Take your Spanish vacation experience to the next level with these common Spanish phrases for travellers.
Whether you’re heading to Spain or the Americas, Spanish is one of the best and most useful languages to learn. Once you learn a few phrases, can make use of your Spanish skills in over 11 countries around the world.
Why else should you learn Spanish? Well, it makes learning other languages, especially Romance languages like Portuguese, Italian, French and Romanian much easier.
Want to have fun whilst learning European Spanish, Latin American Spanish or Argentinian Spanish? Struggling to find decent Spanish language resources available? I recommend getting uTalk. Available as a desktop site and app, uTalk is awesome for learning key words and phrases in Spanish (either in European, Latin American, or Argentinian Spanish), especially if you want to use it for travel purposes. It’s great for beginners getting started in a language and invaluable for intermediates looking to fill in gaps in their vocabulary and pronunciation.
What I love most about uTalk is that you can jump around their extensive library of topics and choose what you want to learn, when you want, and at your own pace. Because I believe in uTalk so much, I reached out to them and we’ve teamed up to offer you an exclusive 30% OFF reader discount across all of uTalk’s 140 languages! This offer isn’t available anywhere else! Click here to claim your exclusive 30% discount in European Spanish, Latin American Spanish here,and Argentinian Spanish here.
Have a laugh with these hilarious Spanish expressions
Let’s take a quick look at the Spanish language so you’re a bit more clued up on its origin, use, and vocabulary.
I hope you enjoy this post as much as I enjoyed bringing it together. If you have any requests for other languages, let me know in the comments section!
Where is Spanish spoken?
Being the official or national language in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, and 19 countries in the Americas, Spanish is one a great language to have under your belt as you travel.
There are some 418 million speakers in Americas alone. Instituto Cervantes claims that there are around 477 million Spanish speakers with native competence, 572 million who speak Spanish as a first or second language and more than 21 million students who are learning Spanish.
Spanish is one of the six official languages of the United Nations and is an official language of the European Union.
A brief history of Spanish
Originating in the Castile region of Spain, Spanish (español) is also known as Castilian (castellano).
Spanish evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century.
Spanish began to spread beyond mainland Europe in the early 16th century when the Spanish Empire established colonies in the Americas, as well as territories in Africa, Oceania and the Philippines.
Ancient Greek contributed substantially to Spanish vocabulary, in addition, up to 75% of modern Spanish is derived from Latin.
What’s not well-known is that Arabic has also left a substantial mark on Spanish vocabulary having been in contact with the language very early on. Around 8% of Spanish vocabulary is of Arabic origin, making it the second most important influence after Latin.
Pronunciation
Spanish spelling is very phonetic with only a few exceptions. This means that if you know how to pronounce the letters of a word, it’s relatively easy to sound out the word itself. A bonus characteristic for new learners.
Accents and Stress
In Spanish, where you place the stress in a word can alter its meaning. Here are some general rules to follow:
- If a word is marked with an accent, then that syllable receives the stress.
- If a word is NOT marked with an accent, then
- if the word ends in a consonant other than N or S, the stress occurs on the last syllable (eg. hospital = “os-pee-TAL”)>
- if the word ends in a vowel, N or S, the stress occurs on the next to last syllable (eg. muchacho = “mu-CHA-cho”)
- In Spain (Except in some parts of Andalusia, and in the Canary Islands) a English ci/ce or z sound makes a English “TH”. In Latin America, it makes the “S” sound.
Essential Spanish Phrases for Travel with Pronunciation
Want the infographic to take with you? Scroll to the bottom of the page.
Greetings
Essentials
Questions
Eating Out
Getting Around
Numbers
Days
Emergencies
Learn Spanish with my 80/20 method, with Intrepid Spanish!
Travelling to Spain or Latin America? Don’t be treated like a tourist! Live your best travel experiences and learn Spanish for less than the cost of eating at a tourist trap restaurant or a taxi driver who has “taken you for a ride”. In addition to my free Spanish travel phrase guide, I’ve made it even easier for you to master the Spanish language so you can create lifelong memories as you mingle with locals, get local tips, avoid tourist traps, and make new friends. Join my popular Spanish course here.
Here’s what my students are saying:
I really enjoyed the Master Italian for Travel FAST course, it certainly exceeded my expectations. The learning methodology is great, and easy to follow and found that I progressed much faster in the last 4 weeks than I ever did on my own or using other language apps. Grazie mille Michele, I can’t wait until I can put my new skills into action! – Roma Small
Click here for instant access!
Like it? Pin it!
Planning a trip and need travel insurance? Get a free quote from World Nomads here.
Interested in learning Spanish? Don’t miss these!
- 70+ Essential Latin American Spanish Phrases for Travellers
- 7 Top Differences Between Spain Spanish and Latin American Spanish You Didn’t Know
- 17 Embarrassingly Funny False Friends in Spanish to Avoid
- 25 Hilarious Spanish Idioms You Won’t Learn in School
- Is Spanish Hard to Learn? [7 Common Mistakes and Top Grammar Tips]
Heading to Spain?
- 13 Free things to do in Barcelona
- 19 Reasons You’ll Want to Visit Costa Brava Immediately
- 23 Beautiful Must-See Places in Madrid, Spain
- Costa Brava – Get my Ultimate 5-Day Costa Brava Itinerary
- 19 Absolute Best Things to Do in Bilbao, Spain
- 19 Absolute Best Things to do in San Sebástian, Spain’s Basque Country
Want to know more about learning languages? Start here!
- 12 Simple Tips to Improve Your Listening Comprehension in a Foreign Language
- Memrise vs Duolingo: Which Language App is Best For You?
- How to Learn Languages Like Crazy, Even If You Have a Crazy Life [3-Step Method]
- 22 Top Language Learning Resources You Should Use
- 10 Proven Memory Hacks: How to Remember New Vocabulary Faster
- How to Get Fluent: 9 Reasons You’re Not Fluent…YET! [& What To Do Instead]
- How long does it REALLY take to learn a language? [A Practical Guide]
- 10 Proven Memory Hacks: How to Remember New Vocabulary Faster
- 18 Unexpected Advantages & Health Benefits of Learning A Foreign Language
- 23 Cool Gift for Language Learners They Will Actually Use and Love
- Mondly Review: 10 Ways Mondly Drastically Improved My Language Learning
- italki Review: Is italki A Language Learner’s Best Friend? [Prices, Tips, Pros & Cons]
- 203 Most Beautiful Untranslatable Words [The Ultimate List: A-Z]
- 6 Language Learning Tips: How to Learn a Language from Home
- What Type of Language Learner Are You? Your 4-Step Personalised Learning Plan
- 203 Most Beautiful Untranslatable Words [The Ultimate List: A-Z]
- 44 Best Movies on Disney Plus for Learning Languages
- 13 Ways to Seamlessly Integrate Language Learning into Your Daily Life
- 10 Pro Tips: How to Learn a Language with a Full-Time Job
- 7 Reasons Why You Should Go on a Language Holiday
- Essential Travel Phrases: How to be Travel Fluent in 10 Simple Steps
- How to Learn Your First Foreign Language in 8 Simple Steps: A Beginner’s Guide
- 11 Life-Changing Reasons Why You Should Learn a Language
- 42 beautiful Inspirational Quotes for Language Learners
- Language learning tips: 11 Polyglots Reveal The Secrets of Their Success
- Top 10 Best Ways to Learn a Language Better and Faster
Over to you!
Which of these common Spanish phrases do you find most useful? Which other phrases would you like to know?
Let me know using the comments section below or join me on social media to start a conversation.
Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoyed this post.
Like what you see? Subscribe using the form below to have all of my posts delivered directly to your email.