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This is a practical short book on how to speak Spanish very quickly and very easily, by just learning to speak the core 35 words that you will need when you go there on holiday, or even on business, for that matter.

Of course, if you are in Madrid, staying at a central hotel, you may think that you won't need Spanish, because everyone will speak English. But, as you will find out when you do visit, you will not always be in the hotel; you will find that in bars, in taxis, on buses and trains, people may not be able to speak English. That's where you will be stuck if you don't know our carefully-selected 35 words.

You are standing outside your hotel on the Calle Postas with your street map, and you know that the Plaza Mayor is at one end of it or the other, but which way? Now your life can go three ways: you didn't buy our book, and so you didn't learn our 35 words and how to pronounce them fluently, so you say nothing to anyone and just walk along in the hope that you find the right place. Or else you get out your phrase book and hope that it contains the exact phrase that you want (which it won't) and you try to struggle to pronounce the words unsuccessfully to some busy passers-by.

Or else, 🙂 you have bought this book, and you have learned the 35 words and you can pronounce them really well because the book has shown you exactly how to say them. You want the Plaza Mayor, and we didn't teach you how to say that, but we did teach you how to say 'this' and 'that', and in our book we told you to use those words instead of a thousand other words. So with your street map in your hand you politely stop a local person and point to the Plaza Mayor on the map, and say, "¿Disculpe, donde está esto, por favor?" Which we have taught you. "Excuse me, where is this, please?"

They look at your finger on the map, and they point in the direction you need. Problem solved! And you feel great that you have spoken in Spanish to a Spanish person, and they understood you. Success! And all for the small sum of less than £7.

And that's only one example of how you spoke Spanish that day in Madrid. If you bought our book, you will have ordered yourself a coffee in the morning and asked for the bill and paid it - in Spanish! You will have ordered your lunch and a glass of wine, and later, you will have found a taxi and told the driver which hotel to go to. A perfect day. And, honestly, you will have no idea of the thrill that it will give you to speak a foreign language abroad and to have people understand you.

From that point on, it's an easy step to add to the 35 words we taught you, and you will find yourself loving Spain, and visiting it again and again. And, of course, you'll be able to speak just the same whether you are visiting Madrid, Malaga on the south coast, a vineyard in La Rioja, or simply loafing about near a windmill in La Mancha.

ISBN 978-1-910537-15-2 Printed Version, paperback.

ISBN 978-1-910537-14-5 Electronic Version.

But it's not just holidays. Just look at what one of our business friends emailed to us the other day about her visit to Costa Rica. I had told her that she need not learn any Latin American local dialect, and that the standard Castilian Spanish of our book would be fine.

Dear Peter and Helena,

Just to let you know that I’ve been to Costa Rica at last and tested the book.

I memorised the 35 words at the airport (I must admit to some previous Spanish lessons when I was 16) and then felt all set. I was even using it on the plane – mainly ‘disculpe’ as I tried to navigate the aisle in the aircraft. It was an excellent confidence builder and really helped me to communicate. I showed my colleagues who then thought it would be great fun to give me a test and I passed! I gave the spare copy to my operations director who, like me, had a vague schoolgirl recollection of some Spanish words and no time to refresh it with evening classes. She really liked the idea of being able to do the preparation at the airport.

I also like the A5 format. It is just the right size. A smaller book would probably have got tucked into a corner somewhere and been lost.

I think this is a clever system and look forward to testing the Italian and French versions when I get the chance.

Thanks for sending the books to me. I will pass the word around. Good luck with future sales. Do you have any in other languages yet? I can see an immediate use for Polish.

Best wishes

Isn't that amazing? She learned it at the airport, and she was using it on the plane before her feet had even hit the ground at her destination!

And here is another one (unaltered) from a couple who bought our book to take on their honeymoon to Rome:

Hi Peter and Helena,

We both found your book easy to read and understand, and the phonetic way of how to pronounce the words was invaluable. What I personally found so good was that it was such an effective way of successfully being able to speak Italian! After only spending an evening glancing through the book, I could construct a sentence that made sense and sounded OK (I think)! Before getting your book, we'd ordered a 'Learn how to speak Italian' course off the internet, which still remains unused to this day. It looks too complicated and involved to be bothered with - especially after a day at work. What was great about your book is that it was an effective, successful 'quick fix', which was absolutely perfect for today's busy working lifestyle!

So, if you are teetering on the edge, please buy this book, for your own sake. It will make a huge difference to your visit, and ultimately, it may make a huge difference to your life. Who knows?

And, like them, please email us and tell us if you also liked our book: editor@russetpublishing.com Thanks 🙂

Don’t forget to learn the 35 words thoroughly before your holiday if you possibly can. On the other hand, perhaps it will wile away the time at the airport on your way out, or under a sun umbrella on a hot beach where you can then order your glass of water or lemonade fluently.

Wherever you read it, we are sure that when you have studied it, it will make all the difference to your visit. And remember that a language book will mean more to you and will help you to remember vocabulary if you write notes in it and add your own words and phrases!

Best wishes from Peter and Helena Roberts.

And you'll want to know what's in the book overall, so here is the Contents Directory:

CONTENTS

INTRODUCTION

Chapter 1

LEARN THE 35 WORDS

Chapter 2

I WANT SOMETHING

Chapter 3

I WANT TO FIND SOMETHING

Chapter 4

I WANT TO BUY SOMETHING

Chapter 5

I WANTED TO SPEAK SPANISH

SOME OF THE 35 KEY WORDS

20 one (1) uno

pronounced: oo-no

21 please por favor

pronounced: pour fav-or (v is correct)

22 small pequeño.

pronounced: pay-ken-yo

23 station estación (feminine)

pronounced: es-tathy-on

24 thank you gracias

pronounced: gra-thee-as (use a soft th)

25 that one eso

pronounced: es-oh

26 the (singular) el (m) la (f)

pronounced: ell la

27 this one esto

pronounced: es-toe

28 ticket billete

pronounced: bee-yet-ay

29 the toilets (public) los servicios

pronounced: loss ser-bee-thee-os

AND HERE ARE SOME PHRASES FROM THE BOOK

There is also coffee (café), pronounced ka-feh.

Black (They say ‘a coffe only’ … un café solo.)

or white (They say ‘with milk … un café con leche.)

They don’t say black coffee or white coffee as we do.

Quisiera un café solo.

I would like a black coffee.

And to top it off and make it sound even more polite, we add the words for ‘please’ - por favor.

Quisiera un café solo, por favor.

I want a black coffee, please.

Quisiera un caffè con leche, por favor.

I would like a white coffee, please.

Quisiera un vaso de agua por favor.

(pronounced Kee-see-ay-ra oon ba-so day ag-wa por fab-or)

I want a glass of water please.

Esto es bueno.

This is good.

¿Dónde está la estación?

Where is the station?

¿Dónde está un taxi?

Where is a taxi?

¿Dónde está un banco?

Where is a bank?

¿Dónde está el Hotel Hilton?

Where is the Hilton hotel?

Of course, we can add ‘please’ to make it more polite.

¿Dónde está el Hotel Hilton, por favor?

Where is the Hilton hotel, please?

Anyone who speaks fluent Spanish will tell you that the above sentences are basic. But they will work! That’s the main thing.

You have the option of standing in the town square like a goldfish with your mouth opening and closing and nothing coming out, or you can say something that is not grammatically perfect, but gets you what you want. It’s an obvious choice!