New Vocabulary: How are you? (Literally)

So many times, when we are learning a new language and someone asks us "how are you?" the only answer we know is " I'm fine, thank you" and we keep answering the same even when we wanna give more details about how we are or how we feel! So this lesson is about giving details about how you are/ how you are feeling; we have already learned how to say "how are you?"(¿cómo estás? in Spanish and how to answer the standard "I'm fine, thank you" (estoy bien, gracias) 

• Feliz: Happy. It's in the same way for male and female but in plural it changes "felices". 
• Orgulloso/a: Proud. We can see the example of the first lesson where we explain "bienvenidos/bienvenidas"  just like this example is how work all plurals in Spanish. => first lesson link: http://spanish-joy.blogspot.com/2014/01/new-vocabulary-greetings.html
• Emocionado/a: Excited.
• Avergonzado/a: Ashamed.
• Confundido/a: Confused.
• Sorprendido/a: Surprised.
• Cansado/a: Tired.
• Preocupado/a: Worried.
• Triste: Sad. Also it doesn't change the genre.
• Aburrido/a: Bored. In spanish we use 'Aburrido' for bored and boring, however when we want to say "boring" we say it "aburridor" but this is not very common. 
• Nervioso/a: Nervous.
• Enojado/a: Angry.

In this case we use the verb 'to be' (estoy). Example: Estoy feliz!  

Please, if you have any comment or question, tell us :-) 

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Reading in Spanish!

Spanish is a phonetic language, so the pronunciation doesn't change between what you write and what you speak when you read. Spanish has some letter that aren't in the English alphabet and now I will explain some letter Spanish has...

(elle or doble ele) Its pronunciation is very similar to the Y, easy to pronounce nowadays people can't find a difference between Y and Ll sounds but I know that people from the old school pronounce it with a very very small difference.

(eñe) This is a very special letter in Spanish. It's the only letter that other languages don't have, the pronunciation can be simple, just add an I between Ñ and the next vowel, however it won't sound perfect it will help you a lot while you get used to it. Once you can pronounce ñi you can do it! so keep trying!

(ache) I like this letter, it doesn't have any sound before the most of letters, but looks so good before the vowels! sometimes it sounds after C or S.

(jota) The sound can change; in some places its pronounced like english H but in other places its pronounced like Kha or خ, isn't relevant...

(ku, qu) The grammar is very special with the letter, in a word is always written before an U but it sounds with the next vowel after U but remember that U is speechless=> examples: QUESO.

(ge) It has a soft sound with the vowels A, O and U for example: GATO, GOZAR, GUSANO.
And has a strong sound (خ ) with the vowels E and I; example: GENTE, GIGANTE. So G in Spanish doesn't has a soft sound with E and I? No, G has! how? the same as Q! writing an U before the vowel we want to make the sound although U is speechless. For example: GUITARRA, GUERRA.
Another important point is that you would get confused when a word has these combinations of vowels. When we are going to read a word that has a soft sound with U and next to the U there is another vowel, how we would know when we have to pronounce the U? We have something called "dieresis" (¨) (Ü) . Here goes the some examples: PINGÜINO, CIGÜEÑA. ( HAHAHA in cigüeña there are two letters we learned today!)

if you can't watch the lesson video, the link ;-) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1EV7ji94vk 

Feel free to ask us anything, please :-)

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Bogota!

Bogotá is my natal city, my hometown and my current city! it has seen me grow up! hahaha and of course I have seen it how it gets bigger in all senses, people, places, events...everything! This city so different but together, like a meeting of everything.
A city which was born among the mountains, the savanna and the clouds, a modern city but with an interesting and colonial story that maybe can tell you more about its secrets.
Going by its streets and buildings walking, flying full of emotions, tiredness, sadness, frustration, joy, happiness and hope; you can hear our Colombian Spanish made in Bogotá city or even understand it because here is the place where is spoken the most preferred Spanish for foreigners...
Here is a small video about my city, I say it's small because Bogotá has more to show but this video only shows a small part of it...I hope you enjoy this nice video :-)

Un día más en Bogotá (HD) from Pico Pance on Vimeo.

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New Vocabulary: Nice to meet you!

Hola! this is the second lesson where we are gonna learn how to meet someone. This post has

more details about how to use the vocabulary learned, when and with whom. 

• ¿Cual es tu nombre? This question can change in formality; ¿cual es su nombre? <= we are using usted  that it's more formal. Other way to say "what's your name? is ¿cómo te/se llama? literally means "how are you called?".

• Mi nombre es... This sentence doesn't have any change, you can say it like this if the question was ¿cual es tu nombre? but you change the answer when you are asked ¿cómo te llamas? then you answer me llamo ...

• ¿Cuantos años tienes? In Spanish for talking about our age we use the verd to have so this question literally means: "how years you have?" and we use the verb to have with other expressions that we are gonna learn later. You can hear this same question in other way: ¿qué edad tienes? literally it means "what age you have?"   but the answer will be always the same.
• Tengo... años Again the verb to have! instead of años (years)  maybe you can use meses (months), dias (days), semanas,  (weeks) etc...I think you already realized the "S" at the end of the word is plural! día, mes, año...

• ¿De donde eres? Mmmmm...not much to say about this question, from where you are? is the literal translation. Maybe it can change; ¿de donde vienes? => from where do you come from? of course the way to answer changes...

• Soy de ... The way for answering changes, for example when you are asked "where are you from?" you can say in spanish "I'm Colombian" or " I'm from Colombia", but changes when you are asked "from where do you come from?" then you answer "vengo de..."  although this question is used in some conversations or when you are new in a place.

• Mucho gusto: Also you can say "un placer/gusto conocerte" both are okay but in my opinion I like hearing more "un placer/gusto conocerte" because I think it's more formal, however you can use the option you prefer because is very important to be yourself when you speak any language.

• Por favor: This is a very important word! My grandma says that this word is magic and if you say it when you are asking for something you will get it.  

• Gracias: And again I will talk about my grandma but more simple: Say it with a smile on your face! if you are really grateful and you want to say "thank you very much" you can say "muchas gracias"=> much thanks.

• De nada: Literally means "of nothing" but also you can say no hay de qué=> there isn't of what. 

If can't watch the video here is the link:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W1EV7ji94vk

PLEASE, IF YOU HAVE ANY COMMENT OR SUGGESTION MAKE US KNOW! it would be so important for us only for improving our learning. Feel FREE to ASK  or SHARE any question you have.

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New Vocabulary: Greetings!

This post is based in a video about the first Spanish lesson. In the video you can hear the right pronunciation, grammar and possibly improve our learning!
This post has more details about each greeting or courtesy sentence, like when you can use it, how, and with whom.

Bellow there is the description of each slide in the video and of course will be the video so you can study here as long as you want.

• Bienvenido: Is the masculine gender of welcome!.
• Bienvenida: Feminine gender of welcome!.
• Bienvenidos: Plural way of welcome!, is masculine way however is also used when among the people you are saying "welcome" there are women and men bienvenidas when you are saying to women only.
• Hola: You can use with everyone as informal and casual occasions.
• ¿Cómo estás?: It's in the "tuteo" way, a way you can use with family and friends, however in the way of "usted" you say ¿cómo está? this way is very used in Colombia, doesn't matter whether they are your friends or not.
• Bien, gracias: You can use it without problems just like this.
• Buenos Días: Is used only in the morning before 12pm.
• Buenas Tardes: Is used only along the afternoon, after 12pm until 6pm.
• Buenas Noches: Used at night after 6pm even whether the person is going to sleep or not.
• Nos vemos: Used for saying see you later although here there isn't anything about later but it's a simple way and it expresses later.
• Adios/ Chao: Just means bye although adiós is more formal than chao.

I hope you can benefit from it and improve your Spanish, good luck!
if you can't watch the lesson video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOUZ772OxBA

PLEASE! IF YOU HAVE ANY QUESTION TELL US! WE WILL ANSWER YOU AS SOON AS WE CAN!

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8 Tips for Learning a New Language

Most of people want to learn a new language but they failed simply because they gave up when they realized

that it wasn't easy after trying too many times. So here I will share with you some tips that could be very useful in your learning.

1. Is easier if you first learn new vocabulary, like, numbers, colors, things, days of the week, animals, countries, places, months, etc...So you can practice speaking your language but changing the way you call the things around you with the new vocabulary you learned.
2. After you learned the new vocabulary, you can learn how to fix, compose short sentences.
3. After the first two simple steps you can learn some grammar if you really like it or really want to.
4. Try to practice as long as you can, you can go to different places to meet with your friends and while you are waiting for them you can practice with some video you downloaded or listen to some music, also you can write new vocabulary in a paper or a notebook and each time you can read and try to memorize it.
5. Start to think in the language you are learning, never try to translate because it just makes you slower.
6. A very important sentence you must learn is "How do you say?", "Can you spell it?" "Would you repeat it?", "What is its name?" in the language you are learning.
7. Look for music, movies, newspapers in the language you are learning. You will improve your pronunciation singing.
8. Learn about the culture in the places where people speak the language you are learning, sure it will help you to understand better some expressions.

• Is even better if you find a friend who speaks the language you want to speak, sure if you practice with your friends you will learn in a funny way so it will become easier for you.

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Colombian Spanish

Colombian Spanish is a term for diverse dialects spoken in different regions of this country, because we have been influenced by a big background of Colombians. Colombian Spanish is characterized by a kind of musical intonation and a very clear pronunciation although there are so many different accents and dialects throughout the country. 

Colombia has one of the most beautiful forms of spoken Spanish also is similar to the Costa Rican Spanish in aspects like the accent. There is a big difference among the Spanish spoken in different regions of the country. The region of the coasts has influence from English and African languages.

The Spanish spoken in Bogotá has a better pronunciation just perfect for the foreigner who speaks Spanish.

Colombian Spanish is used to use "usted" (you) in formal and informal situations although "vos" is very common in some regions.

 The diminutive also turns "-ito" into "-ico" for example: gatito = gatico. We use this diminutive with nouns, adjectives, verbs and prepositions! We share this characteristic with Venezuela, Puerto Rico and as I said before with Costa Rica.
Here I just post a funny video about What Colombians use to say, have fun!

Sure if you have Colombian friend you will have fun! Please feel free to post your comments here about your experiences with Spanish Language and Colombian People.

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