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Wow, you're getting ready to go, or thinking about going, to a Spanish-speaking country for an "in-country" Spanish learning experience. This will be one of the best experiences of your life if... If what, you ask? If you go properly prepared. I'll tell you one thing, if you go to your country of choice (and there are some amazing choices!) knowing zero or little Spanish you're in for a huge shock. Think about it, you're going somewhere to learn something you don't know, in a place you don't know, with people you don't know. That, mi amigo, is called "Spanish shock." Here's what you NEED to know before you go, ¿listo? (ready?)....

• 1000 of the most used words in Spanish
• At least 6 verb structures (preferably more) in which you can put all those vocabulary words

The real question is HOW do you learn 1000 of the most important vocabulary words in Spanish before you go and HOW do you learn 6 of the most important verb structures in the Spanish language? 1000 words are plenty to "get by" if you learn the right 1000 words. What are the right words? If I were you I would learn 200 words from each of the following five areas: family, business, personal care, travel/transportation, food/dining. This will give you balance and an ability to go "cross-situation." To get these words you can write down what you think are the most important words in each area in English and look them up in Spanish and then memorize them. Another option is to find a packaged version of this approach.

As far as structure is concerned, either dust off your old grammar books (boring and a pitiful way to learn structure) or find a different approach to learning structure. If you are interested, you can check out my article on learning structure through the use of what I call "patterns". I think that you will find it very, very helpful if you have a sincere desire to learn to communicate well in Spanish.

Well, those are the two things you NEED to know before you go. It would be great if you knew more, but these are NEEDS if you're going to "sacar el jugo" (get the juice out) of your trip from a learning standpoint. Have a great trip!

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Used by permission. Copyright, Bilingual America, 2000