On the Go
Build bridges or beef up your resume by learning ordinary Spanish.
This product is occasionally updated in response to feedback. Buy it and use it.
Multi-task with our audio fluency builders, listening to them on your iPod, MP3 player, computer, whatever. These are the first of a very large, multifaceted project that we'll be releasing over time. With these, you interpret to English and let the Spanish build up in your brain until it starts spilling out automatically. Each set contains five scenarios that are about 10 minutes each. Each scenario has about 50 short and medium-length statements. Don't be afraid of them. We'll take good care of you by weaving them into a fabric of recurring threads and patterns, and making some powerful reinforcements available to you later for free.
First you listen to a scenario, trying to think or say the English for each statement before the English is given. Or you just listen and absorb. You won't have time to translate word by word in your head, and it's not likely that you'll try, since that wouldn't work most of the time anyway. We're building reflexes in you.
Most sentences are very ordinary, not necessarily interesting, and not always sentences that you would say often. It's impossible to predict the exact sentences that a person will need in a given day or month, because language is vast and situations vary. But you WILL need every word and construction that you find in the scenarios, no matter what your line of work is or where short-term trips take you.
In the following excerpt from Scenario 1, a young woman talks to her 7-year-old brother, who has been throwing apples at signs in the park. You wouldn't normally say all these sentences everyday, but you would use many of them and you would use parts to say all kinds of things on the road, in the kitchen, at the office. You certainly would need to be able to understand the sentences. So would a parent, teacher, police officer or big sister. We'll prove that over time. Remember, your job is to think or say the English. You are the interpreter.
| Fernando |
¿Por qué no fuiste ayer? |
Why didn't you go yesterday? |
| Ana |
¿Ayer? ¿Martes? |
Yesterday? Tuesday? |
| Fernando |
No fuiste ayer. |
You didn't go yesterday. |
| Ana |
Ah, verdad. |
Ah, true. |
| Ana |
Fui la semana pasada. |
I went last week. |
| Ana |
Y tú fuiste muy malo. |
And you were really bad. |
| Fernando |
¿Cómo? |
How's that? |
| Ana |
Con los letreros, Nando. |
With the signs, Nando. |
| Ana |
Fuiste muy malo con los letreros. |
You were really bad with the signs. |
| Ana |
Y con las manzanas. |
And with the apples. |
| Fernando |
Ya no tiro manzanas. |
I'm not going to throw apples anymore. |
| Ana |
¿Ya no? |
You're not? |
| Fernando |
Te lo prometo. |
I promise. |
Don't underestimate the time it takes to master five sets of 50 statements in order and out of order. Building and maintaining fluent listening comprehension becomes quite a load if you go too fast. You also need to patiently develop your pronunciation in the read-along (or say-along) sessions. Pronunciation is vital to fluency. Here's an excerpt from Scenario 3, a phone conversation between a mother and her teen-aged son.
| Mamá |
Ricardo, ¿dónde estabas ayer? |
Richard, where were you yesterday? |
| Richard |
En casa. |
At home. |
| Mamá |
¿Dónde estás ahorita? |
Where are you right now? |
| Richard |
Estoy en el correo. |
I'm at the post office. |
| Mamá |
¿Cuándo regresas? |
When are you coming back? |
| Richard |
A las cinco y media. |
At 5:30. |
| Mamá |
Bueno, lava los platos. |
Okay, wash the dishes. |
| Richard |
Mamá, por favor. |
Mom, please. |
| Richard |
Lávalos tú. |
You wash them. |
| Mamá |
Yo no. |
Not me. |
| Mamá |
Estoy ocupada. |
I'm busy. |
| Richard |
¿Qué haces? |
What are you doing? |
| Mamá |
Me estoy pintando. |
I'm putting on makeup. |
| Richard |
¡Pintándote! |
Putting on makeup! |
Go through a scenario as much as you want. Once you have a pretty good handle on the statements in their original order, the next step is to practice interpreting the statements in random order. They come in fixed groups of five or six. Set your media player to random and it will play the groups in unpredictable order. This is a reliable way to strengthen the learning, if you do not rush through the initial step. This kind of practice cultivates skill for interpreting. You will become accustomed to conveying accurate meanings without always using the same words.
Listen to these lessons in the car, at the gym, gardening, landscaping, taking a bath, resting, jogging, walking or waking up. The lessons don't ask you to produce Spanish. You need to comprehend before you worry about intentionally constructing all kinds of things to say.
Each On the Go pack contains:
-A page of instructions with suggestions that you are free to ignore;
-Five scenarios to interpret from Spanish to English;
-A running commentary on a portion of the scenario, including grammatical and cultural points;
-A read-along or say-along version in Spanish that you hear and practice saying;
-All 45 scenario statement groups combined for you to practice in fixed and random order.
This is not a magical fast-and-easy method. It's an on-the-go way to learn in a smart sequence. You'll find the Spanish popping out of your mind and mouth at times. All you have to do is cooperate and not worry about trying to learn the whole language.
Most busy people will take at least two months to go through one pack. Maybe six months. Take your time, because the next packs build on the previous ones and you still have to maintain the former ones.
After completing four sets of On the Go General Spanish, you'll be ready for On the Go for culinary, law enforcement, medical or other lines of work. We do not focus on highly specialized vocabulary. Plenty of sources already provide that. We focus on everyday language because almost everybody needs that more than they need jargon.
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