Free Spanish Courses

Solucar is a Spanish company that is harnessing one of the most powerful forms of renewable energy — the sun. Although it’s a bit expensive for now, the technology used in this solar tower is expected to become cheaper and thus make it a more feasible replacement for current power sources like fossil fuels.

They’re doing it by means of a steam turbine. The intense Spanish sun (if you’ve ever been to Spain you know what I’m talking about) heats up water, which is converted to steam, which then powers the turbine. It seems like there would be a more efficient means of doing this, but apparently that is what’s most effective at this point. So what happens at night? Read on to find out:

Solucar Solar Power Station

I remember it like it was just yesterday. My parents who had always loved Spain, rather spontaneously decided that we would spend our next Christmas in Barcelona. Now, this was in October, which didn’t give a lot of time to prepare! Luckily we had found a great deal that would allow us to fly to Europe. Travel was cheaper back then, and the dollar was stronger! Anyhow, for those who dont know, Barcelona is a beautiful city on the coast in Spain. It is in the area of Catalonia, which has a rich history and some would say even partially independent from Spain. There is a lot of tradition there, even to the point of having their own language, which you will see and hear scattered about if you visit. Barcelona is famous for its seafood, being a coastal city. Make sure to eat as much as you can, often choosing the ‘chef’s special’ by going for the menu del dia. The menu del dia is a great way to get a taste of the local flavor and a fresh dish made with whatever is good that day. It usually includes a few courses and also has the option of coming with wine. Now who doesn’t like wine? The main street in Barcelona is La Rambla, which travels through the heart of it and has many alleys leading to great hole-in-the-wall restaurants. Contrary to what is often believed, Europe doesn’t have to be expensive and Barcelona is in fact a lot cheaper than many European cities (but no less beautiful). Make sure to practice your Spanish while you are there!

When choosing a way to learn Spanish, the first step before you even look at the products out there is to decide what type of learner you are. Are you someone who learns mostly by learning? Or do you learn better by reading? What about by doing? Most of us, while we can learn in all three ways — and do so — learn best through one primary method. That’s what the research shows. So, if you believe you are an auditory learner, then this section is for you. Go for the CD. Now a lot of you might think , why not a DVD? That way you get the audio and the video. But research tells us that to learn Spanish, or anything else for that matter, one must keep distractions to a minimum. So, while a DVD might keep you entertained, your eyes might be wandering while your ears are trying to focus (get it ;-). So stick with the CD system, and you’ll likely save money this way too!

If you’ve ever tried to learn Spanish by reading a textbook, you know it can be tough to figure out how to pronounce words. The Spanish language is pronounced very differently from words in English. For example, the “ll” in llama is not pronounced “lama” but rather “yama”. There are a lot of other nuances to the language, much more difficult to pick up on than that. So, if you have the money to spring for private lessons, a college course, or a DVD disk like Rosetta Stone, then you probably don’t need to worry about how to speak properly. You’ll hear it in those cases. But back again to the person who is learning from reading a textbook. What is that person to do to figure out the proper pronunciation? Well, check it out! A Spanish English dictionary with the words spoken properly!

It’s at SpanishDICT.com

Check it out today!

Why learning Spanish is a good idea, part two: Travel

Everyone loves to travel! It’s true in the US that our dollar doesn’t buy what it used to be, but if you are a lucky Canadian, Aussie, or even better a UK person (look at that Euro go go go! you know travel is up to exotic locations. Some of the most beautiful beaches in the world are located in Spanish speaking countries. For example, Argentina — Buenos Aires, Mexico — Cabo San Lucas. You get the idea. What a lot of people don’t realize is that the difference between a good vacation and a great one can be knowing the secrets of the place you visit. For example, what about asking the locals where the best paella is? Or finding that nice secluded beach. What if there’s an attractive local woman/man who you would like to get to know (get your head out of the gutter :). Well, learn some basic Spanish and you will find your vacation to be made that much more sweet!

Do you know Cabeza de Vaca is? Probably not. Cabeza de Vaca is Spanish for ‘cow head’. Now I’ve got your curiosity, eh? Well, here’s the deal. Cabeza de Vaca was one amazing dude. He was one of the first Europeans to walk clear across North America, and he did so in the 1500s when the land was full of Native Americans. The Native Americans were initially very suspicious of Cabeza de Vaca and his crew, and killed most of them. Cabeza de Vaca and three of his companions survived and were slaves for many years. Over time, they learned to adapt to the new surroundings, and eventually found their freedom. Using their foreign appearance as a means of gaining an advantage, they actually went ahead and pretended to be medicine men with supernatural powers. I don’t want to give too much of the story away, but here’s a link to one of the best books about it:

A Land So Strange

There are a lot of reasons to learn Spanish. Here are just a few, I’m sure you can think of many more.

1. Business. No matter where you work, and I’m assuming it’s an English speaking country, you are likely going to have to deal with business people from beyond your borders. Even if you know only a passing amount of Spanish, going to the effort to communicate in a foreigner’s language can mean the difference between landing that contact or losing the deal. If you’re in the United States, you probably already know that Spanish speaking minorities are among the fastest growing segment of the population. Even if you’re not directly doing business with them now, odds are good you will be doing so in the future! You might just connect with a customer of the future.

Stay tuned for our next installment of Why Learning Spanish Is a Good Idea, coming tomorrow!

The word of the day is cielo.

El cielo es azul.

Cielo is Spanish for sky…can you guess what the sentence means? Azul…sounds like azure, right? And what color is azure? Well, it’s blue.

The sentence means the sky is blue.

Hope you enjoyed your word of the day

Los Maños’ boss was adamant that the Spanish international keeper has won his side more than any other player in the league this season and did so again in the Bernabéu.
After seeing a string of chances saved by Casillas, Zaragoza were beaten thanks to second half goals from Ruud van Nistelrooy and Robinho.

“Madrid count on the most decisive player in the league, the one that wins the most points for his team, and that is Iker Casillas,” Fernández said.

“If you add up the saves he makes, the difficulty of them and the timing of them then he wins more games than anyone else.

“He did his job perfectly against us and has been decisive.”

Despite losing, Fernández praised his players for their performances but did call upon them to find even more focus after another defeat.

“I thought that we were great and we wanted the ball and constantly attacked them. We had intensity, ambition and tried to play football at all times,” he continued.

“In the end only what is the scoreboard counts and because they had two extraordinary players in important area they won.

“Those two players are Casillas and Van Nistelrooy. We were also unlucky as we hit the post.

“We need to strengthen our mentality. We have taken many blows this season and we have to be strong. We did everything out there to win.”
Lucas Brown, Goal.com

from: http://goal.com/en-us/Articolo.aspx?ContenutoId=537570

The First Spanish Audio to be reviewed is Rosetta Stone Spanish

The first remarkable thing about this cd is the price. It is very expensive. Just browsing their website, it looks like their introductory CD costs
about $200. This is completely crazy! For $200 you could afford to take a full length course at your local community college and get some feedback on your conversational skills.

But of course, not all of us have the time to go to classes. So, if you have the money to spend, then perhaps this isn’t such a bad offer after all. Rosetta Stone is internationally reknown for their ability to teach people languages with a minimum of difficulty. The CDs come in a set, level one, level two, and level three. The first costs $209, the second $239, and the third $259. Discounts are available if you order multiple levels together.