One thing that makes Spanish quite easy for the beginner is that there are basically only five vowel sounds.

Even when two vowels together join to make a single sound, that sound is essentially a combination of the two vowels’ individual pronunciations.

Amainar – to wane or diminish – has the regular ‘a’ sound, (a as in cat) in the first syllable, while the ‘ai’ is pronounced like the long i in English, as in high. If you join the short ‘a’ and the Spanish i (prounounced as the long ‘e’ in English – like the first ‘e’ in Peter) you get a sound very similar to the English long i. It requires a bit of squashing them together as two vowels are made to fit the space of one, but the basic sounds are kept.

The ‘au’ in Spanish is pronounced like the ‘ou’ in the English ‘out’ and is a similar combination of the Spanish ‘a’ sound and the Spanish ‘u’ – which is like the English ‘u’ in flute.

This holds true for other combinations of strong and weak vowels joined to form a single syllable.

By themselves, Spanish vowels never really alter their sound, unlike English vowels, which, to the native Spanish speaker can be quite baffling. Pronunciation of words like determine, waffle, sausage, and names like Ian and Graham, as well as wind (the kind that blows) and wind (as a watch), read (present) and read (past), and differences in the pronunciation of words such as rough, bough, though, thought and thorough, are almost anathema to the logical Spanish mind.

There is, however, one subtle variation in the sound of the Spanish ‘e’, which is slightly sharper at the end of a word than at the beginning or in the middle. While the correct pronunciation of the Mexican currency – the peso – is closer to PE’-soh than PAY’-soh, the sound of the ‘e’ at the end of a word (i.e. not followed by a consonant) is slightly closer to ‘ay’ without being quite the same.

Perderé – (I will lose) – is approximately pair-de-RAY’

Depende – (it depends) – roughly de-PEN-day

Impenetrable – (like the title of this blog entry) – EEM-pe-ne-TRA-blay.

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Mexico’s Tourism Sector Sees Tremendous Growth Despite a Lagging World Economy

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/business/Mexico+Tourism+Sector+Sees+Tremendous+Growth+Despite+Lagging+World/3440549/story.html?cid=megadrop_story#ixzz0xusCwMGN

The number of international tourists reaching Mexico by air experienced a 35.2 percent increase in June 2010 compared with the same month last year marking an impressive first half of the year for the Mexico tourism industry.

During the same period, 818,278 tourists from different nationalities visited Mexico, versus 605,435 who visited in June 2009. Of those, some 573,016 travelers arrived by air from the United States, representing a 23.7 percent growth over June 2009. Even more impressive are the 41,184 tourists that arrived from Canada; 21,322 more than in June 2009 – a whopping increase of 107.4 percent.

“We feel these numbers are evidence of the strength and quality of Mexico’s destinations,” said Mexico Secretary of Tourism Gloria Guevara. “Despite all that’s going on in the world today, the traveler knows he or she can come to Mexico and find unique vacation experiences offering not only our famous sun and beach destinations, but the chance for archeological, culinary and artistic experiences as well. Mexico is the only place on the earth where you can experience all that in a single trip.”

Increased Flights

This increased demand for Mexico by American travelers has been reflected in a handful of important new flights to Mexico. AeroMexico, Mexico’s largest transcontinental airline, announced the beginning of its new Monterrey-Miami service effective on June 28, and its new Monterrey-Houston route, which became effective on July 5.

The airline also included summer service between high-demand routes, such as Mexico City to Miami, New York, Orlando and San Antonio; Merida to Miami; Monterrey to San Antonio; Los Angeles to Aguascalientes and Bajio; Chicago to Durango and Guadalajara. In November 2010, British Airways is slated to begin operating the only direct flight between London and Cancun, for which it has already begun selling tickets. Meanwhile, China’s Hainan Airlines will begin flying directly to Mexico City. Other airlines such as US Airways and Frontier Airlines have also created new routes to Mexico, such as US Airways’ Charlotte to Los Cabos and Charlotte to Puerto Vallarta; and Frontier’s San Francisco to Los Cabos; San Francisco to Cancun; and Los Angeles to Cancun. Meanwhile, Virgin America has announced their intent to launch new non-stop services from San Francisco to Los Cabos and Cancun, as well as from Los Angeles to Cancun.

More Hotel Rooms

Secretary of Tourism Gloria Gueva Manzo recently announced that hotels in Mexico have experienced substantial growth throughout the country. The number of available hotel rooms in Mexico has increased 4.6 percent during the first half of this year compared to the same period in 2009. According to the Datatur System, this growth was recorded in 56 of the 70 destinations that are monitored by this department.

Of those 70 destinations analyzed by Datatur, room availability jumped from 310,391 to 323,916, registering an increase of 13,525 rooms now available for foreign visitors. In these 70 destinations, the number of hotel rooms occupied during the first six months of 2010 was 11.3 percent higher than in the same period of 2009.

This increase in hotel rooms is widespread across Mexico. For example, from January – June 2010, Morelia saw a growth of 19.3 percent in hotel room availability and a 30.2 percent increase in hotel room occupancy compared to January – June of last year. Likewise, Huatulco saw a 9.6 percent growth in hotel room availability and 15.4 percent growth in hotel room occupancy, while Merida experienced a 5.9 percent growth in availability and 6.6 percent growth in occupancy during these same months.

Cruise Ship Passengers on the Rise

Cruise travel is also booming, witnessing the number of American cruise passengers in the first four months of 2010 increase 6 percent compared to 2009. The rise in Canadian cruise passengers was a healthy 9 percent compared to the same time last year. Today, Mexico has a repetition rate of 95 percent among cruise passengers arriving in Mexico.

Last year, Mexican ports received 5 million cruise passengers. This year, the ports expect to receive nearly 6 million. In fact, some carriers want to increase their presence in order to accommodate the larger demand of cruises into Mexico. In 2009, cruise tourism alone generated an economic spillover into Mexico of 500 million dollars, despite the economic crisis and influenza.

Read more: http://www.timescolonist.com/business/Mexico+Tourism+Sector+Sees+Tremendous+Growth+Despite+Lagging+World/3440549/story.html?cid=megadrop_story#ixzz0xuqQ8aml

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Mexico Prepares to Celebrate Its Bicentenary
On September 16, 1810, Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla freed the prisoners in the town of Dolores who had been locked up by the Spanish authorities and called on the people to rebel by ringing the church bells. Although he was later captured and shot for his insurrection, his actions sparked an independence movement that would last for 11 years until, on September 28, 1821, Mexico’s first independent government was named, headed by Colonel Agustin Iturbide. Mexico’s road to independence from its European masters and its fortunes as an independent nation have been a colorful and tumultuous journey; a quick browse through Mexico’s history will give you an insight into the country’s growing pains. On the eve of September 16^th 2010, Mexico will mark the bicentenary of the movement that led to it becoming an independent nation-state. Although Mexico City will be the prime center of media attention, the entire country will be abuzz with special parties, festivals and celebrations this year. Notwithstanding its turbulent past, today Mexico is on the fringe of becoming a key player in a globalized world. Mexico is an oil-rich state with impressive domestic infrastructures which are improving every year; it has matured politically with a democratically-elected bicameral legislative body; it has impressive plans and aspirations for social and welfare programs to alleviate poverty and decrease its reliance on petro-dollars. Further, its territory shares a c.2,000 mile land border with the world’s most prosperous and most influential nation of the age; and the country has been ranked by economic researchers as being among the top 15 most important emerging economies of the 21^st Century. As Mexicans and expatriates gather in plazas across the country to celebrate Mexico’s bicentenary, they will do so at a point in history when, despite its current challenges, Mexico’s macro prospects and future panorama look more promising than ever.

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