I am serious here. I think Barney Fife was wrong about adding "o" to every word.

por favor=please

cerveza=beer

gracias=thank you

that's all I've ever needed!

What about "Donde esta el banyo?" That one's pretty important too.

/john

The Bee Guy's Guide to Speaking Spanish Like a Castilian Hidalgo.

This coincides with one of my resolutions too. I bought a CD and practiced a bit - then went to Colombia twice for a total of a month last year. The results? Ehhhh....

This year the goal will be to immerse - ie - go for a couple of weeks to a school in someplace inexpensive, like Ecuador (known for its total immersion schools) and speak nothing but native espanol-amente. That's my dos centavos.

Immersion. Take a vacation course for a week or two in Mexico. They have some good one in Oaxaca that you can get for a week or two and you get to do nothing but learn Spanish the whole time. Plus some of the culture.

I don't think it matters what medium you use. I think the most important training aid is practical application. Even talking to yourself outloud in Spanish helps. Of course, it would behoove you to find native speakers to converse with. I really don't think there is any better way to learn Spanish than to imerse yourself in the culture.

Go to your library and see if they have the Pimsleur series.

I have used almost every program out there - and found that these are the best. Also, you should try some immersion.

I learned to speak German using the Berlitz Living Language Course on LP's year's ago. I'm sure they're on CD's now.

Take any English word which ends in "tion". Change it to an accented "cion." You just learned several hundred Spanish words.

Of course some don't work this way but what the heck, you tried and people appreciate that.

Actually, the more proper phrase would be: "Uno mas cervezza, frio, por favor." (One more beer, cold, please)

That and "Vaya con Dios" (Go with God) are the two that I've learned since moving to TEXAS in 1974.

Uff Da!

Go work in any restaurant kitchen in the US. My husband is a chef who spoke no spanish until he started his career. He is now fluent in Spanish and this has helped his career tremendously. His employees respect him immensely for learning their language.

I thought you said that you couldn't speak Spanish?

I am currently trying to learn Spanish in college. I made a D in this first course :-(. It is more difficult than one would think. In addition to my textbook, I bought a set of CDs by Living Language. The set comes with the CDs, a workbook, and a dictionary.

Buenos Tacos: Good Morning

Buenos Nachos: Good Evening

Como se dicè, "two birds with one stone?" You may also get a good meal in the process.

Seriously, I would go the "immersion" course route. You probably don't even have to go as far as Mexico (these days). You could go to Miami or South Texas and stay with a family (maybe a church exchange?) for two weeks, depending on the dialect you wish to learn. Of course, this depends on what dialect your clients use.

I thought you said that you couldn't speak Spanish?

LarryLied. (sorry, I couldn't resist).

Cuba Libre!

/john

The problem is that they respond in spanish.

Also, be careful about certain words! There are two forms of the word anos; one, with the squiggle over the n is pronounced anyos, and I think it means years, while anos means anus.

limpie las manos después de vaciar el tocador

I doubt that I will have to go out of country for immersion. One of our Arkansas Fortune 500 countries is busily and kindly bringing many Hispanics to Arkansas. But you gave me a good idea. Little Rock has a Spanish Language newspaper and I will check it out for lessons. One thing that scares me is that Mexicans seem to talk so fast and us Southerners talk so slow. I'm betting I'll have to speed up my metabolism.