I see Nelly Furtado's next album is entirely in Spanish, there's also a track on her last album called No Hay Igual that might be a good choice for us Newbies.

Thanks,

Al

Thanks,I found these two Wikipedia articles:-

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T-V_distinction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_dialects_and_varieties#Grammatical_differences

Sounds like Tú/Usted and Nǐ/Nín are used in exactly the same way.

Can any of the SpanishPod team in Shanghai confirm this please?

Gracias/Thanks/谢谢,

Al

Great podcast and thanks for answering my questions. When I've been on business in China I've only ever used "Nǐ" and that's been entirely acceptable, I also have a colleague from Beijing who says that no one really ever uses "Nín" unless it's a very formal occasion, but in France I would always use "Vous" unless I got to know someone pretty well. So my question was really based on my own experience of differing uses of the formal and informal versions of "You" in other countries, and I wanted to get a sense of how and when to use "Tú" and "Usted" in Spanish.

Loved the Muppet impersonations!

Gracias,

Al

Do the informal "Tú" and formal "Usted" get used the same way as the French "Tu" and "Vous", only using "Tú" with people you're already familiar with (and would therefore already know their names)?

If so when could you use ¿Cómo te llamas? ?  Would it be at informal social occasions (perhaps with your peer group or with younger people than you) rather than a business or formal social event?

Gracias,

Al

If ¿cómo te llamas? is for the informal tú, how does the grammar change when used with the formal usted please?

Gracias,

Al

Thanks for answering my question, very much appreciated!!

Gracias,

Al

One for JP y Liliana I guess, why do you use "quiero" rather than “quisiera“ or “me gustaría” in the lessons when asking for something please when the latter are considered more polite?

Gracias,

Al

I've heard "Quisiera ..." is a more polite way of asking for something than "Quiero ...", is this correct and is it more true in some Spanish-speaking countries than others?

BTW, here in the UK a mix of beer and lemonade is called a shandy, so lager shandy (clear) or bitter shandy (dark).  

Gracias,

Al

Just started with SpanishPod and have a couple of questions if you don't mind.

Am I right in thinking that the endings of "me llamo", "te llamas", "se llama" don't change according whether the person concerned is male or female?

Also, I don't hear much of the "th" being used for "s" or "c" sounds, is this a difference in pronunciation between European and Latin American Spanish?

Thanks,

Al