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.