Contents of each lesson in the Language Transfer Spanish course

Language Transfer is a great, free audio course that teaches Spanish from beginner level.

In addition to Language Transfer, you can practice speaking intermediate Spanish in the app Spoken

Track 1

We don’t learn any Spanish in this track. It explains the method for using a Language Transfer course.

It emphasizes learning through the thinking method, focusing on understanding and constructing sentences rather than memorization or note-taking.

Even though this doesn’t cover any Spanish words, it’s very useful to listen to get a good introduction for how to use the course.

Track 2

The first proper lesson.

It explains how English and Spanish share many Latin-based words, making it easy to convert English vocabulary into Spanish (e.g., normal → normal, metal → metal). However, stress patterns differ - Spanish often stresses the final syllable.

We learn the 5 correct vowel sounds for a natural accent.

The verb es means “is” (he/she/it/you formal are), and combining it with vocabulary allows phrases like "es normal" or "no es ideal".

We practice converting words ending in -al (legal, natural, cultural, etc.) and learn that guessing vocabulary from Latin roots helps build fluency.

Track 3

We build on es (“is”) to make sentences with more convertible words.

We see that English words ending in -ant or -ent usually become Spanish by adding -e (important → importante). Adding -mente forms adverbs like "constantemente" or "normalmente".

We learn that the English /j/ sound often becomes the Spanish /kh/ sound (general → general, generalmente).

Words ending in -able or -ible often convert too (possible → posible, probable → probable, probablemente).

We practice stress placement and pronunciation. Finally, we note that experimenting with these rules gives us thousands of usable Spanish words.

Track 4

We practice using quiero (I want) and no quiero (I don’t want) to form sentences.

Words ending in -ion convert directly into Spanish with the stress on the last syllable (opinión, pasión) and many of these nouns can be used to create verbs by replacing -ción with -r (preparar, confirmar, cancelar).

We also see how me attaches to verbs for reflexive forms (quiero prepararme = I want to get ready).

Track 5

We learn that yo means “I” but is only used for emphasis (yo quiero).

We practice building sentences with quiero and no quiero, including reflexive forms (quiero informarme).

We use the object pronounste (you) and lo (it/him) in sentences like no quiero obligarte or quiero salvarlo.

We explore words ending in -ción that form verbs by switching to -ar (celebración → celebrar, cancelación → cancelar).

We also study the rolled Spanish r.

Finally, we learn the -ence → -encia and -ance → -ancia rule (diferencia, influencia, existencia).

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