Spanish-English Interactive Student
Guide
Free material developed for students of
Professional Tutors of America
The Spanish and English Alphabets
As seen in the illustrations above, the letters of both
alphabets are the same. The sounds of the letters are very
different. Some vowels mean a different vowel in the other
language. That can be confusing. Learning the Letter A as an
A and suddenly learning it means an E in English could be
tricky. Practice writing and saying the vowels and you will
soon be a pro.
The Spanish Vowels
 Spanish uses sounds familiar to English speakers, yet some of the same
letters are used differently. Below are some ways to remember the
pronunciation of Spanish.
Vowels Sound
Examples
 A
(AH)
father, Santa Barbara, latte
 E
(EH)
bay, effort, self
 I
(EE)
seeds, breed
 O
(OH)
(OO)

U
bone, only, toes
Guru, truce
The Spanish Vowel Sounds
 Let’s Repeat the vowel sounds in Spanish. Practice makes
better. Repete Por Favor.
Chicano
Latina
Ariba
Arrivando
Iguana
Gracias
Dias
A
E
I
O
Ecuador
Mexico
Esta
Usted
Puerto Rico
Como
Uraguay
Usted
Peru
U
Una
un
Common VocabularyCommon
Common
Vocabulary
Mistakes
Vocaunit
ularyVocabu
Please note the common misuses of the words below
Although they sound the same, the words have different meanings .
1) piece - a unit or part of something
peace – harmony
3) write--to compose as in letter, right - correct
5) part - a unit, apart – as in distance
6) waste-squander foolishly, waist- anatomical
body part
7) Board - bored restless, not motivated
8) Mist – fine dew-like coating, missed - absence
Common
Language Word Misspellings










Spanish
cero
uno
dos
hola
usted
necesita/o
recuerdo/a
claro
encuentra /o
English
zero
one
two
hello
us
need
remember
clear
encounter
Connectors
The three words un,una and uno
are used as connectors.
These three little words are connectors in English. Although the
words are either masculine or feminine in Spanish The connecting
word and is neutral in English. The word “And “will bring ideas and
parts of a sentence and meaning together.
un
una
one
Using Songs to Learn Words
Songs can help learners to understand better. Music is a
universal language. The well-known song La Bamba by
Richie Valens is a good teaching tool to learn English.
Music can be used as another way to reinforce learning.
Songs can help us to learn and remember words
in other languages.
“La Bamba “
The Lyrics in English
In order to dance the Bamba
A little humor is needed for you, for me.
Faster and faster
Faster and faster
I’ll be for you.
I’ll be for you.
I’m not a sailor, I’m not a sailor
I ’m a captain, I’m a captain, I’m a captain.
La Bamba in Spanish
Lyrics
Para bailar la Bamba Se necesita una poca de gracia y arriba ya arriba
por ti, por me y otra cosita arriba ire arribe ire arribe ire baila bamba
Yo so no marinero You soyu no ,marinero Por yi se el capitan, el
capitan
English
On order to dance the La Bamba . It is necessary to have a little
grace, Faster and faster One other thing fast and faster to dace the
bama I’m not a sailor ,For you I’ll be the captain
The vowels of La Bamba
A
Arriba
Bailar
Bamba
Gracia
Otra
Cosita
Para
La
Necesita
fast
dance
name of Spanish dance
grace
other
thing
for
It
necessary
I
Marinero
manner
Cosita
thing
Necista necessary
Ti
you
O
Poca
small, little
Soy
am
Marinero captain
E
Necesita
De
Se
necessary
of
way
U
Una One ( feminine)
Colors in English and Spanish
Practice writing and saying the colors above.
Palabras Interrogativas-QuestionWords
Espanol
English
Como ?
How?
Cuando ?
When?
A donde?
Where, Where to?
Que’?
What?
Quien’?
Who?
Spanish–English
De Donde?.............................................From where?
Por Que?................................................Why?
Cual?......................................................Which?
Cuando?.................................................How Much?
Donde?...................................................Where?
De donde es usted? Where are you from?
Remember that a donde means to where someone is headed.
In English, the sentence starts off with the question Where.
Mas Interrogativas: More Question Words
Some common misunderstandings found in question usage
from conversion of Spanish to English.
Spanish Resource Web links
Below are my favorite resources for understanding Spanish to English
conversions.
http://www.spanishdict.com/
http://www.freedict.com/onldict/sp.html
http://www.wordreference.com/http://babel.altavista.com/trhttp://education.yahoo.com/reference/doc_en_es/
http://www.strictlyspanish.com
The Spanish English Guide
 This informal guide is in the process of development. The
supplementary material is in an infancy stage and meant to be
used away from time spent with tutors of Professional Tutors
of America. More content is being developed for further
lessons. Please log onto the website from time to time for
updated additions and new lessons. Thanks for the visit.