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"One point about learning "Spanish", the language varies from place to place in Latin America."

I don't think it's just across Latin America... here in Puerto Rico they even tell you that they don't really speak Spanish...they speak a weird Americanized form of it. Some even call it Spanglish. I get a kick out of the signs here...about 1/3rd are all Spanish, another third all English, and the final third a mix of both languages... for example, there's a big store near me that has a huge sign on the front that says, "Builder's Supply"...on both sides or that are words like "plomeria", "sanitorios", "ventana" and "puerta".
 
Start out with the basic phrases for goods and services that are part of your daily living needs. Plus of course the please and thank you and good have a nice day stuff. There are lots of short courses just for travelers.

Google has apps where you can take photos of things in languages such as written instructions and have it translated into English. That function for cell phones has been around for several decades.
 
Good advice Callco. What I'm finding with my studying Spanish is that you get to know a ton of simple phrases and not a lot of useful ones. This is after just 41 days of studying, so it may get better at some point.
 
What I'm finding with my studying Spanish is that you get to know a ton of simple phrases and not a lot of useful ones. This is after just 41 days of studying, so it may get better at some point.
I know, right?
You're a fellow Duolinguist, aren't you?
I'm getting a lot of phrases like "the shrimp eats the bear" and "forgive me, Andre is a lobster."
It's a cool program but it's definitely got its limits. (There might be someone from another thread out there who'd like to say "I told you so" about that; if so, feel free ;).) Still, a good way to get your feet wet. And it will add up, with time. Better a little every day than a lot every once in awhile.

I find I feel for ages that I'm not getting anywhere and then all of a sudden I notice that I seem to have moved up a notch. Also it can help if you you use multiple resources instead of relying solely on one like Duolinguo. But that daily habit is the most important thing so congrats on that.
 
For those of you studying Spanish who want to mix up your lessons a bit, here are links to seven Spanish-language songs, with (1) music video, (2) lyrics in Spanish, (3) lyrics in English if I could find them.

Caveat: You can’t use these like a language textbook. Song lyrics can be weird and these lyrics sites may contain errors. So don’t try to memorize every word, just have fun — pick up a few words and phrases that you can use, and let the more confusing bits go. Or play around with Google Translate and even regular Google to try to work out the puzzles – the more you interact with the material, the more you’ll learn. (For example, I had no idea what half the foods mentioned in the second song were.)

At least, that’s what I do. It can be a nice break from the more artificial Duolinguo-style textbook phrases like “Good afternoon, is that a fish or a bicycle?”

Enjoy! And if you find something you like, you can find similar songs and artists in the YouTube suggested links.

Here goes.

Juan Luis Guerra, La llave de mi corazon [The key to my heart]
video:

Spanish lyrics
https://genius.com/Juan-luis-guerra-la-llave-de-mi-corazon-lyricsEnglish lyrics
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/la-llave-de-mi-corazon-key-my-heart.html
Juan Luis Guerra, Ojala que llueva café [Let it rain coffee]
video:

lyrics, both languages:
https://lyrics-on.net/en/1037098-ojala-que-llueva-cafe-lyrics.html
Xiomara Fortuna, La calle será la calle [The street will be the street]
video:

Spanish lyrics:
https://www.musica.com/letras.asp?letra=2023611English lyrics
[could not find; have fun with Google Translate (recommend ignoring the first five lines); in the Spanish lyrics, the missing letters represented by asterisks are “uta”]

Mark Anthony, Vivir mi vida [Live my life]
video:

Spanish lyrics:
https://genius.com/Marc-anthony-vivir-mi-vida-lyricsEnglish lyrics:
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/vivir-mi-vida-live-my-life.html
Willie Colon and Ruben Blades, Pedro Navaja [Pedro the Razor]
video:

Spanish lyrics:
https://genius.com/Willie-colon-and-ruben-blades-pedro-navaja-lyricsEnglish lyrics:
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/pedro-navaja-pedro-navaja-peter-blade.html
Ozomatli, La gallina [The hen]
video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMTfYECp9s0Spanish lyrics:
https://www.lyrics.com/lyric/10227526/Ozomatli/La+GallinaEnglish lyrics:
https://lyricstranslate.com/en/la-gallina-hen.html
Omar Alfanno, Verano de Estambul [Istanbul summer]
video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wp-2JW0w2Q4lyrics:
I couldn’t find a good link, but I’ll attach the Spanish lyrics to this post as a PDF.
 

Attachments

  • Verano de Estambul (Omar Alfanno).pdf
    94 KB
El problema con ese idea es yo no gusto Espanol musica. (That's all 43 days gets ya! LOL)
 
For those of you studying Spanish who want to mix up your lessons a bit...
Thanks Morgana. I found English and Spanish lyrics for the hugely popular Despacito. Found out it means slowly:) Right?

Also, Enrique Iglesias sings Bailando in Spanish and English.

 
Nice!
Yes, means slowly.
Thanks, I will add these to my list!

I never listened to Latin music at all (not even Despacito) until I started looking for Spanish practice. OMG, a whole giant world. (And half the western hemisphere goes "duhh.")
 
That is the most gorgeous, meticulous, brilliant music video I've ever seen. Every second of it is well crafted. (also smokin' hot wow)
The Spanish version has 3 billion views. Crazy.

Speaking of hot, my granddaughters tease me because I showed them Antonio Banderas singing in two videos and I said he is very handsome. Now they say grandma has a boyfriend:)

Antonio at 2:11 in Phantom of the Opera


Also showed them him singing a song from Evita. He made that movie for me.

Spanish and English lyrics to El Mariachi:


Antonio teaches Spanish slang:


Antonio teaches Spanish phrases:


Salma Hayek teaches Mexican slang:
 
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