What's Past Is Past — or Is It?

Without more context, it isn't so easy to translate a simple sentence such as "When I was a child I went to Disneyland" to Spanish. You could say "Cuando era niño fui a Disneyland" or "Cuando era niño iba a Disneyland" — and they don't mean the same thing. If you don't know the difference, be sure to check out recently updated lesson on distinguishing the past tenses of Spanish.

What's Past Is Past — or Is It? originally appeared on About.com Spanish Language on Saturday, November 7th, 2009 at 02:23:13.

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Language Learning May Begin Before You're Born

How early does language learning begin? It may begin even before we're born, a newly published study suggests. The study, in this month's issue of Current Biology, compared the cries of newborns in French-speaking homes with those in German-speaking homes. According to the researchers, the differences in their cries correspond to differences in the intonations of the two languages. So the assumption is that they picked up the sounds while they were in the womb.

So next time you're jealous when you run across a 2-year-old who speaks Spanish better than you do, remember that she may have been learning the language longer than you have!

Language Learning May Begin Before You're Born originally appeared on About.com Spanish Language on Friday, November 6th, 2009 at 12:54:05.

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Conjugating the Conditional Tense

Things that can make verb conjugations tricky — there are quite a few irregular verbs and verbs need to be "taken apart" before the ending is added — don't really apply to the conditional tense. Indeed, the conjugation of the conditional tense is one of the easiest to learn. With few exceptions, just add an ending to a verb and you're ready to go.

Conjugating the Conditional Tense originally appeared on About.com Spanish Language on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 16:40:59.

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The Spanish J: a Challenging Sound To Master

Many Spanish student find the trilled RR sound the hardest sound in Spanish to learn, but I've long thought that the J sound is more difficult.

Many people learn that the j is pronounced like the English "h" sound, but while that's close it's not entirely accurate. Read more...

The Spanish J: a Challenging Sound To Master originally appeared on About.com Spanish Language on Tuesday, November 3rd, 2009 at 16:58:38.

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What You Might Not Know About Spanish (But Should)

Did you know that there are more people who speak Spanish as a first language than speak English as a first language? Or that there's a family relationship between Spanish and German? For these and other interesting details about Spanish, be sure to check our our new feature, "10 Facts About the Spanish Language."

What You Might Not Know About Spanish (But Should) originally appeared on About.com Spanish Language on Sunday, November 1st, 2009 at 01:18:27.

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