If you would like to learn Spanish quickly and effectively then we recommend one of our two-week live-in Spanish courses, which you can purchase on our payment pages. Below are a few simple lines to get you started!

 

In addition, our partners in Peru offer a web-based tuition over Skype. This is a great opportunity to learn Spanish from a South American teacher and block-bookings of 10, one hour lessons are available. Please click on the below link for more information and to sign up:

 

 

For the basics of either Spanish or Portuguese check out the BBC languages website which has free online classes.

 

The handy guide below will help you feel more at home, help you relate better to the locals and make your travels that much more enjoyable and rewarding! Chimu Adventures recommends a Latin American Spanish or Portuguese phrasebook, but hopefully we can help you a little here:

Basic Latin American Spanish
 

Latin American Spanish	English
Hola	Hello
Buenos Dias/Tardes	Good Morning/Afternoon
Como estas?	How are you?
.... bien	... fine
... Mas o menos	.... more or less
... mal	... bad
Gracias	Thank you
Cuanto cuesta este?	How much is this?
... Esta bien	....that's fine
.... demasiado	.... too much
... pocito menos?	.... a little less
Donde esta?	Where is?
.... el mercado	.. the market
.... la plaza de armas	... the main plaza
.... El Baño	... the bathroom
.. la tienda	... the store/shop
agua	water
gaseosa	soft drink
jugo	juice
... de naranja	.... orange
... de papaya	.... pawpaw/papaya
... de fresa	... strawberry
pan	bread
pollo	chicken
carne	meat
chancho/cerdo	pork
policia	police
hospital	hospital
doctor	doctor
emergencia	emergency
Ladrón	thief
amigo/choche	friend/mate

 

Basic Brazilian Portuguese

 

Brazilian Portuguese	English
Olá	hello
Bom dia	Good day
Como estas?	How are you?
Bem	Fine
Mais o menous	More or less
Mal	Bad
obrigado/a	Thank you (Male of female)
Quanto custa?	how much does it cost?
.... esta bem	.... that's fine
.... muito	.... too much
.... pouce menos	..... a little less
Onde é?	where is?
... mercado	... the market
.... praca central	... the main plaza
.... banho	... the bathroom
... loja	... the store/shop
agua	water
especia de soda	soft drink
suco	juice
... de laranja	... orange
... de mamao	... pawpaw/papaya
... de fresa	.... strawberry
pao	bread
frango	chicken
carne	meat (beef)
porco	pork
policia	police
hospital	hospital
doutor	doctor
emergencia	emergency
ladrao	thief
amigo	friend