Vocal Accents

I learned that just like English speakers can have an accent for example using y'all or you all Spanish speakers can also have an accent. Often times people who are not from Texas can distinguish some one who is from Texas by there accent. The same is true for people who speak Spanish in Argentina and Chile.

You soy de Argentina.

Movie

This week in class we are watching a movie called The Motor Cycle Diaries. Since I have been in college I have begun to watch foreign films. When I was in high school I never had any desire to watch a foreign film. After watching several I have realized that it is very beneficial to watch foreign films. It opens up your mind to see common situations from another cultures perspective.


Me gustan las películas extranjeras.

Accent Marks

In Spanish there are these marks that are some times found above a letter. It is pretty amazing that a word can be spelled exactly the same but if it has that accent mark it can completely change the meaning of the word as well as the entire message of the statement.

En clase de espanol que aprendemos la gramatica.

Guatemala

Something very interesting I learned this week was that Spanish speakers from Guatemala are considered to have the best speaking Spanish. Often we will listen to different songs in Spanish in class and today we listened to a song that was sung by a singer from Guatemala and it was amazing. This was the first time I could keep up with what he was saying. He pernounced every syllable in the word and spoke very clearly.

La gente de Guatemala hablar espanol bien.

Saber y Conocer

One of the things that makes Spanish more difficult that English is the fact that there are different words you use to say the same thing depending on the context. Much like ser and estar saber and conocer both mean I know but depending on what you are talking about determines which one you use. Saber is used when you know a fact or how to do something. Conocer is used when you know a person, place or thing.

No se hablar espanol.

The Market

This week I learned about the some markets in Spanish speaking cultures. One that was specifically looked at in class was in Costa Rica. One thing that I thought was really cool about the markets was that you could bargain with them. When I have gone over to China and Taiwan this is the case for all the markets as well. I wish that we could do that hear in the states because I discovered that I was good at haggling or bargaining.

Este costo mucho que me voy.

Months

Somethings that I learned this week about the Spanish language that I thought was very intersting and diffrent was the fact that you don't capitalize the first letter of the month. This is very different than what I have been taught ever since I was a little kid which was ALWAYS capitalize months. 

Este mes es el mes de noviembre.

From Ecuador

Today I met a guy from Ecuador at the BSM. His name is Fabian. We talked about how one the hardest things for him when he came to Texas was the lack of public transportation. He said that the first several months was terrible because he could not go anywhere. He started saving his money immediately to buy a car.

Fabian ahorro dinero parra comprar un carro.

Mexico

I learned more about Mexico this week than I knew in the past. One of the most shocking things was how big Mexico is. I discovered that Mexico is three times the size of Texas. I have always considered Texas to big really big and thinking that Mexico is three times that size is mind blowing.

Casi tres veces el area de Texas.

Spanish Talk Show

This week I listened to a Spanish talk show that was on the WT radio station on Monday night. It was a really neat experience because I found myself being able to follow some of the conversation. Now there were plenty of times when I was completely lost but if I really concentrate I could pick out familiar phrases.

Escucho la radio.

Stem Changing

This week we learned about stem changing words which has presented as something very difficult for me. For me it is hard enough learning how to spell Spanish words but when you then throw in all these exceptions and alternate spellings it makes it very difficult. I really hope that I can remember how to spell all these words.

El espanol es muy difícil.

Changing Culture

This week I heard that culture in Spanish speaking contries is changing in the aspect of respect. What I mean  by this is that the up coming generations to do not have as much respect for people as the generations before them. They do not use the formal forms of words they only use informal. I heard that is was predicted that in 20 years the formal terms will not even be used any more.

¿Porqué eres tan grosero?

Tengo

This week in spanish I learned about how the direct translation of saying " I am cold, or I am hungry" is kind of funny. You are literally saying I am with cold or I am with hunger. This is a good example of why word of word translation does not always work in spanish to english.

Tengo frio.

Futbol

This week in spanish I learned about the intensity that spain takes soccer in. It is true that here in America Football is a very big part of our culture. However in Spain it is just as big as politics and in some sense is involved with politics.

Me gusta futbol.a

Movie

This week I watched a movie titled Pan's Labryinth which is a film that was filmed by a Mexican film company by the name of Esperanto Films. The movie was filmed in spanish which I watched with english subtitles. The movie was set in Spain during the spanish cival war during 1944. It was intersiting wathcing the spanish army treating the local sapniards so cruly. It was also intersting seeing that cival conflict is an issue that is and has been world wide.

Quiero mirar una película el jueves.

Bis

I learned that in spansih to say great ______ you say bis. For example if you wanted to say great grandfater you would say el bisabuelo. To say great great grandfather there is not a new term for it you simply add a bis at the begining like so el bis bisabuelo.

Mi es bis bis bis bis bis bis bis bis bis bisabuelo es muerte.

Last Names

I learned that it is not abnormal for countries such as Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru to have two last names. This was very strange to me because I am not use to having two last names. I wonder what the significance of it is.

Mi madre nombre es Annette Green.

Questions

This week in Spanish class I learned how to formulate a question. The way I found to be the easiest for me to remember was to place the verb first followed by the subject. It does not translate word for word very well in English but most of the things in Spanish don't. ¿ Trabajan ustedes los lunes?

Dejame Estar

Ayer fue jueves. En mi clase de espanola nosotros escuchamos la musica. The name of the song was Dejame Estar. I really enjoyed this because up until yesterday I always assumed Spanish speaking music was very limited in the styles that it had. However I discovered yesterday that there are many different types of Spanish speaking music just like in English speaking music. Not only did I become aware of the different types of music but I discovered that I really enjoyed the song as well.  

Romance

I learned that Spanish is considered a romantic language similar to the way that French is considered a romantic language. This is one of the reasons that all words are either feminine or masculine. It makes the language more personal and poetic.

I must say that while trying to learn the language this is a very frustrating thing. However I think that once you begin to get the hang of it, then you can really start to appreciate the poetic side of the language.

UNAM

I learned about the University National Autonomous University of Mexico City also know as UNAM. It is located in Mexico City which has a population of 24 million people. There have been many famous people, including presidents and noble prize winners, who have graduated from UNAM. It is considerably cheaper that Universities in the states.

I was astonished at how large Mexico City was. If had a a desire to learn Spanish this would  be a University that I would highly consider going to. Its crazy to that I would not be spending near as much money going to school in Mexico City than in the states.    

The present tense of ser

I learned that in Spanish it is not as simple to say phrases such as we are, you are, they are. There are more factors that go into deciding which tense of ser you use because it is irregular.

The present tense of ser has with out a doubt presented to be the most difficult part of Spanish so far.
I had no idea that this we give me so much trouble. I am starting to get a little better grasp on it but it has still presented a problem for me.

Masculine and Feminine

I learned that all Spanish nouns have a gender. Even if it is something like suitcase. In Spanish suitcase is la maleta which is feminine because it ends in a.

This is something that is very different from the English language because most non living objects we do not refer to as male or female and if we do it is because the object is specifically geared toward a gender such as a doll. I wonder if people who speak Spanish consciously think about the masculine and feminine meaning that is related to non living objects or if it is just simply something that is and does not have any more meaning than that.