I'm probably not the best person to offer advice about foreign languages.

In high school it was the one class I always skipped and I've got a terrible ear, which explains why after nearly seven years living in Barcelona, my Spanish is good enough to communicate, explain my opinions and curse out drivers who run red lights - it's not nearly as proficient as it probably should be.

With that in mind, I'll tell you what I wish people had told me before coming to Barcelona, so after a few years of living here, people will speak in amazement about your español and not be shocked at how bad it is.

It's Spanish, not English.

I can't tell you how many people whom I've met and say: "But in English, we'd say..." Things may sound strange to you and it might not be how we say it, but that's what a foreign language is all about. Otherwise, it'd be English with Spanish words.

For example, the proper way of saying to call someone back is “volver a llamar” (to return to call). If you translate it literally, it'd be: “volver detras” (look out behind you)!

Another example is “to be hot” in English is said as “tener calor” (to have heat). If you translate directly “I'm hot” from English to Spanish, you will be saying “Estoy caliente” (I am horny)!

Skip the grammar books and buy one just with Spanish verbs.
Compared to English, Spanish is a real verb intensive.

Like with most Latin based languages, you have to conjugate all persons and the most common verbs tend to be irregular. Unfortunately, the only way to really learn the verbs is to study them. Trust me, I've tried not to, but there really isn't any alternative.

That said: by mastering the different forms and conjugations of these 10 following verbs, you'll be well on your way to speaking Spanish more fluently than most guiris who live here.

These verbs are tener (to have), poner (to put), hacer (to make/do), coger (to get) ir (to go), dar (to give) saber/conocer (to know), venir (to come), volver (to come/get/go back) and ser/estar (to be).

Forget the continuous.
In English, we say: “I'm doing something” or “They're calling about”. In Spanish: it's “I do” or “They call”. The continuous is rarely used, and you're better off forgetting it even exists for the first few months.

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