I want to learn to speak Spanish.

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TheMachine1
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23 Oct 2006, 1:45 am

25% of the people in Texas speak Spanish. When I lost my dogs we saw
mainly Mexicans outside in the area we were looking. Good chance they
saw where the dogs went but we could not speak Spanish (we found the
dogs so do not worry). Plus at my job we were unable to communicate with
Spanish speaking people. So I want to learn some Spanish. I been going to
the BBC site.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/index.shtml

Was wonder if there was other sites or products people highly recommend?



Tim_Tex
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23 Oct 2006, 2:14 am

www.yourdictionary.com has tons of foreign language links.

Tim


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MrMark
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23 Oct 2006, 5:32 am

Personally, I'd just hang out with the Mexicans, buy 'em some beer or somethin'.


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23 Oct 2006, 5:35 am

Some hints:

Cabron- A word that literally means "mountain goat", I think, but has connotations of "bastard" or "f***head".

Hijo de la chingada/puta- Son of a b***h/whore.

If you play Resident Evil 4, you'll learn some Spanish, as the enemies actually speak it...


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TheMachine1
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23 Oct 2006, 5:43 am

MrMark wrote:
Personally, I'd just hang out with the Mexicans, buy 'em some beer or somethin'.


Somethin == weed :)

Yeah I thought I would get a job where I would see them alot like a store clerk at
a seedy gas station. When my money runs out in the next year or two I
'm going to have to get some BS job making peanuts.



KingMichael
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23 Oct 2006, 6:06 am

You could try Wikibooks. I never tried it for learning Spanish, but I did for some other language.

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Spanish



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23 Oct 2006, 8:32 am

"Culo" is a good word. It's the same in Spanish, Italian and Portugese.


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23 Oct 2006, 1:25 pm

Ah yes, a subject near and dear to my heart. I used to work with a crew of mexicans, and in between drinking tequila on the job, and ducking the boss, they taught me Mexi-Spainish.

Donde' esta las bordello? (Where is the bus station?)

Tu madre esta las puta. (Your mother dresses nicely)

Some english words can be rendered quite easily in Spainish- horseshoe is zapatas de los cabayos.

Watch out though, the word "Corona" is a trick. The Mexicans pretend this is a beer, but in reality it is bottled used bathwater. They will even consume one with you just to amuse their amigos.

When addressing a young male, the salutation is "Hey puto." (Puto means well dressed.)

Glad to be of service.



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23 Oct 2006, 1:43 pm

I just remembered another one!! When in Mexico, if you want to find a motel, stop a Federale' and say "Donde easta los motas?" If he says back "Motas?" Say "Si' bueno mota, por favor'" This means "Yes, a nice motel."

Despite their fearsome reputation, the Fedarales' are always glad to help Gringos.



TheMachine1
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23 Oct 2006, 1:45 pm

Prof_Pretorius wrote:
Ah yes, a subject near and dear to my heart. I used to work with a crew of mexicans, and in between drinking tequila on the job, and ducking the boss, they taught me Mexi-Spainish.

Donde' esta las bordello? (Where is the bus station?)

Tu madre esta las puta. (Your mother dresses nicely)

Some english words can be rendered quite easily in Spainish- horseshoe is zapatas de los cabayos.

Watch out though, the word "Corona" is a trick. The Mexicans pretend this is a beer, but in reality it is bottled used bathwater. They will even consume one with you just to amuse their amigos.

When addressing a young male, the salutation is "Hey puto." (Puto means well dressed.)

Glad to be of service.


Yeah I know the cuss words since I was 14. :)

I notice as I tried to recall what I studied yesturday I am using visual memory
to remember words I'm not to sure on how there pronouces and many words I can
pronounce I have no idea how they are spelled(using audio memory).



Prof_Pretorius
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23 Oct 2006, 1:52 pm

"Cuss" words, why whatever do mean?



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23 Oct 2006, 2:24 pm

I'm terrible with language learning because I didn't read the DSM before birth, so I'm way below average at memorizing random information. I'm also terrible with people for reasons I don't need to explain here. I've found learning spanish to be a rare and happy exception to what I've experienced most other times in my life. I don't know nearly enough spanish to carry on a normal conversation, but I can say and understand what I need to on a construction site, where I mostly learned, and in most other situations I can usually manage basic communication. Other people may have had different experiences. Here's mine.

The hispanic people I've known tend to have a stereotype that most americans are arrogant as*holes who don't seem to be capable of respecting them as equals. You've probably noticed that most americans have never bothered to learn any spanish at all. This creates a great opportunity. If you're trying to speak spanish, you've immediately set yourself apart from the vast majority of the americans they've known. It doesn't seem to matter to them how badly you're doing, the fact that you're showing them the respect to make the effort is what matters. They know that everybody in the world does not speak fluent spanish.

They also understand that learning a foreign language is not easy for everybody. A rough tough mexican construction worker was telling me about his early years in the US, trying to get by when he spoke no english. "I almost cried," he said.

In your situation with the dogs, I might have tried something like this. Most of the spanish here is probably incorrect and ungrammatical, but it would probably get the point across.

Me: (Seeing a hispanic guy who might have seen the dogs) Senor, permissu. (Excuse me sir - You wouldn't say this to somebody you considered inferior.)

Me: Me espanol no es buen (My spanish isn't good. I'm not making fun of you by speaking your language badly. The communication problem is my shortcoming, not yours)

Me: Poco ayuda es necessito por favor (A little help is necessary please. That's the reason I'm talking to you.)

Me: Que es in espanol, Woof Woof? (What's the spanish word for dogs? He then tells you, I think it's something like berros)

Me: Comprende, me tres berros, dos grandes e uno bebito. (I understand, implies I'm trying to learn better spanish, my three dogs, two big ones and a human baby, he will understand you mean puppy) No say donde. (I don't know where).

He will probably help you if you can. I would say just jump right in and try speaking spanish any chance you get. I always had a great time with it, even though I never got very good.

There's an old book, "Madrigal's Magic Key to Spanish" That's based on words in spanish that are very similar to their english equivalents, although often pronounced differently. "Terrible" in spanish is "terrible" I used that one a lot.


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23 Oct 2006, 2:44 pm

Prof_Pretorius wrote:
I just remembered another one!! When in Mexico, if you want to find a motel, stop a Federale' and say "Donde easta los motas?" If he says back "Motas?" Say "Si' bueno mota, por favor'" This means "Yes, a nice motel."

Despite their fearsome reputation, the Fedarales' are always glad to help Gringos.


You sir, are totally EVIL!! ! :lol: :lol:

motas= pot, weed, buds


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Prof_Pretorius
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23 Oct 2006, 2:48 pm

Oh, dear ! !! You those helpful chaps I worked with taught me the wrong words?????????


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23 Oct 2006, 2:58 pm

Buena suerte/ good luck! 8)



TheMachine1
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23 Oct 2006, 3:12 pm

Scrapheap wrote:
Prof_Pretorius wrote:
I just remembered another one!! When in Mexico, if you want to find a motel, stop a Federale' and say "Donde easta los motas?" If he says back "Motas?" Say "Si' bueno mota, por favor'" This means "Yes, a nice motel."

Despite their fearsome reputation, the Fedarales' are always glad to help Gringos.


You sir, are totally EVIL!! ! :lol: :lol:

motas= pot, weed, buds


Yeah I never heard of motas but I thought it translated to speck. Which made no sense.