That's All She Wrote

Class 30 (the final class) has come and gone. I didn't know what to expect from the final review class, but it didn't disappoint. Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish was able to seamlessly touch on all of the highlights of the course from reflexive verbs, to food vocabulary, to slang. They even found time to introduce some new vocabulary about airports - all of this built upon the framework of David and Jimena's last conversation. Their carefree discussion quickly evolved into a bit of role-reversal with the newly-single Jimena doing everything in her passive power to woo David. It was a made-for-tv soap opera at its best, ending with a cliffhanger that attempts to give the listener another reason to buy the next level of Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish. After some less than stellar classes, the folks at Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish again did what they do best - providing a storyline that makes learning buckets of new vocabulary anything but monotonous.

Now that I have completed the full Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish course, I feel that I have quite a bit of perspective to compare it to Rosetta Stone. Overall, I think that, for the money, Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish is a better deal for those traveling to Argentina and/or for those looking to master the basics of conversational Spanish in a short time. The biggest advantage Rosetta Stone has over Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish is its interactive nature. A active learner may not be engaged enough in Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish to reap all of it's benefits, but this must be balanced with the mind-numbingly monotonous and seemingly infinite material of Rosetta Stone.

Throw out Rosetta Stone's voice recognition system - it's a waste of time and money. Remember though, that the lower price of Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish only gets you through the present tense, with a hint of the future tense, whereas the pricier Rosetta Stone includes it all.

The bottom line is that, with either program, the key is practice. You need to find a way of using your Spanish on a daily basis to reinforce what is taught in the classes - there aren't any programs out there besides private tutoring that provide this. Get out there, make mistakes, live outside of your comfort zone, and you will see your Spanish improve by leaps and bounds. Now if I could just practice what I preach...

Redemption Song

For all that I have complained over the past few days about Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish dropping the ball with regards to introducing new material, I was happy to see them redeem themselves with today's class (#29). No, they did not introduce a new verb tense, but they did fill the class with new verbs and vocabulary. The general theme of the class was travelling, and we learned things from sea wildlife to pool accessories. Words like antiparras (goggles) and malla (bathing suit - woman's?) will, at the very least, come in handy when I bring my son to his weekly swim classes. We also learned about the different regions of Argentina and how to describe the geography.

I would also like to say a little more about the subject of my recent rants - verb tenses. What was redeeming about today's class was that it acknowledged and addressed the lack of the past tense, saying that it will be taught in the next level of classes. It would have been nice to know this up front (maybe a table of contents for example) though - appropriate expectations are often the key to a learner's happiness and fulfillment. Past tense or no past tense, I'm still not excusing the lack of content over the last few classes. I was nice to see Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish go out on a high note because I really have enjoyed the course.

One of my favorite parts of today's class was the discussion about meat, one of the staples of daily Argentine life. There was an interesting tutorial that covered how animals are called by different names when they are alive and when they are dead. For instance, a living fish is called pez but fish on your dinner plate is called pescado, and a sheep is oveja and lamb is cordero. All of my kids' farm animal books now make sense.

Although today was supposed to be the last "official" class, it sounds like there is one more "class" tomorrow in which we listen to another of David and Jimena's phone calls. And for those of you who care, Jimena revealed that she had been dumped by her boyfriend - David might just move in for the kill tomorrow.

Another Missed Opportunity

Streak continued - another class that came and went without more complicated verb tenses being taught. Today's class (class 28) dealt mainly with lodging vocabulary. Different types of lodging were discussed (hotel, hostel, inn, etc) as well as types of rooms a person can reserve (single, double, etc). David and Jimena attempted a bit of role playing to demonstrate how an interaction between a hotel manager and a disgruntled guest might play out. It touched on how to complain about your room in a polite manner but didn't really discuss anything new.

It seems as though Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish has gotten sucked into spending more time developing the storyline of David and Jimena than teaching conversational Spanish. Today's class played up the pseudo-jealousy Jimena has for David when it could have instead taught us about the past tense. The soap opera between the program's main characters has been a nice diversion at times throughout the course but should not be a substitute for content. Dense content interspersed with comic relief allows the listener to learn while having fun at the same time. Comedy without content can be obtained from much better media than language learning software.

Enough of my ranting. Let me tell you a little about the feedback I've been getting on my Spanish lately. I met with a new partner this week to practice my Spanish and got some really nice feedback. There are a still a lot of vocabulary I don't know and verb tenses I struggle with, but overall I am getting much more comfortable with what I know and am unafraid to attempt that which I don't know - learning a language comes much faster when this milestone/mindset is reached. Yesterday I travelled to Colonia, Uruguay with my family for a quick day trip. Using my Spanish I was able to navigate my way through renting a vehicle (souped-up golf cart), and even talking the rental car agent into giving us the special exception of dropping the cart off at a different rental location near our point of departure. The conversation actually went pretty smoothly, and made me happy with how my Spanish has progressed.

Two Steps Forward, Three Steps Back

This is the first class that left me not knowing what to write in my blog. I feel like Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish basically wasted a half-hour (the entire class), and at this point in the course with four classes left, it is disappointing. Over the past few weeks I felt like the classes really flowed together and built on one another, starting with basic conversational Spanish and slowly introducing more complex sentence structure and vocabulary. The last two classes, however, have been flops in my book. For all intents and purposes, we are still not formally out of the present tense, and are now covering very basic concepts that should have come much earlier in the course. I see classes 26 and 27 as real missed opportunities to hammer home previously taught concept taking me to the next level of Spanish conversation. One of the wonderful things about the Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish program is how quickly it ramps up the teaching, throwing you into conversations with a native speaker from class 1. It would have been nice to see this accelerated learning continue, but instead it has stagnated.

What was taught? Well, we learned vocabulary for bachelor parties and hangovers, and how to invite people to events (in a simple way). The only concept that had even a hint of complexity to it was when obligations were discussed - tenés que + infinitive (you have to...) and no tener que + infinitive (you don't have to...). The latter can also mean you mustn't depending on the context, which could lead to misunderstandings for a non-native speaker who may miss some of these subtleties. Good concept for week two, though, not week five.

I still have high hopes for the final three classes. Despite what I posted yesterday in today, the course has exceeded my expectations to this point and I hope it finished strong. I trying not to fall victim to the "what have you done for me lately" viewpoint.

Pearls of Wisdom

The main theme of class 26 was around-the-home vocabulary: furniture, rooms, decorations, etc. Much of the vocabulary was already referred to in previous classes, but I did manage to learn the verb for turning on the TV (prender). The folks at Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish did manage to spice up this dry topic a bit by having David and Jimena admit to whether or not they had ever had sex on a particular item of furniture. Of course David beat the prude Jimena by a landslide (I'm assuming that, unlike golf, more is better in this game), however, she was a bit sheepish when discussing the bookcase - Hmmm, interesting.

There were also several digressions to discuss what I thought were terribly basic concepts for this point in the course: definite/indefinite articles, possessive pronouns, contractions. Again, these topics have been covered informally since the first class - taking time to cover them formally here seemed unnecessary.

The section on adverbs used to describe the placement of objects was quite useful and appropriate for class 26. There are still several that I need to think about before saying, so the review was much needed and helpful.

All-in-all a very lackluster class without much meat (unless you count the oysters).

Consider Your Mind Blown

I may be overstating this a bit but one of the concepts from class 25 totally blew my mind! It was the concept of the feminine noun having a masculine article - I know, crazy, huh? The general rule is that masculine nouns carry the article el while feminine nouns (usually ending in "a") carry the article la - pretty straightforward. Extrapolating from this, I always assumed that a noun that was preceded by an el was masculine and by a la feminine, regardless of whether or not the noun ended with an "a." For example, I assumed el agua (the water) was masculine and therefore would be paired with a masculine adjective like frío (cold). Today's class taught me that there are several feminine nouns that are paired with a masculine article because they start with an "a," such as agua (water), azúcar (sugar), and alma (soul). I know for certain that I've been saying el agua frío instead of el agua fría. Learning this was like discovering the world is really round after being convinced it is flat. My concentration was thrown off for the next several minutes so I don't remember much about what was presented after this segment.

My magical epiphany, however, wasn't the only thing overstated about class 25. If you remember, the teaser from the last class was that we were going to be learning some "hard-core verb tenses" - not so much. The "hard-core verb tense" we learned was the future using the structure ir (to go) + a + infinitive: "Voy a comprarlo (I am going to buy it)." This is a very simple was to express the future and did not teach any new conjugations. There is a unique future tense, however, I learned in today's class that it is not really used in Latin America. Given my preoccupation with conjugating verb tenses, this is something I would have like to have know much earlier in the course. Rosetta Stone has it's students practicing conjugating the future tense for weeks, and never mentions that it is not used in much of Latin America. I feel like there are several things like this that I spent a lot of time practicing with Rosetta Stone that are absolutely useless here in Buenos Aires. For the price of Rosetta Stone I would expect these details to be included. To expand on this concept of "what you get for your money" I've included the following comparison chart:



One other segment of the class really had me puzzled as well. There was a rapid-fire segment presenting Argentine sayings that don't directly translate to English (think "by the skin of my teeth" in English). The phrases were presented out of context in rapid succession without any time to digest the material. Even if there had been extra time to fully understand them, I think presenting isolated phrases that people learning a new language will likely never use is a complete waste of time, energy, and brain power. For my money, I would prefer to learn high-yield vocabulary that I will need on a daily basis. Weave some colloquial sayings into the dialogue but don't waste a whole segment on them.

Stalkers Exposed

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.

On The Road Again

Class 23 had a wonderful mixture of useful vocabulary and in-depth discussions about subtle differences between similar verbs. I usually jot down notes about each class - this class filled the paper.

Today's class used David's mother's upcoming trip to Mendoza as an excuse to teach travel vocabulary. This is actually quite useful as we are smack dab in the middle of trying to make travel plans for the fast-approaching summer break. I learned the difference between the micro (long-distance bus) and the colectivo (inner-city bus), as well as a new word for suitcases (valijas) - not equipaje as I learned in high school. Two days ago my wife was discussing our potential travel plans with another mom from the kids' school and I overheard her talking about going to the "Cataratas." This came as a bit of a surprise as I have been fairly hands-on with the planning and I had never heard this destination as an option. Well, I learned that Las Cataratas means the waterfalls (Iguazu) which is the first stop on our travel itinerary.

Class 23 also served as a reminder that direct translations of English to Spanish don't always work. For instance, I was recently telling someone about how I help to bring the kids to school in the morning - I used the verb traer (to bring). Come to find out, the use of the similar verbs traer (to bring) and llevar (to take) actually depends on where the speaker is at the time he/she is speaking. Thus, using traer would have been fine if I was having my conversation at the school. Instead, I was at a local café, meaning llevar was the correct verb to use.

This rule also holds true for ir (to go) and venir (to come). One of my Argentine friends emailed me today and asked if I'd like to meet him for lunch this week. He wrote, "podés venir el miercoles (can you come Wednesday)?" Because of the previously discussed rule, I should answer, "sí puedo ir (yes I can go)" rather than "sí puedo venir (yes I can come)" as I am not in the place where the lunch will be happening.

Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish was also able to throw in a little telephone vocabulary at the end - verbs for to answer, to hang up, wrong number, etc. Those concise high-yield segments are extremely useful.

You Can Take It To The Bank

I was a victim of lofty expectations in class 22. The teaser from class 21 is that we would be learning a new tense, which we did, however, it was the present progressive tense. I have been looking forward to learning about and practicing past or future tenses for some time now, therefore, today's class was a bit disappointing. The present progressive tense is pretty straightforward, and thankfully Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish didn't spend a whole lot of time on it. That being said I did learn a new irregular gerund (I never thought I would ever use that word in a sentence) - yendo (ir).

Don't get me wrong though. Today's class had it's share of entertaining discussion such as David's ridiculous run-in with a transvestite (travesti) at the bank. Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish used this farcical account to introduce lots of great nuts-and-bolts bank vocabulary that I am sure to use.

The discussion about banking segued nicely into a rant on how difficult it is to get change in Buenos Aires - something that I have been bitching about since I got here. Several weekends we have been unable to take the bus or do laundry due to a lack of change. Furthermore, shop owners look at us bizarrely or even get angry when we ask them to break a two peso bill (don't even try to ask for change for a five - fireworks). Getting change has now become a twice or thrice weekly routine for me. I usually hit up two or three banks in succession (because each can only give 3-20 pesos in change at a time), and have amassed a stockpile of about sixty pesos in change - unheard of in these parts. You have to take pride in small victories when you're living abroad, because so much of daily life outside of the U.S. is humbling.

Don't Skimp On the Sex Hotel

In class 21 we were treated to an account of David's time spent with his girlfriend at a local "telo (sex hotel)." Apparently, like with a travel agency, this is something that is better to pay a little extra for up front in order to improve your chances of having an enjoyable time. David elected for the "budget" option and got what sounds like a torture chamber in return. Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish used this unfortunate situation as a framework for learning how to describe places and objects. There were lots of good around-the-house vocabulary (including three words for sink). David and Jimena played a game in which they each took turns describing an object with the other person trying to guess what it was. Of course, this led to the very predictable outcome of David describing a "long, hard, plastic object that gives you pleasure," Jimena getting grossed out and yelling at David for being so crude, and David saying, "What? I was talking about a toothbrush." This took the usual high school/college humor down to middle school.

There was also some nice teaching points on comparisons - tan is always used with como, and mas/menos with de. This is just another example of something I mix up when engrossed in a conversation and trying to speak quickly.

Then it was on to superlatives. Although this was review for me, it was quite timely given my recent conversation with my son. He recently asked me, when crossing the street, what the difference between rápido and rapidísimo is. When I explained that the -ísimo basically added "really/very" to the word, he began a long verbal experiment that entailed adding -ísimo to every word he could think of. After a while it became quite annoyingísimo, but hey, he's learning.

Quick update: I've used ya, acabar de, and probarse in conversation with good results. My Spanish seems to be progressing nicely.

Might Need The Black Light For This One

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.

Today's class used David's attempt to seal the deal with his hot neighbor as a platform for discussing the "telos (sex hotels)" of Buenos Aires - an interesting part of the local culture. As many children here live with their parents until they are married, often into their mid to late 20s, finding a private place to spend time with your significant other becomes crucial. Therefore, the industry of "sex hotels," rented by the hour, flourishes and is as much a part of daily life as maté and soccer. They are scattered throughout the city, in plain sight except for the requisite shrubs making the entrance somewhat inconspicuous, and well-known and accepted by the locals. Interestingly, they are used not only by teens looking to have a little fun, but also by married couples looking to spice things up or grab some time away from the kids. The guide books say that they are extremely clean - even cleaner than you often find local hotels to be. Sounds a little creepy to me, but I guess it's hard to fit in the backseat of the tiny cars they have here.

Another class and another helpful Spanish phrase, or so I thought. Class 20 introduced the phrase "acabar de" meaning to just have done. For example, "acabo de llegar" means I just arrived. Sounds useful enough until they give the caveat that using acabar without 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.

To Be or To Be, That Is a Stupid Question

Class 19 kicked off week four by discussing the basics of "ser vs estar (both meaning to be)." This is Spanish 101 and I am shocked that it took until the fourth week for Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish to cover this material. It isn't such a big deal for me having had formal Spanish instruction in the past, however, I think for people learning Spanish from ground zero this should be the first set of verbs covered in detail. If my memory serves me correctly, Rosetta Stone, spent much of the first unit on these verbs which I think is appropriate. That being said, as I've said before, Rosetta Stone tends to err on the side of overkill. I think Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish does a much better job of giving each essential verb its due early on and revisiting them as needed. I just would have liked to seen the "ser vs estar" discussion happen earlier. Today's class used "ser" and "estar" as jumping off points to discuss how to describe cities - lots of good around-town vocabulary. I learned there are two words for block (street block - manzana (also means apple); block of houses - cuadra). I still can't quite figure out the difference. This is sure to be a point of discussion at my weekly Spanglish class on Thursday.

Even though today's class was mostly review, I did manage to learn a few more intricacies of "ser vs estar" such as using "ser" to discuss the location of events and "estar" to discuss the location of concrete things. I'm sure I've screwed this one up countless times over the past few weeks. Just add it to the list.

I also picked up a new phrase that I would like to put into the daily rotation - "tener poco/mucho/nada que ver con" meaning having little/a lot/nothing to do with. I'm always looking to pick up new phrases that are a bit more complicated than the basic simple Spanish that I speak. This one should make me sound a little bit more like I know what I'm talking about.

Another thing that today's class reminded me of is how Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish does a wonderful job of sprinkling in Argentine trivia, history, geography, and traditions into many of the classes. Today I learned a little about Mar del Plata, a coastal town about five hours south of B.A. by bus, and it has me a little intrigued to visit. It's nice to get a taste of the place and culture you are visiting while at the same time learning the language. In the past we've learned about such things as maté, tango, and dulce de leche, and the teaser for today is that we are going to discuss B.A.'s sex houses tomorrow.

Week Three In the Books

Just another sign of the target audience of Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish: Jimena spent nearly all of class 18 (week 3 review) in a jacuzzi, much to birthday boy David's enjoyment.

Continuing with the "wishing I had know that before I got here" theme, today's class discussed the difference between "castellano" and "español." The former being how Spanish is referred to here in Buenos Aires and the latter being the terminology I learned in school. For example, instead of saying "hablo español (I speak Spanish)" in Buenos Aires, they say "hablo castellano." At a friend's birthday party shortly after we arrived here, I was asked if I'd rather talk in "castellano o inglés." I replied, "en español," as I assumed "castellano" meant Spanish but I didn't quite here the word. It was a little embarrassing and my wife later apologized to me for not mentioning that "they call it castellano here." This is just another example of how Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish is tailored to those planning on spending time in Argentina in particular - it prevents a lot of those awkward moments caused by not knowing the peculiarities of Argentine Spanish (castellano). So here is the more detailed explanation: "castellano" refers to the language while "español" refers to the nationality.

As a review class, I don't think this one did a particularly good job reinforcing the high points of the past week. Most of the weeks' material was glossed over to make time for the usual sexual tension-charged banter between David and Jimena. I did, however, learn the word for couch (sillón) which would have come in handy yesterday when we had a friend over to my apartment and, when offering her a seat, I motioned over to the couch and said "there."

One other small detail that I like about the classes is the teaser at the end of each class. The narrator always ends the class by giving you a snippet about what the next class will cover. It helps keep my interest and gives me something to look forward to. Tomorrow, we will apparently cover "ser vs estar (two forms of to be)" - basic stuff in the present tense, but still confusing to me otherwise.

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. 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... Learn Spanish 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... Learn Spanish 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).

Competitive Shopping: The Next Great Sport

The second half of this course (Class 16) got off to a good start by covering two of my favorite things: competition and clothes shopping. Most people who know me know that I am willing to compete at just about anything, and am confident I will win. Just hearing the words "you couldn't do that" or "I could definitely beat you at X" puts a smile on my face. Now I have the vocabulary to continue my ascent up the "meaningless victory" list while I'm in Argentina. Well, at the very least I'll be able to watch a soccer game on tv or read the sports section of the paper without being completely lost.

Also, seeing as how I am still looking for steady work here in Buenos Aires, my day mainly consists of dropping the kids off at school and picking them up four hours later. So, like any good house-husband (or "man-ny" if you will), I often fill the morning window shopping along Avenida Santa Fe or at Alto Palermo, one of the local malls. The only problem is when the always-attentive salespeople inevitably come over and ask me if I need any help (on second thought they might be telling me to look in the husky boys section instead). My reply usually goes something like this: lower lip out, eyes squinting, head nodding side-to-side, and hand waiving them off --> the international sign for "get the f*%k away from me, I'm trying to shop in peace." It's not that I'm trying to be mean though, I just don't know what to say to them in Spanish. Even more stress-provoking is the chance of actually liking something and needing to try it on - uncomfortable interaction overload. Well, after class 16, I know have the vocabulary to expertly go from "just looking" to "I'll take two!"

This vocabulary will also be quite useful for my upcoming trip to the local cafe/wine bar, DiVino. They recently had a nice looking red wine in the window (it had a tag that said "muy bueno") that was offered at a very good price. My wife and I had been meaning to pick up a couple of bottles, however, when we walked past the window yesterday it wasn't there. Now that I've learned the word for display window (vidriera), I can specifically ask about the particular bottle in question rather than just grunting and pointing like I usually do. I kind of feel like a caveman who just saw fire for the first time.

In a nutshell, Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish is continuing to provide the high-yield conversational Spanish it advertises.

Halfway Home

Today's class marked the halfway point of the course. I hope the second half keeps me as engaged as the first half did. That being said, I felt like today was a bit of a step back in usefulness. Yes there was some helpful information but overall I think it spent too much time on low-yield topics (describing people in great detail). For some topics a basic vocabulary is all you really need when learning a new language and I think descriptions fall into that category. I could have done without learning how to say someone has long eyelashes.

What I found most useful about this class, and several other recent classes, is that there will often be digressions to discuss pronunciation. Again, reflecting on my time using Rosetta Stone, I felt that this is one major area where it fell short, and moreover, even provided false advertising. One feature of Rosetta Stone that really intrigued me when I was investigating different language learning programs was the free headset it provides for pronunciation exercises. My wife can attest to the fact that, on a daily basis, I would curse at the computer after having to repeat myself countless times due to the headset intermittently recognizing my voice. It was very frustrating - I found myself not even using the headset after a while because it was more trouble than it was worth. Furthermore, the voice recognition software was very inadequate. For example, I could say the word perfectly and it would tell me I was wrong, or I could say the completely wrong word (not just mispronounce the correct word) and it would tell me I was correct. The impression I got from Rosetta Stone's advertising was that the headset would really help me with my pronunciation, something that I work really hard to perfect. This could not have been farther from the truth. Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish, on the other hand, uses David to illustrate poor pronunciation and Jimena to demonstrate perfect pronunciation. In addition, there are mini teaching sessions to discuss exactly how certain letters are pronounced depending on where they fall in a particular word. I've learned a lot of helpful pointers from these lessons, and have gotten great feedback on my pronunciation.

You Got a Perty Mouf, Boy

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.

This class continued our nice run of informative classes and gave me déjà vu about a recent experience of mine. Once a week, I take part in an "intercambio (language exchange)" with a porteña who is looking to practice her English. I was telling her about how we are keeping our children on an American schedule (early to bed, early to rise) rather than exposing them to the late nights of Argentine kids. She was intrigued and asked me to describe a typical day of mine. For the most part I think I did ok, but there were parts I struggled through. David and Jimena did this same exercise in class 14 and it was very helpful to hear how they described a typical day in their lives. I'm sure I'll have a chance to discuss my daily schedule again and next time I'm hoping it will sound flawless (and more advanced now that I learned a few more words to temporally arrange things).

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.

Hitting My Stride

Class 13 was filled with useful information! I feel like I made it through the first two weeks of classes working with material that was pretty much review for me, having taken formal Spanish classes before. Today's class was the first that both presented a lot of new concepts and cleared up ones that previously had confused me.

For starters, class 13 spent a lot of time describing, modeling, and practicing the use of indirect verbs - those that agree with the object of the sentence, not the subject. Examples include: gustar (to like/appeal), doler (to hurt), parecer (to seem), and interesar (to interest). The two that have given me the most fits so far have been "encantar (to love/be enchanted with)" and "faltar (to be lacking/missing)." I have heard them used countless times but couldn't quite figure out or remember how to use them myself. I would always substitute "no tengo (I don't have)" for "me falta (I'm missing)." Yes, I'm able to make my point but it's a round-about way of saying it. My learning style works much better with rules than with having to figure out patterns on my own. When I'm conversing with a Spanish speaker I spend so much time trying to understand what he/she is saying rather than how he/she is saying it. Said another way, I listen more for vocabulary than grammar; it isn't until I take a step back to think about what I am hearing or have concepts laid out for me that I fully understand the grammar. The approach Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish uses combining conversation and formal instruction is perfect for my needs and seems suitable to all levels of Spanish. After class 13, I feel extremely comfortable using indirect verbs and am excited to practice them over the next few days.

Another thing I learned from this class is that the "diéresis (ü - who knew it was called this)" makes an otherwise silent letter be pronounced. Now I might be able to pronounce the name of a nearby street (Güemes) correctly - and here I thought I had sound Spanish pronunciation.

The one negative from this class (and this is nitpicking) is the time they spent on the synonyms for "caradura (jackass)." It's so hard to remember one slang word, never mind five. I think it's fine to have it translated within the text of the conversation, but to spend time digressing to discuss different ways to call someone a jackass is a waste of time.

Getting Possessive

Class 12 was a review of week 2. David began the class by using the possible separation of his parents to try to get Jimena to feel sorry for him. As expected, Jimena didn't bite. After that it was on to the review. Again, the review was a nice mixture of old and new concepts, verbs, and vocabulary. I won't spend much time talking about the review of old concepts other than saying it does help reinforce things.

The quick snippets of teaching were quite helpful in this lesson. I learned that possessive pronouns are not used when talking about clothes or body parts. I know I have made this mistake many times talking to patients in the hospital or talking to my kids about getting dressed. This is a great illustration were language learning programs (like Rosetta Stone) which use context and repetition to teach and enforce grammar rules can come up short. I have taken five years of formal Spanish and spent 6 weeks working with Rosetta Stone without picking up on this rule. In the grand scheme of things it probably doesn't make a huge a huge deal when trying to get your point across but just doesn't sound polished to native Spanish speakers.

I also learned the meaning of a word I have been coming across quite often in the local newspaper, Clarín, lately - "quizás (maybe/perhaps)." As part of my attempt to improve my Spanish I have been trying to buy the local Spanish language paper a couple of times per week. When I first arrived here two months ago, I found myself reading the paper with a dictionary in hand. Having to stop every five seconds to look up words I didn't know made reading the paper a chore. Now I find myself not needing the dictionary at all (although I will often ask my wife what a word here or there means) and have come to enjoy my time sitting down with the paper on weekends.

As an illustration of my improved comprehension, my wife and I were watching highlights of this weekend's Premiere League soccer matches, including the Manchester United vs. Manchester City game in which Carlos Tevez (who plays on the Argentine National Team) was facing his old team for the first time since a recent trade. I was able to tell my wife about the new billboard Manchester City erected in the town center and about the comments Manchester United's coach had for Tevez. Her response: "You got all of that from reading the newspaper in Spanish? Good for you."

Needless to say I'm feeling better about my comprehension; just need to keep working on my speaking.

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Tailor Made

If there was a class tailor made for me, it was Class 11. It mainly focused on the ridiculous amount of verb tenses there are in Spanish (18-54 different tenses compared to only 8 in English!). David complained about how hard they are to remember and use (I hear ya' brother), but Jimena reassured him that you only need to remember a few to have a normal conversation; the rest will come with time and practice. This is what I am finally coming to understand --> I am getting quite comfortable with the present and past tenses (still working on the future) and I can usually get my point across. The problem is that I want to speak like a native and I will be self-conscious until I'm able to do so (call it my tragic flaw). Today's class helped remind me that this is an unrealistic expectation at this point and I should feel better about what I do know than what I don't know. If the tables were turned and I was talking to a non-native English speaker in English I would not hold it against him, and would probably be somewhat impressed, that he could speak a second language at the level I speak Spanish.

In Class 11, we also learned how to give directions. This involves using the imperative tense (great, more tenses), however, Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish did a nice job in digressing to explain exactly how this verb is conjugated. I would have spent (and did spend) much longer trying to figure it out myself with Rosetta Stone. Again, Rosetta Stone leaves it up to the learner to decipher rules through repetition and pattern recognition. While these are good teaching methods, I did find myself getting frustrated at times because I just wanted somebody to teach me the rule. I even would consult the Internet or a Spanish textbook at times for more instruction - Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish puts this right within the program.

I am now starting to understand better how to use reflexive verbs. Class 11 really solidified "irse" for me. We also review the present tense conjugations of some important and common Spanish verbs, which was nice. Tomorrow is another review day - we'll see how that goes.

Now I'm Just Plain Confused

One of the main teaching points that I got out of class 10 was that the present tense can be used when talking about the future. A couple of classes ago we also learned that you can also use the present tense to talk about the past. It seems that context clues are vitally important. I think I need to pay a little more attention to the verb tenses I am hearing in normal conversation to see if this actually takes place, and if there is a time frame into the past or future where the present tense is acceptable. As I said in one of my first posts, it is the switching between verb tenses that gives me the most problems. Being able to use the present tense much more would be a life saver. I just want to make sure that native Spanish speakers do this before doing it myself. I don't just want to be understood, I want to talk like a native. One particularly helpful hint that I have heard used by locals is using the present tense instead of the future tense when you would use "will" in English (such as "we will see each other later" translated to "nos vemos"). This I will definitely put into my repertoire immediately. These little pearls are what sets Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish apart from Rosetta Stone. Rosetta Stone relies entirely on context clues for the learner to discern the meaning of verbs and vocabulary. This is a good strategy a lot of the time, however, in instances such as those I talked about earlier in this post, I really love that Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish stops to explain the concepts.

Other highlights of class 10 were things such as learning how to make weekend plans and medical vocabulary (good for doctors to know, although very basic). I enjoyed learning that you can say "buen finde" to mean "buen fin de semana (have a good weekend)" - I love to use these little local sayings. It makes me feel like less of a gringo (I think the flip-flops and lack of tight black jeans may give me away though).

Class 10 also cleared up something that has been bugging me since I arrived in Buenos Aires. I am always seeing shops that say "fiambres, queso, bife" on the window and I could never figure out what "fiambres" meant. Leave it to Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish to clear it up for me (fiambres = cold cuts). Now I can walk down the street in peace (and get sandwich meats at a reasonable price).

Getting In Touch With Yourself

Class 9 was a bit of a humdinger - I think I need some time to digest it a bit. It started off with some straightforward vocabulary to help with telling time. Pretty harmless. However, this was followed by a question and answer session that saw David asking Jimena what time she likes to have sex, and then Jimena listing the times of the day (they were numerous) when she likes to masturbate. Maybe I just didn't use the software long enough but I never got to the unit on hooking yourself up in Rosetta Stone. I'm surprised they didn't also teach us the word for Kleenex. Sorry, no funny stories about my time in Buenos Aires to tell here.

After a short break for a cold shower, I learned about prepositions. Especially helpful was the information about what prepositions must always be used together (such as "not only...but also" in English). I learned that I've probably been combining these and using them incorrectly since my arrival here (should always use "de" with "a," and "desde" with "hasta"). Live and learn.

Although David's (the English speaking student) stalking of Jimena (the Spanish speaking teacher) can be a bit much at times, often taking over the class, he does come up with humorous observations about the Spanish vocabulary that makes it easy to remember. One example from class 9 is that the word for handcuffs is "esposas," the same word for wives - coincidence? I think not.

Hopefully, I'm able to retain more information from this class than what time Jimena likes to have sex (9:30am, 9:30pm, and 3:20pm for the record). I'll keep you posted.

Eight is Not Enough

Class 8 continued on the food theme delving more into restaurant etiquette, the world of steak/parillas, and the delectable milanesas. For the past several weeks I have been trying to figure out the difference between the milanesa and the suprema, two standard menu items in Buenos Aires. Is the milanesa plain and the suprema topped with cheese and tomato? Is the milanesa a fillet cut and the suprema a breast? Again, where was Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish when I needed it. From class 8 I learned that the milanesa is veal and the suprema is chicken - go figure.

I've also become a bit of a house-husband while in Argentina - still looking for work and having to pick up the kids from school at lunch time. With that has come the lion's share of the shopping and laundry, and now I have the vocabulary to bitch about having to do it all (hacer un lavado de ropa; hacer las compras). If only class 9 will teach me how to watch a Spanish mid-day talk show or telenovela I can complete the transformation to soccer mom.

Kidding aside, what I liked most about class 8 was that David (the English speaking student) is finally learning enough Spanish to say full sentences and carry on somewhat of a conversation with Jimena (the Spanish speaking teacher) - yes, we're on a first name basis. This back and forth conversation is really what I was waiting for as it gives you practice hearing how verbs are conjugated quickly between the first and second person verb tenses. Hopefully after a few classes of this I will feel much more comfortable in conversation and won't have to pause to conjugate the verb before answering.

I am thrilled with what I have learned so far and can't wait to see where I am after the next 4 weeks.

Where Were You a Month Ago?

Class 7 delved into the world of food, Argentina-style. It covered the Argentine staples of maté and alfajores, and illustrated how to order in a restaurant. I have been waiting for the restaurant unit as going out to eat is the major interaction I have with Spanish-speaking folks. Two days ago I was at a restaurant/take-out place across the street from my apartment getting empanadas for lunch. I placed my order and was standing at the counter waiting for my empanadas to be warmed. Then, another one of the waiters came up and asked me if I needed anything. Suddenly it dawned on me that I had never learned the word for "order" (or at least couldn't remember learning it). I couldn't tell the guy that I had already ordered my food and was waiting for it. I pieced together a series of nervous smiles, hand signals, and simple phrases to get my point across. It ended up working but was very uncomfortable. If only I had watched class 7 earlier I would have quickly answered "ya pedí" (I think).

There were also a lot of vocabulary words for food that you will see on menus, and the words are often unique to Argentina. For instance, here they call bacon "panceta" not "tocino" as I learned it in high school Spanish and as my Spanish-English dictionary has it. This brings up a bigger point of the importance of learning the type of Spanish the people speak in the place where you will be traveling or living. Often times a routine Spanish-English dictionary is insufficient - you would think that although they may have different words for certain things they would still understand the common dictionary translations. Well, you'd be wrong. My wife and I have run into problems trying to order bacon, fix the toilet, buy ginger all by looking at our dictionary and using words they don't use here. As I have said before, one of the strongest qualities of Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish is the fact that it teaches real-life Argentine Spanish - something I wish I new more about before I arrived here and something I definitely did not get in 6 weeks of using Rosetta Stone.

Another major thing I learned in this class was that people here will often speak about the past in the presents tense and use context clues to tell the listener the event happened previously. Switching between the tenses is a major hurdle for me and it was nice to hear that I could use the present tense to explain the past and still be understood.

So Far, So Good

Class 6 ended the first week of classes. Although it claimed to be a "review" class, it actually did touch on some new material - namely words used put things in order and to describe possession. I feel that after a week of classes we've covered some really useful stuff that allows for basic conversation. It has also taught some more advanced material for those of us who may have already had a little Spanish to work with.

I am enjoying the digressions during which difficult concepts are explained in more detail and with several examples. It makes for a nice mix of informal conversation and formal instruction which is great for people without long attention spans. This quick-paced and dynamic format is excellent for keeping me engaged and focused, often causing me to lose track of time. The classes are not laborious.

When I started working with Rosetta Stone I was excited and often would do marathon sessions (2+ hours); that wore off after about a week and doing the exercises on a daily basis became a chore. I think this was because the amount of information seemed endless --> despite these marathon sessions, and working with the program for just over a month, I still had months worth of material I hadn't seen. On one hand this is great because, although Rosetta Stone is quite expensive, it does give you a lot of meat. There are three main problems though: (1) I would have had to make Rosetta Stone my full time job to get through it all in a reasonable amount of time, (2) it didn't keep me engaged enough to use it on a regular basis, (3) a lot of what it taught was good for formal Spanish instruction, but it didn't prepare me for informal conversation in Buenos Aires - I still felt a little lost when I arrived.

I am interested to see if Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish continues to keep my interest as well as it has so far. It seems like it is going to provide comprehensive exposure to Argentine conversational Spanish in a very manageable amount of time.

5 Down, 25 to Go

I have to say that this class was a bit of a downer after the last one - more basic verb conjugations in the present tense and a bit of slang. On the bright side, it was nice to get some explanations on the different vocabulary used for comparisons. Although I do have a base of Spanish to work with, I feel that often times my speech (and writing) is very basic. Learning how to express subtle differences when comparing things will hopefully kick it up a notch and sound more refined.

So far in this blog I've done a lot of comparing Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish to Rosetta Stone, however, most of it has been in favor of the former. While Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish teaches "conversational Spanish" I actually think Rosetta Stone does a better job of using context to teach verbs and vocabulary. Rosetta Stone is much more visual. For example when demonstrating the difference between "aquí (here)" and "allí (there)," Rosetta Stone shows pictures of a yellow ball up close and a red ball far away allowing you to deduce the meanings of the two words yourself. I am a visual learner and that really worked for me. If you are a visual learner I think you may have some difficulty with Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish. Yes, it does have some simple animation and displays all of the Spanish words in writing, but that is about it. I think you could listen to the sound without the video and nearly get the same out of it.

Back to Rosetta Stone - the one thing I really hated about it was how long it spent on the same concept or set of vocabulary words. You could spend over an hour on the same set of 3 words doing exercises in writing, grammar, speaking, etc. It would have been much better if the repetition was spaced out. Hopefully, Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish does this and we will revisit a lot of the early concepts throughout the course. This, I believe, will give it a leg up on Rosetta Stone.

"Chau, Che"

Wow! This was easily the best and most useful class yet. I really enjoyed it and didn't want it to end. It was very fast-paced and filled with great vocabulary for informal conversation --> something I absolutely did not get with Rosetta Stone. It is the colloquial sayings that often leave me feeling lost and speechless when talking to Argentine friends. For instance, I usually meet up with friends at a local bar on Thursdays and they will often great me with a "Che (dude)" followed by some slang I have never heard before. My reply usually consists of a smile and head nod, hoping that they were just saying hi, followed by a more formal greeting that I learned in high school Spanish. Sure, it does the trick, but it's a little awkward. Learning local slang is crucial when traveling if you are going to be having a lot of informal interactions, however, it is so hard to learn this stuff ahead of time. It's nice how Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish weaves slang into its classes early on, especially slang that is specific to Buenos Aires.

In addition, the class covered other useful material like body parts (of course, in a sexual and entertaining way), more numbers, and several more basic (but vital) verbs. Again, getting exposure to several key verbs early gives you the tools to have everyday conversations. While there is some early exposure to non-present-tense verbs, as I mentioned in a previous post, I would like to see more past and future tenses worked into the initial curriculum.

Can't wait to go to the local empanada joint tomorrow --> no more "hasta luego for me," it's "'ta luego" from here on out.

Now We're Talking

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.

The Saga Continues

Class 2 had a focus on more formal greetings as well as the basic necessities should you find yourself transplanted into a Spanish-speaking country (sound familiar?) - counting, general demographics to fill out paperwork, who to call for help, etc. Overall, having had some prior Spanish instruction, this class was not terribly useful to me. That being said, there were small grammar questions of mine that were answered, and I did manage to learn a few new verbs and vocabulary words. What I continue to find most helpful is the continuous banter between David and Jimena - it allows me to practice my listening comprehension. One major issue that I continue to struggle with is understanding what exactly people are asking when they speak to me. For instance, I find myself asking the deli guy to repeat himself at least twice every time I see him. Eventually I feel bad about repeatedly saying "cómo," give up, and just say "sí." This has caused me to get a block of cheese when I wanted it sliced and sliced ham when I wanted it in a block. Go figure.

The nice thing about the Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish system is how user friendly it is - just like playing a movie. It's very easy to pause or rewind the class if there are concepts you didn't quite understand or words you didn't quite hear. I find myself bouncing back and forth between reading the written dialogue while listening and just listening. Personally I feel that the written dialogue is a bit of a crutch and I try to ignore it as much as possible. I think in order to really learn conversational Spanish you need to focus on the conversation and hopefully pickup concepts by hearing trends and by repetition.

One Chance to Make a First Impression

I was really excited to get started working with the Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish program. Although I studied Spanish for four years in high school and one in college, trying to have an every-day conversation with a native Spanish speaker remains extremely anxiety-provoking. The rapid-fire question and answer that I do unconsciously on a daily basis in English screeches to a grinding halt when I converse with a Spanish speaker. Conjugating verbs, remembering vocabulary, and having correct pronunciation are difficult to do on-the-fly. Now that I am living in Buenos Aires, I am faced with such situations on a daily basis: picking the kids up from school, going out for drinks, or even going to the grocery store.

Class 1 of Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish has me hopeful that by the end of the next five weeks I'll be seeking out conversations with the Spanish-speakers. The format is nearly entirely conversational with one person (female) only speaking Spanish and the other (male) mostly English with some Spanish mixed in. Yes, there is some quick-hitting formal instruction thrown in there, so don't worry. The gist of the class is that the male English speaker has recently moved from London to Buenos Aires to learn Spanish and finds himself isolated in a recording booth with a hot Spanish teacher to record a new Spanish instruction program. The endless attempts of Dave to woo his teacher is hilarious and definitely helped keep my attention. They went through the basics of how to introduce yourself, how to respond to simple everyday questions, and how to say goodbye. A smattering of vocabulary words and phrases is woven into the conversation. At times the speech was fairly slow which allowed my to fully grasp grammar concepts, while at other times the teacher spoke quite rapidly allowing me to practice real-life listening comprehension. All-in-all a nice introduction to the concept of Bueno, entonces... Learn Spanish that has me intrigued and hopeful about what's to come (including whether or not Dave eventually wins the heart of his teacher).