Formal Spanish Words

[Albus Dumbledore 0]

In Spanish, our teacher is always getting on us because we do not conjugate stuff right, because of this damned formal stuff, usted and ustedes...why in the world do we have to learn it formally?no offfense to anyone who is of a spanish origin, or who is at least trying to learn the lannguage of the country they are in.

Edited August 25, 2006 by Albus Dumbledore (see edit history)

[kingi89 0]

were in america we should not be obligated to speak a different language..it is those who speak the differnet language that should be obligated to speak our language..

221826[/snapback]

El?m? on (="that's what life is" in English).

It's not negative thing to learn foreing language. In Finland, 5% of our population speaks Swedish instead of Finnish, and they get all they need in their mother tongue! Yes, I think it is a little unfair for others, but it is pretty fair for those 5%. And everybody in Finland studies Swedish for them.

[Sizux 0]

I'm currently learning Spanish, and conjugating is the worst part of it. However, if you're bilingual, the chances of getting a job ANYWHERE increases dramatically.

[Rena 0]

languages are okay.in my school we had a teacher that was obsessed with languages, he managed to add two more subjects, one was conversation, and the other one lterature, both in english (i live in mexico), we had more hours learning english than maths or any other subjectit was horrible until our parents decided to make a rebellion and conversation was erased from the subjects list but still it was annoying for the months it lasted.

[Sprnknwn 0]

Oh, come on. English speakers have absolutely no right to vent about this. You born with a language that is understood almost worldwide and if you come to Spain and talk in english you?re going to be more or less understood. But try this when you are spanish and you go to an english-speaking country. No one is going to make the effort to understand you, unless you speak them in english (specially in UK). And well, I?m not gonna say that english is as much difficult as spanish because I see that we have a lot of verbal times and conjugations.That "we are in america" seems a bit prepotent... realize that there?s a world outside the U.S.Another thing is what you say about formal speaking. I?m not using "usted" in my daylife activity, but it?s very used in jobs in which you have to deal with public and treat them gently. But its not as used as for example in german (which I?m studying) that they use "Sie" instead of "du" a lot, unless they?re talking to a friend.

[Tenshigami 0]

In Spanish, our teacher is always getting on us because we do not conjugate stuff right, because of this damned formal stuff, usted and ustedes...why in the world do we have to learn it formally? why in the world do we need to learn a foreign language anyways? were in america we should not be obligated to speak a different language..it is those who speak the differnet language that should be obligated to speak our language..

 

no offfense to anyone who is of a spanish origin, or who is at least trying to learn the lannguage of the country they are in.

221826[/snapback]

Well for one thing why should they learn English in the first place? Is it because its the most common used language in America? If that is it then all who speek English should learn about every languadge out there because 40% or more I could be wrong, speek a diferant language. And the reason your teacher whants you to learn the formal way to speek is because that is what they have to teach by law. You cant realy teach anyone the ebonics version of a language now can you?

[Albus Dumbledore 0]

but why should we have to learn the languages of the other people that live in america when they are in america?if i were to go to germany i would understand learning their language..but since wwe are in america and the origional language was english (in a very weird way)

[ongnoai 0]

but why should we have to learn the languages of the other people that live in america when they are in america?

if i were to go to germany i would understand learning their language..but since wwe are in america and the origional language was english (in a very weird way)

225844[/snapback]

Hey Albus,

 

This is freak talk, no offence meant. Remember right after 9/11, when bush was asking people why did the US develop so much antagonism abroad? Ignoring other people's languages simply mean you ignore them, and contempt leads to hatred usually.

 

Just look at what you write : the US do not equate America, or am I mistaken? Canadians, Brazilians, Venezuelians, etc also are americans. In that simple respect, I'd suspect there are more people speaking Spanish than English in the whole of the Americas.

 

Good day to all

[Sprnknwn 0]

Just look at what you write : the US do not equate America, or am I mistaken? Canadians, Brazilians, Venezuelians, etc also are americans. In that simple respect, I'd suspect there are more people speaking Spanish than English in the whole of the Americas.

I agree completely with this. People tend to say "american" referring to people from the US and that means a great lack of respect for other people who also live in that continent. And I know that lot of people from Argentina, Chile, Mexico, etc gets really sick when they see that US people are referred with the "american" word. If someone said "europeans" only thinking about Germany and France... I would get a little angry. In fact someone could say that U.S. are even less american than other countries because there isn´t too much indigens there...

In any case, learning a language is a great oportunity. I wish I had studied 5 languages in school instead of only two (apart from my native).

[FLaKes 0]

I also had problems with formal spanish when I came back to Mexico after living in the United States with my dad. I had the luck, well not really, of living in Mexico and the United States since my parents are divorced, I lived the first 5 years of my life here in Mexico, then from 6 to 8 or 9 I lived in the United States with my dad (and I went to elementary school and learned English there), then from 9 - 11, I came back to Mexico to live with my mom, and I did 4th and 5th grade here, then I went back with my dad to the United States and did middle school over there. Then I came back after middle school to Mexico where I studied High school and went to the University.The really huge problem was in high school, I failed spanish class and had to repeat it on saturdays. The only good thing that came out of all this is that I know spanish and english, but not 100% either one. I bet that if I would take english in high school In the United States I would probably also flunk it. About the formal Spanish, It did bring me some problems because some people really do get offended if you dont talk to them formally.

[ongnoai 0]

About the formal Spanish, It did bring me some problems because some people really do get offended if you dont talk to them formally.

225938[/snapback]

Well, I guess it comes along with not willing to know (or ignoring) what other people feel about life, friend. Come to think of it, life has everything to do with formality, since the moment the mother's and father's genes combine to beget a new being.

 

Willy-nilly, everyone of us is confronted with formality. You wanna get a salary raise? You would put on a necktie to see your boss, or a girl would wear an enticing miniskirt to do the same (provided she thinks well about her legs). What's wrong with formality? It helps us a lot in simplifying existence. Formality is much shorter and more effective (and much, much less deceiving) than blah-blah or small *strumpetish" talk, right?

 

Cheers, all

[Editor 0]

Some of my spainish teachers gets annoying sometimes if we get the words wrong or tells us to do it over again untill we get it right. I think (my opioion) is a good way to learning a second language. Is the fact Spanish and English are the top 2 languages used in the United States. Getting a job and some of the employies are spanish. There is no way you can understand them or help them. Having a spanish class early in life, could help you in later in the life time when you do need them.

[s2city 0]

In Spanish, our teacher is always getting on us because we do not conjugate stuff right, because of this damned formal stuff, usted and ustedes...why in the world do we have to learn it formally? why in the world do we need to learn a foreign language anyways? were in america we should not be obligated to speak a different language..it is those who speak the differnet language that should be obligated to speak our language..
no offfense to anyone who is of a spanish origin, or who is at least trying to learn the lannguage of the country they are in.

That's the most ignorant thing I've ever heard. If you mean what you're saying then whenever you go to another country, let's say France for example, you should be obligated to learn French? I don't think so. You're not just learning another language, you're learning about another culture or civilization, another entirely different way of thinking. Besides that, colleges and businesses look highly upon students/potential employees who are bilingual. As for thinking that everyone should learn English... did you know that English is in fact the hardest language to learn? So the next time you feel the need to complain over why you need to conjugate your verbs formally or why you should even be learning the language, perhaps you should go speak with someone who is trying to learn our native language.

Oh and by the way... if you met a complete stranger, would you go up to them and say "Hello Sir." or "Yo what's up?" Hay muchos personas que hablan otras idiomas y aprendiendo hablar otras idiomas es divertido.

[Albus Dumbledore 0]

lol, well english is not the hardes't, you every tryed learning romanian, or russian, or ukrainian, it takes most people 5 years to even START speaking a sentence in those language from what a few of my friends have told me who tryed to learn one of those languages....

[pkjm17 0]

?Hoy es el cumplea?os de Pablo! Para celebrar, la madre de Pablo lo llevo al zool?gico. Ellos ven muchos animales diferentes de todo el mundo.Este es el primer viaje al zool?gico para Pablo. ?l est? muy emocionado.

Notice from jlhaslip:

Can anybody translate this for us? And postings should be in English from now on. Thanks.

Notice from truefusion:

It basically says: "Today is the birthday of Pablo! To celebrate, his mom will take us to the zoo. They'll see many different kinds of animals from all over the world. This is the first trip to the zoo for Pablo. He is very emotional." I'm hispanic.