very short period of time. Not even half a day and they were greeting and thanking people in their own language. Of course, to move those words from short term to long term memory, the girls would want to review them for several more days and then refresh their memories every few weeks if they weren't using them.

DIY immersion therapy, here you come. Every chance you get, you want to soak up Spanish. Hearing and seeing people speaking the language will help you with pronunciation, grammar and your accent. You will be able to hear how words are used in a sentence and hear exactly how to roll out that tricky "rr" sound.

So, tune into the Spanish radio station when you're in the car and flip to the Spanish channel on your television. (Especially if it is a movie you are familiar with. Knowing what the actors said in English while listening to the Spanish version is a great way to learn some more of the language.)

As you become more familiar with the language, you may even want to grab some books. Just don't be overly optimistic! I read DON QUIJOTE, but I had years of Spanish classes under my belt and it was still a struggle. GO DOG, GO, on the other hand, was as easy to read in Spanish as it was to read in English when I was a little girl.

Remember making Mix Tapes? Make yourself a Spanish CD that holds the phrases you want to learn instead. Play the CD over and over and repeat the words aloud. Here are a few other ways to learn some Spanish fast:

• Use flashcards - We have word cards stuck to just about anything in the preschool classrooms so the kids become familiar with the words for things. You can do that around your house and absorb some of your Spanish vocabulary, too.
• Make spelling lists - Create a list of words and phrases that are essential to read and say and try some old fashioned spelling practice, like writing them three times and using them in sentences.
• Make up a song - Remember some of those chants and songs you learned in elementary school? I still mutter "I before e except after c" to myself sometimes. Make a rhyme or song for some of the words you need to remember.
• Get a buddy - If a friend or coworker is learning along with you, speak Spanish to each other and drill each other on phrases.

Remember, you learned to improve your English spelling and vocabulary using these methods. They'll work just as well as you try to learn a whole new language.