Survival Spanish for Beginners — Week 1
Learn survival Spanish for beginners through seven practical lessons and start communicating from your first day.
Choose your Survival Spanish Lesson
Complete the seven lessons in order, starting with Lesson 1.
Introduce Yourself in Spanish — Lesson 2
Learn how to greet someone, say your name and ask another person’s name politely using simple Spanish introductions for real-life situations.
Say You Don’t Understand and Ask for Help — Lesson 1
Learn eight Spanish survival phrases to ask for repetition, slower speech and written help in everyday situations.
What You Will Learn from Survival Spanish for Beginners
Week 1 contains the essential Spanish you need to begin communicating in everyday situations. During this first week, you will develop one practical skill each day and gradually combine everything in your first complete conversation.
You will learn how to:
- Say that you do not understand.
- Ask someone to repeat or speak more slowly.
- Greet another person appropriately.
- Introduce yourself and ask someone’s name.
- Say where you are from and where you live.
- Give and check a telephone number.
- Spell your name and personal details.
- Ask for help and communicate politely.
These are practical expressions you can use in shops, workplaces, public services and everyday conversations in Spain.
How This First Week Works
Week 1 contains seven lessons designed to be completed in order, from Lesson 1 to Lesson 7.
Each lesson represents approximately one hour of active learning. This does not mean one hour of reading. Your study time includes listening, repeating, completing short activities, practising a dialogue and remembering expressions without looking at the answers.
Begin with Lesson 1 and complete one lesson each day whenever possible. If you need more practice, repeat a lesson before continuing.
You do not need to memorise complicated grammar tables before speaking. Short grammar explanations are included only when they help you understand and use the expressions from that lesson.
Your Goal with Survival Spanish for Beginners
Lesson 7 brings together the skills from the entire week. You will practise a complete beginner conversation using greetings, personal information, numbers, spelling, polite expressions and essential survival questions.
By the end of Week 1, you should be able to begin a short conversation, provide basic personal information and ask for clarification when you do not understand.
You do not need to speak perfectly. The objective is to communicate clearly enough to understand the situation, give a basic response and ask for help when necessary.
These communication goals reflect a small part of the abilities described in the official CEFR description of level A1. Completing Week 1 does not mean that you have completed level A1.
Who Is This Week For?
This week is designed for complete beginners and people who understand very little Spanish. Instructions are provided in clear English, and no previous knowledge is required.
If you already know a few expressions, you can use week 1 to organise what you know and strengthen your listening and pronunciation.
Start Your First Lesson
After completing week 1, you will be ready to expand your Spanish through lessons about family, descriptions, the home and daily routines.