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Archive for September, 2009

Rocket Spanish – Helping You Learn Spanish

September 30th, 2009
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Spanish

Whatever your motivation - be it professional, career goals, examinations, your education in general or just plain fun, there is always a course that will fit you like a glove. Studying Spanish with Rocket Spanish is more than learning the world’s second most-used language. It also means having a wonderful experience and making friends from all over the world - all assets for life. Rocket Spanish helps you to learn Spanish in a much better way that you understand each and everything easily and quickly. It is a complete guide for a beginner who wishes to learn Spanish language in an easy way. Rocket Spanish follows an innovative method of teaching Spanish. The key to your Spanish learning success is an accredited, proven teaching method followed by Rocket Spanish.

Rocket Spanish is an investment in your own personal self. By learning a new language you could be looking at a new and better job offer, an improvement to your own business. Rocket Spanish is a system that has proven to work and it has done so for thousands of people. Learning and communicating in Spanish within a couple of days is very much achievable with the right kind of guidance and tools provided by Rocket Spanish. Rocket Spanish will help you, assist you in each and every phase of learning, speaking and understanding the Spanish words so that you feel satisfied with your performance and end up like a winner.

Rocket Spanish is a complete course that consists of the simple techniques that are very easy to understand and not the textbook language. It is very far from overblown grammar rules or the meaningless words that have no use. Rocket Spanish has been designed to meet the modern Spanish that is widely being used nowadays. The natural methods are followed by Rocket Spanish so that at the end of the course, you end up using Spanish as a Spanish native does. Rocket Spanish consists of 31 tracks of audio lessons that help the people to understand Spanish and these lessons virtually cover all the general and important topics that are needed for understanding the Spanish language. In fact, the Spanish people love to interact with the tourists who speak Spanish language, so if any person has some plans to visit a Spanish speaking country in the near future, then Rocket Spanish will certainly be a benefit for him.

Rocket Spanish is not a boring software but an interactive piece designed to make people love and enjoy the course of learning Spanish. It consists of a MegaVocab Software Game that is a word building game, a MegaAudio Software Game which helps the people to recognize the sound of hundreds of Spanish words that are spoken in daily life and a MegaVerbs Software Learning Game that is manly intended for the people who are very cautious about their grammar. So it is a complete package for everyone and certainly helps the people to learn, understand and speak Spanish language easily and quickly.

Rocket Spanish – Helping you Learn Spanish.
Click Rocket Spanish to learn more about it.

Education , ,

Introducing New Workplace Spanish® Learning Tools for Hotels & Hospitality

September 28th, 2009
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Spanish

Roswell, GA, October, 28 2008 - Workplace Spanish, Inc. has added “Hotels & Hospitality” to its repertoire of Spanish learning materials. The new learning program will help English speaking managers and supervisors in the hospitality business communicate with their Spanish speaking staff members.

“Workplace Spanish® for Hotels & Hospitality” was developed specifically for hotels, motels and other hospitality properties where basic, effective Spanish will improve communication and teamwork with Hispanic associates resulting in higher quality service and property maintenance.  The 75-page, 2 audio CD program covers all the important conversational expressions as well as supervisory and hotel-related topics including Interviewing, Scheduling, Job Rules, Standards, Safety, Accident & Emergencies, Hotel Terminology & Locations, Housekeeping, Laundry and Property Maintenance.

Tom Sutula, President of Workplace Spanish, Inc. stated “The hotel and hospitality industry was in dire need of an easy Spanish learning program like this to help keep their business running smoothly. With today’s diverse workforce, speaking even a little job-specific Spanish will translate into better understanding, teamwork and efficiency, which pays off in smoother operations and enhanced profitability.” For more information please visit www.workplacespanish.com or e-mail info@workplacespanish.com.

About Workplace Spanish, Inc.

Founded in 1998, Workplace Spanish, Inc. develops job-specific learning materials for both English and Spanish-speakers.  Designed for time-stressed adults in government, industry, health care and education, the company’s materials are easy-to-use and non-academic; they do not require prior language training.  Workplace Spanish® programs have been used by over 350 colleges and schools across the country and are suitable for class training or self-study.

 

Tom Sutula
Workplace Spanish, Inc.
225 Willow Brook Drive, Suite 3
Roswell, Georgia 30076
E-mail: tom@WorkplaceSpanish.com
Phone: (770) 993-4075

Press Releases , ,

Investment Property in Spain

September 20th, 2009
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Spain

Althought this year (2007) has seen a general slowdown in the overseas property market and especially within the Spanish property sector it still seems that Spain accounts for almost half of the property searches conducted on most of the popular property portals including Property Abroad.com. With an ever increasing number of visitors and second-home investors from all around the world looking at the Spanish property market Spain will never fall out of the popularity charts.

The country has always attracted millions of visitors every year due to its inviting climate and year round sunshine. Spain has some picturesque locales that have lured visitors to explore more of the country on every visit. Additionally, the country has a rich culture and tradition, which is uniquely popular around the globe. Resultantly, a constantly rising demand for every kind of investment property in Spain is evident!

Spain an Investment Opportunity

Spain has been offering excellent property investments opportunities for over 3 decades with foreign investors, particularly the British, finding the Spanish property market immensely lucrative from the investment point of view. Spain is a popular second home destination among Europeans and if you are conversant in Spanish, there is really no better place to invest your hard-earned cash than Spain. You’ll experience some of the best facilities and high standards of living in Spain, which is animportant factor as far as second home buyers are concerned. An estimated half million Europeans have already bought a property in Spain over the past 5 years!

The country’s varied geographical regions have played a quintessential role in determining the future of investment property in Spain. The southern part of the country including the Costas has a vast coastline that offers some of the best beaches in the Mediterranean. The region is particularly acknowledged for its year round sunshine, which has always proved a magnetic for the British.

The snow-capped Pyrenees has been another attraction for visitors keen on the skiing opportunities on offer in Spain. The region bordering Spain and France is a visual delight with rivers, mountains, water-features and forests occupying the attention of onlookers.

Spanish cultural heritage is apparent from its famous food, opera, literature, and Spanish architecture? Spain is well connected with regular cheap flights to and from the country and to and from prominent cities around the world, this makes Spain easy to reach, affordable and quite different from its neighbouring countries.

Spain is also one of the relatively less expensive countries of Europe. This makes the world-class living and working conditions of Spain even more lucrative for anyone looking to relocate to Spain.

Post-1975, Spain has been a successful and thriving democracy with a stable government at the helm, which is committed to attracting all kinds of investments - foreign and domestic - within the country. The plan is to build a culturally rich Spain with a modernistic outlook.

All this makes Spain a perfect spot for a holiday property investment as well as a second home destination.

Types of Investment Property iIn Spain

Spain offers a range of properties, including farmhouses, fincas, traditional houses, mansions, apartments, beachfront properties, villas and golf properties in Spain. The best part is that currently, the real estate market is in a twilight stage, where the prices are neither too low nor too high. An astute investor can easily strike a handsome bargain in Spanish property. According to rough estimates, the average price per square metre in Spain is still about 20-50% below the UK.

Besides the regular constructions, it’s the resort properties that are currently occupying the top of the charts as far as the Spanish real estate sector is concerned. The Polaris World Golf Resorts are, particularly, among the top-notch choices for domestic and overseas investors. You can lay your hands on a Polaris World Golf Suite for as little as £57K.

Obviously, you have to spend a larger sum if your requirements are for a bigger property. For instance, apartments in the golf resort of Desert Springs in Almeria commands a £103K+ price range. Similarly, apartments on the Costa del Sol can fetch upwards of £150K.

The hottest places to invest in Spain include Costa del Sol, Costa Blanca, Costa Brava, Majorca - or Mallorca as its spelled Menorca, Tenerife, Andalucia, Costa Tropical, and the Murcia region (including the Mar Menor lagoon, the Costa Calida and Murcia city).

If you are put off by commanding prices of expensive Spanish property, there is a mortgage option available too. You can easily approach one of the over two hundred local banks that offer different loan options and available mortgage loans to the tune of 70% of the property value under Spanish laws subject to the fulfilment of certain terms and conditions. Barclays Bank in the UK also offer mortgages for property in Spain - see our mortgage page for further details and free information pack on getting mortgages in Spain.

Don’t forget to hire a local solicitor or lawyer or a good real estate agent in Spain order to facilitate the smooth property transfer transaction. Since Spanish is the main language in the country, you may find yourself at a loss trying to decipher the official rigmarole. Therefore, it is always considered vital to hire a local aide in a country where English is a second or third language.

In addition to offering property for sale in different locations in Spain we also have at your disposal a list of other useful tools to help in your decision making when considering buying a property in Spain :

Buyers Guide to Spain - A useful article on the buying process when buying a property in Spain

German Country Guide - A detailed guide to Spain including information on health, economy, business, travel, things to do, excursions and much more

Locations in Spain - A current list of locations that have property for sale in Spain

Airports in Spain - A guide to the main airports in Spain, where they are and how to get there

Attractions in Spain - A list of popular tourist attractions in Spain

Estate Agents in Spain - a directory of estate agents in Spain and a list of real estate agents selling property in Spain

News Articles on Spain - A useful resource for learning about the country, what’s happening and useful information on Spain

German Shopping - A directory of useful resources to assist in your purchase or travel to Bulgaria including; Flights, Accommodations, Car Hire, Mortgages in Spain , Holidays, Lawyers and much more.

Useful Resources - a list of useful resources that you might find of general use

Property Abroad’s directory Les Calvert writes interesting and useful articles on all subjects dealing with overseas investment property and buying property in Spain. Visit their website to view their property for sale in Spain and other useful information on buying property abroad.

Real Estate , ,

Rocket Spanish with its Tools

September 19th, 2009
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Spanish

Rocket Spanish is a product intelligently designed to meet the needs of the people who wish to learn Spanish and master the art of speaking Spanish fluently with confidence. Rocket Spanish is a software that is helping millions of people across the globe to learn Spanish quickly and easily. There are thousands of languages spoken across the globe by millions of people. After learning Spanish, you will be able to interact with 350 million Spanish speaking people who are present across the globe.

Rocket Spanish consists of MegaVocab Software Game that is a word building game. It makes the people to learn and recall the words. Rocket Spanish MegaVocab Game consists of more than 1000 words and 21 topics. It actually helps to improve the recalling power of the people by making them recall the learnt words. It also contains many pictures that make the learning process easier since the brain recalls the pictures easily it has seen.

Rocket Spanish consists of Beginner and Advanced Grammar Lessons. It consists of guide books and exercises that are very helpful for the people to understand the Spanish grammar easily. Whether you are a beginner, an intermediate, or an expert, Rocket Spanish has something for everyone. It is a complete resource guide that will help a person to learn the Spanish language easily.

Rocket Spanish consists of MegaAudio Software Game. It helps the people to recognize the sound of hundreds of Spanish words that are spoken in day to day life. For understanding a new language, a person should be able to understand the spoken words. So Rocket Spanish has included this component in its software.

Rocket Spanish consists of MegaVerbs Software Learning Game. It is a software learning game that is manly intended for the people who are very cautious about their grammar. Rocket Spanish MegaVerbs software game is very important because the grammar is the most important part of a language. If the grammar is correct, then it gives a very good impression on the listeners. It builds up self-confidence which is very important when a person is learning a new language.

Rocket Spanish consists of 31-Lesson Interactive Audio Course. These 31 tracks consists of audio lessons that help the people to understand Spanish and these lessons virtually cover all the general and important topics that are needed for understanding the Spanish language. In fact, the Spanish people love to interact with the tourists who speak Spanish language, so if any person has some plans to visit a Spanish speaking country in the near future, then Rocket Spanish will certainly be a benefit for him.

Rocket Spanish is a complete guide to learn Spanish easily and quickly. By using this product, a person gets many features which are very helpful for learning and understanding Spanish. Rocket Spanish helps the people to increase their vocabulary, learn new words, and understand spoken Spanish words, correct use of tenses and much more.

In the end, I would like to say that Rocket Spanish is a complete package that certainly makes the people to learn, understand and speak Spanish language easily and quickly.

Rocket Spanish with its Tools.
Click Rocket Spanish to learn more about it.

Education , ,

Learning Spanish - Crash and Burn or Fly and Learn!

September 11th, 2009
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Spanish

What are your needs? Why do you want to learn Spanish?

Why do you want to learn Spanish? For fun or for real? Do you just want to learn the basics of the language just for fun? Or do you want to learn to speak, read and write Spanish fluently so that you can live and work in a Spanish speaking country? This is important to the way you approach your Spanish classes and to which classes you choose.

The “just for fun” students

If it’s just for fun – what I call “travel Spanish,” then I would not recommend intensive classes at all. The intensive classes are designed for people, who want to learn a great deal in a very short period of time. These classes are far from fun. Try instead and find a Spanish course that is six to ten hours a week. And start by enrolling for a couple of weeks. That should be enough to get a feel for the Spanish language and learn the basic grammar.

Then when you have done your homework, I would arm myself with a good tourist phrase book and a wide smile and head out into the streets of Barcelona. You will quickly learn a few basics, that you can use for travelling and meeting people, and have a fun time.

The “serious” students

If your goal is to learn to speak Spanish more fluently, usually because you want to live and work in Spain or another Spanish speaking country, then you must take a far more serious approach to your Spanish classes. Here are some tips for getting the most of intensive Spanish classes, so that you will flourish and learn and not crash and burn.

Don’t look for the easy route!

Many people, who come to Spain to live and work, do not really learn Spanish because they “want” to. They learn because they “need” to. So naturally they look for an easy way to learn. A fast way. A painless way. Sorry to disappoint you. There is no easy way. In other words - No pain no Spain. (Ouch… bad pun, but I could not resist it! :-) Here are a few tips for the “serious” Spanish students.

Do it now!

If you are learning Spanish because you need to, then it will never be much fun, so my advice is to get the hard part over with and learn as much Spanish as you can at the beginning of your stay in Spain. Once you are settled in, working full-time and have an active social life, then you will not have time or inclination to take many intensive Spanish courses. Most Spanish schools in Barcelona offer 4 hours a day intensive courses either in the morning or afternoon. Just sign up for 4 or 8 weeks.

Be prepared for hard work.

Do not underestimate the effort needed. The pace is gruelling and you will need to show up every day to keep up. Almost all Spanish schools in Barcelona and Spain use the immersion technique, which means that everything in the classroom is in Spanish, all the time, even for beginners, even on the first day! There are not even explanations in English in the text books. This means lots of concentration and home study every day!

Don’t overlook the grammar.

Speaking a language without using grammar is like building a house without a foundation. A strong foundation of grammar will ensure, that you can keep adding more levels to your “Spanish” building. But a bad foundation makes a house of cards and one day your building will topple. Grammar is kind of boring and hard work. But a “I don’t need grammar” attitude is a short term, lazy solution. Grammar is half the language and you will end up speaking “half” Spanish, if you don’t learn it from the first day.

Prepare for your Spanish course.

Unless you have some knowledge of language similar to Spanish, (Portuguese, Italian, French) or have a good knowledge of your own language and its grammar then I would recommend preparing a little for an intensive Spanish course in Spain.

You could consider having a few Spanish lessons in your home country. The teacher’s explanations and instructions will probably be in your own language, just like in primary school. I would also recommend that you buy a Spanish study book in English (or your own language) that explains Spanish grammar and do a little bit of self-study before your start your class.

When you start your Spanish course in Barcelona, you might invest in a few extra private lessons with a Spanish teacher, who speaks English and who can explain a few basic things in English, if you are having trouble following the course. The Spanish school in Barcelona, that you have chosen should be able to help you with this.

Daily study tips for better results .

Show up for all classes! Make it your goal.

Do your homework. Every day. An effective rule is half the time at home as you spend at the Spanish school.

Compete with yourself, not with your classmates. If you are in trouble or falling behind in your Spanish classes then talk to your teacher.

Clear your head and calendar. Barcelona is a party town and your friends from back home will undoubtedly announce their arrival for fun filled party weekends. Try and postpone most parties until you have finished your Spanish course. There just isn’t time for it if you want to keep up.

Buy the books if possible so that you can make your own notes in them and keep them for future reference.

Buy a good dictionary, but not too big and heavy. A small, but good quality pocket dictionary is better investment, because you will be carrying it a lot!

Be realistic and you won’t be disappointed.

It will feel as if you are hardly learning anything in the beginning weeks no matter how hard you study. This is because Spanish is usually spoken at light speed and your untrained ear for the language and weak conversation skills are just not up to the challenge. Don’t worry. It will come.

But don’t overestimate the results of a few weeks of intensive Spanish classes either. Many people assume they will be able to speak fluent Spanish a matter of weeks. They usually book a 4 week Spanish course. Sorry to burst that bubble too. In 1 month you can really learn a lot, especially if you put in the work and show up every day. At the end of that period you will be able to have short conversations and understand a lot. But to speak really fluent Spanish? 6 months to a year is more realistic, and 2 months is the minimum for a really good start!

Suerte!

Peter Williams is a long time resident of Barcelona and the editor of www.barcelonayellow.com a popular information website for residents and visitors. He was previously a founding partner in a leading Spanish School in Barcelona. Click here for a list of Spanish schools in Barcelona with price comparisons.

Travel , ,