2.20 — Conversation About Where You Live

Let’s bring together everything you’ve learned in Unit 1 of the Live Lingua Spanish Podcast. You learned how to say “Good Morning,” “Good Afternoon,” “Good Evening.” You also learned people’s titles, and how to introduce the people in your family. Now, we’re going to give you a few phrases — in English — combing all of these. What I need you to do is to say them in Spanish! The first time we’re going to give you only the English. The second time, we’re going to say it in Spanish (after a short break) to give you the answer. Let’s get started! After listening, review the exercises and material in this blog post. Don't forget to subscribe here, rate 5 stars, and leave a review!

Let’s practice introducing others.  To introduce others we will use the phrase ‘le presento’ which means ‘may I introduce you to’. This is followed by my ‘mi’ if you are introducing a family member, since you are implying a relationship to you. Example:  Le presento a mi esposo -> May I introduce you to my husband. If you are introducing a person by their first name, without including their title, you add an ‘a’ before the name: Example: Le presento a Ray Blakney -> May I introduce you to Ray Blakney. If you are introducing a person with their title you add either an ‘a la’ if they are female or ‘al’, spelled ‘A-L’ if they are male.  That is just contraction of ‘a el’. Example:  Le presento a la doctora Sánchez -> May I introduce you to Dr. Sánchez. Now, repeat all the following phrases out loud, but add the word ‘le presento’ at the beginning of each one. Example: A mi hijo -> Le presento a mi hijo. Find more practice exercises in this blog post after listening to the episode. Don't forget to subscribe here, rate 5 stars, and leave a review!

For better or worse, we may actually have to introduce members of our family to the people we meet in Latin America or in Spain — this may be more embarrassing for some than for others! Here at Live Lingua, we’re going to teach you the basic vocabularly words you need to do so. Say them out loud, both in English and Spanish — we promise, it will help you memorize the terms. Without further ado, let’s get started with the practice. After listening, try the practice episodes here in this blog post. Don't forget to subscribe here, rate 5 stars, and leave a review!

In this section, we’re going to learn how to say “How are you?” in different circumstances. Now, this might sound simple — but in Spanish, we have both formal and informal, and to add a spin in there, it’s even more complicated when talking to a group of people. Asking “How are you guys?” or “How are you girls?” has it’s own way of being said in Spanish. If you’re going to ask one person how they are doing, you’d say “¿Come esta?” That’s formal, but you could make it more formal by saying “¿Como esta Usted? You don’t have to add the pronoun, but you can. In an informal setting among friends, you would say “¿Como estas?” If we’re talking plural, whether three people or a million people, you would say “¿Como estan?” With the pronoun, that would be, “¿Como estan Ustedes?” Notice that we don’t actually have gender differences here, which makes it a little easier. We don’t have to worry about Mr. and Mrs. when we’re asking this. In this section we practice saying “How are you?” in the formal singular ‘usted’ or informal ‘tú’ form as well as the plural ‘ustedes’ form.  Note that in most of Latin America there is no different formal and informal for the plural. After listening, work through the exercises in the corresponding blog post. Don't forget to subscribe here, rate 5 stars, and leave a review!

Now that you’ve learned how to say good morning, good afternoon, and good evening in Spanish, as well as addressing the people you’re talking to, let’s move on to the next step: How to introduce yourself! When you introduce yourself, the only phrase you really need to know is “Yo soy” – “I am.” You put this phrase in front of your name and you’ve done it! Yo soy Ray Blakney — I am Ray Blakney. In this example, we’ll pretend you are introducing yourself. To make it more complicated, replace the names we give you with your own name so that you can practice using the phrase as you will in a Spanish speaking country. Practice introducing yourself at the phrase “yo soy” (I am)  to the front of each Spanish phrase. Example: El señor Jack Smith -> Yo soy el Señor Jack Smith.                   La doctora Jane Sánchez -> Yo soy la doctora Jane Sánchez. Run through the practice exercises in our blog post after listening to this episode. Don't forget to subscribe here, rate 5 stars, and leave a review!

In this episode, we’re going to practice everything that you’ve learned in the past episodes. We’re going to do this by giving you the time of day and the subject of the conversation. Perhaps “married female” or “Dr. Ramirez.” From that, we’re going to ask you to come up with the correct greeting for this person. For example: Example: Morning – Married female -> Buenos días, señora.                    Afternoon – Doctor Ramírez -> Buenas tardes, doctor Ramírez (where it is implied that Dr. Ramírez is a man). When you hear the time of day and title of the person in English, create the greeting in Spanish.   The first time through, we will only say the question so you can come up with the answer. Then we will go through the questions a second time and include the correct answer in Spanish. Do try it the first time through yourself — you don’t want to just blindly repeat what we say! Review the practice episodes here after listening to this episode. Don't forget to subscribe here, rate 5 stars, and leave a review!

What we’re going to do in this section is bring it all together! We’re going to combine what you’ve learned in the past few episodes about greetings and honorifics. Let’s practice a little bit. When you hear a phrase in Spanish, we want you to translate it into English. Say it out loud if you can, because that’s one of the best ways to learn. Here are some examples: If we say, “Buenos Dias, Señor Smith.” You would say, “Good morning, Mr. Smith.” If we say, “Buenas Noches, Licienciada Sanchez.” That translates to, “Good evening, Mrs. Sanchez,” but we’re also implying that Mrs. Sanchez has a Bachelor of Arts Degree. Is that clear? Don’t worry if not, because we’re going to go through all of this and our exercises are pretty much the same — and you can repeat this episode as many times as you need. After listening, complete the practice episodes here in our blog post. Don't forget to subscribe here, rate 5 stars, and leave a review!

Welcome to episode 1.5 of the Live Lingua Spanish Podcast. In this m-episode, we are going to learn about honorifics in Spanish. I’ll be honest — when I started learning Spanish, I didn’t actually know what an honorific was. It wasn’t until I started learning another language that I actually learned that that was the word we use for titles — such as Mrs., Mr., and Dr. In this exercise, we’re going to learn some of these titles. Side note — In Mexico and the rest of Latin America, they put a lot of emphasis on these titles. It’s very important that you call them Señor, Señora, Señorita. If you know they have a college degree or a Masters, they even have a title for that — and you’re going to learn this in this episode. It can be difficult for somebody who is not a native Spanish speaker to pick up on this in the beginning. But really put in the effort — in addition to the titles, you have to remember the gender. Enjoy the m-episode.  Let’s get started.  Empezamos.

¡Buenos dias! In this episode, we're going to learn how to say Good Morning (hint: we just did!), Good Afternoon, and Good Evening in Spanish. In order to say "Good Morning," you'd say: Buenos Dias In order to say "Good Afternoon," you'd say: Buenas Tardes In order to say "Good Evening," you'd say: Buenas Noches The one thing to pay attention to is the ending on the "Buenos.," the "good" part. In the morning, it ends with an "-os," as the term is male. In the afternoon and evening, it ends in "-as", as the term is female. This is one of the most common errors I see people trying to learn Spanish make when they are trying to greet people in Mexico. As you listen to this episode, complete the exercises in this blog post by simply repeating what you hear -- repeat it in Spanish and in English, as this will actually imprint it on your mind. Don't forget to subscribe here, rate 5 stars, and share!

In this episode we’re going to go over some basic language and cultural notes for the Spanish language. When you’re learning another language, one of the most important things to understand is that it’s not just about learning the words and vocabulary. I know this from personal experience when I was learning Spanish — it’s about learning about the culture. There are certain things that make sense to English speakers that aren’t done in the same way when you’re speaking Spanish. An anecdotal story for me is that when I was first learning Spanish in Mexico, I would attempt to tell jokes. Even when I knew the words for the jokes, the jokes made absolutely no sense to the Mexicans. While I thought I was being hilarious, I was usually greeted with crickets. Sadly, this hasn’t improved that much 10 years down the road, but I’m still working on it. But that’s why it’s so important to listen to the sections and understand what we say. because that will make this unit and all future units in the Live Lingua Spanish Podcasts make sense. After listening to the episode, click here for practice exercises. Don't forget to subscribe here, rate 5 stars, and leave a review!