Today I received an email from Mauricio at Rocket Languages letting me know about a new Spanish course they will soon be launching. The course is called Jetset Spanish.

Jetset Spanish has been designed to take a lot of the fear out speaking Spanish when you still are learning the language and aren’t confident in your abilities. The course does this by letting you interact with people in a video. The goal is to let you practice and improve your Spanish without fear of embarrassment. It seems pretty clever!

Here’s how Mauricio explains it:

“Learning Spanish can also be a lonely experience if you don’t have anyone to practice speaking with. 

Wouldn’t it be great if you could practice with native Spanish speakers anytime you wanted – without the fear of making a mistake? 

Imagine if you could actually sit down at a restaurant with them, share a meal, and join in the conversation without the fear of failure. Picture having your own Spanish-speaking friends to show you how to get around town, book accommodation, and go shopping – in Spanish!

 What if you could meet their friends and family, get the lowdown on how to party Spanish-style, and join them on a trip to the country?

“

That would be a pretty cool way to learn to speak Spanish right?”

I agree. Here’s a link to the Jetset Spanish sneak preview.

The other day on the bus, I noticed a friend of mine practicing her Spanish with the aid of a little book called Spanish 60-Second Grammar Workouts, 140 Speed Tests to Boost Your Fluency.

I asked her how she liked it.

“It’s great,” she replied. “These little mini-quizzes help keep me sharp on things like the past tense and imperative when I don’t have much opportunity to speak Spanish.”

I borrowed her book and it does look pretty good for reviewing, remembering and solidifying grammar knowledge, particularly for advanced-intermediates.

Personally, I wouldn’t buy it though. I prefer to do all my grammar practice with the Verbarrator. But, hey, variety is good too!

A couple weeks ago I received an email from Patrick Jackson at Learning Like Crazy on the topic of “Spanish slang and informal Spanish words.”

Patrick’s emails are always a pleasure to read and I usually learn something new. This particular email taught me an informal Spanish word I had never heard before, but now plan to incorporate in my vocabulary. I thought I would share it with you here.

By the way, you can sign up for Patrick’s emails here.

Now heeeeeere’s Patrick:

The next word that I am going to share with you is a very informal vocabulary word. You may want to pay close attention here because I can assure you that you will not see this word in a Spanish vocabulary or grammar book. And you will not learn this word in a Spanish home-study course or taking Spanish classes in a classroom setting.

But Spanish speakers use the word.

I have heard it used in Colombia, in Nueva York, and also in the reggaeton music from Puerto Rican recording artists.

In one my Spanish dictionaries, next to the word is the abbreviation “Fam” which stands for “familiar”.

Here’s the word:

Pillar – to see, to catch

Spanish speakers use this word in the same way that English speakers use the verb ”to see/catch” as in “to see/catch a person” especially when the person seen did not want to be seen.

Por ejemplo,

Yo pillé a tu novio con otra en la discoteca. (I saw your boyfriend with another womanin the club.)

I recently came across a Spanish course designed and administered by a teacher named Maria Fernandez. Although I haven’t tried the course, I wanted to bring it to your attention since it appears to be both user-friendly and comprehensive. Maria is an experienced teacher with over 15 years experience.

You can get details of Learn Spanish with Maria Fernandez here.

If you’ve tried the course, let me know how you liked it.

I received the following email inquiring about the best Spanish courses:

“I’m looking for the best complete spanish learning system. I hope you can help me. I’m planning on moving to Mexico in a few years & want to be fluent. I’m looking for one that is well balanced w/ grammer, vocab. & the whole 9 yards. Rocket Spanish is pretty good but I feel I need a more extensive course. I really don’t want to give $650 for Rosetta Stone unless it is that much better than the others. I’v been looking @ some others,”Fluenz”, “Tell me more spanish” @ I’m sure there are others. Can you give me your opinion on these @ any others you could recommend. I have been through the “The Everything Learning Spanish Book” several times so I do have a start on my Spanish.”

Here is my reply:

“I get the best feedback on Rocket Spanish which costs $99. But if money is no object, you might want Rosetta or Fluenz. Personally, I would get Rocket then spend the extra money on the Practice Makes Perfect books, and a tutor.”

Once you achieve a reasonably advanced level of proficiency in Spanish, you will need to bolster your understanding of idiomatic expressions. To help you do this, you’ll probably want to purchase a good reference book of idioms.

Of course, there are several good options. Here’s a review of Barron’s Spanish Idioms. The review includes a few good samples from the book.

Quite a few idiomatic expressions use “la mano” which, as I’m sure you know, means “hand”.

(Just a quick, friendly reminder that “mano” is feminine even though it ends with the letter “o”. That’s right, it’s irregular, amigo.)

Now let’s look at a few expressions using “mano” that I find particularly useful or amusing.

darse la mano – To shake hands.

Example: Nos dieron la mano. We shook hands.

coger con las manos en la masa – Caught redhanded.

La policia lo cogió con las manos en la masa. The police caught him redhanded.

tener mucha mano – To have a lot of power.

Example: El gubernador tiene mucha mano. The governor has a lot of power.

echarle una mano – Give a hand.

Example: Echame una mano. Give me a hand.

de segunda mano – Secondhand, used.

hecho a mano – handmade

I recently had the opportunity to test drive a new software program that’s designed to make it easier for people to learn Spanish verbs. It’s called the Verbarrator. What a fantastic program! This little piece of software (well, maybe not “little” since it contains more than 30,000 audio files) lets you drill yourself on all common Spanish verbs in all tenses. There’s English and Spanish audio plus an “immersion mode”. You can study the verbs on their own or in Spanish phrases.

It takes quite a bit of time and repetition to learn Spanish verbs. That’s why I think Verbarrator will be a great help to a lot of people who are trying to learn the language — it makes it easy to focus on the verbs that give you the most trouble.

Product developers say that Verbarator was more than three years in the making.

There’s more information about this verb drill program at Kim’s Verbarrator review.

The Spanish spoken in the streets of Mexico is a far cry from the Spanish you learn in school. It’s dirty, vulgar and loaded with colorful expressions. Today I’d like to tell you about my current favorite Mexican slang word, a word I find myself fitting in to every other sentence. That word is pinche.

Pinche is not a nice word. It is most similar to “damn” or “damned” or “f—ing”. Here’s how you might use it in a sentence:

Gabriel es un pinche idiota. (Gabriel is an f—ing idiot.)

Dame el pinche dinero o te mato. (Give me the damn money or I’ll kill you.)

You can learn more Mexican Slang here.

Did you know that many top Spanish courses offer free lessons? That’s right, you can download or access free lessons right from your computer.

Take advantage of their generosity. Here’s a list of popular Spanish courses that offer free trials.