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Lesson Introduction

The Spanish-speaking world is a huge place, encompassing many different nationalities, ethnicities, cultures, and identities. Getting someone's nationality right is often just as important to them as getting their name right! We're not all Mexican, you know!

Comments (72) RSS

Avatar Team
jpvillanueva says
Hola kalos, Flattery will get you everywhere! ¡Bienvenido! What comes to mind immediately is “nuevodeliano," but we just made the up here in the office. You might ask some Spanish speakers in New Deli what they like to say! Some places have proper words (Madrid: madrileño;Mexico City: chilango; Buenos Aires: porteño,Los Ángeles: angelino...) but some places don't have well attested adjectives. Me, I'm from Seattle, and there's no well attested adjective for us Seattlites. So I figured I could either a) keep saying I'm "de Seattle" and avoid the issue, b) wait for latinos to adopt a new term, or c) make one up for myself, and see if it catches on. Of course I chose c). So I (and only I) say that I'm seatleteco, which I chose because Seattle is named after a great Native American chief (of the Duwamish) and the -teco suffix is usually reserved for indigenous words (rf. azteca, guatemalteco, etc.) So shall we call you "nuevodeliano?" Or would you like something else? : )
December 11, 2007 from the Web.
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lilianamata says
Bienvenido Kalos! Aquí puedes practicar tu español.
December 11, 2007 from the Web.
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fimperial says
Yo soy esatdounidense, pero mis padres son Filipinos. Mi mama habla espanol cuando crecen en Manila, pero nunca nos enseno cuando se crecen en Tejas. (is "crecer" the right colloqial term to use when you're talking about growing up or where you grew up?) Thanks to JP and Liliana (and behind the scenes staff) for making SpanishPod so much fun to listen to and engage in. It's awesome that you do the podcasts and also work the message boards. You guys must be busy. Gracias por todo!
December 13, 2007 from the Web.
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estibalitz says
Hola fimperial, I would say: Mi mama nos hablaba (used to speak) en español cuando estabamos en Manila, pero nunca nos enseño cuando estábamos (were) en Tejas. However, your translation of grow up into crecer is perfect.If you want to use this verb crecer you should change the sentence, let´s say for example: En Manila crecimos escuchando español.
December 17, 2007 from the Web.
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fimperial says
Gracias estibalitz! I'll try again: En Tejas crecimos escuchando ingles, pero mi madre creció en Manila hablando tagalog, español, y ingles.
December 18, 2007 from the Web.
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lilianamata says
fimperial Just one tiny change when you want to connect a sentence by using "y" and the next word starts with a vowel you use "e". So the phrase is "En Tejas crecimos escuchando ingles, pero mi madre creció en Manila hablando tagalog, español, e ingles."
December 20, 2007 from the Web.
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fimperial says
Gracias Liliana por su corrección e ayuda!
December 21, 2007 from the Web.
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marinovich says
Soy de Colombia, un hermoso pais de Sudamérica. Soy de padre croata y madre colombiana, ¿alguien me puede enseñar el croata? I'm from Colombia, a beautiful country of S. America. My father was Croatian and my mother Colombian. Anyone can teach me Croatian?
January 29, 2008 from the Web.
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pituitaryadenoma says
What is the difference between "de verdad" and "de veras"?
February 18, 2008 from the Web.
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lilianamata says
pituitaryadenoma "de verdad" and "de veras" mean the same thing, "de veras" it is a more colloquial form.
February 18, 2008 from the Web.
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baxflex says
Hi Marinovich there is a website that teaches all the languages from A-Z . if you go to www.word2word.com and there is a box it says " take me to" click on foreign language and you see list of all languages , click on croatian and go from there.
February 24, 2008 from the Web.
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golfixer says
Nicaraguense is a person from Nicaragua.
April 11, 2008 from the Web.
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light487 says
Grammar is good.. it helps me to piece together all the little bits and pieces. I find that I learn better if I understand WHY the sentence is so, not just WHERE all the pieces go. How to say it is what the PODcasts are for.. but without a little bit of grammar it is not as helpful for me. I find that if the words are broken down a little further, even if the literal meaning is useless by itself, I find that my brain fits it together more readily than if I just have these complex phrases that are obviously made up of more than one word. This is perhaps one of the harder lessons in the Newbie section that I have listened to so far, so my comments above might be just me reeling back from the huge amount of data I am having to deal with in this lesson. Perhaps there is really 2 or more lessons within this one lesson here.. I don't know.. but I feel a little overwhelmed by this lesson and I find it hard to keep up with it.
April 20, 2008 from the Web.
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shep1582 says
Light487, welcome aboard learning spanish with us users at Spanishpod. I agree with your statement about grammar. It is helpful for me to piece things together to really understand too. There is a language learning philosophy that kids speak without knowing grammar and they pick it up. They say us adults "overthink" and analyze everything that's why it's tougher for us to pick up a language. Guess what? I'm one of those type "A" analytical, overthinking types - surprise, surprise. I don't know if I agree totally with the above philosophy, but for me Spanishpod has helped me improve dramatically. Regards to feeling overwhelmed I totally understand - we all do at times! It usually takes me a week before "one" lesson starts to sink in. I go over and over lessons at the intermediate level usually. I use a simple grammar book with exercises and a dictionary to supplement my spanishpod sessions. Also I search the web on subjects I don't understand through google search. Ask a lot questions and listen again and again. Trust me it will get easier because there are many of us who are getting better each day. I literally can now understand things at the upper intermediate and advance levels where I had no hope before I found Spanishpod. I hope this helps you. Nos vemos, mi amigo (See you later, my friend)
April 20, 2008 from the Web.
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ekatpet says

Soy Ruso, pero nuestro pais es tan grande. Porque casi cada persona aqui es una mixtura de nacionaldades.

June 8, 2008 from the Web.
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todger says

I see some grammatical differences here.  (with English)

llamarse is a reflexive verb - to call oneself. Similar to - lavarse - to wash oneself. Now i can understand me lavo, te lavas, se lava.  As it follows the English meanings.

But me llamo, te llamas, se llama is a step away from - I am called, you are called, he/she/it is called.

It is not difficult, but takes some thinking about

como se llama tu pero? - what does your dog call itself?

 

 

July 2, 2008 from the Web.
Avatar Team
jpvillanueva says

todger, that's great!

Some people question why I teach sometimes the literal gloss of the grammar and then require you to do the step that takes some thinking..... The ask, 'wouldn't it be better to just skip to the current English meaning?'

But your comment is exactly why I don't skip the step, so you can see the patterns!  :)

After all, we're not really learning translation, we're learning Spanish grammar!

July 2, 2008 from the Web.
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boazw says

Just joined the website - I am recupertaing from open-heart surgery and I find this website as a fantastic way to spend the time at home.

A questions:

Is there a certain order of studying the lessons? Onviously there are different level, but within a category, let's say Newbie, is there an order of difficulty, so that you can take the lessons in this order?

Thanks in advance

Boaz (Israel)

October 6, 2008 from the Web.
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donperigo says

boazw not really, the idea is to learn what you want when you want so just jump in anywhere. theyre all good.

October 6, 2008 from the Web.
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jpvillanueva says

boazw, I hope you have a speedy recovery!  If you're new to Spanish, pick any Newbie level lesson that seems interesting to you and listen to it; they're all intended to be entry level. Think of it as a lesson buffet... start where you want!  Skip the lessons you're not interested in :)

SpanishPod is a great tool to introduce you to Spanish and work on listening comprehension, which is a weak spot of many other methods.

October 7, 2008 from the Web.
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valdecyr says

Hola!

Me llamo Valdecyr. Soy brasileño. ¿De qué parte de Brasil? De una bela ciudad llamada Campinas. Así, tambien soy campinero. Me gusta mucho estudiar el español aquí en SpanishPod.

 

April 3, 2009 from the Web.
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stevestr says

Hola Valdecyr

Que bueno verte aquí

April 3, 2009 from the Web.
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valdecyr says

Hola Stevestr!

¿Entonces estás acá también? que bueno!

Praxis language courses are really useful, funny and help people join very supportive and active communities. Prior at EnglishPod and now at SpanishPod I can realise how learning a second or even a third language can be so interesting. I do really love study languages and know different cultures! Here I could at last find all of this.

 

April 4, 2009 from the Web.
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al_walker says

Hi,

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

April 26, 2009 from the Web.
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cutthatcity says

al-walker

You're correct, verb endings only depend on whether you are talking to a 1st, 2nd or 3rd person (singular or plural).

 

The absense of the 'th' on c's and z's is found in latin america. You will find the 'th' sound spoken in spain.

April 26, 2009 from the Web.
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kikuyu says

Welcome to Spanishpod Al, Bienvenido!

 

April 26, 2009 from the Web.
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al_walker says
Gracias! Thanks for the welcome and for your help. Al
April 28, 2009 from the Web.
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kalman12 says

much gracias! how shall we say morocco

June 7, 2009 from the Web.
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donperigo says

kalman12

por Morocco decimos marruecos
for Morocco we say marruecos

y la gente de marruecos son marroquí
and the people of morocco are marroquí

June 7, 2009 from the Web.
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parachute101 says

Hi, I'm new to Spanish Pod.  The beginning level or newbie level here is not really entry level.  It's perfect for me because I've already taken some Spanish classes but people who haven't learned how to conjugate the verbs yet would be hopelessly behind.

August 19, 2009 from the Web.
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rodneyp says

Hi parachute101

The idea behind the lessons is to learn through spoken language, the way we all learn as children. 

Listen to the translations, and just accept that "como se llama" means "what's his/her name".  The fact that you're using reflexive verbs isn't important.  Just memorize it as a chunk, and start using it.  After all, how much grammar did any of us know when we first learned to talk? 

But for anyone who does want to learn more about grammar, check out the "La Clave" lessons.  Those deal exclusively with grammar. 

August 19, 2009 from the Web.
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cobre says

I came here with no knowledge of Spanish conjugations.

I agree with parachute101 in that more could be done.  However I found that THE CHUNKS are really important. Order is something we recognize once we have enough data to SEE (hear) a pattern. Then the rule is a recognition of the pattern and tool for extention.  You can learn the rule first, but it will almost certainly get in the way of fluency as there are lots of rules.

Early on, JP and Stevestr mentioned an online dictionary/thesarus/translating dictionary called wordreference , and for that I thank them immensely, I have found it to be the perfect complement to this site. It is great in that if you enter an unknown verb in any tense, it tells you what tense you are looking at, the root verb and the meaning. Click on the little conjuagate button next to the root and it will diagram ALL the forms of that verb with the places that the verb varies from the normal rules highlighted.  Like a paper dictionary, you can see the words that are spelled similarly on the same page (in a column on the left but that online list includes all the spellings in the database, not just the root of the word, all forms of the conjugations regular and irregular.)

 

August 20, 2009 from the Web.
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rodneyp says

WordReference is great, I don't know how I lived without it. 

The WordReference forums are incredibly helpful as well.   They have answers to thousands of common questions (and a lot of uncommon ones) people have asked, and you can ask questions of your own.  Once you start using this dictionary/forum combo, I think you'll find it invaluable.

And for the life of me I don't know why my last message came out in bold...??

August 20, 2009 from the Web.
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evandar says

¡Hola, guapos y guapas! :D

Yo soy noruego, pero me gustaría vivir en España. Fui en Tenerife, en 1994, y en verdad me lo (la?) gustó.

As always, suggestions and corrections are welcome. :)

September 3, 2009 from the Web.
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stevestr says

evandar

I am pretty sure you want to say

"me  gustó"

I don't think you should include "lo" or "la"

September 3, 2009 from the Web.
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evandar says

Ah, muchas gracias stevestr, for correcting me. :) I'm finally beginning to remember to include "lo"s and "la"'s, and I guess I've become somewhat triggerhappy.

September 4, 2009 from the Web.
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evandar says

I was thinking, could I have said "lo/la me gustó"? And anyways, is it El Tenerife  or La Tenerife? ^^

September 7, 2009 from the Web.
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marcobestgen says

Soy belga pero es una error biologica : debia de ser de Tenerife, es porque me voy en la isla cada vez que puedo (y que tengo dinero porque Iberia cuesta tan al vuelo).

November 2, 2009 from the Web.
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marcobestgen says

Hola Liliana, en el ejercicio 2, pregunta numero 2, las opciones A y D son iguales. En el ejercicio 3, el ultimo no tiene sonido.

November 2, 2009 from the Web.
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evandar says

marco, I'm afraid I'm not as proficient in Spanish as you, hence I have problems understanding just what you said. I could throw it into an online translator, but on the advice of JP, I've decided to stay away from them as much as possible. So if you could repeat what you said in English?

As for the exercises and audio reviews, quite a few of them have errors. I've only checked the early material so far, I don't know if later lessons are free of these annoyances.

November 3, 2009 from the Web.
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marcobestgen says

Hi Evandar, oh no I'm not good at all in spanish  :-) I try to write as less as possible  english  here because I want to communicate as much as I can in spanish even if it's full of mistakes and if it looks foolish or a bit messy (I should put a disclaimer end of my messages "don't read me unless you know what's spanish and what's not" !).   this because usually a (pretty) teacher is correcting me the day after and it helps me structuring my phrases.   I'm french speaking and I was saying that being born in Belgium (like I am) is a biological mistake because I was supposed to be born in Tenerife (Island) instead, and going there every single time I can (when I have funds, it means). Have a nice afternoon and thanks for the comment  ! Marco

November 3, 2009 from the Web.
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marcobestgen says

Olvide decir que la foto del episodio aqui con el muro azul y las chicas sonriendo es super.  Marco

November 3, 2009 from the Web.
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cobre says

Wow!  Was that Yenny helping out in this dialog (#0004) or was that another Cuban? This was pre Esti, no?

    
¡Wow! ¿Fue qué Yenny que ayudarles en este diálogo (# 0004) o fue una otra cubana? Esto fue antes de Esti, ¿no?

Here is a sentence from the newspaper:

Tres de cada cuatro indígenas guatemaltecos son analfabetos, según la ONU.

Three of every four indigenous Guatemalans are illiterate, according to the UN.

About half the population there are indegenous people, the Maya.

JP translated de as from (de México) it also means of.

 

November 3, 2009 from the Web.
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bababardwan says

haha, it's funny how much enemigo from the supplementary vocab sounds like "an amigo" to a noob like myself [even though it does sound like the English "enemy"..but hey, I'm trying to think in Spanish]. I can imagine someone telling me I'm their "enemigo" and me thinking they were calling me one of their amigos. Oh yeah, you're my amigo too :)

August 29, 2011 from the Web.
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bababardwan says

Yo soy australiano

¿ok, well australiano is obviously the official word, but following on from above, is there any slang way or other shortened way to say it....for example the equivalent of Aussie?

August 29, 2011 from the Web.
lilianamata says

Hola.

No hay una manera de decirlo de una manera corta. Podrías decir soy Aussie pero es un anglicismo.

August 29, 2011 from the Web.
bababardwan in reply to lilianamata

Gracias Lili, yo entiendo

August 29, 2011 from the Web.
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bababardwan says

I know John was kinda joking when he said to Mexicobob "You trying to scare the Newbies?" but as a newbie I'd just say I love those kind of posts. That one was particularly interesting.

August 29, 2011 from the Web.
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bababardwan says

oh, a great gold nugget in this discussion. I have known of wordreference for quite some time now, but never used it much at all and not gotten around to checking out it's features. I've recently been wondering how to look up all the different conjugations of verbs esp for the various tenses, and thanks to cobre above I have now discovered the conjugation button in wordreference. Gracias, gracias cobre. :)

August 29, 2011 from the Web.
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sylbaby says

Hola

Mi nombre es Sylvia Oneil, vi tu perfil y me interesé en ti, es por eso que decidí contactar con usted, yo también me gustaría saber algo más, y quiero que usted envíe un correo electrónico a mi dirección de correo electrónico (sylvia.oneil@ymail.com) para que yo pueda darle mi imagen para que sepas que yo soy, Recuerde que la distancia, el color o el idioma no importa, sino el amor asuntos mucho en la vida, estoy a la espera de su respuesta.

October 11, 2011 from the Web.
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sylbaby says

Hola

Mi nombre es Sylvia Oneil, vi tu perfil y me interesé en ti, es por eso que decidí contactar con usted, yo también me gustaría saber algo más, y quiero que usted envíe un correo electrónico a mi dirección de correo electrónico (sylvia.oneil@ymail.com) para que yo pueda darle mi imagen para que sepas que yo soy, Recuerde que la distancia, el color o el idioma no importa, sino el amor asuntos mucho en la vida, estoy a la espera de su respuesta.

October 11, 2011 from the Web.

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