Se habla espanol?

The first sentence is letter-perfect. In the second sentence, an english-speaker (at least, a well-read one) would more likely say " . . . than not to try." You do very well in english, Boss, and better than many for whom it is to be considered a mother tongue.

Thanks, Setanta. I felt there was something wrong in that sentence.

As a general rule, one does not separate the "to" portion of an infinitive from the "verb" portion--which might help you in future. By the way, my spanish is non-existant, so you're doing very much better than i.

"To work" es lo mismo que "trabajar." No se separa "to" y "work"; sería como la separación de "trabaj" y "ar." (Pero entendemos "to not work," y "trabaj no ar" no indica nada. Es una regla solamente.)


("To work" is th same as "trabajar." You don't separate "to" and "work"; it would be like separating "trabaj" and "ar." (But we understand "to not work," and "trabaj no ar" doesn't mean anything. It is only a rule/law.)

listening. Hmm, is that a gerund. In italiano, a gerund isn't the gerund I think of it as in americano. So, en espanol, listening is????

If I am going to tune in here, I see I will have to drag my little dictionary up to my desk...

Great post. I had taken 3 year is Spanish in high school and got to use it while living in California. Forgot alot after I moved away. Being on Guam which has a language which is loosley based on Spanish has totally eroded what I remember of the language. For example the numbers

uno
dos
tres-treyz
kuatro-Chamorro spelling
cinco
seis-pronounced size here
siete-sit-e
ocho
nueve-nuebe
diez-deez

For Debacle, cervesa here is cerbeza. viva= biba, it's hurting my head to do anymore

!Que tomemos otro aguardiente! ?Le parece?

What's the other meaning of "chivo"? (not goat)

Hola Pitter. Me da mucho gusto encontrar otro hispanohablante en able2know.

¿Qué otro significado tiene "chivo" en Colombia?
En México, significa también comida. Suele decirse de comida portátil.
"El albañil se llevó su chivo a la obra".

Hi Pitter. I'm very glad to find another Spanish speaker in ABle2know.

What other meaning does "chivo" have in Colombia?
In Mexico, it also means food. It's often used about portable food.
"The bricklayer took his chivo to the construction".

So can construction be used in different ways?
construcción = Construction

la obra could this be said in an artistic way and not a food way?

Saludos fbeazer,

I just learned today. In Colombia mi chivo is "my stuff". Say I am moving and I have to (me toca) move mi chivo to the new house. So much jerga and so little time!

La obra: the opus, the works.
Common word for a theatrical play or a construction.
The bricklayer would say obra, not construcción, until it's finished. The construction, one would say, is on the works.

It derives from latin operare: to work.
Hence such words and phrases in Spanish as:
Obrero: worker (blue collar)
Obra de arte: work of art
Obraje: old, for factory

Pitter, so chivo is stuff in Colombia, but maybe only while it's being carried, moved, or so.
Maybe after your chivo is settled it will not be chivo any more. Maybe it'll still be chivo. Pinche jerga (Darn jargon).

In Cuba, I recall now, they call stuff chivas:
Saca tus chivas de ahí: get your stuff out of there.

Still listening here, it is enjoyble.

Welcome, Pitter.

fbaezer
I was wondering about regional, native or spaniard differences????

Husker, they exist, but are not as strong as with the English, Scottish, Welsh, Irish, American, Canadian, Australian, Jamaican, Indian, Nigerian, etcetera varieties of English.

The main ones:

Spaniards use vosotros for the second person plural.
Latin Americans use ustedes.

This changes all the verbs in second person plural:

Vosotros amais, temeis, partís.
Ustedes aman, temen parten.

(You -plural- love, fear, cut)
---

Argentinians and Uruguayans use vos for the second person singular, in daily informal talk.
The rest of Spanish speakers, use tú.

Vos amás, temés, partís
tú amas, temes, partes

(You -singular- love, fear, cut)

---------

The other differences are mostly jargon and accent.

Spaniards (except from Andalucía and the Canary Islands) pronuounce the c and z as the th in thorn. They have trouble pronouncing the x and some double or triple consonants.
Mexicans stress the consonants and sometimes "eat" the vowels.
Venezuelans, Canary Islanders, Dominicans, Cubans and Puerto Ricans "eat" some consonants (d, r, and specially s). Venezuelans "eat" the least Puerto Ricans "eat" the most.
Argentinians and Uruguayans stress the "y" and "ll" sounds. They have a slight "Italian" accent.
Bolivians pronuounce "gl" instead of "ll" and use a lot of old fashioned words.
Chicanos and Ricans make a lot of grammar mistakes (not so with Cuban-Americans).
Colombians are recognized as the ones who speak the "cleanest" version of Spanish, world wide. They are also famous for using too many words.

The Mexican version is gaining weight trough out all Latin America (except Argentina and Uruguay), due to TV influence: both exports of Mexican programs and Mexico as the place for the standard dubbing of American series.

As for the writing, it's totally standarized (or standarised, as Britons and Australians would put it).

Famous for using too many words? Haarumph! !Que va! Tell that to a Colombian!

...and he or she will give an enless speech.

Re: Se habla espanol?

my own language is turkish, i am trying to improve english and am taking spanish.. it is really hard for me
como estas by the way

Fbaezer & Pitter

Been a dry spell for emails from the baja.

Husker-I hope the boy's recovery is moving along well. Wonder why the dry spell.

Turkish-Chick-Phraze for the day: here in Colombia instead of saying ?Cuanto cuesta? they say ?a como es?

I want to learn to speak spanish. Can anyone help me? E-mail correspondence or otherwise would be greatly appreciated.

I can say stuff in present tense, and I am bad at that! I don't know where to start.