Learn the Basics: Spanish Workplace Vocabulary, Grammar, and Phrases (2023)

FAQs

How can I learn Spanish in the workplace? ›

While vocabulary may just have the upper hand over grammar in the pecking order, the most efficient way to learn a language is through learning grammar and vocabulary at the same time.

If you start out as a beginner and manage to spend an average of 1 hour per day working on your Spanish, you should be able to reach conversational fluency within 8 – 12 months. That translates to about 250 – 350 hours spent.

There is no set order to learning the language. There is a certain natural order in which you will pick things up, but that does not mean you should learn them in that order. A common criticism of courses is that they are too rigid and structured in their approach.

A beginner Spanish learner focuses on learning the essential use of the language such as: presentation, basic vocabulary and everyday phrases. Therefore, the first lessons for teaching Spanish to beginners will focus on how to ask questions, construct simple sentences and basic concepts.

What is a fast way to learn Spanish? ›

Step 1: Explain—Provide a description, explanation, or example of the new term. First, a teacher should provide students with information about the new term.

Contrary to some beliefs, Spanish grammar is easy. It's a language with many regularities and very few exceptions. Spanish nouns have only two genders and the rules to distinguish them are very straightforward. If a word finishes with an -o, it is masculine, if with an -a, it's feminine.

How difficult is Spanish grammar? ›

As you may have seen, Spanish has many more grammatical difficulties than most other languages. While other languages lack gender in nouns or their irregular verbs have similarities with the infinitive, Spanish has different laws that make it difficult to learn even for native speakers.

A good starting place for beginners is to drill the 100 most commonly used words until you can write, speak and comprehend them without effort. One way to encounter these on a regular basis is also to change your phone language to Spanish (or whichever language you're trying to learn).

The more time you dedicate to studying and practicing Spanish each day, the faster you will get through those learning hours. If you're wondering how much time I think you should spend learning Spanish, I suggest you set aside at least 60-90 minutes each day for dedicated Spanish learning.

Across multiple sources, Mandarin Chinese is the number one language listed as the most challenging to learn. The Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center puts Mandarin in Category IV, which is the list of the most difficult languages to learn for English speakers.

Based on the data in our courses: If you learn Spanish by yourself, focus on learning chunks native Spanish speakers use, and you commit to studying 30 minutes a day, 7 days a week, you can get to an intermediate level in 48 weeks.

Fifteen hours per week is an intensive study schedule, but one that a highly motivated student could realistically commit to. That gives you around 60 hours of Spanish in one month.

What Spanish words should I learn first? ›

The three main tenses you should learn first in Spanish are the present (el presente), the past (also called the preterite, el pretérito), and the future (el futuro). They're the ones you'll run into most. You can get a lot of things across from these tenses and still be understood in the beginning.

According to an FSI study, i.e. the Foreign Service Institute, it should take a new learner approximately 600 classroom hours to achieve conversational fluency in Spanish. They also suggest an approximate 1:1 ratio between the time spent independently studying Spanish and the time spent in a classroom.

1. Essential Words Routine. Teachers use a simple graphic organizer to preteach the meanings of important words in about 5 minutes per word. During this routine, teachers introduce target words with definitions, visual cues, and examples.

A: There is no one set prescribed order to teach sight words. Some teachers and parents teach the sight words from the Dolch or Fry lists in alphabetical order. Others use the lists and create their own order. Consider using the Frequency Fry List that has words ranked by the frequency of use for reading and writing.

Communicative language teaching is perhaps the most popular approach among the methods of teaching ESL today. CLT emphasizes the students' ability to communicate in real-life contexts, and students learn to make requests, accept offers, explain things, and express their feelings and preferences.

Can you speak Spanish in the workplace? ›

While an employer may require an employee to be able to speak English because the position requires it, an employer cannot forbid a worker from also speaking Spanish, or any other language, on the job.

Find yourself too busy to spare a regular hour every day to study? Try setting an alarm, and study only 15 minutes. Once the alarm sets off, close your book and continue the next day. This will help you keep highly focused and make the most out of the short bit of time.

Repetition is Key to Mastering a New Language

Not sure if it's practical to learn another language while commuting to and from work each day? Well not only is it possible—learning in your car on the way to and from work each day can actually help you learn and master Spanish or any language much faster!

Is swearing at employees illegal? Managers should not use foul language to intimidate or humiliate team members. If the language used by an employer is so offensive and serious that an employee resigns from their job, they could issue a claim for constructive dismissal or discrimination.

Can Your Employer Prohibit You From Speaking Spanish at Your Job? Under California's Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA) and federal law, it is illegal for an employer to discriminate against an employee based on his native language or manner of speech, such as accent, size of his vocabulary, and syntax.

Under the provisions of the California Fair Employment and Housing Act (FEHA), employers with at least five employees generally cannot limit or prohibit the use of any language in the workplace, except in rare circumstances when they can demonstrate a legitimate business necessity do so.