Spanish

Spanish comments and links by Kato D. Haws Jr.

General Comments

You need to realize that Spanish is a contextual language. That means that you have to understand the context of the conversation in order to know the meaning of specific words. That is expected and normal. Do not therefore be surprised or discouraged when you find that many words have several meanings, and there are even words that are pronounced identically, depending what part of the world you are in, that mean something radically different due to different spelling (e.g. cima and sima -- height and gulf).

The English language certainly has its own problems also, and just like in English, no one is perfect in speaking Spanish either. Certainly perfection is not a practical goal of a native English speaker learning Spanish, nor perhaps even a useful one. What is a useful goal is to study Spanish to make it easier for those who speak only Spanish to communicate with you.

Tutorials

• Spanish_Grammar
• Spanish_Vocabulary
• Spanish_Spelling_Challenges

Hints on Learning Spanish

• Since context can have such great influence on the meaning of words, it is a good idea for the serious Spanish student to have a rather large bi-lingual dictionary at their disposal, especially if they are in the habit of reading literature from different parts of the Spanish-speaking world.
• Children's literature is a good source of not too challenging vocabulary
• Books of Spanish literature can often be found at thrift shops. These usually have explanatory notes in English and even vocabulary dictionaries in the back.

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