Electronic books, also known as ebooks, are publications which can be read on a number of devices such as computer desktops, laptops and ebook readers. The last five years have seen the launch of many thousands of electronic books with a wide variety of formats. They range from plain publications, with hardly any features, to beautifully developed interactive multimedia ebooks with sound, images, notepads, feedback and hyperlinked menus.

   

The most basic ebooks are no more than digital versions of printed books. They’re a great invention, but they’re far from the electronic books I’m going to concentrate on in this article. Today I’m going to introduce you to fully interactive multimedia ebooks, in particular those that help you learn foreign languages in a flash.

Foreign language learning has been radically improved by multimedia ebooks. They make studying much more fun, and substantially easier. They have also brought the cost of learning down. So, what is it that makes them the powerful tool they are? Here are their top five features:

1. Multimedia ebooks bring the language to life by including audio and/or video. Whether you’re learning verbs, listening to dialogs or practicing your pronunciation, multimedia ebooks allow you to hear the text said by native speakers by a simple click; and you can listen to it over and over. Good ebooks also give you the translation of all the new words and phrases in each lesson, so you never need to use a dictionary.

2. Multimedia electronic books come with listening and speaking drills and exercises to practice the real language. If you’re learning verbs, for instance, you can practice saying and understanding the new forms; if you’re learning vocabulary, you’ll be able to practice all the new words you’ve come across. A good language ebook will also include a set drills at the end to help you review everything you’ve learned, as a whole.

Download ebook sample

3. Interactive electronic books give you the exercise and drill solutions. All you need to do is click a button. Good ebooks also let you save your personal scores, an essential feature for monitoring your learning progress.

4. The best electronic books include menus and links similar to those you find on well-designed websites. They make moving from chapter to chapter flawless, and you can quickly get to any lesson, drill or any other content. There are also plenty of external links to the author’s contact page, free resources, blogs, etc.

5. Good electronic books allow you to type in your notes and save them for future reference.

Briefly, interactive multimedia ebooks are self-contained. They provide everything you need, so you don’t have to use a dictionary, notepad, reference book or audio material.

Finally, language learning ebooks cover every aspect of the language: conversation, vocabulary, grammar, numbers, pronunciation, etc. They help you master understanding, speaking, reading and writing faster and more efficiently than traditional methods.

Here are some snapshots from my Spanish language learning ebooks:

Download ebook sample

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Spanish vocabulary audio flashcards from Maria Fernandez’s course

Forgetting the gender of the Spanish nouns you’re supposed to know well is both frustrating and demotivating. Today I’m going to walk you through the reason why those mistakes are made, and I’m going to give you an easy solution.

My fifteen years teaching Spanish have shown me that learning and reviewing vocabulary the wrong way is what leads to those mistakes.

You may be wondering, then, if there is a way of learning new Spanish nouns that will allow you to get the gender always right. The answer, without any doubt, is ‘yes’. Here are the two steps you need to follow:

1. Every time you come across a new Spanish noun, make sure you learn it with ‘el’ or ‘la’. When you’re reviewing vocabulary, do so with ‘el’ or ‘la’ in front of all the nouns.

2. Use recordings by native Spanish speakers to learn new vocabulary, in particular audio flashcards.

In all my Spanish courses this is the method I use. It’s fast, efficient and a great time-saver.

Learning nouns with their article the first time you come across them takes the same effort as learning them on their own, and it will save you a lot of time and frustration later on. So, for instance, instead of learning that:

the word ‘flor’ means ‘flower’

Always learn that:

‘la flor’ means ‘the flower’

Doing so will ensure that you associate ‘flor’ with ‘la’ in a natural way, just like Spanish native speakers do.

My second vocabulary tip is to use audio flashcards. The advantage of those is that you can hear the new Spanish words and their English translation, as well as practice and review them.

The task of learning new Spanish vocabulary becomes significantly easier with audio flashcards. They are an essential tool for acquiring a good Spanish accent, and a powerful resource for reviewing efficiently. Throughout my Spanish courses I have created audio flashcards to make your vocabulary learning experience smooth and enjoyable. I’ve included them in my online course, my Spanish Podcasts for Beginners, kids’ course, videos and my iTunes apps.

Briefly, learning new vocabulary following the two steps I’ve described in this article is not only more efficient in the short, medium and long term, but also much more enjoyable.

Subscribe and start learning now!

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Here’s a free Spanish language learning quiz from my Spanish course. It’s the first of the two review quizzes that you get in Lesson 1. Press Start to play it:

 

 

You can find many more language learning quizzes in my Spanish course. Those quizzes help you review what you learn in the online lessons, downloadable mp3s and videos.

All my quizzes come with listening comprehension questions, grammar drills, vocabulary and number exercises, spelling practice, and much more. Hope you like them!

 

This is what the Spanish language learning videos in my course look like on your iPod and iPhone:

 

On my Spanish Bookworld website you can download a free video sample from my Spanish course and put it on your iPod and iPhone, and you can also watch a free video sample online.

You can download the videos and mp3s in my Spanish course when you subscribe. Subscriptions cost $19.99 per month and come with a 60-day money-back guarantee.

My Spanish course contains 45 lessons with 5 videos and 5 mp3s each, plus online lessons, kids’ lessons, articles, an ebook and a members-only forum where you can post me all your Spanish language questions.

 

Knowing the six forms of the irregular Spanish verb estar in the present tense will allow you to build and understand essential sentences, questions and answers. You can listen to the six forms, together with all the Spanish examples in this post, and play the interactive drill, in the Lesson 4 – Grammar of my free Spanish course.

1. Estar in the present tense

Here’s what the Spanish verb estar looks like in the present tense and how you translate it:

yo tú él / ella / usted nosotros / nosotras vosotros / vosotras ellos / ellas / ustedes

estoy estás está estamos estáis están

I am you (singular) are he/she/it is, you (singular, formal) are we are you (plural) are they are, you (plural, formal) are

2. Examples with estar

Here are some examples with the six forms we’ve just learned, in both Spanish and English:

¿Dónde estás?
Where are you?

Estoy en el hotel
I’m at the hotel

Pedro está con su amigo
Peter is with his friend

Estamos en casa
We’re at home

¿Dónde estáis?
Where are you?

Están muy ocupados
They are very busy

3. When to use the verb estar

Estar is one of two Spanish verbs that translates as ‘to be’. The other verbs is ser, which we’ll learn in a future post.

The verb estar is used to indicate:

• Where people or things are
• Moods and feelings
• Physical conditions
• Physical appearance at some point in time
• Temporary rather than permanent conditions

 

To illustrate these five points, here are five examples with their English translation:

El hotel está en Colorado
The hotel is in Colorado

Estamos enfadados
We’re angry

Estoy enfermo
I’m ill

Pablo está muy elegante
Paul is (looking) very elegant

Los zapatos están rotos
The shoes are broken

4. Speaking drill

Can you say these ten sentences in Spanish? You can see the solutions in Spanish and hear them said by native speakers in the Lesson 4 – Grammar of my free Spanish course.

1. How are they?
2. They’re angry
3. Which hotel are you (vosotros) in?
4. We’re in the Arizona hotel
5. Where are you (tú)?
6. Is he at the hotel?
7. Is she on the beach?
8. You’re (tú) looking very elegant
9. I’m on vacation
10. Are they on vacation?

 

To get this and other grammar lessons:

Sign up for free!

 

At www.spanish-bookworld.com I’ve set up a free Spanish language course with online lessons, downloadable mp3s and videos, kids’ lessons and language learning articles.

The online lessons have five sections: dialog, flashcards, grammar, pronunciation and numbers.

The online lessons, mp3s and videos all include learning material, speaking exercises and listening drills. They’ve all been recorded by native Spanish speakers.

This free Spanish course is available to you right now. Hope you like it! Below are some snapshots from the course.

Sign up for free!

Free Spanish course – part of the lesson plan

 

Free Spanish course – dialog

 

Free Spanish course – mp3s & videos

 

Free Spanish course – kids’ lessons

 

Sign up for free!

 

The Spanish greeting ‘buenas tardes‘ translates both as ‘good afternoon‘ and ‘good evening‘; and the greeting ‘buenas noches‘ means both ‘good evening‘ and ‘good night‘.

So, when do you use ‘buenas tardes’ and ‘buenas noches’?

Unlike in English, these two Spanish greetings have more to do with meals and the sunset than with the actual time of day.

Therefore, ‘buenas tardes’ is usually said after lunch, which is often from 2.00 pm. ‘Buenas noches’, especially in the summer, is usually said after 9.00 pm. In winter, many people say ‘buenas tardes’ at least until 8.00 pm, even if it’s dark; and many only use ‘buenas noches’ after dinner, which tends to be from 9.00 pm.

When using ‘buenas noches’, remember that it’s not only a farewell, but also a greeting. You can use it both when you meet someone and when you leave.

As you can see, there is no golden rule as to when to use these Spanish greetings. The important point is that they’re vague and flexible. Best of all, there’s an easy way out if you’re unsure as to which one to use: you can simply say ‘buenas’.

If you want to practice saying these and other Spanish greetings, you can hear them said by native speakers in the Lessons 2, 3 and 4 of my Spanish course. Here are two samples:

Lesson 2 dialog and flashcards

 

 

 

In this free Spanish lesson we’re going to learn what’s your name in Spanish and how to introduce yourself.

If you want to hear all the examples in this lesson, you can find them in the free Lesson 2 of my Spanish for beginners course.

1. How to ask people their names, and how to answer the question

This is how you ask someone his or her name in Spanish:

¿Cómo te llamas? – What’s your name?

 

and this is how you answer when people ask you your name:

Me llamo [María] – My name is [Maria]

2. Examples

Here are six examples where you can practice asking people their names and introducing yourself:

Hola, me llamo Margarita
Hello, my name is Margaret

Buenas tardes, me llamo Juan
Good afternoon, my name is John

Buenos días, me llamo José García
Good morning, my name is José García

Hola, me llamo Ana López
Hello, my name is Ana López

Hola, ¿cómo te llamas?
Hello, what’s your name?

Buenas tardes, ¿cómo te llamas?
Good afternoon, what’s your name?

3. The literal meaning of ‘¿cómo te llamas?’ and ‘me llamo …’

Here’s what ¿cómo te llamas? and me llamo … mean word for word:

* The word cómo usually means how.
* Te llamas literally means you call yourself.
* When you ask ¿cómo te llamas? what you’re saying is how do you call yourself?
* Likewise, me llamo literally means I call myself.
* When you say me llamo …, what you are saying, literally, is I call myself …

4. How to pronounce ‘¿cómo te llamas?’ and ‘me llamo …’

In the free Lesson 2 of my Spanish for beginners course you can hear all the sentences in this article said by native Spanish speakers, including myself.

When you listen to them, notice how the intonation rises at the end of the question, but not at the end of the answer.

5. Exercise

In the free Lesson 2 of my Spanish for beginners course you can do the interactive multimedia drill to practice what you’ve learned here.

If you want to listen to my Lesson 8 podcast mp3s, at Spanish Bookworld you can find the dialog, flashcard, grammar, pronunciation and number podcasts in this lesson.

There you can download the free samples, or listen to them online, and you can also download the videocast samples.

All my podcasts have been recorded by me and other native Spanish speakers, with clear explanations and prompts in English.

To show you what my podcasts sound like, here’s the Lesson 8 dialog podcast sample:

Get the Flash Player to see the wordTube Media Player.

Spanish Bookworld is giving away a free Spanish for beginners cd-rom to all of you who subscribe to our Spanish course by September 30, 2009.

This is what our Spanish for beginners cd-rom looks like:

 

 

 

 

 

This cd-rom contains 99 student-friendly lessons and 225 speaking, listening, reading and writing drills. All the lessons and drills are interactive, and have been recorded by native Spanish speakers.

In addition to that, the cd-rom also includes an interactive multimedia Spanish pronunciation guide and a talking dictionary with over 800 headwords.

To help you keep track of your progress, you can tick each lesson after you complete it, and your score is saved when you finish a drill. Also, you can make a note of your questions and difficulties on the integrated notepad, and post your queries to me on the members-only forum.

At Spanish Bookworld you can find all the details of our subscription course, including free samples from the online lessons, podcasts, videocasts, kids’ lessons, interactive articles, ebook and exclusive forum.

At Spanish Bookworld you can also see free samples from our cd-rom, together with the cd-rom features, table of contents, system requirements, testimonial and more.