Synergy Spanish Systems Blog

That number was starting to feel big but thanks to the video below I say, “who gives a hoot”. I feel young.

Isn’t that guy amazing?

Why be all negative and grouchy when it comes to aging with guys like Fritz around to inspire us. Here’s a guy who has the strength and flexibility of a 29-year-old… super athlete… and he’s 69.

He took up rock climbing, rowing and cross-country skiing after his 60th birthday.

I’m 46 on Thursday but after seeing that video, who cares. I feel young. I’ve got great kids, work I love and good health, even if I can’t stand on my head.

Fritz inspires me, but many of my students have inspired me even more. They’re learning Spanish in their 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s and even 90s.

I don’t know if I could have believed it myself if I hadn’t seen the results they are achieving.

They are taking adventures, traveling the world and having fun. They are learning new skills and jumping headfirst into their new language.

They’re relocating and embracing the local culture. Some even have new families that don’t speak English.

They’re enjoying new skills and hobbies, tossing aside self-limiting beliefs and cultural stereotypes. They’re getting on with living as they want to live.

You can have a youthful spirit no matter what your chronological age. Real age isn’t about a number; it’s about experiencing life and learning new things.

Benjamin Franklin said, “some people die at 25 but they are not buried until they are 75”.

No matter your age, you can go where others fear to go. You can embrace life with vitality and passion.

Quit listening to others who are quick to tell you what you can’t do.

Just like the 69-year-old guy on the video above you choose how high you want to set your bar.

Why have so many people in their 50s, 60s, 70s, 80s, and even 90s, come to me?

They want to speak Spanish with real people. They don’t want to waste their time in a classroom. They want to get down to business and speak the language and experience all that life has to offer.

I don’t care about exams, evaluations or accreditations. I only focus on helping you speak Spanish the easiest and fastest way possible… no matter your age.

Are you ready to take the challenge?

Throw off any limitations others have set on you. Here’s 3 levels to take you Spanish as far as you want to go.

Break through to getting By in Spanish

Breakthrough to getting fluency

Have you ever looked up a word in the dictionary only to find what you were trying to interpret still made no sense?

In fact, it made even less sense after you looked up the word.

It happens a lot and there is a very good reason for it.

You see there’s a part of the Spanish language that you’ll struggle to find in the dictionary.

Yet, walk down any street where Spanish is spoken and you’ll hear it all day, everyday.

What I am talking about is how words join together in collocations to create new meanings.

The best way to explain this is to show you some colocations that you already know well. Ones from English that you use and hear everyday.

Like these:

As far as I know
At the latest
Just in case
Don’t hesitate to call
The most important thing
In other words
Enough is enough!

Can you imagine hearing or using any of those in the next few days? They are common everyday language, aren’t they?

But how would you say them in Spanish?

And if someone spoke to you in Spanish using colocations would you understand them?

Do you know any of these?

Que sepa yo
A más tardar
Por si acaso
No dudes en llamar
Lo mas importante
Es decir
¡Basta ya!

Hint: They are the same as the English ones.

If you have ever found it hard to understand what Spanish speakers are saying to you, it’s a good bet you don’t know enough “collocations”.

How do you get to know them?

I have put together a series of free resources to help you get there, including:

An ebook “Más Alla Del Dicionario Español” (Beyond The Spanish Dictionary), with more than 100 of the most commonly used Spanish collocations.

I’m also making a series of audios and podcasts, so you can get to use this “other Spanish” when you speak to your amigos.

You can also get hints, tips and insights. You’ll discover how to speak with extra authenticity and clarity as well as understanding more of what Spanish speakers say to you… even when they speak really fast.

By the way, what I’ll show you are not rare examples. Once you know them, you’ll start noticing them everywhere.

And that will help you understand a whole lot more Spanish in ways that you’ll never find in a textbook, class or dictionary. Yet, you’ll hear it all the time in the cafés, streets and plazas.

Enter your details below to get your resources, son gratis (they are free).

El niño se comió todo.

If I took a textbook definition of el niño se comió, I’d have been worried about my son. You see according to textbook rules, el niño se comió means…

The boy ate himself.

The textbook tells us that se is a reflexive marker meaning himself. That’s fair enough with phrases like these;

se lavo – he washed himself

se afeito – he shaved himself

se corto – he cut himself

They all make sense don’t they?

But the textbook falls apart with…

se comió = he ate himself

Here’s what it really means when you go Beyond The Textbook and understand how native speakers really use their language.

Se comió todo, simply means, he ate UP everything.

In English we can say,

he ate everything

or we can say,

he ate everything UP

UP just gives a bit of extra oomph to the phrase.

And in the Spanish version, SE doesn’t mean up, it just adds emphasis in the same way adding UP does in English.

El niño SE comió todo – the boy ate everything UP

You know after years of living in a Spanish speaking country, I’ve made hundreds of distinctions like these.

These distinctions make it easy for me to understand exactly what native speakers like my father in law are saying.

Knowing these subtleties is essential for understanding advanced Spanish.
Yet, while the textbooks are busy explaining advanced Spanish grammar ,they drop the ball when it comes to this living language.

That’s why I’ve decided to make available a free series of short sharp explanations of everyday living Spanish. They’ll give you a deeper understanding of the way native speakers use their language.

They’ll take you out of the textbook and into the street where the language lives and breathes.

I had to be my own sleuth to figure all this out. You can save years of detective work just by joining my Spanish Beyond the Textbook newsletter.

If you’d like to receive my lessons, articles and audios just enter your details below: