Ye' old general discussion board. Basically, for everything that isn't covered elsewhere. Come here to shoot the breeze, shoot your mouth off, or whatever suits your fancy. This forum is not for asking programming related questions.
I'm looking for someone who'll tolerate my tongue-tied Spanish nonsense in my truly novice stages of learning the language. I basically want to be able to exchange regular, correctly spelled and grammatically correct Spanish written emails with somebody who can advise me, honestly and critically where I'm going wrong. I'd happily do the same for the spanish speaker writing in English.
It would be two or three emails per week, of about 400-500 words in length.
Hopefully I've learnt enough about the language to be able to "get the ball over the net" so to speak but this would be a big help.
I'll be attending language classes in the evening in Manchester but the course I'm starting doesn't enrol for another month yet so I'm basically getting a head start by learning from CDs and spanish literature (online spanish newspapers (and a Spanish/English Dictionary ) ).
I don't mind exchanging emails with you. I am teaching the kids Spanish from Latin roots right now, so I wouldn't mind actually seeing what you are learning (by your writing) so I can get ideas what to teach the kids.
this is actually a very good idea d11 (for learning a foreign language). what would make it better would be if you could toss in some spoken word too over something like skype.
Now I'll be tagged on this thread as well, would love to join you
d11wtq wrote:<Español>
~Everah, mucho gracias! ¿Voy a mandarle una mandar por correo electrónico (¿Es eso cómo escribir "e-mail"?) si es ok?
</Español>
That's about where I'm at now and I'm sure that has significant errors although hopefully it can be figured out what I said
Pues, cuando uses palabras que terminen con unas 'as', nesesitas usar palabras para describir la palabra que terminen con una 'as', como asi...
Muchas gracias!
Y pienso que 'correo electronico' es correcto cuando quieres escribir (o decir) 'e-mail'.
<en Ingles>
Now you have to show me how to get that little upside down question mark deal. That is cool.
</en Ingles>
Si quieres darme un mensaje, mande un email a robert [at] everah [dot] com.
Everah wrote:<en Ingles>
Now you have to show me how to get that little upside down question mark deal. That is cool.
</en Ingles>
I wanted a keyboard shortcut for things like that but I'm now using "Character Map" under Gnome to stick it on a clipboard and paste it again. Needless to say it takes a lot longer to write in Spanish than it does in English when I'm using an English keyboard. You could of course just copy it from another page and paste it But it would look wrong to a spanish person to not see the opening inverted question mark right?
I'll write some gibberish later today, thanks
The newspaper I'm reading (very slowly!) is El Pais:
Apparently, your average newspaper only has ~600 words used in the entire thing so you quickly familiarise yourself with words and the context they are used in.
Just make sure that you compare the true language to the slang. When I learned Spanish, I learned a lot of slang. This was excellent for parties and social gatherings, but not very good for me in Spanish class.
Also, another thing to note, there is a difference between Spain Spanish and Mexico Spanish. The differences are subtle (like UK English and US English) but nonetheless they are there.
And yes, a question doesn't read quite right in Spanish if the opening inverted question mark is missing.
Everah wrote:Just make sure that you compare the true language to the slang. When I learned Spanish, I learned a lot of slang. This was excellent for parties and social gatherings, but not very good for me in Spanish class.
Also, another thing to note, there is a difference between Spain Spanish and Mexico Spanish. The differences are subtle (like UK English and US English) but nonetheless they are there.
And yes, a question doesn't read quite right in Spanish if the opening inverted question mark is missing.
If I understood correctly from my CDs which teach speaking the differences between Latin American Spanish and Castillian Spanish are pretty much pronunciation only. Gracias == Grah-thee-ass (Castillian), Grah-see-ass (Latin American and non-castillian spain). The "Z" sounds are pronounced differently too, although it doesn't appear that you'd be mis-interpreted. It wasn't mentioned of any differences on writing although it's focus was on teaching you how to converse in Spanish.
One thing good about the way it taught was that it didn't start with "here's numbers 1-10 in spanish, here's the alphabet etc etc", it actually jumped in and explained the similarities to english, how the language pieces together and really simply how to get past/present/future... in fact now that I think of it it didn't even cover counting . By the time you are about 1/3 into the course you're already predicting how to say something before you ever learn it for definite. The guy who makes the course is pretty well known I think (Michel Thomas), because he can teach so rapidly - he teaches movie stars etc. I'm at work right now but later I'll send a Spanish written email which tells you a little about myself... probably a good place to start
I used to commute to London from Peterborough every day while I worked in the UK, and I used to pass the time on the train by learning Spanish. I got to a pretty good level, but I don't remember much now. Fortunately, I work in an international company, and I travel quite a lot, which means that every now and again I get to practice languages long forgotten.
d11wtq wrote:If I understood correctly from my CDs which teach speaking the differences between Latin American Spanish and Castillian Spanish are pretty much pronunciation only. Gracias == Grah-thee-ass (Castillian), Grah-see-ass (Latin American and non-castillian spain). The "Z" sounds are pronounced differently too, although it doesn't appear that you'd be mis-interpreted. It wasn't mentioned of any differences on writing although it's focus was on teaching you how to converse in Spanish.
One thing good about the way it taught was that it didn't start with "here's numbers 1-10 in spanish, here's the alphabet etc etc", it actually jumped in and explained the similarities to english, how the language pieces together and really simply how to get past/present/future... in fact now that I think of it it didn't even cover counting . By the time you are about 1/3 into the course you're already predicting how to say something before you ever learn it for definite. The guy who makes the course is pretty well known I think (Michel Thomas), because he can teach so rapidly - he teaches movie stars etc. I'm at work right now but later I'll send a Spanish written email which tells you a little about myself... probably a good place to start
You got it. S and Z sounds in Castillian are lisped. Everything else is about the same, save for some common sayings. Like in Castillian, when asking how to say something, you can say 'Que quiere decir...' where as in Latin American Spanish you would say something along the lines of 'Como se dice...'. But you got it right.
If I don't respond to your email right away don't take it personal. I am on my way to work right now and they have shut off most outside access to all things cool and communicative. I will check my email tonight (after 8:00 PM PST in the US).
d11wtq wrote:Lo siento pero no tengo ténia mucho tiempo á escribirle esta noche Te escribiré mañana.
Oh <span style='color:blue' title='I'm naughty, are you naughty?'>smurf</span> I just put that through the google translator to see what it thinks I said, much to my amusement
I feel it but I do not have tapeworm long time to write to him tonight. I will write to you tomorrow.
Hmm.... I meant:
I'm sorry but I haven't had much time to write to you tonight. I'll write to you tomorrow
Tapeworm?
EDIT | I see my mistake. It was almost right, just had the accent over the e not the i. Wow... that's an impressive cock-up. I'll have to be careful there
Master to write something in a language with these translators, to cause that he translates, then to translate it behind… that always is being amused absolutely
I love to write something in a language with these translators, have it translate, then translate it back...it's always quite amusing