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Lyrics:tener es tuve; estar estuveir es fui y también serponer es puse; poder es pudetraje es para traer hacer hice; haber hube;saber supe; querer quise;decir dije; venir vine;ver vi; dar di;no acentos P.S. Thank you, Robert! P.S.S. The preterite tense is the grammatical tense expressing actions that took place in the past. Just in case some of you didn’t know that because, of course, I did already. Really. I just looked it up for you. . . . → Read More About Spanish by Song: Remember my pithy play on words en Español regarding my natural seat when it comes to horseback riding? Well, I wrote to Christopher Howard, the expat expert on Costa Rican Spanish. He asked: “First, you need to explain what is a ‘natural seat.’ I have never heard the term in English. Then I can try and find out what it means or tell you how to explain it in correct Spanish. I was never into horseback riding so am . . . → Read More About UPDATE: On Having A Natural Seat Yesterday, Hal and the boys and I were at a birthday party and the topic turns to horseback riding. Vicky, the birthday girl, turns to me and says, “Do you ride?” Me and my big mouth say: Not anymore. But I used to. When I was eight years old, close to 100 years ago, we lived on a dairy farm, Spring Lake Farm, in Greens Fork, Indiana with 500 head of cattle, a small herd of pigs, a flock of chickens, a gaggle of geese and one horse: Big Red. . . . → Read More About Me ‘n My Natural Seat I love this blog! It explores the subtleties of Spanish as spoken in Costa Rica: excellent primer… and, ok, I could use it. Pura vida, mae! or: Nurturing Cultural Intercourse and the Integrity of English in Central America Written by guest author, el Profesor de Inglés, Hal:The school is a single room concrete block building up in the hills behind Santa Ana in Costa Rica. It’s poorly lit and cheaply furnished in the Costa Rican style. I spend four hours a week there teaching a few of the locals how to speak English. My students range in age from 14 to 64. A small core of about half a dozen are my most dedicated, another half a dozen drift in and . . . → Read More About About Last Night So I take Mango, the big golden dog, to the vet because she has some persistent ear crud going on. El doctór, who is lovely and kind, the same guy who took the disgusting worm things out of Boo, scrapes a little sample off Mango’s ear, scrapes it onto a slide and examines it for quite some time under two different microscopes. Looking, turning knobs. Spraying some stuff on it. Turning the slide, looking some more. Finally, he turns to me and, very somberly, says, "Jeest." "What?" I ask, . . . → Read More About Jeest Man, my patience is tried. I’m fried, wiped out. I surrender. Ok, I almost surrender, but it’s touch and go. When bad things happen here – just everyday bad things – you come up against the culture shock thing big time. Because simple solutions here are not… simple. Mainly because they take way, way, waaaaaay longer. And you can never get the truth about when that solution is going to happen. Like, the house phone went out two weeks ago. Not that it’s critical, but when you need a phone, nothing else will do. It seems so silly now, . . . → Read More About Vexations 11 June 2008
 6 comments - (Comments are closed)  Culture Shock, Etiquette, Living-In, Plumbing, Spanish, UtilitiesIf you are learning Spanish, get used to this. What the Anglo-Saxon says in two syllables, the Spanish say in five. At least five. Like: Lawnmower = la máquina para cortar zacate eléctricala MA-kee-na PAR-ah core-TAR sza-KAH-tay a-LAKE-tree-kah = the machine for to cut grass electrically My sister’s house = la casa de mi hermanala KA-sa day me air-MAHN-ah = the house of my sister My friend’s sister’s house = la casa de la hermana de mi amigala KA-sa day la air-MAHN-ah day me ah-ME-gah = the house of the sister of my friend Probably = probablemente . . . → Read More About Gratuitous Syllabification Hal and the boys are teaching English at a nearby volunteer school. They go twice a week: once teaching adults, once teaching teens. The adults are easier just because they show up voluntarily. The teens have been coerced by either parents or school so are pretty disinterested in mastering English. All they really want to do is eat candy, drink soda, text message and flirt. The only English they care to learn are the bad words. Sounds like a bunch of gringo teens to me. In the last adult class, Hal was teaching how to order a coke. He . . . → Read More About “I would like to order a cock.” This morning, my Costa Rica blogger friend (meaning I’ve never laid eyes on her but we chat like we are best friends), Erin, wrote about speaking Span-glish. Which newbie expats do A LOT! I love going to a restaurant where the waiter is practicing his English and we are practicing our Spanish. There’s an interesting conversation. A bi-lingual conversation with both of us struggling for words, helping each other out. Fun! Hal has been volunteering at a local not-for-profit English school. Speaking English is the number one way a tico can get a . . . → Read More About Spanglish |
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