Que & Cual

One thing that I learned this week is that Que and Cual do not all ways translate directly into What and Which. This is kinda of a bummer because if they did it would make it a lot easier for me to figure out which one to use. However I do know that if Que or Cual is ever right before a noun it is always Que. Cual can not come right before a noun.

Que colores te gustran?
Cuales son tus medias las negras o las verde?
Que perro te gustan?

Music Festivals

I was pleased to discover that there is a music festival in Chile. When ever I think about any kind of music festival like Austin City Limits or Lolla Palooza I think about them in terms of being in the states and to be completely honest I never really knew that there was music festivals outside of the states. It is encouraging to discover that there are music festival out side of the US and that they are jam packed with people.

En 1959 unos estudiantes de Vina del Mar, Chile, celebraron una fiesta.
En el festical hay concursos musicales y conciertos de artistas famosos.
Una artista famoso es Daddy Yankee.

Religious Festivals

I thought it was very interesting how pubic religion is so prevalent in other countries. Here in the United States you would never see massive parades completely devoted to a religion. Now we do see some aspects of religions tied into holidays but it is not dominated by one religion or another. For example during Christmas you see Santa clause but that is not affiliated with any religion.

Festivales en Espana son muy religiosos.
En Espana hay desfiles de las fiestas religiosas.
Estas paradas son muy importantes para el pueblo.

Spanish Conversation

On Thursday of last week I was very encouraged at my ability in my Spanish speaking skills. I am involved in a program that is called Teen Leadership Amarillo Canyon. One day out of the month this group goes and does an activity with kids at an elementary school. We went to Johnny Allen and there was a mother with her 2 year old eating lunch next to me and they were speaking in Spanish. I decided to be bold and try out my Spanish skills. I asked her if that was her daughter and what her name was then I told her that I thought her daughter was very pretty.

Hola, ella es to nina?
Como te llamas?
Me llamo es Matt.
To nina es muy bonita.

Mixed Cultures

I have often heard the term TexMex often times affiliated with food. This week I overheard two janitors at my work talking and they were speaking in Spanish but they were also speaking in English. I began to really think about the fact that they were interchangeably using two languages and not missing a beat. Living in Texas it is evident to me that the blend of Hispanic and Mexican culture with Texas culture have made up a new culture entirely. This culture I believe is what the term TexMex refers to. This culture has shadows of Mexican and Hispanic traditions and cultures but has adapted to a newer form to fit in with the Texas culture.

Las culturas mexicana y española se han combinado con la cultura de Texas.
Una nueva cultura llama TexMex.
Es en Texas.

Comparisons

This week I learned that in Spanish when you are comparing something such as "He is bigger than she is" you can not just add on two letter to the end of the adjective like in English. If the things are be compared are different you must use the form "Mas/menos" which means more or less then the adjective, adverb or noun followed with "que" which in this case stands for than. This is a much more complex way of comparing things but for Spanish this is the norm.

El es mas grande que ella.
El es menos bonita que ella.
Ella es mas alta que el.

Ser and Ir

In the Spanish language the preterite of ser and ir stand for I went or I was. Ir mean to go and Ser means to be. What is interesting about both of these is that in the preterite they are conjugated the same in all forms Fui, Fuiste, Fue, Fuimos, Fueron. I helpful tip to decid which is being used to to look for "a". This will almost always follow the conjugated form of Ir.

Fui al cine anoche.
Fui anoche Muy simpático.
Se fueron a cenar con nosotros.

Foods

This week I learned that many of the foods we have here in America did not originate from here. I was surprised to discover that if it had not been for people introducing these foods to us we may not have them today. Some of these foods include tomatoes, chocolate and corn. We use these foods in almost all of our dishes now crazy to image them with out it.

Yo estaba interesado en aprender sobre el origen de estos alimentos.
Me gustan los tomates y estaría triste si no los tienen.
Me gusta comer.