Spanish for Music Lovers

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¡Bienvenidos!

Welcome. This site will help you learn, review and enjoy Spanish through music. Song texts are annotated with vocabulary and supplied with interesting links to help you learn new words, drill grammar and expand your reading and listening skills. The site is an ongoing project; look forward to the addition of many more songs and exercises! Below is a list of links that are helpful in learning Spanish.

If you like German, try German for Music Lovers, a complete on-line course for learning, reviewing or just enjoying German.

¡Adiós!

The texts below are song lyrics. You will find the Spanish text with a Spanish-English glossary, grammatical explanations and links to exercises associated with the song to reinforce new vocabulary and patterns. You can find several different versions of each one on YouTube.

1. Bamboleo (Gipsy Kings -- España)
   This is a favorite based on an older song, "Caballo viejo"; the lyrics don't make much sense but the song makes you want to dance.
   
2. La Camisa negra (Juanes -- Colombia)
   This is a great song for learning the past tense. It was a big hit for Juanes.
3. Lamento boliviano (Los Enanitos Verdes -- Argentina)
   A song to enjoy again and again. You can use it for learning even if you're a beginner.
4. Poema 20 (Pablo Neruda -- Chile)
   This is a jewel of a poem that has been interpreted musically several times. There are some fine versions by serious artists and even Neruda reading the poem himself. You can find innumberable versions from love-struck Spanish-speaking suitors posted on Youtube to impress their lady-loves.
5. Todos juntos (Los Jaivas -- Chile)

Below are grammar and vocabulary exercises. They are drill instruments; many of them can be reloaded several times and each time you will get a different version. Their purpose is to assist your memorization and learning of grammatical patterns. Practice until you can do them well without hesitation. Read the corrected sentences aloud until you sound natural and fluent.

1. Saludos (Greetings)
2. ¿Ser o estar?
   Pronombres
   El verbo "ser" y los pronombres
   Los verbos "ser" y "estar" y los pronombres
3. Los verbos con -ar, presente de indicativo, Ejercicio 1
   Ejercicio 2
4. Los verbos con -er e -ir, presente de indicativo, Ejercicio 1
   Ejercicio 2
   Ejercicio 3
   Ejercicio 4
5. El verbo "ir" Ejercicio 1,
   El verbo "ir"
   Ejercicio 2: Uso
   Ejercicio 3 "ir a"

6. Los verbos "ir," "venir," y "ver"
El verbo "tener"
El verbo "traer"
El verbo "salir"

7. Los verbos con cambios vocales,
Ejercicio 1,
Ejercicio 2,
Ejercicio 3,
Ejercicio 3 (e - i)
Ejercicio 4 (e - i)

8. Los verbos irregulares saber y conocer;
verbos con "zc": Ejercicio 1,
Ejercicio 2,
Ejercicio 3,
Ejercicio 4,
Ejercico 5

9. Los pronombres -- objetos directos
Los pronombres en "Todos juntos"

Centro Virtual Cervantes
Try starting out with Mi mundo en palabras; for children, it's a fun, quick way to learn basic vocabulary.

Spanish at About.com
This is a dependable, extensive resource with the right price (free) and accessibility (total).   ¡Superbueno!

Lingolex’s Learn Spanish page  -- lots of interactive exercises to help move vocabulary into memory.

The BBC’s Spanish Website:  very rich and high-quality.

A beautiful site from LanguageGuide.org.  It has sound files produced by native speakers that are extremely easy to use.  This site will appeal to visual and auditory learners by incorporating pictures and sound files even in the grammar lessons.  Use it often!

Spanish Grammar Exercises from Colby University:  A site dear to my heart, it’s one of the main resources I used to teach myself the basics.

Study Spanish is another sentimental favorite; although full access is only available upon payment, there are still plenty of exercises and quizzes to be quite helpful in your learning.

e-Learn Spanish.com is an on-line course with many helpful links.

SpanishSpanish.com is full of interactive resources for learning, practice and self-testing.

List of Resources from Kennesaw University.

University of California San Joachin with many sound files.

Super Spanish Websites maintained by Jim Becker, Emeritus from the University of Northern Iowa—the title says it all!

The WWW Virtual Library’s International Affairs Resources link collection for Spanish, an excellent starting point for any study session.

Globe-Gate.com’s list of Spanish learning resources:  comprehensive and very low-frills.

A treasure for visual learners:  Enchanted Learning.com’s website is pitched to children but functions just as well for older learners.

A fantastic collection including image and sound files from Spanish Flashcards.  The site includes practice and quizzes for grammar.  Very useful for practicing ser v. estar, for example.

Spanish songs:  lyrics with annotations indicating features of grammar and vocabulary by Assunta Montes de Oca de Marshall of the Northmont Area Community Network.

Spanish-English Vocabulary Quizzes – ¡sí sí sí!  What a lot of little quizzes to help you memorize your vocabulary!

Quiz-Tree.com has loads of brief quizzes to help you exercise your memory.

Quia resources – although there is a charge for many of the resources offered through this site, there are quite a few available free, all appealing due to their interactivity.

Verb conjugator—sure to be your amigo for a long time.

Spanish Verb Conjugation Trainer

English-Spanish vocabulary quizzes

Verbs-online.com will help you always know just where you are in time or reality.  What a relief.

Beautiful collection of links from St. Olaf College.

This site includes much vocabulary and a valuable list of false cognates.