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| INTRODUCTION |
| Lizy: Bienvenidos a SpanishPod101.com! |
| Lizy: Buenos días, me llamo Lizy. |
| Alan: Alan here. Newbie series, lesson 1. “Hi, How Are You?” Hello, my name is Alan. |
| Lizy: And I am Lizy. |
| Alan: And we’d like to welcome you to the first lesson of the newbie series in spanishpod101.com. Lizy, could we welcome everyone to the course in Spanish? |
| Lizy: Claro! Of course bienvenidos a SpanishPod 101.com welcome to spanishpod101.com |
| Alan: Lizy, didn’t we hear that somewhere before. |
| Lizy: Nice catch, Alan. It was the first thing we heard today right before the theme song. This is a phrase I guarantee you will master. |
| Alan: Well, we are going to master a lot more than that but before we get into our first lesson. |
| Lizy: And newbie lesson. |
| Alan: Please let us tell you a little bit about ourselves. Lizy, would you like to start? |
| Lizy: Okay. Hi my name is Lizy Stoliar. I am from Peru. I have really three names, Elisa Paulina Susana. My grandparents were from Romania. That’s why my last name is Stoliar which in Hebrew means carpenter. I worked as a disc jockey in several radio stations here in Lima. I love music and I love being here at spanishpod101 with my Canadian friend Alan helping you all to learn my native language Spanish. |
| Alan: And my name is Alan La Rue. I am the founder of El Sol Spanish Language school here in Lima and well as Lizy mentioned, I am Canadian and I am a Canadian who has not found a compelling reason to go home to this country. I am living here very, very happily in Peru since 1995 and I am married to a beautiful woman and two very nice kids. Happy to be here helping you guys learn Spanish. It’s a language that opens lots of doors. |
| Lizy: Great. So you are fluent in Spanish. |
| Alan: Well yes yeah I guess I am pretty good at Spanish but I still think I have a lot to learn but I have to say that managing a Spanish language school has a definite benefit of allowing me to be surrounded by Spanish teachers all day long. It’s a very, very positive atmosphere for learning. |
| Lizy: Y realmente pronuncias muy bien el español, Alan. Déjame decirte. |
| Alan: Wow thank you very much, Lizy. So we would like to invite you to study standard Spanish with us. |
| Lizy: Standard Spanish? |
| Alan: Well I guess technically we will be studying the kind of Spanish that would be understood wherever Spanish is spoken. |
| Lizy: Un español universal. |
| Alan: That’s right. A universal Spanish but the thing is every form of Spanish is a regional form. It’s always distinct and rich and rare from one region to the next. So instead of giving you one watered-down version telling you that this is how people actually speak, we’ve set up satellite teams and these make up our regional Spanish series. |
| Lizy: Ah that’s right. This is where you get “el sabor”, “the flavor”, of the Spanish language. We have teams in Madrid, Spain, Mexico city, Mexico, San Jose, Costa Rica, Buenos Aires, Argentina and we will be adding more to this list as we continue to grow. |
| Alan: So basically we bring the Spanish speaking world to you. |
| Lizy: Yep by listening to the standard Spanish lessons and then comparing them to the regional lessons, you are really able to broaden your understanding of the topics and it gives you the chance to hear what Spanish actually sounds like from one region to the next. |
| Alan: Yeah it’s really an interesting method. Each regional lesson references one of our lessons. So it kind of creates a learning network within the framework of Spanishpod101. |
| Lizy: All right, Alan. Shall we get into the first lesson? |
| Alan: Right on. So today we start with our first lesson, a newbie lesson. |
| Lizy: In this lesson, we will look at the basics of introductions. |
| Alan: This conversation takes place in a café in Lima Peru where two friends Beatrice and Jose run into each other by coincidence. |
| Lizy: This is a really common conversation that you will hear all the time in every Spanish speaking country. So you will be able to use these phrases wherever you go. |
| Alan: But before we jump in, don’t forget to press the center button on your iPod to see the lesson transcript in your display. |
| Lizy: Okay, now let’s get into today’s conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| BEATRIZ: ¡Hola! |
| JOSÉ: ¡Hola! Buenos días. |
| BEATRIZ: ¿Cómo estás? |
| JOSÉ: Yo estoy bien. ¿Y tú? |
| BEATRIZ: Yo estoy muy bien. Gracias. |
| Alan: And now slower. Una vez más esta vez lentamente. |
| BEATRIZ: ¡Hola! |
| JOSÉ: ¡Hola! Buenos días. |
| BEATRIZ: ¿Cómo estás? |
| JOSÉ: Yo estoy bien. ¿Y tú? |
| BEATRIZ: Yo estoy muy bien. Gracias. |
| Alan: And now with the translation. Ahora incluiremos la traducción. |
| BEATRIZ: ¡Hola! |
| BEATRIZ: Hi! |
| JOSÉ: ¡Hola! Buenos días. |
| JOSÉ: Hi. Good morning. |
| BEATRIZ: ¿Cómo estás? |
| BEATRIZ: How are you? |
| JOSÉ: Yo estoy bien. ¿Y tú? |
| JOSÉ: I am well. And you? |
| BEATRIZ: Yo estoy muy bien. Gracias. |
| BEATRIZ: I am very well. Thanks. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Alan: Well Lizy, that’s so common. Even though Lima is a city of 9 million people, it seems that we are always running into people that we know or people that we know, know other people that we know. |
| Lizy: Así es, Lima es un pañuelo. |
| Alan: That’s right, that’s right. Lizy, in the conversation we just heard, you asked “¿Cómo estás?”, “how are you?” |
| Lizy: Yes this is one of the most common ways to ask someone how they are doing. |
| Alan: Yes but this conversation sounds a bit scripted. Doesn’t it? |
| Lizy: What do you mean? |
| Alan: Well it’s kind of like a conversation you would find in an ESL book. “How are you? I am fine.” |
| Lizy: I see what you are talking about. Yeah, most native speakers for example would probably answer “¿cómo estás?” with “estoy bien” dropping the word “yo”. |
| Alan: Can we try that once? |
| Lizy: Sure. ¿Cómo estás, Alan? |
| Alan: Estoy bien. |
| Lizy: Now you sound like a native Spanish speaker. |
| Alan: Now that we’ve gone through the conversation, what do you say we run through some of the vocabulary, Lizy? |
| Lizy: Sounds like a good idea. |
| Alan: So let’s begin with... |
| VOCAB LIST |
| Lizy: “Hola”. |
| Alan: “Hello.” |
| Lizy: “Ho-la”, “hola”. |
| Alan: Next we have. |
| Lizy: “Bueno, buena”. |
| Alan: “Good.” |
| Lizy: “Bue-no, bue-na”, “bueno, buena”. |
| Alan: Next we will hear. |
| Lizy: “Día”. |
| Alan: “Day.” |
| Lizy: “Dí-a”, “día”. |
| Alan: Then we will listen to. |
| Lizy: “Cómo”. |
| Alan: “How.” |
| Lizy: “Có-mo”, “cómo”. |
| Alan: Now we will listen to. |
| Lizy: “Estar”. |
| Alan: “To be.” |
| Lizy: “Es-tar”, “estar”. |
| Alan: Next. |
| Lizy: “Yo”. |
| Alan: “I” |
| Lizy: “Yo”, “yo”. |
| Alan: Now we will listen to. |
| Lizy: “Tú”. |
| Alan: “You.” |
| Lizy: “Tú”, “tú”. |
| Alan: And finally. |
| Lizy: “Gracias”. |
| Alan: “Thank you.” |
| Lizy: “Gra-cias”, “gracias”. |
| VOCAB AND PHRASE USAGE |
| Alan: Okay so it’s safe to say that every word on this list is a key word. These are all words that you will be seeing and using on a day-to-day basis. Just wait, you will see. So Lizy, let’s look at how some of these words came up in today’s conversation. First the word “Hola”. |
| Lizy: “¡Hola amigo!” |
| Alan: “Hello friend!” |
| Lizy: Sounds a little strange. |
| Alan: Well this is how we translate it literally in Spanish. We say “amigo” but we just don’t mean “friend”. We mean “my friend”. |
| Lizy: That’s true. We address people directly very often “¡hola amigo!” it’s kind of like saying “hello my friend.” |
| Alan: So we don’t need to say the word my in order to get this meaning, do we? |
| Lizy: No it’s all included in “¡hola amigo!” |
| Alan: All right. So now, you can say “hello” to someone in Spanish. Try it, I dare you. Next time, you hear people speaking Spanish, just give a nice, solid “hola” as you walk by. |
| Lizy: It’s on. |
| Alan: But let us know what happens in a comment on this lesson. |
| Lizy: Now this word “hola” is probably the easiest to learn. Alan, what does it mean? |
| Alan: It means “hello” or “hi.” We even hear it in the English language sometimes and it has a same meaning. |
| Lizy: We often address a person we are speaking to when we use it as we see in the example “¡hola amigo!”. Here we are addressing a friend. So we follow “hola” with “amigo”, “friend”. “¡Hola amigo!”, “hello friend!” |
| Alan: Can you give us another example of how to use “hola”? |
| Lizy: “¡Hola señora!” |
| Alan: “Hello ma’am.” And if you know the person, you can simply add their name after “hola”. For example, “¡hola Lizy!” all right. |
| Lizy: The next word is “bueno”. |
| Alan: “Bueno”, “qué bueno”. Lizy, how about an example please. |
| Lizy: “Buenos días”. |
| Alan: “Good morning.” Notice how “bueno” has changed to “buenos” when it goes with “días”. Why is that Lizy? |
| Lizy: That is a whole lesson in itself. |
| Alan: Okay you are right. We will touch on that in the future lesson. |
| Lizy: Yeah we will look at it soon enough but for now, let’s focus on this set phrase. |
| Alan: Okay. “Buenos días”. |
| Lizy: That’s right. “Buenos días” means “good morning.” |
| Alan: So Lizy, what word should we finish up with today? |
| Lizy: Let’s look at “muy”. |
| Alan: Sounds good. How about one more example? |
| Lizy: “Muy bien”. |
| Alan: “Very well.” Now the word “muy” is a great one to know. |
| Lizy: Why is that? It seems pretty simple. |
| Alan: Because with this word, you can emphasize anything you want. |
| Lizy: Ah I see just like you did with “muy bien”. |
| Alan: Exactly. So instead of just saying “bien” I can say “muy bien”, “very well”, “muy bien”. |
| Lizy: That’s right and while you are just starting off, you can just repeat this word to add more emphasis “muy, muy bien”. |
| Alan: So in this section, we covered the word “señora”. What can you tell us about this word? |
| Lizy: “Señora” is used to show respect to a woman. It’s the feminine form, the masculine form is “señor” and it’s used to show respect to a man. |
| Alan: That’s right. We translate “señor” and “señora” as “sir” and “ma’am” and we should also note, these words are often used before someone’s name. |
| Lizy: Exactly. So you can say “buenos días, señor Rodríguez”. |
| Alan: And we wouldn’t say “sir Rodriguez” in English. Instead, we will just say, “good morning Mr. Rodriguez.” |
| Lizy: Good point. So the word “seño”r can mean “sir” or “Mr.” just like the word “señora” can mean “ma’am” or “Mrs.” |
Lesson focus |
|---|
| Alan: Now Lizy, let’s have more through look at the grammar used in this lesson. |
| Lizy: I am ready when you are, Alan. |
| Alan: There you are. So this is the place where we look at different ways that the language works. And how we can make it work for us. |
| Lizy: That’s what I am talking about. |
| Alan: So Lizy, I have got a question for you. |
| Lizy: Shoot! |
| Alan: When I say “she is happy today”, does this state of happiness seem temporary or permanent? |
| Lizy: I’d say temporary since you are saying that she is happy today. |
| Alan: Right and what verb would you use in Spanish to express this kind of being? |
| Lizy: It would be “estar”. |
| Alan: Ah so we can say that the verb “estar” expresses temporary states of being. |
| Lizy: Sí, amigo. |
| Alan: The verb “estar” is really important. |
| Lizy: To begin, let’s say that “estar” means “to be” and so far as it is a temporary state of being, like being happy as opposed to a permanent state of being like being from somewhere. |
| Alan: Now this may seem a little odd to an English speaker since in English, we only have one verb “to be.” |
| Lizy: ¡Ayy, pobrecitos…! |
| Alan: Yeah and it can be a little tricky when you are just starting out speaking Spanish but you know after a while, it starts to make sense. Stick with it, it’s worth it, believe me. |
| Lizy: “¡Así es!” “That’s right.” One good way to remember how to use the verb “estar” is that we use it to describe how we are and how we are doing. |
| Alan: You’ve got it Lizy. So let’s go back to where this appeared in the conversation. |
| Lizy: Sounds like a plan. |
| Alan: Lizy, can you repeat that sentence? |
| Lizy: “Yo estoy bien”. |
| Alan: “I am well.” |
| Lizy: Here comes the first conjugation of our serious Alan. |
| Alan: So notice how the verb “estar” changes to “estoy” when we use “I” as the subject. |
| Lizy: “Yo estoy bien”. |
| Alan: And for those of you who haven’t been to a grammar class in a while, when we talk about the conjugations, we are talking about the way that verbs change their forms in order to refer to different subjects and different tenses. |
| Lizy: That’s right. We will be using the word conjugation quite a bit. When we say conjugation, we are simply talking about the way that the verb changes its forms. |
| Alan: For example, “you are” and “I am” do not have the same form of “estar”. Okay some more grammatical terms here. The first person singular and the second person singular. |
| Lizy: The first person singular refers to “I” which is “yo” in Spanish and the second person singular refers to “you” which is “tú” in Spanish. |
| Alan: So when the subject is “I”, “estar” is conjugated to” estoy”. |
| Lizy: That’s right. First we take off that “ar” ending from the stem “est-” and then add an “-oy”, “estoy”. |
| Alan: “Estoy”. |
| Lizy: Great. |
| Alan: And to say “you are”, again “you” start by getting the stem “est-” and this time you add an “-as” and the “a” takes an accent “estás”. |
| Lizy: Right with the accent on the second syllable, “estás”. |
| Alan: Okay so how about an example with “tú estas”, “you are”? |
| Lizy: “Tú estas loco”. |
| Alan: “I am crazy”? |
| Lizy: Just a little bit. Alan, you are not really crazy. |
| Alan: I thought my cover was blown. Any way Lizy, what an example to start off with! |
| Lizy: Well the thing is, this example is really useful. |
| Alan: How so? |
| Lizy: Well do you see how “estás” means “are” as in “you are crazy.” |
| Alan: Yeah I see that. |
| Lizy: Well because we are using the verb “estar”. This means that you are acting crazy, but you are not a crazy person. |
| Alan: I see. Oh well, what a relief. |
| Lizy: Hmm now this is the informal way to say “you.” |
| Alan: Lizy, in English, we only have one way to say “you.” So there is no distinction of formality. In Spanish, when do we use “tú” this informal way of saying “you”? |
| Lizy: Good question. We use this informal word with someone we know and are close to. |
| Alan: So to recap just a bit, we use “tú” for one person we know and are close to. |
| Lizy: Right. |
| Alan: Lizy, can I trust you? |
| Lizy: Sure Alan. Why did you ask me that? |
| Alan: Oh nothing but now I know that I can address you informally. |
| Lizy: We are friends and partners. No reason to be formal. Okay now let’s look at one more form of “estar”. |
| Alan: Lizy, I think we have covered a lot already. |
| Lizy: Yeah I know but this last one is the easiest. |
| Alan: Okay would you give us an example. Maybe one that doesn’t use the word local. |
| Lizy: “Él está feliz”. |
| Alan: “He is happy.” Now that’s more like it. |
| Lizy: So Alan, do you notice how the verb “estar” changes its form here. |
| Alan: Sure it’s no longer “estoy” or “estás”. |
| Lizy: Right. The verb “estar” changes to “está” when we are talking about “él” which means “he.” After getting to the stem, we just add an “a” with an accent. |
| Alan: So in order to say “he is”, we would say “él está”. |
| Lizy: Right. So the word “feliz” means “happy” and in this way, we can say “él está feliz”, “he is happy.” |
| Alan: “Él está feliz”. |
| Lizy: Now this is the easiest because this same verb form is also used for “ella” which means “she” and “usted” which is the formal way to say “you.” |
| Alan: So to say “she is happy”? |
| Lizy: It would just be “ella está feliz”. |
| Alan: “Ella está feliz”. Right. The verb doesn’t change and to say, “you are happy” in this formal sense? |
| Lizy: “Usted está feliz”. “You are happy.” |
| Alan: And “he is happy”? |
| Lizy: “Él está feliz”. |
| Alan: And I must express my happiness for beginning this new series at spanishpod101.com. |
| Lizy: Stick with us listeners. With us, fluency is closer than you think. |
| Alan: And remember to get the most out of our lessons. Check out our regional series. |
Outro |
| Lizy: That’s right. Learn how our neutral Spanish is transformed in different regions of the Spanish speaking world. Well this is as far as we will go today. Now, your homework is to say “¡hola!” to a Spanish speaker. You can report what happens in the comments section of this lesson. |
| Alan: Okay guys, see you later, be well, study hard and get out there, practice. |
| Lizy: ¡Hasta pronto! ¡Chao! |
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