Learn Spanish – Stages of Development in Learning Spanish

Posted on January 28th, 2010 in Learn Spanish, Study Spanish by warren

If you wonder where you are at in terms of your Spanish development, this blog will help you to understand.  Below are the descriptions used by Spanish teachers worldwide.  Take a look and decide where you are and where you would like to be. These descriptions are fairly academic but worth the time to look over.

Warren Hardy Spanish offers four levels of instruction designed to take you to a High Conversational Level.
This course will prepare you  to practice Spanish with native speakers, so you may develop Fluid speech.
By doing the coursework and practicing with native speakers, you will develop your skills through the
following stages. These guidelines are set by the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages.

FUNCTIONAL
-    You can manage straightforward social protocol.
-    You can communicate your needs and wants in short,
      often incomplete sentences in present time.    
-    Your vocabulary is limited to basic objects.
-    You have difficulty formulating questions.
HIGH FUNCTIONAL
-    You sometimes appear fluent with social protocol.
-    You can create short sentences with difficulty in present, past,
      and future time.
-    Your vocabulary is limited to basic information such as  time, numbers, months, home, directions    and immediate needs.
-    You still have difficulty formulating questions.
CONVERSATIONAL
-    You are fluent with social protocol.
-    You can handle predictable situations and personal needs in
     present, past, and future time.
-    Your conversation is reactive and there is a struggle to answer
    direct questions.
-    Your speech is filled with hesitancy and inaccuracies.
-     You can be understood in spite of frequent misunderstandings.
-    You are capable of asking a variety of questions to obtain
      information about basic needs.
-    You are able to self correct.
HIGH CONVERSATIONAL
-    You are fluid in straight-forward social situations.
-    You can discuss personal information, family relations, home,
      daily activities, interests, personal preferences, physical and
      social needs.
-    You usually communicate reactively responding to direct questions.
-    You are able to link ideas using the nine Spanish tenses.
-    Your speech contains pauses, reformations, and self corrections while searching for adequate     vocabulary     and appropriate
     language forms.
-    You are able to converse with ease and confidence when dealing with most routine tasks and social situations.
-    You are able to narrate and describe in all tenses using discourse of paragraph length.
-    You sometimes have hesitation going from tense to tense but you can self-correct.

Study Spanish – Social Protocol

Posted on January 28th, 2010 in Study Spanish by warren

The basis of social protocol in the Hispanic culture is acknowledging the presence of another person when you enter or leave their space.  This is usually done with a:
1.   a greeting
2.   a farewell
3.   a request for space or attention
4.    a blessing on their meal
It is considered rude and reflects badly on your mother (who gave you a poor education) if you don’t use appropriate protocol.
1. The greetings are cheerfully said to everyone you pass, especially to all with whom you make eye contact. 

     BUENOS DĂŤAS = “Good morning,” used from daylight until noon.
     BUENAS TARDES = “Good afternoon,” used from noon until 7 P.M. or dark.
     BUENAS NOCHES = Good evening from 7 P.M. or dark. Sometimes it may get dark before 7 P.M.
     ADIĂ“S can be said to a person in passing. For example anytime you pass someone on the street and you make eye contact, it is good to say adiĂłs.
    AdiĂłs literally means “to God” and is considered a high greeting, not just good-bye.
     HOLA = “Hi.” It  is an informal greeting which can be used with children or good friends. Otherwise, it is usually combined with a formal greeting like this:
    HOLA, BUENOS DĂŤAS = “Hi, good morning.”

2. Farewells are usually said with:

   ADIĂ“S.  HASTA LUEGO. =
“Goodbye, until later.”
   or
ADIĂ“S. BUENAS NOCHES. =
“Goodbye, good night.”
It is common at a party to go around and
say good night to everyone present before one leaves. This is called a despedida.

3. Request for space or attention is very important.
In Mexico, people have a different level of spatial comfort than in the U.S. or Canada, where people may feel uncomfortable when someone is closer than arm’s length.
In Mexico people are comfortable at elbow’s length. As a result it is common for people to seem to be crowding, or to be “balled up.”

If you need space to pass by, simply say:

CON PERMISO, POR FAVOR = “With your permisson, please.”
This request will quickly be answered by people moving and sometimes saying:
PROPIO = “It’s yours.”
As you pass through, you can say:
GRACIAS, ADIÓS = “Thank you, goodbye.”

Con permiso is also used to request attention. In hispanic cultures the attendents in a retail store will usually not wait on you until you request help unless you are in a tourist area.
So in most cases they will linger back attentively until you ask for help. Raising your hand and saying con permiso, por favor  will get you service. And don’t forget to smile!
Waiters will not bring you the check at a restaurant until you ask for it. It is considered rude and is like asking you to leave if they bring you the check without your request. When you are ready for the check, simply call the waiter or waitress with a raising of the hand and say:

LA CUENTA, POR FAVOR. = “The check, please.”
Joven, senorita (to get the attention of a waiter/waitress … if the waiter is older, you can say señor or señora) – it’s considered rude to call a working person by their occupation, e.g. mesero or mesera.
When you leave don’t forget to say:
MUCHAS GRACIAS and smile!
    It is good to be generous with tips.

When you enter the space where someone is eating, it is courteous to say:

BUEN PROVECHO.
This translates as “I hope you get the most from your meal.” It is a blessing on their meal. People will always look up, smile, and say GRACIAS.
It is common in a restaurant to say buen provecho as you pass a table of people eating, whether you make eye-contact or not.  People really appreciate this gesture and it is a sign of good breeding.

Using these four areas of social protocol has many benefits.
1. It connects you with other people and helps you to overcome your psychological fears about using Spanish.  When you do this and people respond, there is a little voice in the back of your mind that say, “Yes, this language is real and it works!” This connection is very empowering.
2. It shows respect for the hispanic people and lets them know that you are indeed “educated” and know the social niceties of their culture.
This is important because hispanics usually perceive Americans as cold or even rude because we don’t commonly greet each other in our culture.
Use the social protocol every day, everywhere. It is important. Es muy importante.

Study Spanish – Defensive Language

Posted on January 28th, 2010 in Study Spanish by warren

You will need these simple phrases to defend yourself. (As they say in Spanish):
    No Entiendo = I don’t understand.

    Repita por favor = Repeat please.

    Despacio por favor = Slowly please.

    No hablo español muy biĂ©n =
I don’t speak Spanish very well.

    Necesito practicar mi español =
I need to practice my Spanish.

Gracias por su paciencia =
Thank you for your patience.

Remember to smile and be kind, even though you might feel frustrated.  People want to help but sometimes patience is required.  Leave on a happy note, you never know if you will be standing in front of the same person asking for help again five minutes later.