Christmas in South America is totally different! Lets begin by saying there is NO snow!

The City is full of lights, specially the Rio Medellin covered with lights like the picture shows. Beautiful!

Even though we may be sunbathing and having asados in Argentina, Lechona in Colombia, ceviche in Perú for Christmas here in South America, it doesn”t mean that we”ve lost our holiday spirit! Things are a bit different down South–but we could say the exact same thing from household to household up North.

Back home, oftentimes the presents are opened on Christmas Eve, rather than Christmas morning; some families have elaborate dinner while others eat Dim sum; and some decorate their house to the max while others go for a more sparse look. In my experience, because of the widespread Catholicism in the Spanish-speaking countries, the holiday is more religious and less about presents. Generally there is a large dinner on Christmas Eve and another large lunch on Christmas Day, but the hooplah that exists up North is absent here. There are decorations, though, and the image of Papá Noel does exist—people just kid about how he wears less clothing.

Our Lovely models from Bueno Entonces!

In the Spanish-speaking world, each country (and family) has different traditions (dinner, when to open presents, etc.), but the vocabulary stays the same. Here are some useful vocabulary terms that you can use to show off your Spanish skills this holiday season!:

Nochebuena = Christmas Eve

Dí­a de Navidad = Christmas Day

(el) regalo = present

(el) muérdago = mistletoe

(el) Árbol de navidad = Christmas tree

¿Qué te regalaron para Navidad? =What did you get for Christmas? (What did they give you for Christmas?)

Año Nuevo = New Year

Nochevieja = New Year”s Eve

El dí­a de año nuevo = New Year”s Day

Túrron = A typical Spanish sweet eaten during the holidays, made of almonds, nougat, and sometimes rice or chocolate

Una rosca de reyes = a bread eaten on the 6th of January (stay tuned for a more in-depth post about this day in the New Year)

There you have it. Now, spike some eggnog, grab some muérdago, and make this holiday season an unforgettable one!

Felices fiestas from Bueno, entonces…!

Don’t get bored.

That’s our philosophy here is Bueno, entonces…—make it as fun, culturally relevant, and engaging as possible. Check out our videos if you aren’t familiar with the program!

Also, try out Bueno, entonces…. Class 1 for Free! Click here to get started

Interesting Fact: Not all authorities agree on which letters make up the Spanish alphabet. Crazy, right? This here is the closest thing to an official Spanish alphabet (from the Real Academia Español. )

A: a
B: be
C: ce
CH: che
D: de
E: e
F: efe
G: ge
H: hache
I: i
J: jota
K: ka
L: ele
LL: elle
M: eme
N: ene
í‘: eñe
O: o
P: pe
Q: cu
R: ere
S: ese
T: te
U: u
V: ve
W: uve doble
X: equis
Y: i griega (E griega)
Z: zeta

Want to hear the words? Check out this great site that has the Spanish alphabet audio clips. Yup, they don’t include the ‘ch’ or ‘ll’ on that site. Because sometimes they take those ones out. Or they add ‘rr’. And sometimes the ‘w’ is called ‘doble v’ or ‘doble u’ or ‘w’ is not included at all. Oh yeah, and the ‘v’ (as in Victor) is sometimes ‘uve’.

Come on Spanish, get your act together.

To find out more about Spanish grammar, check out Bueno, entonces…Learn Spanish and speak and understand native Spanish in five weeks! (You can also check out clips from our Spanish classes on Youtube!)

WARNING: STEAMY VOCAB AHEAD. This may not be office appropriate.

We pride ourselves in providing the most useful Spanish phrases, so here is some important vocabulary that we hope you have a chance to utilize at some point (looks like David already has) :

Tenés/Tienes condones? Sí­, tengo condones/preservativos. Do you have condoms? Yeah, I have a condoms. 

Eso es una locura. This is crazy

Más fuerte Harder

Despacito / mí¡s lento. Slower

Despacito / suavecito. Softer

¿Estás acabando / terminando / llegando? Are you coming?

Estás tomando pastillas? Are you on the pill?

La pastilla del dí­a despúes / dí­a siguiente. Morning After Pill

Fue increí­ble. That was incredible

¿Dónde está mi ropa? Where are my clothes?

La pasó muy bien. I had a good time

Now that is the kind of learning Spanish program that we can really get behind. Just try that with Rosetta Stone…

Be safe. Be responsible. Be bilingual.

It just makes life so much easier.

(Check out more clips from our Spanish classes on our Youtube page!)

Not everyone's type of garden

We all love piropos (pick-up lines), and, like insults, you can never have too many at your disposal, which is why we are posting yet another one to woo the crowds.

Here’s one for the romantics: La única flor que le falta a mi jardí­n es tu flor de poronga. Now practice saying it a few times. It sounds charming, doesn’t it?

Well, turns out that this pick-up line about flowers and a garden is pretty deceiving. The direction translation is:

The only flower missing from my garden is the flower of your penis

Ahem. We don’t know if this line has ever worked for anyone, but it’s probably not worth trying. Nonetheless, it is well worth a Spanish lesson, so let’s get on with it!

This phrase is interesting for a couple reasons:

1) Did you read the translation? That’s interesting enough.

2) The noun flor (flower) looks as though it should be masculine (doesn’t end in ‘a’), but in fact, it is actually feminine. And,

3) The term le falta might have thrown you off. Don’t worry, it isn’t an easy concept. In order to break down the meaning of le falta, we need to look at the phrase:

Faltar means to be lacking something, in this case, the garden is lacking the flower of your penis. Instead of saying ‘the only flower that my garden lacks,’ the word order changes a bit, and the word for ‘lacks’ comes before ‘garden’.

The ‘a‘ in falta a mi jardín is what connects the two parts of the phrase – first the action, and then who (or what) receives the action.

Lastly, the ‘le‘ in le falta refers to the garden – the garden is lacking something. It is an indirect pronoun that can mean him/her/it (or in this case, the garden). The ‘a mi jardín‘ is only there to specify, as there is no prior context to the phrase, but if there had been context, a simple ‘le falta‘ would’ve been just fine.

Whew, exhausted yet? Don’t worry, that was like Spanish Levels I, II, and III in about 5 minutes. With Bueno, entonces…Learn Spanish, you’ll watch David (our protagonist) goes from “Hola” to picking up local girls (or at least, attempting to.)

Become a fan on our Facebook Page and learn cool Spanish phrases – and check out our Youtube Page for clips of our Spanish classes, too!

In Fact now for a limited time you can see the class for yourself. Go here today to get the first 40 minute class free: http://www.generallinguistics.com

“Tienes unos ojos que parecen sartenes y cuando te miro se me frien los huevos.”

This piropo uses one of the most common “doble sentido“  terms in Spanish.

Los huevos.

The word huevo literally means egg, but it can also refer to testicles or balls. It’s heard all over the place here. You suck them, swell them, throw them on a plate. Who knew? We’ve been thinking that maybe we should adopt the term in English.

How does “suck my eggs” sound? Terrible. Wait a second–according to the oh-so-reliable Urban Dictionary, it already exists.

Anyway, let’s break down the piropo:

Tienes = You have (Tener=verb ‘to have‘)

unos = Some (uno = one, unos/as = some)

ojos = Eyes (masculine noun)

que = That (que can mean various things depending on the context)

parecen = Look like/Are like (Parecer=verb ‘to look like‘)

sartenes = Frying pans (noun ‘sarten‘ is frying pan. When we make it plural, we add an ‘es‘ and throw out the accent mark)

y = and

cuando = when

te miro = I look at you (mirar=verb ‘to look at’, te=direct object)

se me frí­en los huevos. = my eggs fry (screw trying to explain this; it’s Level III stuff)

There you have it. Know another great Piropo? Leave it on our Facebook page and you could win $50 at the iTunes Store! The Spanish Pick up line that has the most “likes” by MIDNIGHT – Tonight – Wins!

Enter here: http://on.fb.me/ModelPickUp

And while you’re there check out our language learning software on the market. We teach you to speak like locals and you’ll learn Spanish phrases and idioms that people say on the street. If you don’t believe us, read the reviews – over 30,000 people have been learning Spanish with Bueno, entonces…!

Head to our website here and check out the first class for Nada! http://www.generallinguistics.com

If you are a child in a Spanish-speaking country, today is pretty freaking awesome. You receive presents, have an excuse to throw grass in your shoes and you get to eat bread with figurines hidden inside!

Each Spanish-speaking country celebrates the day in a different way, but the story of the Three Kings is pretty consistent among the countries. The holiday–called ‘Epiphany Day’–tells the story of the three Kings (Melchior, Gaspar, and Balthazar) who arrived on horse after following a star in the heavens to bring baby Jesus gifts. Melchior represented Europe, rode in on a horse, and brought gold; Gaspar represented Arabia, rode a camel, and brought frankincense; Balthazar represented Africa, rode an elephant, and brought myrrh to baby Jesus. (Some say that all rode camels, but who really knows?)

Alright, that may have been a bit too Sunday school for your taste, but it’s important to know the background to understand some of the common practices. If you are traveling to Spain, for example, you may see children (and some adults) polish their shoes and leave them to receive the King’s gifts before they go to bed on January 6th (or sometimes on the eve of January 5th). Just like children leave cookies and milk for Santa Clause, children in Spain leave sweet wine, fruit, milk, and munchies for the Kings and their animals. In some parts of Mexico, children leave their shoes and a list of toy requests near their beds or a family nativity scene. In Northern Mexico, it is common to leave hay in the shoes (for the camels, obviously) and leave the shoes under the Christmas tree. Children in Puerto Rico do the same, and leave the hay or grass-filled shoes under their beds. Christmas trees are also taken down on this day; luckily, as children as distracted by their gifts and candies, it’s no biggie.

In the afternoon, the Rosca de Reyes(sometimes called Roscí³n de Reyes in Spain) is brought out and shared with family and friends. This bread is sort of like a round, bread-ier version of fruitcake and baked inside is a small doll representing Jesus. If you are in Mexico or Guatemala and find the doll, you have to throw a party on February 2^nd, “Candelaria Day,” and offer atole and tamales to the guests. If you celebrate El dí­a de los Reyes in Spain and find the doll, you are crowned king of the day. In Spain they also hide a bean in the Roscí³n, and if you find the bean, you pay for the bread. Nice.

Some say that because of globalization, Christmas Day has now become more popular than Dí­a de los Reyes, but again, that’s personal opinion. Learning traditions (whether they are still practiced or not) is an integral part of learning Spanish–knowing either one is fine, but know both and you are GOLDEN! In the Bueno, entonces…Learn Spanish Levels I & II, you can rest assured that you are getting the full package: grammar + colloquial Spanish + local culture. Try and look for another program that teaches you real, useful Spanish for under $150. Go ahead, we dare you.

Photo courtesy of: http://www.pbase.com

Here’s a trabalenguas (tongue-twister) to challenge your pronunciation skills: Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal en tres tristes trastos.
 En tres tristes trastos tragaban trigo tres tristes tigres.

Now, what could that jumble of words possibly mean? Let’s break it down…

Tres tristes tigres = three sad tigers. Alright, that’s easy enough.

Tragaban comes from the verb tragar, which means to swallow. Tragaban is in the past tense form of ‘them’ (referring to the tigers). What do they swallowed? They swallowed trigo, which is wheat.

Okay, so far we have three sad tigers swallowing wheat.  Continuing on: en un trigal means in a wheat field (trigo. trigal. See the connection?).

And finally, en tres tristes trastos—in three sad dishes. Whew.

The second bit of the trabalenguas is the same phrase, but reversed, so we aren’t going to bother with another translation.

Tres tristes tigres tragaban trigo en un trigal en tres tristes trastos. 
En tres tristes trastos tragaban trigo tres tristes tigres.

Try saying that one ten times fast!

Want to really improve your Spanish pronunciation? Get your hands on Bueno, entonces…Learn Spanish and you could be speaking conversation Spanish in just five weeks! Check out more clips of each individual Spanish class on our Youtube Page.

Facebook Fans also get $50 off. Um, SWEET. And you’ll also learn hilarious Spanish phrases and pick-up lines. EXTRA SWEET.

Are you a Bueno, entonces… fan yet?

Interesting Fact: Not all authorities agree on which letters make up the Spanish alphabet. Crazy, right? This here is the closest thing to an official Spanish alphabet (from the Real Academia Español. )
A: a
B: be
C: ce
CH: che
D: de
E: e
F: efe
G: ge
H: hache
I: i
J: jota
K: ka
L: ele
LL: elle
M: eme
N: ene
í‘: eñe
O: o
P: pe
Q: cu
R: ere
S: ese
T: te
U: u
V: ve
W: uve doble
X: equis
Y: i griega (E griega)
Z: zeta

Want to hear the words? Check out this great site that has the Spanish alphabet audio clips. Yup, they don’t include the ‘ch’ or ‘ll’ on that site. Because sometimes they take those ones out. Or they add ‘rr’. And sometimes the ‘w’ is called ‘doble v’ or ‘doble u’ or ‘w’ is not included at all. Oh yeah, and the ‘v’ (as in Victor) is sometimes ‘uve’.

Come on Spanish, get your act together.

To find out more about Spanish grammar, check out Bueno, entonces…Learn Spanish and speak and understand native Spanish in five weeks! (You can also check out clips from our Spanish classes on Youtube!)

English speakers have it easy. When we speak directly to anyone, we just have one word to worry about: “You.”
In Spanish, your worry level increases dramatically because you have to make the distinction between whether to use tú, vos, or usted. To make matters worse, each have their own set of conjugations, too. We’ll stay away from that today, though.

Luckily, you generally have to worry about only two of three, as tú and vos are both the informal and usted is formal. Some countries use tú, some use vos, and some use both. Check out the map of Voseo from Wikipedia to see what is used where.

Our rule of thumb is that if you’d call someone by their first name in English, you can use tú or vos in Spanish. If you’d normally add a Mr., Mrs., etc. then you use usted. Here are a few other types of people you’d used usted with:

• Someone older than you
• Someone you don’t know well
• An authority figure
• Anyone to whom you wish to show respect

Tú and vos are used for anyone who you are more familiar with. A friend, colleague, relative, child, etc.

Here in Argentina, we use vos for everyone – the word usted is seen in ads and sometimes heard when someone is referring to a much older person, but it’s not like Mexico, for example, where the distinction between tú and usted is much clearer and both are used often.

If you’re ever in doubt about whether to use the formal or informal, stick with the formal. No one will ever get angry at you for addressing them formally, they’ll just think you’re ridiculously polite. And seeing as how you’re a Gringo in a Spanish-speaking place, you’ll probably be used to being ridiculous, anyway. Want to minimize the ridiculosity? Grab Bueno, entonces…Learn Spanish before you leave and our Spanish classes will have you speaking and understanding native Spanish in five weeks. Become a fan on Facebook and you’ll not only learn Spanish phrases everyday, but you’ll also save $50 on our Learn Spanish Levels I & II program!

Let’s check this out:

A few things:

1) The term ‘habrí¡ sido‘ is in the future perfect tense, meaning it hasn’t happened – the jackass who’s hitting on you is referring to the pirate who will lose this treasure. He hasn’t lot anything yet.
2) El pirata: although it has a feminine word ending [piratA] (which means they’re generally supposed to have the feminine article ‘la‘) but instead, it is paired with ‘el‘ when talking about a male pirate. If there were a female pirate, we’d put ‘la pirata‘. The adjective that follows this particular nouns pairs with the gender of the article (el/la) and not the feminine word ending.
3) The word ‘perdií³‘ is in the preterite tense, which means it is in the past – a done deal.
4) We’ll have a blog post soon on the difference between ‘esta‘ ‘este‘ and ‘ese‘ in the future. For now, ‘este‘ means ‘this’ and that is all you need to know.

If you’d like to find out more ways to interact with the locals – with words and phrases they actually use – we recommend you ponete las pilas and start learn Spanish now. If you’re a Bueno, entonces…Facebook Fan, you get $50 off of our program, and you get to join the community of over 5,000 Spanish learners!