Let me teach you a really good technique for acquiring vocabulary, structure, and reviewing verb tenses in Spanish. It involves translation and many people would frown upon that and say, \u201cHey, Adir, isn\u2019t translation considered bad in a language course?\u201d<\/p>\n
We can use translation as an ally when we\u2019re learning a language. Check out this technique:<\/p>\n
1. Choose a paragraph from a text or a small dialogue from your textbook, in Spanish, and translate it into English. Don\u2019t use a big paragraph, take a small one.<\/p>\n
2. Leave it translated for a day or two, then translate it back into Spanish.<\/p>\n
3. Here\u2019s how to do the correction. Use a pencil, then check back the original without erasing or writing anything. Do your editing without looking at the original text, revisit it as many times as necessary to get it right. You\u2019ll see it\u2019s a very good exercise for practicing your verb forms, vocabulary and structure in general.<\/p>\n
Here are two example paragraphs you can use. It’s for intermediate students.<\/p>\n
Era un domingo muy fr\u00edo de invierno. Llov\u00eda mucho y no hab\u00eda mucha gente en la calle. Mi madre me hab\u00eda pedido que fuera a la panader\u00eda comprar leche y pan. Al principio no me gust\u00f3 mucho la idea. Quise quedarme en casa, escuchando m\u00fasica o hablando por tel\u00e9fono con unos amigos. Pero mam\u00e1 insisti\u00f3 much\u00edsimo. Termin\u00e9 por ponerme las botas de goma, el impermeable y la gorra. <\/em><\/p>\n Sin ganas, agarr\u00e9 el paraguas de mi padre y me fui hasta la panader\u00eda de Don Paco. La lluvia segu\u00eda fina, pero muy constante. Varias veces pens\u00e9 en volver y decirle a mi madre que estaba cerrada, pero algo me dec\u00eda que siguiera. Llegu\u00e9 a la panader\u00eda. No hab\u00eda mucha gente. Ped\u00ed lo que quer\u00eda y cuando iba a pagar las compras la vi. Era una verdadera diosa. Ten\u00eda los pelos en trenzas, llevaba gafas y un impermeable rojo. Inmediatamente me enamor\u00e9 de ella. Pero como soy algo t\u00edmido, no me aproxim\u00e9.<\/em><\/p>\n This is it for today, people. See you next time!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Let me teach you a really good technique for acquiring vocabulary, structure, and reviewing verb tenses in Spanish. It involves translation and many people would frown upon that and say, \u201cHey, Adir, isn\u2019t translation considered bad in a language course?\u201d We can use translation as an ally when we\u2019re learning a language. Check out this…<\/p>\n