These Words Are My Own

You know those Google ad things. Do you ever take any notice of them, let alone click on them? I don't. Well not normally. Only if there is the prospect of a potentially rich source of bloggism. And so it proved the other day. Up popped this thing for a Spanish language course. It said something along the lines of you only need 138 words of Spanish and you're quids in with the language. It didn't say that exactly of course, but it was the 138 that caught my eye. Why 138? Why not 150 or 200? There must be a psychology of greater credibility that demands the promotion of a seemingly inexplicable number, such as 138. Rather as Douglas Adams settled on 42, so the answer to everything Spanish is 138.

The site itself, and I'm damned if I'm mentioning it and giving it more publicity, was as you might expect. Great lists of testimonials of the I tried everything else and then found your course and now I speak the language so well I am the president of Spain variety. Again, I do exaggerate slightly. There was some mention of handing over folding notes through a credit-card transaction. 110 dollars I think it was. (Surely 138 would be more credible?) In return for this, you could download or get the CD or do whatever you are supposed to do with these things.

Now, I'm not saying that there may not be any merit in whatever system the site claims to promote. For all I know, you may indeed be fluent in a matter of weeks. But I do somewhat doubt it. One comes back to those 138 words. Apparently they're all you need to be conducting yourself in Spanish. No need for any boring old grammar. People do not learn languages through the grammar approach, it says. Language teachers don't like the grammar approach, it adds.

Up to a point, this may be correct, though where some language teachers are concerned it may be because they're lousy teachers and don't themselves understand the grammar. And that would not be unknown. The problem is that grammar is unfortunately quite important. Without an understanding of it, you cannot correctly construct sentences, which is really the whole point of speaking a language.

But let's say there is some value in this approach. Below, therefore, are 138 words/expressions. I will gladly offer them to you free of charge, though if you are truly impressed by your Spanish ability as a result, I might establish a PayPal account and you can transfer a tenner plus shipping costs and I'll send you a blank CD. So, here we go:

Some pronouns - yo, tú, él, ella, usted, nosotros, vosotros, ellos.
Some verbs - tener, hablar, poner, poder, estar, ser, decir, pedir, querer, seguir, hacer, ir, venir.
Some descriptive verbs - tener sed/hambre/frío/calor/razón, hace frío/calor/viento.
Some numbers - uno, dos, tres, diez, veinte, cien, ciento treinta y ocho, mil.
Some nouns - hombre, mujer, marido, abuelo, abuela, amigo, niño, hijo, comida, bebida, café, té, leche, cerveza, coche, jardín, playa, cara, cabeza, ojo, oreja, mano, cielo, lluvia, sol, casa, mesa, silla, salón, dormitorio, baño, cama, gato, perro, tiempo, hora, día, mañana, tarde, noche.
Some adjectives - pequeño, grande, mucho, poco, largo, corto, alto, ancho.
Some words of greeting and goodbye - hola, mucho gusto, encantado, cómo estás, qué tal, buenos días, buenas tardes, buenas noches, adiós, hasta luego.
Some prepositions - a, de, por, para, hasta, desde, con, sin, en, sobre.
Some common expressions - claro, perfecto, me gusta, digame, muchas gracias, lo siento.
Some adverbs - aún, entonces, también, tampoco, todavía, quizás, cuando, mismo (and mismo is one of the more versatile of Spanish words).
Some words of place - aquí, allí, ahí, frente, abajo, arriba, detrás.
Some question words - qué, quien, dónde, por qué, cómo.
Some negatives - no, nada, nadie, nunca, ningún.
Some conjunctions - porque, pero ... er, forget anymore, that's 138.

Right then, off you go, learn all that lot and then place them in meaningful sentences paying careful attention to verb conjugation, noun gender, adjectival endings, appropriate use of prepositions ...

Ultimately, the only way you learn is by speaking - and speaking a lot and by being corrected when you make mistakes. Especially those grammatical mistakes, because without the correct grammar and all the rest, you can never be said to be able to speak a language. But if you must, then go the 138 route and tell me if I'm wrong, so long as you do it in Spanish.


QUIZ
Today's title - when I saw her on Jools Holland's new year thing a few years back, it was - wow!

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