Rejection. It’s just a fact of life. For some, it is more common than others, but at one point or another, everyone gets rejected. That is why we have dedicated a clip of Bueno, entonces… to the art of Spanish rejection.
And, aside from David being all-too-familiar with rejections from Jimena, we brought in another pair of experts to help you out– Wayne and Garth from Wayne’s World!
No Way!
Way!
You’ll laugh. You’ll cry. You’ll hurl. Check it out!
Man, you gotta love them. The colors and symbols used on the Pizarra Mí¡gica (Magic Whiteboard) are the key to our subliminal teaching method– your brain picks up on what these colors and symbols represent, and voilí¡! You’re learning without even knowing it! However, to speed up that process a bit, go ahead and take a look at the Color & Symbol Key.
Take a look at a review of this class as well as the rest of the posts in the series by going to http://juniperenbsas.blogspot.com If you like this way of learning and want to look at a few more demos, visit the Bueno, entonces… website– the whole series of over 18 hours of fun, quirky Spanish lessons is available for download on your ipod, iphone, Blackberry, etc…! Now how convenient is that?
To acquire a new language is difficult. I waver between casually enjoying the process and declaring proclamations such as “I will NOT speak English in this country any more! Only Spanish, I must learn this language”. And then I carry my little dictionarrio around and try to be all studious and eventually realize this approach is not for me. I am on the look out for a new Spanish teacher to supplement my lessons through Bueno, entonces…learn Spanish for as great as the program is, I still need guided practice. I had an excellent teacher in theory until he tried to go through a lesson on the names of the body parts in Spanish by touching me…not that that hasn’t been one of my most dreamt of fantasies, it is just that it always features a drop dead gorgeous Spanish teacher followed by a lesson of the names of all the places in the house “mesa”, “cama”, “douche”. Well, I am done with male teachers, getting a female and sidestepping the whole problem.
I thought my handle on the verb “to be” had gotten pretty good, but the reality is that it is still confusing. I realized this when lesson 19 went back and addressed “ser” and “estar”. I completely get the concept but these words are used so much in conversation I don’t even realize I am using them incorrectly. It is great to see the color coding the way they do it on the program because you see it in context and then it locks that image into your head for later use. This is also true for all of the masculine and feminine adjectives, the color coding is helping me to access it for later use in my vocabulary.
Want to view some clips of our Spanish classes? Head on over to the Youtube channel and see why people are raving about the hilarious new language learning software!
So…I haven’t taken a break. I think Bueno, entonces...episodes #28, #29, and #30 need to be watched one after the other. I mean, honestly, after the Jimena jealousy and rant about Martín, how could I stop?
Well, I was right, something DID happen between Jimena and Martín. Se rompieron! The palta left her. Of course, David is shocked, stunned, almost speechless—almost. In they end they agree that it is una buena cosa para Jimena, un paso importante en su vida.
I think something is going to haaaaapppeeeennnnn (!!!!)
So, that’s exciting. Screw True Blood Season finale, I’m all about the Bueno, entonces…big shabang.
We’ve finally reached the end of week four, therefore, class 24 was the standard end-of-the-week review. Don’t be lulled to sleep though – Bueno, entonces…learn Spanish worked its usual magic by introducing many new concepts, even more than they generally do. In addition to reviewing por vs para and ser vs estar, we also learned how to express opinions. I learned some of the subtleties between creer (to believe) and paracer (to seem/opinion), and also learned how to say that I am in agreement with someone/something more formally.
Another thing that was particularly apparent today was that the speed of conversation has increased drastically. Jimena seems to be talking at the speed of the native speaker she is, and David’s Spanish is improving enough for him to be holding his own. I found myself needing to read more of the dialogue as I was missing small details when only listening. It’s nice to see the class kicked into another gear with one week left – they’re kicking us out of the nest and telling us to fly.
Despite the abundance of teaching, Bueno, entonces… Learn Spanish still found time to provide comic relief. The class started with Jimena telling David she was following her boyfriend through the mall to see if he was cheating on her. This was followed by David confessing to Jimena that he was trailing his mother in Mendoza to see how she was behaving with her new adolescent boyfriend. There were several times I actually found myself laughing out loud at the dialogue – kind of embarrassing, but I think this says a lot about how fun Bueno, entonces… Learn Spanish makes learning a new language.
I’m super-excited for tomorrow’s class where we will supposedly be covering “hard-core verb tenses.” I’m not sure what to expect judging from prior topics, but I hope we delve into the past and future.
Want to view some clips of our Spanish classes? Head on over to the Youtube channel and see why people are raving about the hilarious new language learning software!
The title – a reference to class 14′s discussion about double negatives and their acceptance and requirement in Spanish as opposed to English where they are reserved for characters in Deliverance.
One of my favorite parts of class 14 was learning the word for “to get (conseguir).” I never realized how much I used this word until I arrived here and I found myself constantly trying to translate it into Spanish. I feel like a thesaurus, constantly trying to thing of a good synonym for it that I know how to say in Spanish. For instance, I would translate “I got the food you asked for from the store” into “I bought the food” or “I have the food you wanted.” I won’t bore you with more examples, but there are millions. Finally, another word I can stop talking around. Thank god.
The other big concept that class 14 covered was sentence structure – particularly when to use “a” to signify the object of a verb, and when you need to proceed a verb with an indirect pronoun (when using a verb signifying something being sent or given to someone else). I know for sure that I have made this mistake when telling people about emails I have sent or making a trip to the post office. Just another example of not picking up on word usage patterns that Bueno, entonces…learn Spanish has illuminated for me.
Edgy, unrelenting, and borderline inappropriate at times: ways I would describe class 20, and ways many of my friends would describe my sense of humor. So it was a perfect match.
Another class and another helpful Spanish phrase, or so I thought. Class 20 introduced the phrase “acabarde” meaning to just have done. For example, “acabodellegar” means I just arrived. Sounds useful enough until they give the caveat that using acabarwithout the de means to have an orgasm. That one seems a little too easy to screw up (insert joke here about men screwing up orgasms) so I don’t think I’ll be trying it out just yet.
As Bueno entonces…learn Spanish has a knack of doing, it expertly used a raunchy topic, sex hotels, as a jumping-off point to discuss basic concepts of the Spanish language. In today’s class it was the use of “por vs para (two words meaning for).” Again, like “ser vs estar” this is a complicated discussion that doesn’t necessarily follow hard and fast rules, however, Bueno, entonces… Learn Spanish did a nice job of hitting and reinforcing the most common uses.
Well, for the time being it looks like Jimena won’t be sex-iled for David’s sex-capade (sorry, I ran out of clever words to describe sex I learned freshman year in college) – it looks like he’ll have to settle for the Motel Ocho.
Bueno, entonces… In today’s lesson, I continued to learn the remaining numbers from 11-100. Simple. I was also taught about trabajo and different types of empleados and their significa. The lesson also covered some more formal greetings and responses.
Example:
“Hola, que tal?”
“Bien, y usted?”
(Formal) “Bien, es un placer/gusto”
(Informal) “Bien, encantado!”
I think I’ve got this greeting thing down. I’ve noticed though that every time I ask “Que tal?” everyone responds with the same answer. Maybe that is a wonderful thing because I would not understand anything other wise.
The lesson began to introduce conjugaciones distinas de los verbos regulares and irregulares. So so complex. I can already tell that Ser (to be) and Ir (to go) will be giving me a lot of trouble. They are both irregular so the spelling changes completely, making it really difficult to pick up, even with context clues.
The lessons are so simple, everything it set up in a very basic manner, making it really easy to follow along. New words and phrases are repeated over and over with each lessons instead of being stashed in the back of your memory. Repetition is the key! Before leaving the states, Gates and I took some lessons from the Rosetta Stone, very simple. Almost too simple, but it kind of went all over the place. There was a lot of repetition, but I could not imagine being able to hold a conversation even after 10 lessons. I could however tell you that the lady’s hair is long and brown. Or that 5 kids are on top of the table and three are under.
In the video, David mentioned botellas de cervezas. Yes! It’s true! In Buenos Aires, you get a refund for bringing the glass bottle back for recycling! Amazing! People drink anywhere and everywhere, but not as much as you would see them making out! Owww!
Well, I was reviewing my last post and I realized that for the first time since I started Bueno, entonces…Learn Spanish and started blogging, that I didn’t say ONE nasty thing about David. I was starting to think that he had turned a corner and realized his attempt at a Mr. Suave act with Jimena wasn’t going to get him anywhere.
Well, looks like I was wrong.
Today’s class looked like it was going to be very, very helpful for me. The major subject matter was telling time. Ever since I was little I have been quite anal about time and being prompt to the point of always being early. I have been wearing a watch since I was 10 and it irks me to no end when people are late. (As you can imagine, I do a lot of waiting around here in BsAs, as apparently I am the only one in town with this trait!!).
Things with David starting going a bit down hill from here. After many, many tries over the past few weeks to get Jimena to have dinner with him, or go for a drink or basically do anything with him, he seemed to change his tactic. Jimena asked him to post some questions using the things he just learned about time.
Once again he asked when they could go out etc. To no one’s surprise, he gets shot down once again. It was then that decided to try new tactic. He then asked Jimena when she has sex as well as when she masterbates and how often. Yup, you read that right.
I know I have said this before, but what are the odds that Rosetta Stone, Pimsleur or Visual Link would ever even broach that subject, let alone teach it!!
What was then surprising was that Jimena actually gave him answers. While initally taken aback, in her defense, I realized that she was just giving him any answers (another way to reinforce the information he was just taught) rather than answering him with REAL information. I get it now, she realized it was better to just appease him and answer than to just blow him off. Hmm. . .wonder if this will be better approach for everyone. Time will tell.
While no prude, I was just a bit surprised that this was a topic of conversation for a Spanish class. (Not that there is anything wrong with that!!) Just in case you don’t believe me, here is a little peak:
Moving on. In addition to time, we also learned some very important words relating to time but in a different way. Mientras, durante, antes, siempre, nunca, ocasionalmente, generalmente, among others. (To translate, while, during, before, always, never, occasionally and generally).
Another hot topic, but also relating to time, are prepositions that are used when relating to a certain time span. Like, “Voy DESDE mi casa HASTA el banco.” (I go FROM my house TO the bank.) and “Voy DE la cama AL living.”(I go FROM the bed TO the living room.)
All and all I found it to be a very informative and slightly surprising lesson, especially to someone who is as concerned about time as I am.
As for now, I am quite interested to see how Jimena’s new tactic will play out over time. Especially since she finally agreed to get some coffee with him after class. Tomorrow should be quite interesting!!
I couldn’t wait to get back to the next class since I knew the subject matter would once again revolve around food. But I had forgotten that David was also going to get a little lesson in mate.
If you know anything about Argentina, you know that drinking mate is a very social event. For the few of you that might not actually know what mate is, according to Wikipedia, “Mate is a traditional South American infused drink. It is prepared from steeping dried leaves of yerba mate in hot water. The drink contains caffeine and has a pungent taste like a cross between green tea and coffee, with hints of tobacco and oak.”
But it is so much more than that. No matter where you go in this city you see people, young and old and everything in between, with their mate cups and thermos sharing this time honored tradition with family and friends. Our first meeting with our first Porteño friends Victor and Hernan, was spent drinking mate. While it is an acquired taste, it was something we took too very quickly especially since we had so much fun.
I was curious as to how David was going to like it. Being a Brit and a tea drinker (is that being stereotypical??) I figured he would love it. But NO. HE HATED IT. He could not get over how much he really did hate it. I think he needs to try it again in a much more social atmosphere. It is something you get to share with your friends and at least for me, has been a very special experience.
After David’s mate lesson the class moved on. And to be honest, I felt like it moved all over the place. Let’s see. We started with mate, then moved on to some adjectives, and then over to some more food, and then over to some irregular verbs, and then back to some more food, and then a few restaurant tips. My head was spinning. I have to admit that for me, this was not the easiest class to follow. As soon as I would focus on a subject matter, it switched. I felt a bit exhausted when class was done.
But getting back to food. While I knew most of them already, it is always fun to talk about the different types of food at an asado. While I have my favorite cut of meat here (entraña which is skirt steak), being reminded about the rest is always quite tasty. Bife de lomo (tenderloin), bife de chorizo (strip steak), vacio (flank steak) and you can’t forget about the achuras (innards). Who doesn’t like a good chinchuline (intestine) or morcilla (blood sausage)? I have to be honest, I have tried them both and while I won’t eat a lot of them, they are both pretty tasty when done right.
As a matter of fact this will all come in quite handy when my parents come to visit in a few weeks. We will be having an asado at my house in their honor. There will be a great mix of locals and expats with once again a great mix of English, Spanish and Spanglish. As well as steak, steak and more steak, some achuras and definitely some mate and a lot of vino!!
Hmmm. . .maybe I should get my parents to watch some of the Bueno, entonces… Learn Spanish videos or maybe listen to some samples of Rosetta Stone before they arrive so they can learn some useful Spanish phrases.
Today is David’s cumpleaños! Wahoo! Jimena starts the class off by singing Feliz Cumpleaños to him, and he has a rather interesting response to it…
Anyway, today is also the Saturday repaso with Jimena. David tells Jimena that he is going on a trip to weekend—he had his palm read by a beautiful woman and she told him she was going to an astrology retreat in Mar del Plata, so he’s going to go as well. He invites his princesa Jimena, but she kindly declines, as she is muy relajada at the moment. She is going to meter in the jacuzzi, and David becomes quite jealous, as he discovers Jimena’s boyfriend is wealthy enough to afford a jacuzzi in their home. This whole jacuzzi thing is quite the distraction throughout the entire episode, which is unfortunate because David has a hard enough time staying on track as it is.
After the introduction of the jacuzzi distraction, David asks Jimena for an explanation in terms of the whole Castellano/Español thing. I remember being really thrown off when I first got to Argentina and everyone was asking me how my Castellano was coming along. Uh, you mean Spanish? Wait, am I learning the wrong language? Well, according to Jimena, both refer to the official language of Spain and of the language of countries that are ex–colonies of Spain. The word ‘Castellano’ comes from Castilla, the region in the central of Spain. Apparently, Castellano is the name of the language, and Español is the nationality of Spain. It is more modern to say one speaks Español, but Castellano is accepted, as well.
On another note, my dad has been watching Bueno, entonces…learn Spanish as well. The other day while making huevos rancheros on top of tortillas, my mom said, “Wow, that’s a heaping pile of food.” My dad’s response? “Yeah, it’s a taco alto.”
If you are one of the thousands of people who bought a boring software program or antique audiobook that is gathering dust in your closet, we hope you give Bueno, entonces... a try. We are positive it will be the last learn Spanish program you'll ever need.
