Today’s post is brought to you by one of our fabulous users, Jeff. Basically, here at Bueno, entonces… we had a program where we chose people in Buenos Aires to take all 30 Bueno, entonces… classes and blog about them. What they learned, what they liked, and what they didn’t like.

So, here it is! Learning Spanish Take 10, Class 17:

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It’s Gettin’ Hot in Here

What’s the most important rule of general conversation? When all else fails just talk about the weather. Given my lack of knowledge of conversational Spanish my conversations often have long periods of silence, however, before Class 17 I didn’t necessarily have the ability to invoke the time-honored conversational crutch – discussing the weather.

In Buenos Aires, people seem to be quite preoccupied by the weather. We’re always told to bundle our kids up more because it’s soooo cold, or “you won’t believe how hot and humid it gets in the summer.” They don’t understand that we came from Boston where you just assume that it will be cloudy, cold, and dreary everyday, and if it happens to be nice out, well, that’s a win for you.

In addition, when we arrived we were told there are two things we shouldn’t trust here: taxi drivers and weathermen. Judging from the beautiful day today when rain was forecast, that seems to be pretty much spot-on.

Taken in the Recoleta Cemetery

My biggest fear before coming here was finding myself at a dinner party having to make conversation. Learning weather vocabulary has helped put this at ease. Now I just need to know how to respond to the inevitable, “psst doc, could you take a look at this rash of mine?”

Much to my excitement, Class 17 also began to unravel the secrets of the elusive and mysterious subjunctive tense. I can’t figure out for the life of me how to use it. Bueno, entonces…used useful Spanish phrases such as “I hope it’s warm tomorrow” and “I hope it doesn’t rain” as a jumping off point for this discussion. The teaching point was to think of the subjunctive tense like you are giving orders to the weather (conjugated the same as the imperative tense) – quite helpful, and a tip I am not likely to forget.

I like the program’s ability to seamlessly transition into teaching new concepts without setting of sirens and flashing lights to say “hey, this is a new concept…pay attention!” Normal conversation is not compartmentalized into fifteen minutes of present tense followed my fifteen minutes of past tense, and so on. It is a mixture of all the tenses thrown together easily by native speakers, however, quite arduous for those new to the language. Therefore, a language learning software that mimics how verbs are used in normal conversation is worlds more useful. For instance, Rosetta Stone spends the whole first unit on the present tense, followed by past tense in unit two, and future tense in unit three. This may be a fine method for those who are going to complete the full course before ever using their Spanish, but the structure of Bueno, entonces…gives you the tools to have realistic conversations entirely in Spanish after having only watched a handful of classes.

There was also a part of the class that was near and dear to my heart. David had a lot of trouble pronouncing the word “veterinaria” (veterinarian) which I struggle with on a daily basis when telling people what I’m doing for work here in Buenos Aires (I currently am teaching private medical English classes to a veterinarian).

Other helpful things from this class were diphthongs (vowels written together and pronounced as a single syllable) which go against the general rule of all letters in Spanish being pronounced separately. We also learned about “dependent prepositions” – ones that are always paired with certain verbs, and are often times not direct translations from English (very difficult for the non-native speaker).

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If you want to read more about Jeff’s experience with the program, head on over to his blog, Learning Spanish Take 10.

Muchisimas gracias, Jeff—sos lo mejor!

Prior to moving to Argentina, I spent several years working at an investment firm in Los Angeles. After the financial market collapse, I decided that it was time for me to try something different and accepted a consulting job in Buenos Aires. I set off for this new experience knowing only basic Spanish.

The first few weeks were very frustrating. This was the first time that I was living and working in a city where I did not speak the native language. I was not prepared for how difficult it was going to be to learn Spanish! My biggest hindrance in learning the language was finding the time. With a full work week and the time required to adjust to a new city, I just didn’t have the time to take classes.

I found out about “Bueno, entonces” through a friend who heard they were organizing a focus group to test the product. I joined so that I could try the program in exchange for writing a review.

I was very pleasantly surprised with how great the program was and how quickly my Spanish improved. While some of the beginning classes were below my skill level, I still found it helpful to have them reinforce basic grammar and conversational vocabulary. As the classes continued, I found myself getting pulled into the story line of David and his teacher Jimena, and also learning more and more Spanish.

For me, the best thing about the program was its portability. I was able to put all the episodes on my iPod and watch a different one each day on my commute to work. Because I could take it with me anywhere, it was easier for me to stay motivated and keep up with the program.

I’m already feeling more confident with my Spanish and am excited to keep improving my skills!

- Mary, Los Angeles, CA

Alright, back to Jeff!

It is sort of cool seeing how the Bueno, entonces… program helped Jeff really improve his Spanish during his time here in Buenos Aires. While it is fast-paced in the beginning, as you continue on, it becomes more comfortable—as language-learning should be! Here’s his review of Bueno, entonces…Learn Spanish Class 3. Jeff explains a little bit about how the program differs from others, and how for him, learning the vos conjugation was key:

Class 3: Now we’re starting to get into the meat of things. After doing more basics (numbers) we moved on to formal greetings and the all important (and sometimes confusing) verbs. This is where I think the conversational nature of the Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish program will really earn its money. One of the hardest thing for me is to conjugate verbs on the fly. I’m o.k. when I stay in the present tense, but I feel completely lost at times when I venture into the past or future. Even worse is when I have to use different tenses in the same or consecutive sentences. For instance, I was talking today to a local woman about how I had studied Spanish in the past, am again learning it now, and will try to continue speaking Spanish when I return to the States. I needed to stop each time and conjugate the verb in my head before continuing the sentence – something that really breaks up the conversation. The method that Bueno, entonces… Learn Spanish uses has you listening to all of these conjugations from the first class. Furthermore, the teacher and student switch quickly from tense to tense as one would in normal conversation. I am able to learn how to use various verb tenses (including past and future) by recognizing patterns and by repetition.

This is also where I am beginning to see Bueno, entonces… Learn Spanish diverge from Rosetta Stone. I actually used Rosetta Stone for about 4-6 weeks (1 – 1.5 hours per day) before leaving for Buenos Aires and nearly all of that time was spent in the present tense…the least confusing one. Yes, Rosetta Stone does expose you to a great deal of useful verbs, however, it takes a long time before you learn how to use them in a tense other than the present. This nauseating repetition, for someone who has some Spanish background, was frustrating, and I felt I couldn’t just skip those units because there were a lot of useful vocabulary words mixed in. For my money, I would rather get really comfortable with all of the conjugations of a few key verbs because that is what you need to know to hold even a basic conversation.

The other big advantage I am seeing of Bueno, entonces… Learn Spanish over Rosetta Stone is the use of “vos.” For someone who is considering traveling to Argentina I think this is vital. Understanding “vos” is obviously a necessity for understanding daily conversation, but is also needed for speaking in commands. I spent a lot of time with Rosetta Stone practicing the “tú” tense, and didn’t learn, until my wife told me when we were boarding the plane, that it isn’t even used here. Therefore, I have spent a lot of my time early on learning the ins and outs of “vos” – in reality its a fairly straightforward tense to learn, but still takes some time.