Today I want to talk to you about how you increase your Spanish vocabulary over and above that which you learn from the free podcasts I have been telling you about or even from any paid for Learn Spanish programs you have invested in.

It is important to be able to use the basics which is where every decent Spanish program will start.  So very quickly you should be able to talk about these things in Spanish:

• Greetings
• You, your name and where you are from
• Your family
• Tell the time
• Count up to at least 100
• Talk about the weather
• Ask for basic directions

The next stage of most Learn Spanish programs will be to take you through common situations like being at the airport, checking into your hotel, eating at a restaurant etc.  Of course these programs can only teach you so much and there may well be things that you need to know that are not covered.

So how do you expand your Spanish vocabulary and list of useful phrases above and beyond the constraints of any course of study you are taking?  Well you must choose vocabulary that you know you are likely to use and there are two ways you can do this

The first thing you should consider are the common situations that you will find yourself in.  A good program will cover most of these but you should really think about whether or not you have been given the right vocabulary for your own personal circumstances.  For example if you are vegetarian, vegan or have some form of special dietry needs (knowing the word for "nut" might be life saving if you have an allergy to them!) then you need to know how to converse about that in Spanish when you go into a restaurant.

The next thing you should do is monitor your conversations that you have in your own language.  These are the things you say to your friends and colleague in general chit chat as well as the sort of verbal interactions you have with the people you encounter on a day to day basis.  For example shopkeepers, taxi drivers, standing in line etc.  If you use those phrases in your own language then you are likely to to want to use them in Spanish too.

Here is the process I suggest you adopt for working out what you need to say:

1. Imagine yourself in each situation and recall from memory the sorts of conversations you have had in the past or that you know you will need to have.
2. Write out a list of the words you will need e.g. vegetarian, nut allergy, teetotal etc
3. Write out a list of phrases that you know you will need or might encounter in the situation
4. Write out a list of questions that you might want to ask with possible answers that you might hear.

Once you have that information then all you need to do is to translate it into Spanish and work out how to say them with the correct pronunciation.  There are a number of ways that you could do this - use resources you already have or simply go to the internet and do a search on those terms. 

Using one of the free translation tools will help be do cross reference between at least two different tools because sometimes the quality of the translation is not perfect and often a literal translation of the phrase may have a completely different connotation in Spanish (for example one of the dictionary translations of the word "to grab" in Spanish has a sexual connotation that might not be what you mean).

A really great way to find out what to say is to ask someone who speaks Spanish as a native.  You can either find someone using skype like I did or if you encounter a Spanish speaker, ask them.  It is a great way to break the ice and I have found that people love to help and share what they know with you.

So work out what you want to be able to say, find out how to say it, then practice saying it -easy really

Let me know how you get on.