Spain Immersion: a teacher's explanation

¿Cuánto te gastas en tabaco?

2009-05-10T22:20:00.015+02:00

You might have heard that some verbs like comer, gastar, leer, fumar or beber can go together with the reflexive pronouns:

- Me como, me bebo, me leo, te fumas, se gasta, me leo, etc.

And it's true, they can go with and without these pronouns. Let's see when:

Without the pronoun (como, bebo, gasto, fumas...)

1. When we refer to the action itself:
- Jorge come mucho, fuma muchísimo y bebe demasiado.

2. When we refer to a variety or group of food, drink, thing to read, etc:
- Jorge solo come carne y pizzas, fuma tabaco negro y bebe mucho vodka.

With the pronoun (me como, me bebo, me gasto, te fumas...)

1. When we speak of some specific food, drink, thing to read, smoke, etc. and not a variety:
- Jorge se come un filete de cerdo para desayunar, se fuma dos cigarros y se bebe un vaso de vodka.

2. To get the action completed until the very end:
- Jorge se come siempre el plato entero, se fuma el porro hasta que ya no queda nada y se bebe la botella de vodka hasta la última gota.

Check out the solutions in this exercise and go back to the rule if you need to:

La antidieta (el ejemplo a no seguir):

- Jorge siempre desayuna en McDonald's. Come / se come dos BigMacs y bebe / se bebe medio litro de Coca Cola. Eso para el desayuno temprano.

- Después, a media mañana, sobre las 11 y media, bebe / se bebe dos cafés muy cargados en una cafetería de un bar cercano. Nunca bebe / se bebe té, solo café.

- Para el almuerzo, compra / se compra una pizza americana congelada del Mercadona. Come / se come la pizza entera y no deja ni un gramo.

- Para merendar, simplemente gasta / se gasta 4 euros en un showarma de un turco que hay cerca de su casa. No le gusta perder tiempo haciendo de comer.

- Por último, para cenar come / se come una ensalada y bebe / se bebe. un zumo de piña de 1 litro. Es su mejor comida del día. Ya antes de acostarse, lee / se lee un par de horas mientras fuma / se fuma un cigarro.

- Jorge lee / se lee 10 libro cada mes, o sea, uno cada tres días. Es una persona muy culta, y las personas cultas y superdotadas no se complican con la comida: quieren comer rápido para dedicarle tiempo a lo que más les interesa. En su caso, probar que Jesús de Nazaret era budista. Y claro, eso requiere mucho tiempo de estudio...

Jigsaw Grammar

2009-05-04T15:38:00.008+02:00

We have all learned languages at some point of our lives, especially at primary or high school. And I think we all remember those gaps we need to fill in with the right form of a verb, the right pronoun, article, demostrative or whatever.

It's not a bad thing, it might help a lot in fact, especially with things you need to focus on or pay more attention to. But I'm afraid, over the years and doing these exercises time and time again, they left us a wrong sensation on our minds: there's one perfect answer, better than the others, and that's the one the teacher is expecting you to say. If you see this written on a book:

- ¿Qué hiciste ayer?
- Ayer (levantarse) ... ... a las 8, (ir) ... al trabajo, (salir) ... a las 17 y luego por la tarde (ver)... una película en mi casa y (acostarme) ... ... después sobre las 11.

What the teacher wants you to do is practice the forms of pretérito indefinido, and nothing else, but what he's not telling you (but you might be interpreting) is that, when somebody asks you using pretérito indefinido, you have to correspond that answer by using, at least at some point of your sentence, that same tense. Especially we do it in other languages, since we don't know the rules. The answer is YOU DON'T HAVE TO IN ANY LANGUAGE. Look at these possible answers:

- ¿Qué hiciste ayer?

1 - Lo típico: la universidad, con mi novia...
2- Estar en casa, comer, ver la tele y vaguear. Nada más...
3- Ayer fui al supermercado por la mañana y luego por la tarde estuve en la biblioteca.

We tend to apply exercises to practise forms into real life situations. In real life, people don't need to practice the forms of verbs. Some exercises are closer to reality, but ultimately, they're flight simulators and not the real aircraft. Don't answer like a robot, be a human! Try to tell the robot from the human in these examples:

- Tu hermana es muy guapita. ¿Cuántos años tiene?
- Mi hermana tiene 24 años.

- Tu hermana es muy guapita. ¿Cuántos años tiene?
- 24. Pero, ¿mi hermana guapita? ¡Qué va tío!

WARNING: Many times the shortest answer is the most real.

-¿Cuántos años tienes?
-Tengo 29 años.
-29 años.
-29.

¿Cómo se escribe? ¿Con B o con V?

2009-04-22T12:58:00.010+02:00

This is an impersonal sentence, or, sentence without a subject. There is no yo, tú, él, ella, usted, nosotros, vosotros or ellos implied. The equivalent in English would be something like: how does one say ... in Spanish?

- ¿Cómo se dice sentence en español?
- Oración o frase.

In English, because the pronounciation and the writing very usually differ, sometimes you need to spell out the words. In Spanish, we don't spell. Spelling was imported from the English language, but we Spanish speakers don't spell out words. The sound and the writing are closer.

Maybe you've heard or studied in the class:

- Calle Ballaleros, número 8.
- Perdone, ¿cómo se deletrea?

A question like this would be unlikely between two Spanish speakers. Because at least, 7 out of the 10 letters (on the street name) are more than clear. Those sounds are clear. The mistake can come with

1. The LL. (We have the same sound for LL and Y).

2. The B (because we also have V and souns the same).

So, a Spanish speaker wouldn't ask you to spell out a word, but the possible confusions with those other letters:

- ¿Cómo se escribe Ballaleros? ¿con B o con V?
- Con B y con doble L.

There's only a few sounds a Spanish speaker can get confused with, like G and J, B and V, LL and Y, to write H or no H or with accent or no accent. The other sounds are easily represented, so we don't need to spell the way Americans or English people do.

Are there no exceptions?

Well, that's among Spanish speakers. But what about a foreigner and a Spanish? In this case, if the foreigner at a hotel says:

- ¿Su nombre?
- Peter Baugfeenschaussenshtaff.
- ¿¿Cómo?? Perdone, ¿cómo se escribe?

Even in this case, I doubt a Spanish speaker asked you the spelling (but it can happen, sure). He would rather use the ¿cómo se escribe? meaning how do you spell it?

¿Qué significa...?

You usually ask this when you see a word you don't understand and you can't figure it out from the context. For example, you read:

- La Segunda Guerra Mundial fue la guerra de las guerras. Murieron unas 40 millones de personas y no se puede decir que los aliados ganaron, ya que las pérdidas fueron enormes. Fue, en todo caso, una victoria pírrica.

Maybe other words too, but this one specifically could be the most difficult to figure out. What would you ask in your language? I think most people would ask (in their own language): what does pírrica mean? If you don't think so, no problem. What other question would you ask? How do you say pírrica in ...? Here, what you need to know affects the understanding of the meaning of the sentence, so you ask the meaning.

¿Cómo se dice ... en español?

However, if you're speaking Spanish and you need a word translated from your own language, you have a gap in your speech. That gap is filled by asking the translation. After that, if the meaning is not known to the listener, the meaning will be needed too.

- Ayer quería comprarme un libro que ví en una libreria, pero no tenía dinero y fui al ... , cómo se dice, este lugar en el banco para sacar dinero con la tarjeta...
- ¿Al cajero?
- Eso. Pues fui al cajero y...

Let's finish with some jokes based on the Spanish language (maybe for most advanced students since they contain plays on words):

- ¿Cómo se dice camarero en élfico?
- Éldelbar. (the guy at the bar)

- ¿Cómo se dice dentista en japonés?
- Tecuro Tuhocico. (I fix your snout)

- ¿Cómo se dice soldados en holandés?
- Van de Verde (They dress green)

¿Tú o usted?

2009-04-21T18:53:00.006+02:00

We're going to use only one factor to determine the use of tú and usted: the age. It's thought that usted is a sign of respect for old people, and it's true.

This is even a problem for Spanish people sometimes. When do we say tú or usted? What conditions the choice? Let's take a look at some people in your life in Spain:

- The landlord: is probably and old man or woman, around 40-45 years old at least, usually. In this case, as a sign of respect for their age, we'll use usted.

- The language teacher in your class: this is not a problem. The teacher will probably tell you to use tú.

- Your friends: tú of course.

- The recepcionist at the hotel or the hostal you're staying: usted better, even though it's a young person working there. Why? Because you don't know this person. Usted also

- The neighbour nextdoor: depending on what the relationship is like. If you guys talk everyday

Cultural tip: if you're talking to an older person than you, but from 35-40 on, let's say, you can use a strategy: use usted and the person will tell you to switch to tú. If he doesn't say anything, continue using usted. Here, when you call somebody usted, like in many other countries, it's interpreted as a sign of a certain age, and old person. So, the person will tell you better.

Ser o estar: esa es la cuestión

2009-04-20T18:20:00.009+02:00

To be or not to be... You lucky English speakers! We Spanish speakers have to deal with this distinction. The question is: is it really necessary having this other word?

a) - Sí.
b) - No.
c) - Sí y no.

Exactly, you got it. Nothing is black or white. But let's go step by step. It is quite clear that for some uses, we only have one option: SER OR ESTAR. But in some other situations or contexts, we have the possibility to use SER AND ESTAR to express different aspects about the same thing or person.

Forget about it.

There's one principle that works for most students when it comes to learn a rule: I hear it and I put into practice with no exception for all cases.
If there's a rule that has been taught massively and few people have seemed to notice its side effects, that one is when to use SER and ESTAR.
Retaking the rule with its side effects, you've probably heard things like:

- You use the verb SER when it's something that lasts, a quality, a default you have, something constant and stable, whereas ESTAR you use it when it's something temporary or momentary, like sadness, boredom, sickness, you're drunk, etc.

When you try to put this rule into practice, it seems to work fine.

Soy José.

I'm supposed to be José all my life. Fine. But imagine your parents leave one day (at last) and you're home alone with all the house for you and you can do what you want:

- Soy rey por un día. (I'm the king for one day)

You really feel like you are. But how come you can use the verb SER if it's only for one day? Well, it might last only one day, but during that day, you have what is required, the power, the control, the properties of a king, what it takes to fully be a king. And after that day, when your parents are back:

- Ahora soy un esclavo otra vez (Now I'm a slave again)

Because now you have all properties a slave has: obey orders, make your bed, no freedom, etc. (I hope no mother or father is reading me :)

Estoy preocupado.-

I'm worried about something a couple of hours, one day, some days or longer but not all my life, right? The rule seems to work fine... up to here.
But then you worry about your kids going to school by themselves, and what about driving? There's a lot of accidents everyday, and there's health too, I'm eating too much cheese burguers lately, I should go to doctor... And a friend tells you:

- Pero, ¿qué te pasa? ¡Siempre estás preocupada por algo!

And you think: how come you can use the verb ESTAR if she said ALWAYS? Because it's true, you're always worried about something.In this case, the situation provokes the properties of the state. And situations can last your whole life, provoking that state on and on.
But let's go back to the easy stuff, that's when there's only one possible choice, ser or estar.

SER (only having 1 clear option)

Nationality:

a) SOY español. (I’m Spanish)
b) Estoy español (not possible)

Events:

a) Mi cumpleaños ES en octubre (it’s true, my birthday is in October)
b) Mi cumpleaños está en octubre (not possible)

Possession:

a) Este blog ES de José. (This blog is Jose’s)
b) Este blog está de José (not possible)

Identity:

a) Soy José. (I’m José)
b) Estoy José (not possible)

ESTAR (only having 1 clear option)

Location:

a) Estoy en mi cuarto. (I’m in my room)
b) Soy en mi cuarto (not possible)

Company:

a) Estoy con José en mi cuarto. (I’m with José in my room)
b) Soy con José en mi cuarto (not possible)

Quicksand.-

Now let's move on to quicksand, the cases in which both options are allowed and correct (ser and estar) but they change (drastically in some cases) the meaning of what we say.

Professions / occupations:

- Soy camarero.
- Estoy en un bar de camarero.

As you've probably seen in my other entry (what do you do in your life?) these two sentences point to the same profession, but in different terms. The first option says you've probably been a waiter for long and you probably intend to do it for a long time and maybe your whole life.
On the other hand, the 2nd choice works for somebody who maybe got a temporary job and maybe doesn't expect to be there for long (maybe yes if he likes it, we can't know when he says it).

To be continued...

Past present, present present and future present

2009-04-20T14:30:00.011+02:00

The title of this entry might seem confusing, but it's not. Guess what I meant by that:

a) you were stoned when you wrote it.
b) you mistook the word present for tense.
c) in Spanish you can express past, present and future with the present tense.

Exactly. The present tense can take us to the past and to the future, so it's the most effective or worthwhile tense (but you should learn the others too). NOTE: don't pay attention to the names of the different tenses. They're only going to get you more confused. The present is not really a present now, and the past can be the present sometimes, the conditional can be the past and the present, the future can even be the present too. The names of the tenses are not important!

The present present.-

It obviously has to do with the current situation or around the present time, like habits, things you usually do, etc. Let's see some examples:

- No puedo ir a la fiesta. Es que estoy malo, tengo fiebre.
- Estoy de dependiente en una tienda de ropa.
- No hablo español muy bien, pero sí comprendo mejor.

The past present.-

The past present is represented first by the historical present. You might have seen or heard things like:

- Cristobal Colón descubre América en 1492.
- El 1 de agosto de 1939, Alemania invade Polonia y comienza la Segunda Guerra Mundial.

You can also see it everyday on the news. Check it out yourself on the internet. For example, at www.yahoo.es , and read the news. They belong to the past, but they're written in present. Why? To make them look like they're the latest. Let's see some from today's news:

- Un hombre retiene a cinco tripulantes de un avión en Jamaica.

But the past present also has to do with a more colloquial way to tell a story that took place somewhen in the past. You won't surely see this use of the present written, but you'll hear it often when somebody is telling somebody else a story, something that happened to him last night, etc. In this case, a friend tells another friend a little story from yesterday...

- ¿Sabes a quién vi ayer? Pues nada, voy conduciendo por el centro y me paro en un semáforo. En esto que cruza un hombre por el paso de peatones y digo: coño, pero si es Antonio Banderas, ¿no? Total, que salgo del semáforo y me paro en otro, nada, 100 metros más adelante, y ¿sabes quién cruza el paso de peatones? ¡Alejandro Amenábar! Y digo, joder, ¿esto qué es? ¿Todos los famosos están aquí en Málaga o qué? En fin, que voy ya para mi casa por allí cerca del teatro y resulta que me paro en otro semáforo. Adivina a quién veo... ¡A Almodóvar! Y claro, miro al teatro y dice allí: Festival de Cine de Málaga, 12º edición.

The future present.-

The present with a sense of future is very used. If you're meeting a friend and you're late, and you want to write him a sms, you don't say I'll be there in 10 minutes, but rather I'm there in 10 minutes.

- Estoy allí en 10 minutos.

It's 9 a.M. and you're at work. Your girlfriend calls you and asks you the time to meet later in the evening. You say:

- Bueno. Hoy salgo del trabajo a las 8. Quedamos a las 8 y media en tu casa, ¿vale?

And you used the present tense, but you're talking about the future. But the question is: how far into the future does the future present can really get? Is it only ten minutes from now? 20? One day? One year? Well, as far as you want to, but as long as the situation needs your determination for the future.

- El año que viene me hago vegetariano.

There's an aspect the future present tells us. When you use it, it's because what you're saying it's going to happen. It's been set already or it's not going to change. If I say estoy allí en 10 minutes, it's because I mean it. If I say:

- Esta noche te llamo. Es que ahora estoy ocupado.

... It's because I mean it too. There's another way to express the future: the verb to go + to + infinitive. In Spanish ir + a + infinitivo. In this case it's more related to plans or intentions. Things that you intend to do, but they might change later, or even your might change your mind, so you can't put your hand into the fire.

- Mañana voy a dejar de fumar. (I intend to do it, but I'm not sure to succeed).
- Mañana dejo de fumar. (I intend to do it, and this time I'm determined to do it).

You see the determination is more serious with the future present. But your determination can be doubtful if you say:

- Bueno, dentro de 30 años dejo de fumar. (not only doubtful, but far into future)

But I'm watching your thoughts, that rule I talked about in another entry of: ah! The rule for everything! Now I can say:

- Esta noche veo una película.

If you say this to a friend, he might say: so what? If it's a plan, say it with I'm going to watch a movie. I don't care if you're determined to watch a movie tonight. Who cares??? If it's a plan you have for tonight, ok.

Unpunctuality: a myth or a reality in Spain? The cultural aspect.-

It's reality, but it's not the only country in the world where people get late. In Peru there's the famous Peruvian hour, and even politicians get late to their meetings and appointments.

In Spain, politicians are punctual, but people aren't usually. In other countries, people usually meet at a specific time:

- Ok. At the entrance at 9 pm.

...And you might be late or not. In Spain, many people don't meet at a specific time. They meet like:

- Vale. Pues quedamos de 9 a 9 y cuarto a la entrada del bar. A lo mejor llego un poquillo más tarde.

It's very common to leave a margen of unpunctuality, so to speak :) I don't mean you can't meet at 9 pm. in Spain. I mean that you can find the other alternative too.

As an exception, a friend of mine. He's never late and he's a martyr of unpunctuality here in Spain :) And I assure you there's Spanish blood running through his veins.

Qué and Cuál

2009-04-20T12:42:00.009+02:00

First of all, forget about translating these two words into English, because it'll create more confusion. It's very easy and you'll get it fast...

CUÁL:

1. It designates an object from a category:

- ¿Cuál es la moneda de España? -> El euro. (category: currency, specifically: euro)
- ¿Cuál es la capital de España? -> Madrid. (category: capital , specifically: Madrid)

2. It substitutes a noun previously mentioned:

- Esta noche voy al cine a ver una película. ¿Quieres venir?
- No sé. ¿Cuál vas a ver?

QUÉ:

1. When QUÉ it's followed by a noun:

- ¿Qué hora es?
- ¿Qué película quieres ver?
- ¿Qué día es hoy?

*In South America they use more CUÁL when a noun follows it. So both are correct, depending on where you are. In Spain QUÉ.

2. When you want a definition:

- ¿Qué es un botijo? -> es un recipiente de barro que conserva el agua fría.
- ¿Qué son los Sanfermínes? -> es una fiesta del norte de España relacionada con toros.

3. It doesn't designate any categories:

- ¿Qué quieres decir?
- ¿Qué vas a hacer esta noche?
- ¿Qué significa botijo?

A small exercise to put into practice with situations:

1. You're in the class of Spanish language and you hear a word you don't know (guiri):

- Perdona, yo tengo una pregunta: ¿... es un guiri?
- Pues un guiri es un extranjero claramente identificable, normalmente rubio y con ojos azules, y que tiene dinero.

2. You need to go to the university and you don't know what bus you should take. You ask a Spanish friend:

- ¿Sabes ... autobús tengo que coger para ir a la universidad?
- A ver, me parece que el 4.

3. You go to the movies with a friend and you see the publicity board with all the movies. You ask your friend:

- ¿... quieres ver?
- No sé, me da igual. Y ¿tú?

4. You need to write down a friend's email. Ask him:

- Oye, ¿... es tu email?
- Sí, apunta: roseritox@gmail.com

¿Qué?.-

What do Spanish people say when they don't hear or understand something? There are several options.

- ¿Sabes lo q a pssadou eta manyano in el caso? (impossible to understand) How would you answer in Spanish if you didn't understand the question? Here is what I suggest.

- ¿Cómo?
- ¿Qué qué? (said quickly)
- ¿Cómo cómo? (said quickly)
-¿Qué?

Other cultural uses you can hear.-

If you were to ask a friend the price of a cell phone for example, what would you ask him? Probably what you learned was:

- ¿Cuánto vale tu móvil? or ¿Cuánto dinero vale tu móvil?

Most Spanish say another thing though:

- ¿Qué vale tu móvil?

The prices of public buses usually change every year. You come to Spain again this year and ask:

- ¿Qué vale el autobús ahora?

Of course, you could also ask cuánto, but qué in this case is getting more and more common.

When you have to pay and you need to look for the wallet and take out the euros.-

Then it's when you ask: ¿cuánto es?

When you get on the bus and you don't know the price you ask the driver:

- ¿Cuánto es?

When you drank your coffee and go pay it:

- ¿Cuánto es el café?

When you bought several things at a shop and the shop assistant is putting your buy in a bag:

- ¿Cuánto es?

But of course, as I've said a few times already in this blog, nothing is absolutely used in one context and you could perfectly ask a friend: ¿cuánto es el autobús ahora?, and you don't need to pay him anything :)

Learning new words: a technique

2009-04-18T17:10:00.016+02:00

One of the things students have more trouble with is how to remember the words: expressions, verbs, nouns, adjectives, articles, pronouns, adverbs, it's really too much!! There's literally millions of words, and the same words can even be different in Spain and South America. And one of the things is hard for them too is the lack of vocabulary.

Give me some relief, please.-

Firstly, nobody's a walking dictionary. In fact, the experts say an average Spanish speaker (from Spain) uses no more than 1000 words. Only more cultured and refined people get to use 5000. And many young people and teenagers only use 240 words! I'm not inventing anything, read it here.

What are the important words? Tell me.-

That's hard to answer straight. You know there are nouns, verbs, adjectives, adverbs, articles, demostratives, possessives, etc.

I'm going to ask you to imagine again a situation (a stupid and absurd one). Some foreigners from a Spanish language school (beginners) went to a cafe at different times of the day. They all ordered with their obvious problems to communicate. Tell me who you think the waiter didn't understand when ordering and created the biggest confusion:

Martha: yo querer un café.
Jim: yo quiero el café con leche.
Li-Yang: mí quiere cáfe y leche.
Peter: me pone un taxi con leche.

... Obviously, in this case the most important word was café. You could even only say café if you only knew that word, and the context tells the rest, the waiter would get you.

You can make a mistake in the verb, saying the 2nd or 3rd person instead of the 1st, you can use a wrong preposition like y instead of café con leche, but the waiter will surely understand better than if you say taxi instead of café. He just doesn't have a clue what you're talking about. He might think a taxi is some kind of cocktail from your country, or some other kind of coffee named that way in a different city, etc. But he could never imagine what you're really ordering is coffee.

When I was in Ukraine (teaching Spanish and studying Russian) I used to confuse two words: hotel and hospital. They're different but their last three letters are the same, and It was hard for me to distinguish one from another sometimes. When my nephew was born, the secretary at the school asked me in Russian a few days later:

- Is your nephew at home yet?
- No, he's still at the hotel - I said.
- At the hotel? What hotel? - (surprised).
- Well, the biggest in Malaga.
- But why a hotel? - she insisted - Why not a hospital?

I created confusion, of course, but it was funny too :)

Mental recreation.-

This is the way I call this technique. I've been working with it, and it's given me excellent results. It's impossible to learn at once all the words we see and need to learn. We learn the ones which are relevant in our lives. That's the first filter of our mind, say the psychologists.

But the process of remembering a word or memorizing can be hard. How to see a word and get it sticked into your mind right away and never forget it again? It seems quite impossible.

I'll give you a technique to use though. Usually when students need to remember a word to use it later, they repeat it a lot of times, and many of them repeat the words aloud. For some, it sticks there, but when you do something else, after several minutes or hours it's gone.

New words need to follow a path. Usually what people do is take them from the book (or the sound) straight to their mouth, by repeating them, skipping one important step. Sometimes you can read it many times and sooner or later it seems to be gone.

However, isn't it true there are moments in your life you remember perfectly? From many years ago and they're still on your mind and they'll probably be there forever and as fresh as they were then? Why? Because in some way, they represent something in your life, they make sense in your life, even though apparently there's no connection.

Our memory is emotional.-

This is very important to keep in mind. Human being's memory is emotional. We don't have a cold 500 gb computer in our mind that remembers everything. We select our memory, we associate things to emotions, whether they're good or bad, to some smell you liked, etc. If you liked a pizza at a pizzeria very much, you'll probably remember the name of that pizza and the pizzeria too the next time. Or, at least you'll put more effort in remembering it, because it was so tasty.

Words are sounds and letters, but they represent a meaning, situations and emotions. If you see the word hotel in a book with an image next to it, that image is not representative for you, it doesn't mean anything to you. It's just a drawing.

You might have had some experience in hotels, and something happened there: you spent one night at a nice hotel, you remember the one from The Shining, the novel by Stephen King, or maybe you just can't forget the face of an angel of that receptionist who was working there then, you have something for sure on your mind associated to the word hotel.

What I'm going to tell you is to associate that anything you have on your mind connected to the word, hotel in this case (a memory, a nice girl or guy you saw there, a nice view from your room, or something bad too, something preferably emotional) and you're going to stay quiet, NOT repeating aloud. You're going to attach the word hotel to your own concept or experience of hotel in your life. You're going to close your eyes for 15 seconds. You're going to see the word hotel written on your mind with the pertinent connection in your life and you'll keep repeating it for 15-20 seconds. You'll remember the word much better. And whenever your hear it, associate it to that feeling, memory, etc.

Homework.-

Homework is not only filling gaps and conjugating verbs or writing compositions. Remembering words and keeping them alive is also homework. You devote 20-30 minutes of your time (or less) to do the exercises for tomorrow, but what about the words? They need homework too. Think about it. You feel more confident talking when you know the vocabulary, and if you fail using an article, the form of a verb, it's not that important in most cases. Devote time to learn vocabulary this way. It'll help you.

Tell your story.-

Please, if any of you who read this blog has a story related to a misunderstanding with words, here in Spain or in South America, I invite you to post it here and I'll add comments, feedbacks, etc.

To be continued...

Madrid es la ciudad muy bonita

2009-04-15T15:54:00.005+02:00

Is there a mistake on the title of this entry?

- Madrid es la ciudad muy bonita.

Go over it again and pay attention. Maybe it sounds perfectly logical to you, but you think there's a mistake just because I'm telling you to pay attention and, who's going to ask for attention if there's no mistakes, right? Yes, there's a mistake.

- Madrid es UNA ciudad muy bonita.

This is the correction. But why una and not la? These are called:

- Artículos indefinidos: un, una, unos, unas (indefinite articles)
- Artículos definidos: el, la, los, las (definite articles)

There's no need of explanation because their names say everything about them: definite and indefinite, which means they define (precise and more specifically) or more openly they look indefinite or unprecise (indefinite). But let's see this practically...

- Madrid es la ciudad muy bonita.

It seems quite precise, a lot in fact, i'm saying Madrid! What's more precise than that? I'm telling you the name of the city and everything that name represents. Well, because the article doesn't refer to Madrid, but to ciudad muy bonita.

If we think in these terms, we really change the equation: una ciudad muy bonita is pretty unprecise. What does it have a pretty city? What is it like? There are more pretty cities besides Madrid, so we're not defining a lot actually, it looks indefinite in fact. What we say with...

- Madrid es una ciudad muy bonita.

...is that Madrid falls under the category of ciudad muy bonita, but this group or category is not defined, and that's what the indefinite article refers to, and not Madrid, which is more than precise and specific. I hope you follow me at this point.

Imagine I'm an extraterrestrial and I've been here on planet Earth for a week. On the news I only hear the word Obama: Obama bla bla bla, Obama and Iraq, Obama and Spain, Obama, etc.
And I ask some Spanish speaker: ¿Quién es Obama?

- Es un político americano.

It's a perfect answer, but not very precise. Abraham Lincoln, Thomas Jefferson, John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Ron Paul. All these are American politicians too. Obama, who is a very well-defined person falls under the category of político americano, which is not defined.
But I ask some other Spanish speaker because I want to know more about Obama. And I hear:

- ¡Ah Obama! Sí, el presidente de Estados Unidos.

Me, as an extraterrestrial (or language students, which is about the same thing) I can tell the difference from un and el. But, why did this earthman use el this time? Let's see whether what follows it's defined or not: presidente de Estados Unidos. It's really well defined, so well defined that there's only one possible answer: Obama.

But wait, what about Kennedy, Lincoln and company? They were also presidents of the United States. Yes, but not now. We can define more though:

- El primer presidente de Estados Unidos fue Abraham Lincoln.
- Obama es el primer presidente negro de Estados Unidos.

Our conception of the world.-

In some cases, it might seem hard to define the thing we're talking about. For example, we're sitting in my room and I tell you:

- ¿Por qué no cierras la puerta? Es que entra corriente...

Of course, puerta doesn't seem defined in this case, but, how many doors are in my room? One, so that one is la puerta, the only possible option.

You're looking at the sky at night with binoculars for the first time in your life. Read this dialogue and tell me if it's realistic or not:

- ¡Ahí está! ¡Veo la Luna!
- ¿Qué luna?
- ¡Pues la Luna! ¡Nuestra luna!

We call our satellite The Moon, but there are more moons in the Solar System, and they have other names. However, when we say La Luna, we know we refer to our moon. That's why we say La Luna. La in this case means like our moon, the closest to us, the one you see with your naked eye at night and has been there for thousands and millions of years.

Does that mean the other planet's moons should be called Una Luna? No!!!! Everything depends on how precise you are. We CAN'T say for example:

- La luna de Júpiter (Because Jupiter has many moons, so which moon is that la? It's not defined, unless we've been talking before about his moon. We'll see this later).

On the other hand, we CAN say:

- Io es una luna de Júpiter.

This is like the first example Madrid es una ciudad muy bonita. Io is defined of course, but not una luna de Júpiter. Jupiter has like 63 moons, and more are being discovered.

Days of the week.-

The same happens with the days of the week:

- El lunes, el martes, el miércoles, el jueves, el viernes, el sábado y el domingo.

When we say this, el + the name of the day, we know what day we're referring to. If I say:

- El sábado estuve en Madrid (of course it's last Saturday, the closest to us in the past)
- El sábado voy a Madrid (it's the closest to us in the future. next Saturday)

Because of our conception of time and the world, if you say to me: el sábado estuve en Madrid, I'll never think that was two Saturdays ago. It's the closest in the future or the past, the best defined for us. Many people say el sábado pasado (last Saturday) but the verb in the past is telling you so, there's no need to say it. It's as confusing as saying el próximo sábado voy a Madrid. I'm sure the other person will ask: this saturday or next week? Because by saying Saturday and using the present (as a future tense here) we say so, próximo is just not needed. What's more, it's not recommended because it can cause confusion and people will always think the second Saturday from now.

Ok, let's do some practice. Put the right article in the gaps and let's see if you got it. You have a small clue:

1 - ... capital de España es Madrid (how many capitals does a country have? Is that defined?)
2 - Zapatero es ... presidente de España. (how many presidents a country has? Defined?)
3 - ... cantante de Metallica se llama James Hetfield. (how many singers Metallica have?)
4 - No veo nada, ¿por qué no enciendes ... luz? (how many switchs are in a room usually?)
5 - Es ... última vez que te lo repito. (will there be any other times after this?)
6 - ... primer hombre en ... Luna fue Neil Armstrong (there were more "first men"?)

Keys to the exercise:

1) - la (very well defined, there's only one capital)
2) - el (well defined, only one president in Spain)
3) - el (well defined, only one singer in Metallica)
4) - la (well defined, the only switch there's usually in a room or the one you point to)
5) - la (well defined, it's the last time, so there'll be no other time)
6) - El / La (well defined both, first man on OUR satellite was Neil Armstrong)

Cultural application of articles in real life.-

Maybe you've noticed, heard or studied this difference:

- Venga. nos vemos el domingo. Hasta luego, chao...
- Vale, nos vemos un sábado o un domingo. Hasta luego...

If we said el domingo it'd be an already defined Sunday (the next), so what do you think un domingo means? ... An undefined one, exactly. That means I don't know what Sunday we're going to meet. Usually, when people meet this way, it ultimately means they won't probably :) If you're interested in meeting with somebody, you set an appointment el domingo, and not un domingo. An undefined day means a vague interest in doing that. But remember, could it happen that you hear this and you meet next week? PERFECTLY. Remember nothing is absolute, but it's more likely the other thing to happen...

To be continued...

What do you do in your life?

2009-04-14T22:24:00.002+02:00

In the first lessons of Spanish textbooks, usually you can find a list with some professions, both in masculine or feminine.

- Soy camarero(a).
- Soy médico(a).
- Soy arquitecto(a).
- Soy abogado(a).
- Etc.

And then when the teacher asks your profession, sometimes you can't see it there on the list or it's something you can't explain with just a word, even with the most obvious professions.Let's see some common answers from real Spanish speakers:

- Estoy en una tienda de música en el centro, de dependiente.
- Trabajo en el Corte Inglés de repartidor, llevando portes, haciendo mudanzas también y eso.
- Yo trabajo en mi casa, por internet. Diseño páginas web, hago blogs, en fin, de todo un poco.

Question: do you see something in common in these 3 explanations?

Sorry, It could be hard. The answer is all 3 explanations give longer or shorter information about what they do in their jobs. They explain the kind of work they do a little bit. It's not usual to say just the adjective that describes your profession: soy teleoperador.

For example, when you work at a music store, selling instruments, scores and stuff, it's an occupation of course, but nobody goes to college to study that. There's no official studies at the university to become a salesman at a music store, a shoe store, a clothes store, etc.

So, in these cases it sounds kind of weird to say

- Soy dependiente en una tienda de música.

But rather:

- Trabajo en una tienda de música, de dependiente. (you say the place and then the job, adjective or explanation)

When isn't it weird? When it's some profession well known, well defined and generally determined by our universal organization of society: cop, firefighter, doctor, writer, nurse, teacher, language teacher, lawyer, etc. The weird thing in these cases would be the opposite, in fact:

- I put out fires, I work with a hosepipe and a truck with big escalators.
- I put people in jail and I fine them too.

They sound like riddles to me, instead of just saying cop and firefighter. Everybody knows, in China and Hawai what a cop is supposed to do at work and a firefighter. The goal is the person gets an idea of what we do in our lives. Sometimes the adjective is the most effective description, sometimes the literal description of what we do.

What's the right question?.-

1. ¿A qué te dedicas?
2. ¿En qué trabajas?
3. ¿Dónde trabajas?
4. ¿Qué haces?

If you're not sure whether the other person works or not, it's better not to use 2nd and 3rd options. The 4th might be confusing at times, because it can also mean: what are you doing? So I'd choose the 1st option, since it includes any kind of activity you might do in your life: studies, work, travelling, music, work from home and other things that some people might not consider jobs like playing chess or testing videogames.

P.S: unfortunately, and as I mentioned in another entry, I can't put the whole reality in a blog, which means that you can find one person who tells you: soy teleoperador. But, generally speaking, we teachers are here to tell you what 98% of the people say.

By the way, you reader of this blog, ¿a qué te dedicas?

The Student's Corner

2009-04-12T13:02:00.001+02:00

I want with this entry to let you write your doubts and questions and share them with other students and with me. I'll answer the questions as soon as I find a gap to do so and post it later on here. You can send your questions to this email: echodusilence@yahoo.es (please let me know in the email if I can put your name, no surname, with your nationality on the website. Very often your questions make complete sense if you know what language the person speaks).

Mistakes are not always mistakes. How to interpret that? If you say:

-Hoy he hacido los deberes.

On one side, you "made a mistake" by not putting the right participle of the verb hacer, which is "hecho", an exception to the rule.

On the other hand, that "mistake" means you know the rule of formation of participle, which is clearly represented with the ending -ido (2º conjugation). So, we could say you made a mistake, but you also applied a rule. I wouldn't call that mistake. Maybe you just forgot temporarily the exception or maybe you didn't even know it yet.

Ok, let's start with a classic, a statement I've heard from almost all the students I've had:

1. Can I say "quiero mucho ir a España"?

This kind of statement is so logic for all students, that they can't believe it's impossible to say it in Spanish. The actual answer is you can't. Mucho, as you probably know works as an adjective of quantity, so it has to agree with the noun that follows in gender and number: mucho tiempo, mucha gente, muchos amigos, muchas mujeres... But also as an adverb (it doesn't agree with any nouns or other words), and never as an adverb of quantity, only of frequency with the verb querer. If you change the order in this sentence we got:

- Quiero ir a España mucho. (Often, many times)

But It'll never mean the magnitude of your desire (I insist, with the verb querer). Does that mean you just can't express this in Spanish? You can, but saying a different thing like:

- Me gustaría mucho ir a España.
- Me encantaría ir a España.

With the verb gustar, mucho can express the magnitude of your desire.

Soy español, de Málaga

2009-04-10T15:12:00.003+02:00

I'm Spanish, from Malaga...

Yes, I could say that and other 300.000 people who live in this city too. But I'll give you a small riddle...

Malaga has around 570.000 (2008) inhabitants, but only 300.000 people could say soy español, de Málaga, why?

a) - Half of the population in Malaga are foreigners or from other cities of Spain.
b) - Dogs and cats are considered inhabitants of the city, there are around 260.000 of them and naturally, they can't speak (at least not languages with words as we know).
c) - The Spanish language has two genders: masculine or feminine. So, a bit less than a half of the population (thinking there's more men than women) are girls, women or old women, and therefore, they can't use the masculine gender.

I hope it was easy...

When it's masculine and when feminine?.-

It might seem quite a stupid question if you speak a language with genders, but what if you speak English, which has no distinction of genders? Well, it's quite easy if it's a human being, with animals you might need to take a look at its genital organs to tell for sure. But what if it's a table? Is it masculine or feminine? This really seems a stupid question...

The truth is there's no rule for that. A table is feminine just because somebody decided so. So this means that whenever you need to learn a word (its writing) you also need to learn the gender.

¿Soy español o soy de España?.-

I'm Spanish or I'm from Spain?...

Preferably the first option, which is more common, though it's the same thing. You use the 2nd when the nationality is not so well-known by Spanish speakers. It doesn't even need to be from another country. For example, the inhabitants of Huelva, here in Spain, are called onubenses, and not everyone knows that (of course in Huelva they do :)
What about other countries? Let's say you come from Kazakhstan. Most Spanish people don't even know where it is (too bad because it's a beautiful country), so don't expect them to know that, if you say Soy kazajo, they're not going to have the slightest idea what you're talking about, maybe even Soy de Kazajistán will be hard for them to locate the country. Just don't feel disappointed if you're from Kazakhstan and somebody in Spain asks you where your country is. I'm sure many Japanese wouldn't be able to locate Hungary, and many Americans wouldn't locate Spain on a map.

By the way, notice that in Spanish, nationalities aren't written in capital letters, but the countries are.

O is masculine, A is feminine. Continue with the others:

ruso -> rusa (Russian)
italiano -> italian_ (Italian)
australiano -> australian_ (Australian)
argentino -> argentin_ (Argentinian)
mejicano -> mejican_ (Mexican)
chino -> chin_ (Chinese)

Consonant is masculine, +A is feminine:

español -> española (Spanish)
francés -> frances_ (French)
alemán -> aleman_ (German)
inglés -> ingles_ (English)
portugués -> portugues_ (Portuguese)
japonés -> japones_ (Japanese)

E is masculine and feminine:

canadiense -> canadiense (Canadian)
estadounidense -> estadounidens_ (American)

Some nationalities with the same form for masculine and feminine:

belga -> belga (Belgian)
iraquí -> ... (Iraqi)
marroquí -> ... (Moroccan)
hindú -> ... (Indian)

You can add the name of the city you are from: Soy español, de Málaga.

By the way, ¿de dónde eres tú? Yes you, who are reading this blog...

Soy... , de...

¡Hola! ¿Qué tal? ¿Cómo estás? ¡Hasta luego!

2009-04-10T11:19:00.001+02:00

There's possibly a million ways to greet somebody in different situations. I'll give you some of the most used ones in certain situations...

ACQUAINTANCES AND CLOSE FRIENDS.-

You meet a close friend (I always say with close people the variables are infinite), but let's put an example because you're asking for one:

- ¡Eh Lolo! ¿Qué haces, monstruo?
- Eso digo yo, mamón, ¿qué te cuentas?

- Hey Lolo! What are you doin' monster?
- That's what I say, sucker, what do you have to tell?

Yes, monstruo means monster and mamón means sucker, but is it common to insult your close friends when you meet them??? Well, as I said earlier, between close friends it happens quite often. The difference is you can't interpret here monster and sucker as insults, but rather like a warm nickname if you will. This is only used by GUYS, of course.

*Cultural tip: other things they could call you: son of a bitch, asshole, etc. (this can be more common in Andalucia, the southern region of Spain). WARNING: don't use this until you feel comfortable speaking Spanish and you've heard this kind of greeting before to imitate the right intonation. If not said correctly, it could lead to misundertandings and derive into trouble.

But you can also meet acquaintances, such as your friend's brother, your boyfriend's sister, a friend of a friend, etc.

- Hola, ¿qué tal? ¿cómo estás? (Hi, how are you?)
- ¡Hola José! Muy bien, y ¿tú? ¿qué tal? (Hi Jose! Fine and you? How are you?)
- Bien también. (Fine too)

PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW.-

Do you mean by that I have to say hi to everybody on the street??? No no! By people you don't know I mean the shop assistant at a shoe store, the guy at the bank, etc. Of course, you don't have to ask how they are. You can say this:

- Hola, buenos días... (hello, good morning)
- Hola, buenas tardes... (hello, good afternoon: but only after 15 h or 16 h)
- Hola, qué hay... (no translation)
- Hola, buenas... (no translation)

PEOPLE YOU'VE SEEN A FEW TIMES.-

What to do with these people you've only crossed a couple of words and you feel kind of forced to say something else than hola buenos días, like your neighbour, the caretaker at the language school, the recepcionist at the hotel, etc. Well, let's put a little more interest about their lives by introducing the how are you question...

- Hola, buenos días, ¿qué hay?
- Hola, ¿qué tal?
- Hola.

*Cultural tip: whenever you ask how you are (or you're asked) don't expect a long answer. It's just pure greeting. The person is not really interested in your life situation. Call it hypocrisy, call it insincerity, you name it...

Exercise.-

1- You come across your neighbour on the doorway, you say:

a) - Hola, ¿cómo estás?
b) - Hola, buenas.
c) - Hola, ¿qué tal? ¿cómo estás?

2- You see your good friend José at a bar at night...

a) - Hola José, ¿qué tal?
b) - ¡Eh José! ¿qué haces tío?
c) - Hola José, buenas noches.

3- You go to a store and greet the shop assistant:

a) - Hola, qué hay.
b) - ¡Eh tía! ¿qué pasa?
c) - Hola, ¿qué tal? ¿cómo estás?

*Cultural tip: in some cities and regions, there's even a word people use to call close friends and acquaintances. In Cadiz and other cities in Andalucia, for instance, that word is quillo, in Valencia nano, and more generally all over Spain tío and tía (literally uncle and aunt but meaning something like).

Keys to the exercise: 1- b , 2- b , 3-a

KISSES or HANDSHAKES?.-

When you meet somebody for the first time, the usual thing is:

- Guy meets guy: handshake.
- Guy meets woman: two kisses, one on each cheek.
- Woman meets woman: two kisses, one on each cheek.

What to say besides the kisses and handshakes?.-

When you meet somebody for the first time, the most common thing to say, no matter how masculine or feminine you are, is:

- Encantado (a guy)
- Encantada (a woman)

The other person can say:

- Igualmente (the same)
- Encantado(a)

¿Me llamo José o Yo me llamo José?

2009-04-08T01:33:00.002+02:00

Is this difference really that important? The answer is no and yes (respectively). Saying Me llamo... or Yo me llamo... depends on the situation.

I won't give you a rule yet, take a look at these situations and get the rule for yourself:

1st situation:

One guy and one girl are introduced by somebody else:

He: ¿cómo te llamas?
She: Lola, y ¿tú?
He: Yo, Migue. Encantado.
She: igualmente.

But wait, they didn't even need to say me llamo nor yo me llamo. So, does the rule say you don't have to use these formulas to say your name? Well, first of all, most Spanish speakers don't say me llamo or yo me llamo when they're asked their names, so either you say me llamo ... because you learned it in some Spanish lesson, or you say this, which is easier and, as a matter of fact, more common.
Anyway, you have to hear and understand what you're being asked, your name, so that means you went to class and were a good pupil. Problem solved.

2nd situation:

You want to write an ad on the internet to look for somebody to practice Spanish with you online. Nobody's asking you this time, so to introduce yourself, we know for sure you can't just say: José.

Hola, me llamo José, soy de Málaga y tengo 29 años. No quiero practicar español con nadie porque soy nativo, pero es un ejemplo del uso de "Me llamo". Hasta luego, ¡chao!

3rd situation:

So far, so good... But you're wondering: what's the difference with yo me llamo...? Could I say it here? I'll give you another context...

The students of a class of Spanish are introducing the first day. Pay attention:

- Yo me llamo Alice y yo soy estadounidensa.
- Yo me llamo Frank y yo soy canadienso.
- Yo me llamo Marie y soy francesa, de París.
- Yo me llamo Joseph y yo soy ingleso.

Quite good! Except for some small mistakes... Do you see them? Yeah, estadounidensE, canadiensE and ingléS.

But the point is: why did they say (excellently and with its appropriate context) yo me llamo... even though they made some other mistakes? Because there's more people giving the exact same information (name), and thus, this yo gives us the individuality of my name in opposition to the others names.

Well, they probably didn't know that, because their languages force them to always say Yo... Moreover, there's still one not so obvious mistake that tells us that their languages force them to say so: they put a second yo: YO me llamo Alice y YO soy estadounidensa. Since she started with one YO, there's no need to repeat it. Only Marie introduced herself with no mistakes.

Well, this was just the first tip to keep in mind for those who want to speak correctly: small words sometimes make a big difference.

¡Hasta la próxima!

Cambia el chip

2009-03-30T15:17:00.000+02:00

Learning another language also means learning a different perspective on how to look at reality. There's several important considerations to keep in mind when it comes to learn a new language, Spanish in our case:

1- Usually, in another language, we can say the same things that we say in our languages, but in a different way:

English: I like music.
Spanish: Me gusta la música.
French: J'aime la musique.
Russian: Ya lyublyu muziku.

In this case, French and Russian share the same verb to express something you like ("to love") However, Spanish and English share the same verb ("to like") but with a different structure.

Literal translation from Spanish: To me music is likeable (you say this in English and you could be hurt :)
Literal translation from English: Yo gusto música (you say this in Spanish and you sound like Tarzan :)

All 4 forms or points of view express the same thing: something you like.

2- Many words don't have exact translations, but rather close synonyms.

If I were to translate the word "nice" into Spanish, it would be pretty hard to find an exact synonym. "Agradable"? "Bonito"? Depending on the context.
This place is very nice: I would translate it as "bonito".
She is really nice: I would translate it as "buena or simpática".

So, as an advice: don't think there's always the perfect synonym. Different languages have different perspectives of how to look at reality.

3- Languages are not jigsaw puzzles. The unique answer to a questions just doesn't exist.

Perdone, ¿tiene usted hora?
- Sí. Son las tres.
- Pues las tres van a dar.
- Pues son exactamente las dos y cincuenta y ocho.

You ask somebody the time and they say:

1: It's two.
2: It's almost two.
3: It's two fifty eight.

The real time is 14:58, but the first person didn't want to be so precise. The second is a bit more, by saying almost, but not 14 o'clock. The third person tells you the exact time, hour and minutes. In Spain, for example, almost everybody say options 1 or 2, few people are so precise about time. That has to do with culture? Very likely, we don't mind getting to our appointments a few minutes later. A Japanese student told me in Japan it's the opposite. In Japan time is more valuable and people are punctual, generally speaking.

All these considerations might seem pretty logical, but later in the class, most of student's mistakes come from literal translation from their languages into Spanish.

Welcome

2009-03-30T14:50:00.003+02:00

Name: José Carlos
Surname: Godoy Aguilar.
Age: 29
City: Málaga.
Country: Spain.
Profession: Language teacher.

Reason for this blog: teach Spanish and create a space to talk about it: doubts, questions, experiences, mistakes, and practically anything. Learning a language means learning how to think, how to name things, involving many different matters at once. My students can also come here and look for further cultural explanations that have to do with grammar, even though I cover that in the lessons.

What I intend to do is to describe more deeply and with more detail what students usually don't fully understand in class. Sometimes it would take a long time to give a complete and full explanation about some topic, like the subjonctive, the articles, etc.

Experience: 2 years in 4 different schools in Kiev (Ukraine), 1 year teaching online and designing courses, for my own classes and for other websites. Intensive courses in Malaga.

Studies: Master degree in Spanish language for foreigners at the university of Malaga.

Culture + Grammar.-

Language are words, sounds and symbols, but it's also culture. No other culture has the word torero, just because they only exist in the Spanish culture, even though there are corridas de toros (another unexistent word in other cultures) in some other countries. Because that is a reality for this culture (unfortunately), the language needs a word to name that.

All the cultural references and things I'm putting in this blog are in Spanish from Spain, the one I know better, and which is not better or worse than the one from South America, just different, like the British, Australian or American English might be.

The word patio is a Spanish reality, an open space with no roof inside a house. English houses don't have this patios, so they call these things patios when they see one. They usually have a small garden in the house, though (jardín). We have the word jardín too, but for us, garden means a very different thing and reality. Spanish houses (the majority of them) don't have a garden. So, when you ask what the word garden means, you should also ask yourself: who's to answer the question?

That's stupid. I knew that.-

It is really, but some companies don't seem to keep that in mind. Some companies like Lidl (I think it's German) sell from time to time here in Spain: things for your garden. I don't know about Germany, but I'm sure they sell a lot more stuff for garden in Germany than what they sell here in Spain. Just because: who has a garden in the house in Spain? Few people.

That's why I'll mix both language and culture to better understand the reason why we say certain things, why we react in a certain way, why some things about the Spanish language are really non-sense and stupid and others are cool, and might not work in your native language.

Because languages are culture, and culture is created by people, and because people are alive, so is culture, alive and changing.

As Isaac Asimov said in his famous series of books "Foundation", the mass is predictable, but not the individual. Usually in books you see the most common way to say your name is Me llamo José. It's the most predictable thing you can hear out on the street when asking somebody's name. But you might also hear somebody else say: Soy José.

How to predict who will say one thing or another? IMPOSSIBLE. So, this is what I'll try to help you with, to give you the tools to cover most of the possibilities you might come across talking to Spanish speakers. We learn the most common and predictable things in the lessons, but what about the others? I hope to help you with that too... Let's get started.