It's 'Prueba' Time - Mark Frobose Gives You Your First Quiz in Spanish ¡Diós Mío!!

[Mark_Frobose]

Estimados Alumnos, (Esteemed Students)

Here is your first Spanish quiz.  Take it with humility.  Some will laugh at its simplicity and others may struggle.  Come to me with your questions. 

Un Fuerte Abrazo = A Big Hug

Marcos

A.  Answer the following questions in Spanish!

1.  Ask someone younger than you how he/she is.

2.  Ask your boss or someone older his/her name.

3.  Tell someone ‘fine thanks’ and that it’s nice to meet him/her.

4.  Tell someone ‘Goodbye’ and then ‘See you later’.

5.  Someone tells you ‘Mucho gusto’.  What do you say?

6.  Say ‘I’m from the USA’.  Then ask someone where he/she is from. 

7.  Say ‘My name is …’  and ‘How are you?’ in the formal.

8.  Say ‘What’s new?’ and ‘Same old thing.’

A. Answers: 1. ¿Cómo estás?  2. ¿Cómo se llama? 3. Bien gracias.  Mucho gusto. 4. Adiós. Hasta luego.

5. Igualmente.  6. Soy de los Estados Unidos. ¿De dónde es usted?  7. Me llamo …. ¿Cómo está?

8. ¿Qué hay de nuevo?  Lo de siempre.

[peg_loves_books]

¡Yo contestó la prueba correctamente!  = YAY! I got it right!   (I use Barron's 501 Spanish Verbs for my verb tenses, porque no les aprender todavia.

[Nadine]

3.  Tell someone ‘fine thanks’ and that it’s nice to meet him/her.

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I have been going through the Pimsleur program. I suspect that at times the Spanish it teaches is a bit stuffy. I think this may be especially true of introductions. Bear with my spelling attempts -- Pimseur does not provide any sort of text so I'm guessing.

To introduce someone Pimsleur teaches:

Permitame presentarle (name)

or

Permitame presentarme (if I'm introducing myself)

That seems a bit formal to me. What would you suggest?

In response Pimsleur teaches:

Encantada/o (depending on your sex)

And later really loosens up to:

Mucho gusto en conocerlo/la (depending on the sex of the person introduced)

I gather the "Mucho gusto" is sufficient.

[Nadine]

6.  Say ‘I’m from the USA’.  Then ask someone where he/she is from.

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This seems to be a "sticking" point with some people if you want to say you are American. Pimsleur again is very conservative and says your response should be:

Soy norteamericana/o

I've tried to do a bit of research on this and apparently some Latin Americans are offended if you say you are American because the continent is America and everyone is American. I don't see where North American solves the problem since our Canadian and Mexican friends may now be offended.

Have you had any experience with this? What would you suggest?

[Nadine]

This may be a bit off the topic of this thread but can I slip in one more Pimsleur possible oddity that maybe could be more easily said. I'm mainly interested in what is customarily used. I don't want my Spanish friends laughing too much at my Spanish.

What you should use if you want to ask someone what they do for a living. Now Pimsleur says (and I may be way off on how this looks in writing):

a que se dedica

I know certain idioms are customarily used. Is this one?

[Mark_Frobose]

Hi Peg,

Nice job.  Congrats.    Bien hecho - Felicitaciones. 

Now for a few corrections.  ¿Lista? = Ready?

Yo contesté = I answered     El, Ella, Usted contestó = He, She,You (formal) answered

No los aprendí todavía = I didn't learn them yet

Keep writing me stuff.  You learn a lot that way.

¿Qué pases muy buenas noches?

Hasta mañana,

Marcos

[Mark_Frobose]

Hola Nadine,

I personally like Pimsleur.  It has its drawbacks, some of them serious, but it's a fine program.

Permítame presentarle means 'Allow me to introduce ...' .  This is high level and very correct Spanish.

I would probably use 'Quisiera presentarle a .....'  I would like to introduce you to .....

Quisiera = 'I would like' appears throughout Behind the Wheel Spanish and is appropriate here as well.

I frequently use 'Encantado' when I want to sound a bit classy.  Sometimes it just doesn't fit a lower level situation and I simply say 'Mucho gusto' and 'El gusto es mío'.

Languages are like clothes.  One must dress appropriately for the occasion.

Hay que vestirse apropriadamente para la ocasión.  ¿Verdad?

Tienes razón.  You're right.  'Mucho gusto' is enough.

As they say in Spanish... 'Basta y sobra'.  It's enough and then some.

Ya me está dando sueño - I'm getting sleepy. 

A la cama y hasta mañana.  To bed and until tomorrow.

¡Qué sueñes con los angelitos!  May you dream with the angels.  (Sleep tight)

Marcos

[Mark_Frobose]

Hola Nadine,

I love your question - Me encanta tu pregunta

¿Sabes por qué?  Do you know why?

Because almost all Americans have had to deal with this.  Ojo = Be careful here.

We are known thoughout the entire world as Americans.  It becomes a semantic game to refer to ourselves as anything else.  Does a Mexican cease being Mexican when he or she says he or she is American as well?

I have discovered what I believe to be the correct answer to all of this nonesense.

It is this.

All the peoples of Mexico and Latin American can justly and proudly state that they are indeed continental Americans, for indeed they are from the American continent.

However, in terms of nationality, they are not American, meaning that they are not citizens of the United States of America. 

On the other hand, I personally know many latinos who are American citizens who become offended if I call them American.  Go figure.

MY BEST OVERALL RESPONSE TO THIS MADNESS IS THIS:

Go ahead and refer to yourself as a 'norteamericana' if you feel this is appropriate and clarifies without argument who you are and where you're from.

If you would like a good discussion (and possibly a decent argument as well) refer to yourself as an 'americana' to those who might take offense. 

Please note however that many latinos, including my wife's family who are from Mexico, all refer to citizens of the United States as 'americanos'.  I have yet to hear them once refer to me as a 'norteamericano'.  I have also been called a 'gringo' and a 'gabacho' (although I dislike the latter term).  I take no offense to being called a 'gringo' however.  In fact, I rather like the term.

I love people, in general, and the Spanish speaking peoples of the world are among my favorite.  I wish you luck in your decision on how to refer to yourself.  I'm sure it will be a good one.

Best,

Mark Frobose

[Mark_Frobose]

Estimada Nadine,

The term '¿A qué se dedica? is nothing less than absolutely perfect 'castellano'.  Great Spanish.

However, not everyone always wants to sound 'too perfect'.

I would use '¿A qué se dedica? in formal situations, with academics, when I'm in New York at a party.

When I'm hanging out with my Spanish speaking friends and in-laws I would say ...

¿En qué trabajas?  ¿Dónde trabajas? or the all powerful and still formal ¿Cuál es su profesión?

You could even say 'Cuál es tú trabajo?'

My favorite of all of these would be 'En qué trabaja usted?' for the formal or 'En qué trabajas tú?'

in the informal.

Now my question for you Nadine.

Dime ...   ¿En qué trabajas tú?

Marcos

[Nadine]

I am retired. Now I read, garden (mainly weed), oil paint (new hobby), play the piano (very new hobby) and maybe I will learn to play the guitar.  I also Nordic walk (I need the exercise). Oh, and I can't forget that I'm learning Spanish.

Soy jubilado. Ahora leo, jardín (principalmente malezas), pintura al óleo (pasatiempo nuevo), toca el piano (pasatiempo muy nuevo) y tal vez aprenderé tocar la guitarra . También camino nórdicos (necesito el ejercicio). Ah, y no puedo olvidar que estoy aprendiendo español.

I love the word "jubilado". A much better word than "retired".

Me encanta la palabra "jubilado". Una palabra mucho mejor que "retired."

[Mark_Frobose]

Hello Nadine,

Excelente. 

Permíteme felicitarte sobre la calidad de tu español.  Muy bien.

Ahora  .... las correciones.

For you. 'retired' would be 'jubilada' in the feminine.

Tal vez aprenderé a tocar la guitarra. (Buena idea - A mí me encanta la guitarra)

Eso es todo.  Lo demás está bien.

Hasta pronto,

Mark

[Nadine]

Thanks, Marcos. All this personal attention is wonderful. I'm actually learning some Spanish. Even though Pimsleur drilled me on it,  "A qué se dedica"  was not sticking in my head. Now I don't think I will forget it!

How about the rest of you?  ¿A qué se dedica?  (What do you do?)

Doña Nadine (nah DEE nay)

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Nadine wrote:

I am retired. Now I read, garden (mainly weed), oil paint (new hobby), play the piano (very new hobby) and maybe I will learn to play the guitar.  I also Nordic walk (I need the exercise). Oh, and I can't forget that I'm learning Spanish.

Soy jubilado. Ahora leo, jardín (principalmente malezas), pintura al óleo (pasatiempo nuevo), toca el piano (pasatiempo muy nuevo) y tal vez aprenderé tocar la guitarra . También camino nórdicos (necesito el ejercicio). Ah, y no puedo olvidar que estoy aprendiendo español.

I love the word "jubilado". A much better word than "retired".

Me encanta la palabra "jubilado". Una palabra mucho mejor que "retired."

---

Hello Nadine,

Excelente. 

Permíteme felicitarte sobre la calidad de tu español.  Muy bien.

Ahora  .... las correciones.

For you. 'retired' would be 'jubilada' in the feminine.

Tal vez aprenderé a tocar la guitarra. (Buena idea - A mí me encanta la guitarra)

Eso es todo.  Lo demás está bien.

Hasta pronto,

Mark

[LadyMin]

Slowly but surely I'm putting some sentences together. It's been a long time since I tried to learn Spanish.

¿A qué se dedica?

Quiero ser una jubilada pero necesito trabajar diez más años. Trabajo en una oficina. Tambien me gusto mi jardin.

I want to retire but I have to work ten more years. I work in an office. I also like my garden. (Actually I do property tax consulting but I have no idea how to say that!)

[dulcinea3]

Soy programadora de computadora.  He tenido ese tipo de empleo hace veintiocho años.  ¡Yo también me gustaría jubilarme!  Pues no es tan mal; me queda alrededor de quince años.

I'm a computer programmer.  I have had this type of job for 28 years.  I would also like to retire!  Well, it's not so bad; I have about 15 years left.

[Mark_Frobose]

Hola Lady Min,

Gracias por su mensaje de ayer.  (Thanks for your message of yesterday)

Here are a few corrections to help you along:

Quiero jubilarme - I want to retire

También me gusta - 'a' ending on 'gusta'

Soy consultante de impuestos de propriedad - I'm a property tax consultant

Nice job - Bien hecho

Hasta pronto - Until soon

Mark Frobose

[Mark_Frobose]

Hola Dulce,

Gracias por la información sobre tu profesión.  (sort of rhymes, doesn't it?)

Thanks for the information on your profession.

Here are a few corrections for you:

He tenido ese tipo de empleo desde hace veintiocho años.

Tengo mucho respeto para los programadores de computadora. 

I have a lot of respect for computer programmers.

Como no lo sé hacer, se me dificulta entender como los demás lo hacen. 

Since I don't know how to do it, it's difficult for me to understand how others do it.

¿Cómo aprendió?  How did you learn?

Abrazos,

Mark

[dulcinea3]

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Mark_Frobose wrote:

Hola Dulce,

Gracias por la información sobre tu profesión.  (sort of rhymes, doesn't it?)

Thanks for the information on your profession.

Here are a few corrections for you:

He tenido ese tipo de empleo desde hace veintiocho años.

Tengo mucho respeto para los programadores de computadora. 

I have a lot of respect for computer programmers.

Como no lo sé hacer, se me dificulta entender como los demás lo hacen. 

Since I don't know how to do it, it's difficult for me to understand how others do it.

¿Cómo aprendió?  How did you learn?

Abrazos,

Mark

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Hola Mark,

Gracias por tu ayuda.  Para aprender programar la computadora, tomé un curso intensivo a una universidad comunitaria, que duró diez meses.  Por eso, aprendí lo básico, pero continuaba aprendiendo los detalles y sistemas específicos en el trabajo.  ¡Con los años han cambiado mucho las cosas!

Hasta luego,

Dulcinea

Hi Mark,

Thanks for your help.  To learn to program the computer, I took an intensive course at a community college, that lasted ten months.  By that I learned the basics, but continued learning details and specific systems on the job.  Over the years things have changed a lot!

Until later,

Dulcinea

[DSaff]

Buenos tardes, Mark.  I waited to do this exercise with a Spanish speaker and found it quite fun. It really helps to know how your pronunciation is coming out to others, and to hear it in conversation. Keep the tips coming!

Adios por ahora

[Nadine]

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DSaff wrote:

Buenos tardes, Mark.  I waited to do this exercise with a Spanish speaker and found it quite fun. It really helps to know how your pronunciation is coming out to others, and to hear it in conversation. Keep the tips coming!

Adios por ahora

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Magnifica idea!

[alexalgebra]

¡Hola Marco!

OK...primera, tuve una conversación sobre "americano" con mi jefe nuevo.  (Sí, es verdad, trabajo a la organización latino ahora.  Qué suerte, ¿no?)  El director (mi jefe) es mexicano - de Cuernavaca - pero ha vivido en los EEUU sobre 20 años, más o menos.  Pregunté esta pregunta en mi orientación y dijame que una opción es "estadounidense" o "estadunidense" - lo mismo que aprendí en Costa Rica.  ¿Qué piensa?

También...más preguntas para ti sobre los discos, pero está muy tarde y porque hace sueño, no las recuerdo.    Mañana, haré un listo...

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Doña Nadine:

Soy un coordinadora de voluntarios a una organización latina.  La organización tiene clases de español y inglés, un programa para intercambio, y un programa para jovenes latinos.  Empecé a lunes así estoy verde, LOL.  Estoy me lo encanta mucho, sin embargo.  Mucho mejor que mi último trabajo (en un "call center"...no se le dice en español...).