Of course you can get by without much Spanish. But who wants to just get by?!

You could get cable and just watch tv all day and night too.

But if you came here for adventure, cultural change, to re-invent yourself, to have rich experiences, to activate your brain, to make new friends, to exercise your ability to learn and adapt–then the first thing you do is learn the language. The gringo community is wonderful but very small and isolated. San Miguel has far more to it then you find strictly within that community. And Mexico is a BIG place with hidden wonders and secrets everywhere.

Basically everything good in Mexico is hidden. It’s the exact opposite of the U.S. And you can’t really find the really good things without being able to communicate. And it won’t be half as fun when you get there if you can’t connect with people who know.

The good thing about SMA is you can get by at the start, and make wonderful friends WHILE you learn Spanish. With that secure base you can then have your own real adventure.

For me personally, the Warren Hardy School has been invaluable not only in giving me a smooth onramp to the language, but introducing me to the culture and to native speakers–and probably as important as anything–hooking me up with the most interesting people in SMA. I don’t know why it is but to me it seems true that the most interesting people always try to learn the language and so you run into them at the school. Of course, they have parties for the classes and other activities that make it easy to meet and make friends. But if I look at the friends I have made over the years here, most of them came from school contacts.

So I say, take advantage of the ease with which you can get started here–but get your brain in full gear and experience the richness that is possible when you are truly able to connect.

All the best,

Clay

Clay & Jennifer Primrose

Relox 23

San Miguel de Allende

415-111-9152 (mx)

512-422-8155 (us)

"Life expands or contracts in direct proportion to one’s courage."

—-Anais Nin

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.

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

Often considered NAFTA’s weakest link, the emerging market is coming on strong

David Pett, Financial Post  Published: Saturday, April 10, 2010

April is turning into another impressive month for North America’s hottest market … Mexico.

On Monday, the Mexican Bolsa index, the country’s top equity benchmark, hit a new high, only to soar even higher yesterday. The Mexican peso, meanwhile, reached its highest level since early October 2008 yesterday and remains the top-performing currency among emerging markets this year.

But that’s not all. The month started with Citigroup Inc., saying the country’s bonds are eligible to be included in its world government bond index, making it the first Latin American country in the closely watched index.

Not even Canada and its parity-busting loonie can top that kind of economic momentum. With the U.S. recovery only now starting to find its groove, there seems little doubt among analysts that Mexico will continue to move in the right direction, despite the violence that regularly grabs international headlines.

"Mexico has become an interesting place again for investors and we are confident there is more money to be made in this market," said Claudia Medina, a senior analyst with Banco Itau S.A., an asset management firm based in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Last year at this time, investor sentiment toward Mexico could not have been more different.

Like most other countries around the world, its economic growth suffered greatly from the collapse in trade and the global financial crisis, falling 6.4% in 2009. However, Mexico’s economic troubles also lasted much longer than its Latin American peers. While Brazil’s economy was bottoming in the second quarter of last year, Mexico’s huge dependence on a still-fragile U.S. consumer, an escalating drug war and the swine flu outbreak continued to weigh heavily.

Then in the latter half of 2009, Both Standard & Poor’s and Fitch Ratings downgraded their credit ratings for Mexico’s foreign currency debt following congressional elections that failed to produce meaningful fiscal reform.

"The year 2009 seemed to confirm all the fears put forward by the bearish camp," said Pierre Fournier, a geopolticial strategist at National Bank.

Today, Mexico’s economy is expected to grow roughly 4% in 2010, representing a trough-to-peak increase of 10% in just one year. The only other country expected to grow that quickly is Turkey.

Nick Chamie, global head of emerging markets research at RBC Capital Markets in Toronto, said the problems that slowed the recovery last year have largely come to pass, leaving Mexico free to play an effective game of catch-up through the first quarter of this year.

"The economy has certainly rebounded nicely following last year’s disastrous results," Mr. Chamie said.

The strong recovery is being led primarily by Mexico’s manufacturing sector as it benefits from the improving U.S. economy.

The U.S. market represents 80% of Mexico’s total exports, which accounts for 27% of the country’s gross domestic product.

As a large exporter of oil and home to a burgeoning mining industry, Mexico has also gained from the increase in commodity prices over the past six months to a year.

Another advantage is the country’s strong fiscal situation. Despite the political noise about fiscal reform late last year, Mexico’s government debt-to-GDP ratio hovers in a very acceptable range of 35% to 40%.

"That leaves it in very good stead in comparison to almost any other major economy," Mr Chamie said.

With a good chance that Mexican markets will pull back following such a strong run in a very short period of time, Mr. Chamie is predicting a more modest pace in gains over the next year. Over the next few months, he believes Mexico will remain attractive assuming growth remains positive and economic fundamentals continue to shine through.

Specifically, he sees good value in the country’s fixed-income market and recommends investors take an overweight position in Mexican bonds.

The peso, which remains almost 25% below its 2008 high, also looks relatively cheap compared with its Latin American peers, he said.

How markets in Mexico will perform six months to a year from now will depend largely on U.S. growth and the trajectory of commodity prices, Mr. Chamie said.

Less of a concern is the country’s protracted drug wars, which have destabilized the northern region of the country.

"To the extent that everyone is aware of the drug wars it is already priced into markets and is not a huge barrier to investing," he said.

As for the country’s stock market, Vincent Delisle, a strategist at Scotia Capital Markets, said there also appears to be more upside in store. He told clients this week that corporate earnings in Mexico will jump 23% in 2010 and 16% in 2011.

By comparison, he forecasted Canadian earnings to rise 29% for 2010 and 10% the following year.

Already up more than 90% since the March lows last year, Mr. Delisle has a Bolsa target of 36,250, a 7% increase from yesterday’s closing price of 33,840.85.

Reiterating a North American preference in his asset allocation, the strategist recommended U.S. stocks over Europe, Canada over Australia and Mexico over Brazil.

Ms. Medina’s firm, which manages the Excel Latin American Fund in Canada, is currently 5% overweight Mexican stocks, favouring the industrials and materials sector over consumer and telecommunications stocks.

"We continue to believe that growth in the Mexican economy will come more from manufacturing exports than from domestic consumption, and hence our strong position in industrial companies with high exposure to the United States and Brazil," she said.

Her top picks include steel company, Ternium S.A., a major supplier to the U.S. automotive industry with operations in Mexico and Argentina, and Alfa S.A. B de C.V., an industrial conglomerate that produces high-tech aluminum auto parts.

The firm boasts significant holdings in petrochemical company Mexichem S.A. B de C.V., and Grupo Mexico S.A. B de C.V., the country’s largest mining company.

Investors can buy ADRs of Ternium and Mexichem in New York. Or, for broader exposure to the Mexican market, iShares offers the MSCI Mexico Investable Market ETF, priced in U.S. dollars.

Alternatively, there are several Latin American ETFs and mutual funds.

With new consumption taxes taking hold in January, Ms. Medina said Mexico’s beleaguered consumer will remain stressed over the short term, but she believes that, eventually, success in the manufacturing sector will lead to better domestic consumption.

While Mexico surely faces serious challenges ahead, including an economy too dependent on the U.S. consumer and a political environment that has been dogged by ineffective government and corruption too often in the past, Mr. Fournier said those risks, on balance, are outweighed by Mexico’s positive long-term fundamentals.

With an increasingly competitive manufacturing sector, a strong resource base and superior corporate growth prospects, he expects Mexican stocks to outperform U.S. indexes over the long term.

"Sentiment about Mexico is clearly and finally beginning to turn," he said.

http://www.travelandleisure.com/worldsbest/2010/cities

In an earilier blog, I wrote how I love San Miguel more every year.  It is true.  Being number four in the world…well…where would I go from here?

TE AMO SAN MIGUEL

Yesterday I went to the last class of Rocio’s Level 2 Conversation/intermediate Conversation.

I was able to sit and talk to the class for a few minutes and they expressed their feelings about their progress with Spanish and there frustrations.  These students have just come from Level 2, Preterite and Pronouns.  This class focuses on the use of the simple past tense.  Students tell each other what the did yesterday?  and do a lot of activities where they read, write, and talk about what they did. All this is done only in Spanish of course with Rocio’s energetic guidance and with Antonieta as her assistant.

This is what people told me.  They are frustrated that they cannot understand and speak better.  The felt that they had improved their ability to talk about past events but native speakers still sounded like a jumble.  They all agreed that the greatest improvement was in their reading and pronunciation.  Being asked to read their stories a loud and discussing them helped them to gain more confidence in their speech.  Some felt frustrated and others quite pleased.  What we discovered is that adult learners seem to learn to read and write first, then reading a loud helps to connect the brain with the mouth and they begin to grasp concepts instead of individual words.  This is the purpose of this class and it is working. Here is a testimonial from on of the students.

“I took the class from Rocio and she was far and away the best instructor I’ve ever had. The class was fast and fun and I learned a great deal. The combination of solid instruction, class interaction, reading and writing meant that the concepts were strongly imprinted on my aging brain! I intend to take it again in the fall.”
Carolyn Patten

I had to remind the class that they have only taken three Spanish classes, Level 1, Level 2 and now Level 2 conversation.  Rome wasn’t built in a day.  Poco a poco.

Anyway, a couple of days later we drove over,,, Sept. 11, 1990,,, We arrived late and slept in our van on the Mirador overlooking the city.  We awoke and saw the city below and the expanse of the lake and the mountains to the east.  It was beautiful.  We excitedly drove down the hill and parked near the Jardin.  I remember the air was crisp and clear like in Santa Fe.  We arrived at the Jardin and sat down in front of the Parroquia.  Silence.  Then,  how awesome.  Then, we gotta live here.  We got an apartment that day.  The rest is history.  It has been a wonderful ride.

We have seen lots of changes in this city.  People ask me all the time if I like San Miguel as much today as I did back in the day.  I enthusiastically say yes.  Over the years San Miguel has improved.  The city is cleaner, better managed.  The relationship with the two communities has improved. The foreign community continues to provide services to those challenged in our community.  There is very little poverty.

Since becoming a World heritage City, entire neighborhoods have been refurbished.  Our sewage system and other services have improved.  Our security forces have grown and are better trained. Life is much more comfortable and we feel  safe and connected with the world.

The thing I have enjoy most is how the menu of foods and entertainment have improved and skyrocketed into the cosmos.  Tulis first business in San Miguel was Tuli’s Dulces.  Non of the restaurants had any good deserts.  She imported her products and made cookies, chocolate covered peanut butter balls and other sweets.  She was the only game in town.  That is hard to believe when you look at the variety of pastries, breads, and sweets available in San Miguel today.  Our restaurants have improved every year bringing on a foodies wonderland.

Tuli is a masseuse. When we first came here she was the only masseuse in San Miguel.  Now look at all the healers, spas and the Life Path center in San Miguel.  This has become a Mecca for healing and for healers from all over the world.

Plays, writers, music, festivals, filmmaking, theatre, education, food, art and entertainment abound at the highest levels.  It is better than ever before and seems to get better every day. 

And what surprises me most is that the same cool people keep showing up here, from the same tribe,  and we keep making friends with more and more interesting people.  Life is  rich        here.  I love San Miguel MORE THAN EVER.

  Do these look like Thespians having fun?   It was hilarious.. Atonieta is a taskmaster director. 

Each student takes a role in the play and reads their parts out loud.  Students say that when they are forced to read out loud and with emotion; they overcome their inhibitions and they greatly improve their comprehension and pronunciation.   They think in Spanish.  Lots of fun.  Just ask Rodney, Robert, Flora, Lilly, Clay, Beth Ann, and Antonieta. How is it that Rodney was Caroina?????

I want to offer a personal testimonial for the Warren Hardy storytelling course, which I took with my husband, Cedric, a few weeks ago. We had finished Level II of the Warren Hardy program and currently use functional Spanish to meet many of our (simple) daily needs. In our case, the class was very good for several reasons: (1) the teacher spoke primarily in Spanish and had class members ask questions/comment in Spanish. (You are encouraged to converse in English to clarify more difficult concepts); (2) you have the opportunity to write personal narratives (e.g., aspects of your life story, an important vacation) in Spanish, which gives you the opportunity to use other important linguistic channels (reading, writing) that enhance second language learning; (3) you learn to distinguish the preterite and imperfect past tenses and moreover, practice using these tenses in the storytelling written exercises; (4) you also have opportunities to use the preterite and imperfect past tenses during exercises where you share your stories orally with other class members; and (5) you practice, in Warren Hardy style, using the tenses while generating sentences with a partner (this will be familiar to those who have taken other classes from Warren).  The teacher, Rocio, is EXCELLENT. She is enthusiastic, focused, encouraging, clear in explaining concepts, supportive, and she made the class fun. She is one of these people who was born to teach. You will leave each class inspired and encouraged. Finally, I want to say that I made a significant leap in understanding conversational Spanish through taking this class. I’m not sure why, but it worked for me and I’m very grateful to have had the opportunity to take the class. I hope this helps others in trying to decide whether or not to take the class. If you’re on the fence, take it! You can’t go wrong!

another good testimonial:

Absolutely agree with the other two comments. I took the class from Roscio and she was far and away the best instructor I’ve ever had. The class was fast and fun and I learned a great deal. The combination of solid instruction, class interaction, reading and writing meant that the concepts were strongly imprinted on my aging brain! I intend to take it again in the fall.
Carolyn Patten

info@warrenhardy.com
www.warrenhardy.com