Here’s a transcription of a worksheet from a Mexican grade school. Let’s see if you know some of these mistakes that native speakers make.

¿Cómo se dice?
Mejoremos un poco

La comunicación oral es una herramienta que usamos la mayor parte del tiempo, nos ayuda a expresar sentimientos, deseos, necesidades, elogios, también nos sirve para causar algo negativo en otro, pero sin duda el hablar nos ayuda a quedar bien o mal frente a los demás. Aquí van algunas correcciones que te ayudarán a corregir lo que pronuncias mal.

Correcto — Incorrecto
dijiste — dijistes
viste — vistes
a veces — en veces
hoy — a hoy
nadie — nadien
sin embargo — pero sin embargo
cerca de — cercas de
debes ir, debes hacer — debes de ir, hacer
Ana e Iván — Ana y Iván
leones u osos de peluche — leones o osos de peluche
dar una disculpa — pedir una disculpa
haya dicho — haiga dicho
irresponsable — inrresponsable
espérame tantito — perame tantito
mira ven — ira ven
catsup — capsu
préstamelo — empréstamelo
diferencia — diferiencia

So if you want to sound like a native speaker, make some of these mistakes Actually only kids make these mistakes– por lo general adults don’t.

Disclaimer: I’m not related to this website in any way. I just thought it was a good resource.

If you haven’t checked out StudySpanish.com you probably should. In addition to their paid Spanish courses, they have some free material that’s worth a look. I really like the section called “curriculum”. It has detailed information on pronunciation and grammar, as well as cultural notes and important words and phrases for travelers. Some of the material is of iffy usefullness, such as the question ¿La playa es de arena? in the 10 useful phrases section. I guess they’re asking if the beach is sandy as opposed to being rocky. ¿La playa es de arena o rocosa? That makes a lot more sense now.

There is also a vocabulary section that gives you a few hundred common Spanish words, organized by topic, allowing you to learn some basic vocabulary. To go along with the vocab, the verb drills will get you up to speed on all the stem-changers, wildly irregular verbs and the normal ones too.

So if you’re starting to learn Spanish or if you just want a review, it’s probably worth a click.

I ran across a new blog that offers some help with Spanish grammar and vocabulary. This new OuterSpanish blog isn’t anything special to look at– it’s using the default blue WordPress theme– but it does have some useful information. That’s more important than how it looks right?

Some topics include:

• Tomar vs. llevar (to take)
• Different ways of saying “to become” in Spanish
• Saber vs. conocer (to know)

There is also some info on irregular verb conjugation, how to translate and tips for learning. Overall, it’s a new resource that looks promising, but we should wait and see it they keep up the good work– the last post if from Jan. 4th.

But of course I’ve gone long stretches without posting before.