Abroad in Spain: Travel Blog » Learn Spanish

Spanish Sunday #3: Mira a ver

Chris — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 13:28:28 +0000

This Sunday I would like to tell you about another useful Spanish expression: mira a ver. In a nutshell, this expression equates to something like “look and see” in English. Let’s look at a sample dialogue:

Spanish husband: Cariño, ¿lo tienes todo? No quiero tener que volver a casa a por algún artículo olvidado como la última vez. (Honey, do you have everything? I don’t want to have to come back home looking for some forgotten item like the last time.)

Spanish wife: Sí, creo que sí… pero, ¿dónde tengo el móvil? (Yeah, I think so… but, where’s my cell phone?)

Spanish husband: Pues no sé, ¿no lo habías metido en tu bolso? Mira a ver…. (I don’t know, didn’t you put it in your purse? Look and see….)

Spanish wife: Sí, tienes razón, aquí está. (Yeah, you’re right, here it is.)

And that, my friends, is an explanation of this little “frase hecha.” If you’ve enjoyed this post, you may wish to check out prior Spanish Sunday posts or the Learn Spanish category. Don’t forget to keep checking back for more Spanish tidbits each week!

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com

Spanish Sunday #2: ¡Qué va!

Chris — Sun, 02 Aug 2009 18:00:22 +0000

In this edition of Spanish Sunday, I would like to explain the meaning of an expression used constantly by Spaniards: qué va. It’s actually a really useful little expression used to strongly say “no” to something. Loosely translated, you could say that qué va means something along the lines of “no way.” Let’s look at this expression in a sample dialogue:

Random Spaniard: Chris, ¿tienes miedo de algo? (Chris, are you afraid of something?)

Me: ¿Miedo? ¡Qué va! Soy un hombre valiente y no tengo miedo de nada. (Afraid? No way! I’m a brave guy and I’m not afraid of anything.)

If you have enjoyed this little Spanish tidbit, you may be interested in checking out past editions of Spanish Sunday. You could also be interested in my Learn Spanish category. As always, be sure to check back to Abroad in Spain each week for future Spanish Sunday installments.

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com

Spanish Sunday #1: The finger names

Chris — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 20:04:25 +0000

I’d like to take a moment to introduce you to a new feature of this site: Spanish Sunday. You see, when I started this blog I had two big goals — the first was to make my readers aware of Spanish Culture and the second was to teach my readers a little bit about the Spanish Language. Lately, I feel as though my blog has been heavy on the “culture” end of things and a little light on the “language” side, so that’s why I’m hoping to write one post a week –on Sundays– that has to do with teaching you some aspect of the Spanish language (hence the name “Spanish Sunday”). Here is the first edition of “Spanish Sunday” which has to do with the names of the fingers in Spanish.

Basically, the names of the fingers in the Spanish of Spain are as follows. Starting with the thumb, we have the pulgar, índice, corazón, anular, and meñique. All of these words are nouns and they are all masculine.

To make things a little more clear, here’s a diagram I put together.

The names of the fingers in Spanish.

Remember, these are the names used in Spain. Specifically, they are used in the region of Spain that I live in (Castilla y León). I’m pretty sure that other countries probably have other words for the names of the fingers. If any of my readers would like to provide input on that point, feel free to leave a comment on this post.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this edition of Spanish Sunday! Stay tuned next week for another little Spanish tidbit.

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com

Learn good Spanish pronunciation to reduce your foreign accent…

Chris — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:24:57 +0000

There is more to learning a second language than simply memorizing grammar rules and vocabulary: you also need to practice and perfect your foreign language pronunciation in order to be easily understood. Most linguists agree that if you’ve started learning a second language after about seven years of age, you’ll probably never acquire truly native pronunciation; however, you can take steps to reduce your foreign accent so that you sound as native-like as possible. In this post, I’d like to list my five tips for making your Spanish accent sound more native-like. Remember, reducing an accent takes a lot of practice and hard work – these are just a few guidelines to help you get started.

Tip #1: Be a parrot….
Ok, you don’t necessarily need brightly colored feathers and a beak (unless you think the “feathered” look is “hot”) but you do need to act like a parrot as much as possible. What I mean by this is that you should listen to and mimic native speakers any time you get the chance. Listen closely when native speakers are talking, listen closely to music and TV programs in the target language, listen to anything you can… and then try to copy what you hear. I know this tip may be common sense for many, but it’s so important that it’s still worth mentioning.

Tip #2: Don’t forget the rhythm and blues….
Well, the blues aren’t really that necessary (unless you’re a singer), but you should pay close attention to the rhythm of the Spanish language. You see, in Spanish words are almost always split into syllables and each syllable is usually pronounced for the same length of time. In English, this isn’t always true. While we also usually pronounce words by syllables, we sometimes elongate certain syllables more than others (normally the stressed ones) and even have a tendency to sort of “run syllables together.”

To reduce your accent and keep the rhythm of your Spanish sounding native, you should be careful to break words into syllables (usually with one vowel in each syllable) and try to make sure that you don’t elongate any syllables unnaturally or run syllables together the way that you might in English. Practice with some of the following examples:

Ver-da-de-ro (Verdadero)
Bi-sa-bue-la (Bisabuela)
A-bue-li-to (Abuelito)
A-bo-mi-na-ble (Abominable)

Tip #3: I’d like to buy a vowel….
This tip goes right along with number two: you should always pay close attention to the vowels in each syllable of the word. Get a native speaker to go through vowel pronunciation with you and try to mimic as closely as possible. Remember that in Spanish, rhythm/flow basically goes by syllables and vowels… making sure you’ve got those two points down will greatly reduce your foreign accent. Also, if you learn to pronounce vowels correctly, consonants will follow almost automatically.

Tip #4: WhyDoSpaniardsNeverPauseBetweenWords????
You may notice that when you listen to a native speaker, words often sound as if they’re “running together.” The words probably sound that way because, well, they are running together. You see, us English speakers tend to separate words in a sentence by using pauses a little more than Spaniards do. In fact, Spaniards “link” words in a sentence based on the following rules:

If one word in a sentence ends in a vowel and the next word begins with a vowel, linkage occurs in Spanish. For example, there is linkage between the following two words and they are pronounced as if they are one: La alfombra (the two a’s blend together to sound like one: “lalfombra”).
If one word in a sentence ends in a consonant and the next word begins with a vowel, linkage occurs in Spanish. For instance, there is linkage between the following two words and they are pronounced as if they are one: Hablas español (the s and the e blend together).
If one word in a sentence ends in a consonant and the next word begins with the SAME consonant, linkage occurs in Spanish. For example, there is linkage between the following two words: El lago (the two l’s blend together to sound like one: “elago”).

At first it’s hard for native English speakers to run words together like Spaniard do; however, with a little practice you should get used to recognizing instances where linkage should occur in a sentence and learn to run your words together. My best advice is to be mindful of the way that Spaniards employ linkage and try to mimic the pattern as much as possible. Also remember that linkage never occurs between sentences – it only occurs between words in a sentence.

Tip #5: Spanish isn’t English….
Remember that Spanish is not English: the sounds are not interchangeable. There are some similarities between the Spanish and English sound systems, but there are also some differences. You need to train your brain to pronounce Spanish sounds like Spanish instead of pronouncing them like English.

To illustrate my point on this, I’d like to mention an example of three sounds that English speakers often mistake in Spanish. The sounds are related to the letters B, D, and G. You see, when these letters are at the beginning of a word in Spanish, they are often pronounced like their English counterparts (for instance, the word Boxeo has a hard B and Gato has a hard G); however, when these letters are in the middle of a word or sentence, they often make a softer sound than what they make in English. Words like algo, abogado, and cerdo are pronounced with a soft G, a soft B, and a soft D…. don’t make the sounds too hard like in English.

It takes a lot of practice to get the subtle differences between English and Spanish sounds down; however, there is a website that can help. Visit the University of Iowa’s Phonetics Page and click on “Spanish” in order to hear examples of how letters and words should be pronounced in Spanish.

Closing remarks….
Nobody can change their accent overnight; however, if you follow these rules, are an attentive listener, and practice a lot, you can reduce your foreign accent substantially.

One other thing: you may wish to check out a text-to-speech site when practicing your pronunciation. These sites allow you to type words and/or phrases into a box on a webpage and then hear that word or phrase pronounced by the computer. They come in many languages and can help when you’re trying to figure out how a specific word or phrase is pronounced.

I hope this post has been helpful to someone! Please, leave comments or questions about Spanish pronunciation in the area below.

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com

You need a good “enchufe”…

Chris — Sat, 12 Jul 2008 17:57:46 +0000

I thought I would write this post for those of you who want to learn more colloquial Spanish to tell you about an interesting word with a double meaning that is used often in Spain. The word is enchufe.

You see, enchufe literally refers to an electrical plug or socket; however, it is also used in Spain to refer to someone “on the inside” who pulls a few strings for you. For instance, when you’re looking for a job in Spain, Spaniards say it’s a good idea to have a person acting as your enchufe within the company to put in a good word and pull a few strings for you. If you want to get elected, you’re also going to need a good enchufe or two.

An example of this term in a Spanish sentence is as follows: Lo consiguió por enchufe. This phrase would mean something along the lines of he (or someone he knows) pulled some strings to do/get it.

I hope someone has found this little tidbit interesting… as more unique and useful phrases come to mind I will post them to the “Learn Spanish” category of this site. Thanks for visiting!

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com

“The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice”

Chris — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:22:47 +0000

A lot of my regular readers have asked me to recommend some books/tools that they may be able to use to help them hone and practice their Spanish skills. It is for that reason that I’d like to tell you about a great book entitled “The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice” by Ronni L. Gordon and David M. Stillman.

I purchased this book after completing four years of high school Spanish to review what I had learned over the past four years. I more or less felt as though I already had a good understanding of basic grammar; however, I wanted to “revisit” some of the things that I had learned and go more “in-depth” with the language. Over the summer between my high school graduation and my first year at college, I read this book cover-to-cover and, by the time I entered college in the fall as a Spanish major, this book had put me light-years ahead of my peers. Don’t get me wrong, I attribute much of my Spanish success in college to my high school teacher; however, I feel as though this book really did help out quite a bit as well.

Just so you know, this book is not for those of you who do not speak much Spanish at all; instead, it’s for those of you who already know the basics of the language and want some review of what you already know as well as an introduction to some of the more complex parts of the language. The cover of the book actually says it’s for “intermediate and advanced learners” and I’d agree with that.

The book is laid out in chapters and each chapter presents some grammatical points and then gives you some exercises in which you can practice what you’re learning. The answers to all the exercises are found at the end of the book. One nice thing about the grammar explanations is that they’re clear and concise – the authors tell you what you need to know and show you how the rules work without going into too much detail and boggling your mind. I’m told that the newest edition of the book also comes with an Audio CD that includes practice exercises. Since I bought my edition a few years ago, I do not have that CD. Still, I’d be willing to bet that it compliments the written practice in the book nicely and probably even helps with pronunciation and listening comprehension.

Whether you want to read this book cover-to-cover like I did or prefer to have it as a simple reference for when you forget a rule, I think that “The Ultimate Spanish Review and Practice” would probably be beneficial for those of you who have an intermediate level in Spanish. The book gives you a good amount of grammar practice without going too deeply into the more obscure aspects of the language.

I hope sharing my opinion has helped someone. Feel free to leave your comments about this book (or any other similar one you’d like people to know about) on this post. I have linked to this book on Amazon throughout this post so that you can go there and read more about it.

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://abroadinspain.com

¡Ayudadme! That darn “vosotros” verb form…

Chris — Thu, 15 May 2008 09:36:27 +0000

Ok, you may be wondering why I’ve decided to upload a picture of John Paul II to this post. After all, this isn’t a Catholic blog – it’s a Spain blog. Well, my loyal readers, the reason is simple. You see, this image illustrates a point. The image came from a popular pamphlet distributed by the Catholic Church in Spain and the caption of the image proves that the vosotros verb form is used quite often in Spain (“venid” and “veréis” are both verbs conjugated for vosotros).

Many Americans (including myself) struggle with the vosotros form of verbs in Spanish because in the United States it is typical to teach Latin American Spanish rather than the Spanish of Spain. Since vosotros does not exist in Latin American Spanish, many students of Spanish from the USA do not learn how to conjugate verbs in the vosotros form. That’s why I’ve decided to put together this little summary of how to conjugate verbs in the vosotros form. I figure that other Americans like myself are probably interested in studying in Spain and need to know how to conjugate verbs for vosotros in order to communicate in Spain successfully.

First, I should mention here that vosotros is the informal version of ustedes (just like tú is the informal version of usted). In other words, you would want to use vosotros when you’re talking to a group of friends. Also remember that vosotros is only used in Spain (not Latin America). Now that we have that straight, I’d like to list a summary of the conjugation of vosotros below along with some simple examples of how the verb is used….

The conjugation of verbs with vosotros as the subject:

Verb Tense	-AR Verbs	-ER Verbs	-IR Verbs	Examples
Present	-áis	-éis	-ís	Vosotros habláis (You all talk) Vosotros vendéis (You all sell) Vosotros vivís (You all live)
Imperfect	-abais	-íais	-íais	Vosotros hablabais (You all were talking) Vosotros vendíais (You all were selling) Vosotros vivíais (You all were living)
Preterit	-asteis	-isteis	-isteis	Vosotros hablasteis (You all talked) Vosotros vendisteis (You all sold) Vosotros vivistes (You all lived)
Future	-éis	-éis	-éis	Vosotros hablaréis (You all will talk) Vosotros venderéis (You all will sell) Vosotros viviréis (You all will live)
Conditional	-íais	-íais	-íais	Vosotros hablaríais (You all would talk) Vosotros venderíais (You all would sell) Vosotros viviríais (You all would live)
Present Subjunctive	-éis	-áis	-áis	Quiero que… Vosotros habléis (I want you all to talk) Vosotros vendáis (I want you all to sell) Vosotros viváis (I want you all to live)
Past Subjunctive	-arais OR -aseis	-ierais OR -ieseis	-ierais OR -ieseis	Quería que… Vosotros hablarais (I wanted you all to talk) Vosotros vendierais (I wanted you all to sell) Vosotros vivierais (I wanted you all to live)

For simplicity’s sake, I haven’t included the compound tenses or irregularities above; however, you should be able to derive those tenses from the chart without much difficulty. Now, before ending this post, I also want to mention something about vosotros commands:

Affirmative vosotros commands: These are very simple to form. You simply replace the final -r of any infinitive with a -d. For example:
Hablar –> Hablad (Talk!)
Vivir –> Vivid (Live!)

Negative vosotros commands: These commands are formed by using the same endings as used in the present subjunctive (see the chart above). For example:
No habléis (Don’t talk)
No viváis (Don’t live)

Ok, I know that this was a bit of a long post; but, it had to be long to give you a good review of the vosotros verb form. I hope that my chart has been helpful to someone out there… stay tuned for more!

Hasta luego,
–Chris
http://www.abroadinspain.com