19 Useful Phrases and Tips to Learn Spanish Fast Before Travelling to Barcelona

No matter whether you learn Spanish or know only two phrases “Hola” and “Adiós”, you do need to embrace phrases that you can say without thinking. It’s a well-known fact that majority of Spanish people speak English not that good. So, if you don’t want to spend all your trip mimicking and gesturing, make use of the following useful phrases. Each goes with some training tips to memorise them in such a way that you could say necessary phrase without thinking.

By the way, if you decide to continue to learn Spanish online, you should know that in the world chart of language “popularity”,  Spanish has outrun English and followed Chinese with 437 native speakers worldwide. Compare figures in the Statista survey below.

Even in the United States, Spanish has become the second most spoken language (34,559,894 people) after English. Hence, there’s a good reason to learn to speak fluent Spanish.

This article covers phrases connected to whereabouts and ordering of meals. With them, you can learn to speak the Spanish language even if you haven’t attended any lessons before.

Whereabouts

Generally, there are different variations of asking directions. Below you can see the most common dialogue to communicate with native speakers.

–        ¡Hola! ¿Puedes ayudarme?| Hello, can you help me?

–        Buenos días! Sí, ¿qué necesitas? | Good day. Yes, what do you need?

–        Me he perdido ¿Cómo puedo llegar a la calle Verdi? | I’m lost. How can I get to Verdi street?

–        Sigue todo recto hasta el cruce y gire a la izquierda. Allí está. | Go straight to the

intersection and turn left. There is the street you need.

–        Gracias. | Thanks

–        De nada. | You’re welcome

For beginners, I do recommend to cram some of these phrases, especially if there are a few days left to the trip. Besides, Spanish pronunciation allows anyone to start reading because most words are pronounced as they are written. It’s impossible to learn Spanish fast and become a fluent speaker in a couple of weeks. So, do not try to get deep into conjugation specifics or remember all forms of Imperative mood.

Just repeat these phrases as often as possible. Then write out this dialogue on a piece of paper and repeat each sentence. If this method does not work, then you can try different training videos to catch the atmosphere and get used to the way language sounds. It is an excellent way to learn Spanish by listening.

Most importantly, you should work on these prepositions of place. Use them in dialogues (better if you write) by explaining how to get to your home or favourite café.

Buying a Meal or a Drink

I do recommend to take extra money for meals because you’ll find it hard to resist those fantastic cafés and restaurants of Catalan cuisine. I hope nothing else would stop you from trying a mouthwatering paella, especially inability to speak fluently. Prepare to order food at the restaurant using a pair of videos which are the best way to learn conversational Spanish.

Now, you may wonder what you should do with this video. First, write down key phrases in a little notebook that you can quickly take with you on a trip or add them to the notes in your smartphone.

In this video, the key phrases are:

¿Qué quiere comer/beber? (What do you (Usted – You politely) want to eat/drink?)

Quiero agua/hamburguesa (I want water/hamburger).

You should also make and learn the list of meals and drinks that are common for your diet or what you would like to taste of subterranean cuisine. Some of the necessary food words you can find in the following pictures.

I would also recommend taking this online lesson to train your memory and remember new words faster. It will be useful as any other training activity. And for those learners who are ready to tackle more complex phrases, I do advise to focus on this video.

Here are those essential phrases from the video you should include to the list of your travel phrases:

¿Me lo puedes repetir? | Can you repeat that?

¿Lo puedes decir más lento? | Can you say it slower?

¿Te encargo (un tenedor)? | Could you bring me (a fork)?

Todavía no estamos listos | We aren’t ready yet

Necesitamos unos minutos más | We need a few more minutes

¿Sería todo? | Would that be all?

¿Es picante? | Is it spicy?

¡Provecho! | Enjoy your meal!

¿Te encargo la cuenta por favor? | Can you bring the check please?

¿Aceptan tarjetas? | Do you take credit cards?

¿O sólo efectivo? | Or just cash?

To memorise and retain these phrases for long, you should choose only those phrases that you commonly use at the restaurant. Anyway, a waiter won’t interrogate you as it is in this situation: 

By the way, you can use this funny video to find out about all possible types of coffee in Spain!

If you need more dialogues for practising and look for the way how to learn Spanish quickly and speak without fear, take some ideas from these conversations:

In Spanish

In English

In Spanish

In English

Finally, if you want to enjoy your trip to Barcelona, spend some time studying the most visited attraction places because this is the city that has a plethora of surprises around every corner.