Del Taco al Tango - How we became SpanishPod

This was a real treat.  It was great to hear your stores and I am sure glad all of you ended up at SpanishPod

I know Shanghai is a huge city and very international but it seems very impressive to me that they could not only find four Spanish speakers but find four spanish speakers with on air personalities. The podcast is terrific.

--Joey

joey7f, we didn't know we had on-air personalities until we sat in front of the mic! 

For me, the secret behind SpanishPod is what Lili said in the podcast, that we have become such good friends.  The podcasting, the videos, the teaching... it all seems effortless when you genuinely like the people you work with!

Muchas gracias por este show. Siempre me he preguntado cómo ustedes vinieron todos juntos. Son muy interesantes y talentosos. Qué bien es ver cuánto ustedes disfrutan de estar juntos y como resulto de esto, nuestro aprendizaje de español es más divertido y productivo.

Mexican pod, well lili, we as listeners do not mind, it is cool group of friends working effortlesley. So leo was late the 3rd day, for waking up early, sounds like Qatar to me if you don't know the routes and the traffic timing. And Lili

oooooooooooooo

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

000000000000000

Esti what kind of music u put from your IPOD on the party? and be sure to drink a lot of coffee before you answer if it is early in the mornin....

Great show, cool to hear how the team came to be

that was interesting. Based on occasional references to each others families, I had always assumed that lilli and leo knew each other from mexico and had joined up together.

Great podcast!  I really enjoyed learning about your backgrounds and how you came to be in China - the right place at the right time.  Muchas Gracias and Happy Birthday to Esti.

I always thought of Esti as the overworked php programmer that just happened to be this great actress. Ken was so lucky to find her.  How did she survive all the picante foods in Mx.,  or are you guys managing to convert her to the hot side? 

When is she going to show us a paella, or something?

Thanks so much for telling us about yourselves. I LOVE the podcast. Don't sell yourselves short. There are any number of people who speak Spanish and who could record lessons. But it takes a special gift to make them interesting, entertaining and useful. I especially like the cultural references and the "real life" situations like one would be likely to encounter when actually trying to speak with Spanish speakers and mix in Latin culture. I "took" Spanish in high school and it was very grammatical, but not very useful. Keep up the good work!

That was a great history lesson on SpanishPod... very cool!  Sounds like you all had a great birthday party too!  ¡Salud!

SpanishPod team including interns.

Can I please ask a question which has nothing to do with Spanish?  I understand that most of you went to China to learn Chinese.   I am assuming that you were most interested in the Mandarin dialect.  I have never been to China so I am somewhat ignorant on the subject but I do know that there is a Shanghainese dialect.  If people’s first language is Shanghainese, are you still able to have a good “total immersion” experience?  Thank you, I am just curious.

Guys!

Thanks so much for all of your comments! I think we are very lucky to work with each other, we are friends and we enjoy our job.

Also I enjoy so much our users! You guys are the best really!

I had a great birthday, will post some pictures! so u can see the giant paella!

One of these days we gotta hear you all shuo yi dian zhongwen with each other (btw JP, are you still doing Qing Wen with Amber?)

--Joey

Thanks for this lesson - I loved it!  Strangely I was surprised to hear that by and large you already were in Shanghai.  I somehow always believed that you went there just for SpanishPod.

Lili - I think you guys do a great job of introducing Spanish accents from many different Spanish speaking countries, so it's not just MexicanPod!  It's so good to hear the different voices, esp in Del taco al tango - even if I don't understand much of some of them!  But thanks to you guys I'm getting there slowly...

You can definitely tell that you are all friends - that's one of the reasons I enjoy the lessons so much.

rachaelt, I moved to Shanghai for this gig, but the fact that we all came together is either divine intervention or some really crazy luck. 

joey7f, 现在 Pete 跟 Amber 和 Connie 一起录请问。 Pete 比我好得多！  :)

GREAT podcast.  You guys are doing a great job. 

Your podcasts are head and shoulders above anything else out there, and it's because you all assembled a great team where each one of you is fantastically talented and most importantly, have a wonderful team synergy. 

Keep up the good work, and nobody quit!  You're stuck with each other until the bitter end.

Qué interesante escuchar las historias de todos los de Spanish Pod.  Me sorprendió mucho aprender que Esti estuvo un año en Ohio!  Alliance queda como una hora y media de mi casa.  Siempre cuando mi esposo y yo estamos de viaje y regresamos a Ohio, gritamos a la vez ¨Hi Ohio¨como un saludo a nuestro estado.

Me encantan todos sus podcasts.

ohiolinda,we have no corresponding greeting for "Washington."  ha ha

When was it that you all learned your second languages?  And how was the journey, who encouraged you along the way?

prattz99, I took French in high school, my friend Shawn told me it would impress the ladies.  I took Spanish in college (and continued French) because I didn't want to take any "serious" classes. 

I ended up declaring a major in Romance Linguistics, and studied abroad in Avignon, France.  In my senior year of college, the University's program in Spain was cancelled, but I was able to go on the Rome program instead. 

Most of my Spanish I've picked up in the US through teaching and from having Latinos in my life.

As for Chinese, I spend summer break 2006 in an intensive program in Seattle, and then in 2007 did a strict immersion program in Hangzhou, China.  Then that fall I moved to Shanghai. 

My Chinese is at the intermediate level; I spent most of the last year here goofing off instead of learning Chinese... but that's all going to change; I'm going to start buckling down! 在中国应该说中文对不对！

Who encouraged me?  Mostly it's my latino friends :)

You a cool dude JP.  If I every achieve a level of proficiency and I'm out in that area of the world say climbing Mt. Fuji I'll stop by Shanghai and visit studio fiesta.谢谢?

pratzz99, proficiency is a rainbow you keep chasing.  Don't wait until you feel "proficient" to travel; the more traveling you do and the more friends you make, the more proficient you'll get.     

SpanishPod team

Alter talking about how brilliant charming and humble Esti is, JP said “Es que no tiene abuela” and Esti agreed “No tengo abuela en este momento” (I am not sure about the “en este momento").  I don’t see how this fits into the conversation.  Is this an inside joke?

Hi stevestrv, Esti says "no tiene abuela" about people who compliment themselves, as in, your grandmother is not around to compliment you, so you have to compliment yourself. 

Lili and I didn't know her meaning when she first said it to us, she had to explain it to us!

Thank you JP.  Do you know if that is a Spanish expression or is Esti’s own invention?

JP I like that, I'm lacing up the boots now I'll kick butt and try to get out this September, no new years resolution.  I got to.