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There are many factors involved with learning a new language; pronunciation, word vocabulary memorization, words without direct equivalent translation, grammar, sentence structure, reading, writing, new characters, new tones, etc...
As difficult as these tasks are, we believe they represent a small and inconsequential aspect of learning a new language, perhaps 10% of the effort. The most difficult, time consuming and overlooked aspect of learning a new language can be summed up by 3 words; Practice, Practice, Practice. To reach proficiency, 90% of your efforts should be spent practicing.
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View the performance of any athlete or musician and you immediately recognize their ability as a skill set and not just knowledge. Yet, listen to a conversation being translated and it's not even apparent that there is a skill involved. It seems more like pure knowledge and intelligence, not skill. In the absence of a physical display of skill, the perception is that achieving foreign language proficiency is just a matter of obtaining knowledge. This is incorrect.
As with sports and music, the textbook learning aspect is just the tip of the iceberg. It provides a useful basis of information that and as a solid foundation for which to practice. It indeed allows for more efficient and more effective practice, but there still remains that huge chunk of the iceberg lying silently beneath the ocean surface. And that is the inescapable vast amount of practice required in order to obtain the skill set of language proficiency.
Simply put, foreign language proficiency is a skill set, not a knowledge base. Skill sets are not "learned", they are acquired through rigorous practice. There are no short cuts or ways to avoid the practice. Most who fail their self study efforts do so because they don't understand these facts or were sold on the "learn in days" notion set by makers of traditional self study material who blur the distinction between knowledge and skill.
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There is an expression amongst sailors, "Anyone can learn to sail in a day, but it takes a lifetime to become a sailor". The same holds true for learning a foreign language. Recognizing that most of your time should be spent practicing, the Phrasebase approach provides tools and services aimed at this activity. The Phrasebase approach focuses on helping you acquire conversational language skills, not just knowledge.
Traditional language learning methods start you out with the alphabet, reading and writing characters, pronunciation, word construction and spelling, word memorization, rules of sentence structure, grammar, etc... Perhaps years later you will get around to speaking and comprehension. We call this the bottom-up approach. It's ok if you enjoy the academics, have years to devote to it and wish to reach a native level of fluency.
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Spanish Conversation and Speaking Skills
Spanish Comprehension and Listening Skills
Spanish Vocabulary and Word Translation Memorization
Spanish Sentence Structure and Subject Verb Knowledge
Spanish Rules of Grammar, Tenses, Plurar or Singularity Knowledge
Spanish Characters, Alphabet, Reading, Writing, Punctuation Knowledge
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The Phrasebase approach is top down. It's for busy people want to reach a conversation level of proficiency in the shortest time possible with the least amount of pain. The focus is first and foremost on conversation and comprehension. The primary benefit of our top-down approach is this: Through rigorous practice developing your skill set to converse and comprehend, you will naturally, as a bi-product of your efforts, learn the more base elements of the language.
For example, focus on memorizing phrases. By doing so, you will naturally begin to learn characters of the alphabet, pronunciation, the meaning and spelling of words, how words fit together to form sentences, etc., all as a painless natural bi-product. This is the benefit of the top down approach. Conversely with the bottom up approach, no matter how much time you spend learning to pronounce the characters of the alphabet, you will never as a bi-product learn any phrases or expressions.
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Spanish E-Phrasebook
Spanish Words E-Phrasebook