Learn the Spanish alphabet
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| INTRODUCTION |
| Fernando: Check-in. In this lesson, you will learn about the alphabet and spelling system. This conversation takes place at a hotel front desk, and the conversation is between the receptionist and Jimmy. They will be speaking in the formal register. |
| JP: Okay, so let’s listen to that conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| RECEPCIONISTA: Buenos noches, señor. Bienvenido al Hotel Casa Ticul. |
| JIMMY: Buenas noches, señora. Tengo una reservación. |
| RECEPCIONISTA: ¿Su apellido? |
| JIMMY: McSherry. |
| RECEPCIONISTA: ¿Cómo se escribe? |
| JIMMY: M C S mayúscula H E doble R Y |
| RECEPCIONISTA: Perfecto. Señor McSherry, le doy la habitación number 20. Aquí tiene la llave. |
| JIMMY: ¿Hay servicio de internet inalámbrico? |
| RECEPCIONISTA: Sí señor, en todo el hotel. La clave es “playa”. |
| JIMMY: ¿Hay toallas en la habitación? |
| RECEPCIONISTA: Sí señor, cómo no. |
| JIMMY: Muy bien. Ah, ¿y servicio de despertador? |
| RECEPCIONISTA: Claro. ¿A qué hora le llamamos? |
| JIMMY: A las siete, si es tan amable. ¿Y a qué hora es el desayuno? |
| RECEPCIONISTA: A partir de las seis hasta las siete y media en el comedor del primer piso. |
| JP: One more time, with the translation. |
| RECEPCIONISTA Buenos noches, señor. Bienvenido al Hotel Casa Ticul. |
| JP: Good evening, sir, welcome to the Hotel Casa Ticul. |
| JIMMY Buenas noches, señora. Tengo una reservación. |
| JP: Good evening, ma'am. I have a reservation. |
| RECEPCIONISTA ¿Su apellido? |
| JP: Your last name? |
| JIMMY McSherry. |
| JP: McSherry. |
| RECEPCIONISTA ¿Cómo se escribe? |
| JP: How do you spell it? |
| JIMMY M C S mayúscula H E doble R Y |
| JP: M-C-capital S-H-E-double R-Y |
| RECEPCIONISTA Perfecto. Señor McSherry, le doy la habitación number 20. Aquí tiene la llave. |
| JP: Perfect, Mr. McSherry. I'm giving you room number twenty. Here's the key. |
| JIMMY ¿Hay servicio de internet inalámbrico? |
| JP: Is there wireless? |
| RECEPCIONISTA Sí señor, en todo el hotel. La clave es “playa”. |
| JP: Yes, sir, throughout the hotel. The password is "playa." |
| JIMMY ¿Hay toallas en la habitación? |
| JP: Are there towels in the room? |
| RECEPCIONISTA Sí señor, cómo no. |
| JP: Yes, of course, sir. |
| JIMMY Muy bien. Ah, ¿y servicio de despertador? |
| JP: Great. Oh, how about a wake-up call? |
| RECEPCIONISTA Claro. ¿A qué hora le llamamos? |
| JP: Of course. What time should we call you? |
| JIMMY A las siete, si es tan amable. ¿Y a qué hora es el desayuno? |
| JP: At seven, if you'd be so kind. And what time is breakfast? |
| RECEPCIONISTA A partir de las seis hasta las siete y media en el comedor del primer piso. |
| JP: From six until seven-thirty in the dining room of the first floor. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Fernando: Ok, JP, today Jimmy is checking into the hotel, he made the reservation ahead of time, so check-in is really easy. |
| JP: Yah, all he had to do was spell his name, so the receptionist could check the computer. |
| Fernando: Right. He got his key, asked about wireless, towels, wake up service, and breakfast. Did you hear what time breakfast was? |
| JP: six to seven thirty, right? a partir de las seis hasta las siete y media. Jimmy might miss it though, he asked for his wake up call a las siete. that doesn't give him a lot of time to get dressed and go downstairs for breakfast. |
| Fernando: No, it doesn't. But he's in Mexico, he'll be able to find something to eat even if he misses breakfast in the hotel. |
| JP: Let's take a look at the vocabulary for this lesson. |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Fernando: la reservación [natural native speed] |
| JP: the reservation |
| Fernando: la reservación [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: la reservación [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: el apellido [natural native speed] |
| JP: the last name |
| Fernando: el apellido [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: el apellido [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: habitación [natural native speed] |
| JP: room |
| Fernando: habitación [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: habitación [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: inalámbrico [natural native speed] |
| JP: wireless |
| Fernando: inalámbrico [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: inalámbrico [natural native speed] |
| JP: Next. |
| Fernando: amable [natural native speed] |
| JP: kind |
| Fernando: amable [slowly - broken down by syllable] |
| Fernando: amable [natural native speed] |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| JP: Ok, now let's have a closer look at the words and phrases. |
| Fernando: Let's start with la reservación. |
| JP: la reservación. Ok, this is just like it sounds in English, it's when you call ahead to the restaurant or hotel... |
| Fernando: People know what it is, JP. La reservación. |
| JP: Right. You know I think in Spain they prefer to use the word la reserva. But in Latin America it's definitely la reservación. |
| Fernando: Ok. The next word is el apellido. |
| JP: El apellido. This is your last name, or family name. Our boy Jimmy, su apellido es McSherry, which I imagine is a hard name for Spanish speakers to spell. |
| Fernando: M C S-mayuscula H E doble-R Y. Let's put a chart of the Spanish alphabet in the lesson notes. |
| JP: Ok, all over it. What's the next vocab word? |
| Fernando: la habitación. |
| JP: La habitación. So this is a word for bedroom and in the hotel context, it's a hotel room. La habitación. |
| Fernando: La habitación. It's the room you sleep in. Ok, next... inalámbrico |
| JP: inalámbrico. Is that and adjective? |
| Fernando: Yes, it means wireless. But it can also be a noun, you can say "el inalámbrico" |
| JP: How did we use it in the dialog? |
| Fernando: Jimmy asked "¿Hay servicio de internet inalámbrico?" |
| JP: So "is there wireless internet service." |
| Fernando: Exactly. |
| JP: Can I get away with asking "hay inalámbrico..." |
| Fernando: Probably. Some people just say "wi-fi." |
| JP: Cool. Is that it? |
| Fernando: One more... amable. |
| JP: Amable, meaning kind, friendly, generous in spirit... |
| Fernando: I like "kind." amable. |
| JP: Amable. |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Fernando: Ok, JP, what's the grammar point today? |
| JP: I want to talk about the alphabet and the spelling system. You know, a lot of people say that Spanish has phonetic spelling; and it's true, the Spanish spelling system is highly consistent and regular, and it's much closer to being 100% phonetic, than say, English. We've got the alphabet with all the letter names spelled out in a chart on the website; go to www.spanishpod101.com; go to the premium learning center and check out the lesson notes to this lesson. |
| Fernando: Ok, so if it's a phonetic alphabet, what is there to say about it? |
| JP: Well, that's trick; it's not truly phonetic... awfully close, though. We linguists say it's phonemic. |
| Fernando: Is that.. different? |
| JP: Meh, it's close enough. Just remember, when you talk about a letter, use use the feminine article. So la /a/, la /b/, la /c/.. etc. When you're spelling something you don't have to use the article. So when Jimmy spells his name... |
| Fernando: M C S-mayusula H E doble-R Y... |
| JP: when he spells his name he doesn't need articles. Only use the article when you're talking about a letter. So for example, he could say "my last name starts with an M. |
| Fernando: Mi apellido se empieza con la /m/. |
| JP: Right, we all heard you say la /m/. The other thing is that word mayúscula, which means capital letter. |
| Fernando: So S-mayúscula is captial S. |
| JP: And the rest are lower-case, which would be menúscula. |
| Fernando: So mayúscula and menúscula. anything else_ |
| JP: Well, remember that for 99% of Spanish speakers, the B and the V have exactly the same sound. And so different regions have different ways of tackling that problem. So the letter B in Spain is called "la /b/," or /b/ de Barcelona. In Mexico, people say "/b/ de burro," and in South America I hear people calling it la /b/ grande. Now the letter V as in victory, on the other and... in spain it's called "uve" or sometimes "ve de Valencia." My mexican friends call it "ve de vaca" and my south american friends call it "ve chica" or "ve corta." |
| Fernando: Or they could just pronounce them different... like me. |
| JP: haha, i'm not sure they could do that if they tried. Really I've only heard people from LA like you pronounce it differently. Or Gloria Estefan, when she's singing in Spanish, she'll pronounce an Italian /v/. |
| Fernando: Well, there you go. I'm in good company. |
| JP: Yes, you are. |
Outro |
| Fernando: JP, I think that’s a wrap. |
| JP: Folks, it’s time to go. Hasta luego. |
| Fernando: ¡Hasta luego! |
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