Barcelonan Professor Releases New Spanish Guide, Shows How it’s No Ordinary Phrase Book

Español Uno: Start Speaking Spanish Quickly and Easily for Home, School, Work, Travel and Recreation covers the basics of learning Spanish as a second language. It comprises three parts: grammar, practice, and techniques to recollecting the two. In addition, it allows readers a quick look at the Spanish-speaking culture, and how it has influenced the United States, with the growing number of the Hispanic and Spanish population in the country.

First. Guzman explains that it should begin from knowing the alphabet and the various pronunciations of the letters and characters; this is similar to a child starting to learn a native language. He advances to understanding with masculine and feminine nouns, the basis for the determiners (articles and pronouns) and adjectives. Verb conjugation then follows. He states that while the rules are complex, there are ways to indicate how they should be appropriately used. In other cases, the mastery of these principles will have to come through practice.

Second. He introduces facts about the Hispanic and Spanish culture, differentiating common misconception of terms such as “Latino,” “Chicano,” “Spanish,” and “Hispanic.” He then goes to initiating small talk, wherein learners are encouraged to exercise engaging in short dialogues with a Spanish speaker, using the examples he provided.

Third. He provides strategies and activities to help retain information that learners have recently picked up in the book, and through their conversations with a Spanish speaker. Memorization using different kinds of aids and drills make a successful and long-term familiarity of the structural rules and dialogue patterns.

Guzman stresses the need to be able to speak the language properly, and not focus so much on the technicalities of grammar, because it will come naturally later as a learner becomes fluent. This is useful for those needing a refresher book that’s neither too profound nor too complicated to absorb. Beginner Spanish learners will also see the importance of studying a language at the very heart of it, and not skipping directly to conversing.

Español Uno can be considered a phrase book, with its many examples of common words and phrases that can be used in different scenarios, yet it isn’t solely aimed for that purpose. The book is organized according to how Guzman believes a learner should study the language, with the last chapter deemed a crucial point to the study, as the acquired knowledge are then being practiced through techniques like mnemonics. Incorporating brain games like Memory, as well as labeling and translating exercises, is his way of proving to learners that the whole endeavor need not be a monotonous job. He goes on to say that while it is understandable to not be able to utter a word of Spanish, “it isn’t fun as otherwise.”

“Being able to communicate with others in another language builds connections,” he affirms. “And whichever industry, race, or culture you belong to, these relationships matter, because they give meaning to our work, and more importantly, our lives.”

Download the Kindle edition of Español Uno via Amazon. Mark your calendars because this book will be given away for free this coming November 8 -9, 2014. Copies of Guzman’s previous release, “1,001+ Spanish Language Flash Cards: The Fastest Way to Get Started in Spanish,” published in 2013, are also available on the website.

Professor Julián Guzman has dedicated himself to teaching Spanish to first-time and advanced learners of the language. Passionate about his work as an educator, he has developed helpful learning methods, most of which are discussed in his recent book, that has been acknowledged by fellow educationalists all over the country. In addition to this effort, he takes part in several education projects, particularly for the youth.

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Julián Guzman

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Successful Linguistics

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