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| INTRODUCTION |
| Carlos: I chew a little bit of English. So what’s going on world, I am Carlos. |
| Natalia: This is Natalia speaking. Carlos, how come there is no introduction like the pretty coffee to my cream? |
| Carlos: See, she likes it, man. I am telling you right. |
| Natalia: I’m used to it already. |
| Carlos: See, you know what, I did make it up today. I did find out Nat. So let me just Natie, the chip to my cookie. |
| Natalia: Okay. Bueno bueno. |
| Carlos: Natie, you are feeling good today. |
| Natalia: Me siento muy muy bien. |
| Carlos: See, now with spanishpod101.com, I know what that means. |
| Natalia: You should hope so Carlos by now. |
| Carlos: Well, it’s been a long hard road but I am learning. |
| Natalia: I am telling you, you better practice your Spanish while you are in New York. I don’t want you to come in back with a clean slate. |
| Carlos: I will but it’s going to be strange. |
| Natalia: Why? |
| Carlos: Well my Spanish is so much different now. I mean this happened when I went to Spain last time. |
| Natalia: What, you speak Spanish correctly. |
| Carlos: I just speak it differently and you know what, I noticed it while I was in Panama. |
| Natalia: Why so? Well, in Panama, they do have a little bit of a difference in their accent and in their slang too. |
| Carlos: Oh that’s definitely true. I had a more Caribbean feel but you know Panama is different but I was eating at a Cuban restaurant and the woman said “utedes.” It reminded me of Puerto Rican Spanish. |
| Natalia: Once again the beauty of the regional series. |
| Carlos: Okay maybe when Cuba opens up, spanishpod101.com can have a Cuban regional series. |
| Natalia: You are getting a little ahead of yourself Carlos. Where did we cover it last time? |
| Carlos: Come on, you remember my neighbor’s grandmother Nini |
| Natalia: Who! What! |
| Carlos: Neither, nor. Last time, we talked about neither, nor. |
| Natalia: Okay and today? |
| Carlos: Well today, we are going to look at the word that was part of a song I still hold close to my heart. |
| Natalia: Umm and what’s that? |
| Carlos: Sueve, as in Rico Suave. |
| Natalia: Oh my god! You got to help me. |
| Carlos: Come on Natie, 1991. |
| Natalia: Carlos, I was like four years old. |
| Carlos: Ey still good music. |
| Natalia: Any grammar. |
| Carlos: Man, that really dates us man, like seriously – like she is 4 years old and I am remembering a song. |
| Natalia: Because you are so damn old. |
| Carlos: Okay. |
| Natalia: Let’s start grammatical verbs and all that pretty stuff Carlos. |
| Carlos: Okay we do have some verbs. |
| Natalia: Which are |
| Carlos: “Entender” and “masticar.” |
| Natalia: Do you know what those mean? |
| Carlos: Well I know “entender” means to understand |
| Natalia: Y “masticar”. |
| Carlos: No clue. |
| Natalia: To chew. |
| Carlos: Wait! What could those two verbs possibly have to do with each other? |
| Natalia: Well, just wait and see Carlos, wait and see and… |
| Carlos: What? |
| Natalia: I have a surprise. |
| Carlos: What is it? |
| Natalia: Just wait. |
| Carlos: You know forget that. Let’s get into today’s conversation. |
| DIALOGUE |
| YMA: ¿Ustedes pueden entender el inglés? |
| MARISSA: Sí, yo puedo, si usted habla despacio. |
| LUKE: Sí. Yo y mi esposa podemos entender el inglés. |
| YMA: Muy bien. Empecemos el tour con la tumba de Francisco Pizarro. |
| Carlos: And now with the translation. Ahora inlcuiremos la traducción. |
| YMA: ¿Ustedes pueden entender el inglés? Do you all understand English? |
| MARISSA: Sí, yo puedo, si usted habla despacio. Yes I can if you speak slowly. |
| LUKE: Sí. Yo y mi esposa podemos entender el inglés. Yes my wife and I can understand English. |
| YMA: Muy bien. Empecemos el tour con la tumba de Francisco Pizarro. Very well, let’s begin the tour with a tomb of Francesco Pesaro. |
| Natalia: So that was the standard version, the kind of Spanish that would be understood everywhere but here is how it might sound like in Costa Rica. |
| DIALOGUE - COSTA RICAN |
| ALEJANDRA: Hola, ¿Comó les va, compas? ¿Uds. mastican ingles? |
| DIEGO: Diay, yo lo mastico si hablamos al suave. |
| ALEJANDRA: Está bien. El castellano aquí se habla despacio. |
| DIEGO: ¡Pura vida, salgamos entonces! |
| Carlos: And now slowly. Una vez más, esta vez lentamente. |
| ALEJANDRA: Hola, ¿Comó les va, compas? ¿Uds. mastican ingles? |
| DIEGO: Diay, yo lo mastico si hablamos al suave. |
| ALEJANDRA: Está bien. El castellano aquí se habla despacio. |
| DIEGO: ¡Pura vida, salgamos entonces! |
| Carlos: And now with the translation. Ahora incluiremos la traducción. |
| ALEJANDRA: Hola, ¿Comó les va, compas? ¿Uds. mastican ingles? Hey how is it going guys, do you understand English? |
| DIEGO: Diay, yo lo mastico si hablamos al suave. Oh yeah I do as long as you speak nice and slow. |
| ALEJANDRA: Está bien. El castellano aquí se habla despacio. It’s okay. The Spanish here is spoken slowly. |
| DIEGO: ¡Pura vida, salgamos entonces! Cool, let’s go out then. |
| POST CONVERSATION BANTER |
| Carlos: Now, I think we could safely assume that Diego and his friends are Gringos. |
| Natalia: And why is that? |
| Carlos: Well, come on Natie, we stick out like a sore thumb and the longer I am here, the longer I notice. |
| Natalia: Well yeah, we can see Gringos coming from a mile away. |
| Carlos: So wait, the question in the newbie series is easy enough. |
| Natalia: ¿Ustedes entienden inglés? |
| Carlos: I mean, can you all understand English? |
| Natalia: Yeah it’s pretty basic and straightforward. |
| Carlos: Right but what is the first line of our tico conversation? |
| Natalia: “Hola, ¿Comó les va, compas? ¿Uds. mastican ingles?” |
| Carlos: And that means |
| Natalia: Hey, how is it going guys, do you understand English? |
| Carlos: Now before I ask you what chewing has to do with understanding, I have to make light of something. |
| Natalia: Here we go. |
| Carlos: No, no, no it’s important. |
| Natalia: It always is. |
| Carlos: Sshh! Quiet. |
| Natalia: Carlos, don’t tell me to be quiet. |
| Carlos: Why you take that so seriously, it’s not like I said shut up. |
| Natalia: Oh! |
| Carlos: It’s not like I said that. Wow! |
| Natalia: Keep going, keep going. |
| Carlos: All right, I remember when I was driving to the beach. Okay I speak no lies. I was driving and a sign for the beach said Hako, 42 kilometers. |
| Natalia: Yeah signs tend to do that, you know that. |
| Carlos: Okay well you know what, hold the sarcasm there. To my surprise, about 20 minutes later, I saw a sign that said Hako 47 kilometers and just before you say it, I wasn’t going the wrong way. |
| Natalia: Ah Carlos, were you wearing your glasses or something? |
| Carlos: I don’t have glasses but I was concerned. So I decided to stop and ask directions but I remembered something. When I was shopping around for a car, I went to a place called Gracia up near San Jose and of course, you know I ended up needing to ask directions. Now also the friend of mine who is Colombian and before asking for the directions, he would always say “Hola ¿cómo está?” |
| Natalia: That would be impolite. |
| Carlos: Now I am just saying that in the States, when you ask for directions, usually it’s like excuse me, how do I get to I 95 or like ey yo, where is Burger King at, you know. |
| Natalia: Exactly that’s pretty rude to use yo! No, don’t do that. |
| Carlos: Okay all right well I am learning. So then when I stopped to ask these ladies for directions, I made sure I said “Buenas tardes señora, ¿cómo está?” Before asking anything and she had to answer me and it’s just something that I noticed since before the question “¿Ustedes mastican ingles?” they asked what’s up. |
| Natalia: You know, it’s sort of like you know Ticos have their own personal space and if you are going to ask somebody something, you might as well just say hello just to be polite before asking the question. |
| Carlos: Okay but Natie, can you please tell me how “masticar” could possibly be related to “entender”. |
| Natalia: “Masticar” is a term we use to say we speak a little, little bit of the language. It’s like I chew the language. I speak a little bit of English. |
| Carlos: And I guess I could see the link kind of. |
| Natalia: Well, there is another side to it. |
| Carlos: Which is… |
| Natalia: Well I think while speaking is implied, understanding is implied too. |
| Carlos: Now how so? |
| Natalia: Do you get English like can you communicate in English. |
| Carlos: So it is like you just got a taste of it. You are chewing. You know it’s a pretty strange comparison. |
| Natalia: Carlos, you cannot judge my language until you speak it fluently. |
| Carlos: Touché, Natie. Touché. |
| Natalia: Sir, do you get the link? |
| Carlos: Well yes madam, I think you explained it very well. |
| Natalia: So Carlos, if you see some people in Costa Rica and want to know if they speak English, you could say |
| Carlos: Hola, ¿Comó les va, compas? ¿Uds. mastican ingles? |
| Natalia: Mastican. |
| Carlos: Okay well I got to say that. Hola, ¿Comó les va, compas? ¿Uds. mastican ingles? |
| Natalia: Mastican. |
| Carlos: That’s what I said. |
| Natalia: Joking. That’s what you should say which anywhere else in the Spanish speaking world would sound like “¿Ustedes entienden inglés?” |
| Carlos: Now to “rico suave” you know, what did that song mean anyway? |
| Natalia: Let’s not go there, grab a dictionary Carlos. |
| Carlos: I could just go to Wikipedia. |
| Natalia: Uhoo.. |
| Carlos: But okay but “suave” is used in the conversation. |
| Natalia: Yeah. “Diay, yo lo mastico si hablamos al suave.” |
| Carlos: Okay so “al suave” to the smooth. I like that. Hold on, come on Natie, you are pulling my leg here yo to the smooth. |
| Natalia: For real, “suave” is an adjective which does means smooth but there it means something like slowly. Now the phrase “al suave” modifies the action of the verb “hablamos”. |
| Carlos: Yeah. |
| Natalia: So if “al suave” modifies the action of a verb, it becomes come on, high school English teacher. |
| Carlos: That’s an adverbial phrase. |
| Natalia: Good. That would have been embarrassing for the education system of the United States. |
| Carlos: Yes it would have but I came through. So can “al suave” and “despacio” be used interchangeably? |
| Natalia: Kind of a no. |
| Carlos: Wait Natie, I mean if both mean slowly why couldn’t they be used? |
| Natalia: Well, here “despacio” like “el castellano aquí se habla despacio” is a middle of the road expression meaning slowly. |
| Carlos: Your point. |
| Natalia: Okay “al suave” is connotative “despacio” is denotative. |
| Carlos: Oh well that clarifies everything. |
| Natalia: Don’t get smart. |
| Carlos: Relax Natie, I am just kidding, I am just kidding. So you mean “al suave” implies or suggests slowness and “despacio” indicates slowness. |
| Natalia: Exactly. Another example for “al suave” could be “Carlos aprende al suave.” |
| Carlos: You just can’t hold it back, can you? You can’t hold it like it just comes out. Natie, they can’t see you nodding your head. |
| Natalia: I am telling you, I am telling you, yeah. |
| Carlos: She is like on the radio, she is like nodding her head. |
| Natalia: Carlos, it is not part of… |
| Carlos: Well, that I wouldn’t understand that. |
| Natalia: It is not part of. |
| Carlos: I understand a lot more than I let you think I do, okay. Let me put it to you that way. When you are talking you think I am like hah! I am understanding a lot. |
| Natalia: Wow! How scary! Okay another example for “al suave” could be, let’s say you ask someone if they are working a lot, they could answer no, “estoy trabajando al suave”. |
| Carlos: No I am taking it slow |
| Natalia: Or I am taking it easy. |
| Carlos: How about another example with “despacio”. |
| Natalia: Carlos aprende bien despacio. Despacio pero seguro. |
| Carlos: You know because I was so confident I could take the answers like that. |
| Natalia: Oh wow, yeah, yeah just let it all out, let it all out. |
| Carlos: It’s like a bullet proof vest. |
| Natalia: Uh yeah. |
| Carlos: So Natie, you know what time it is. |
| Natalia: Don’t say localism. |
| Carlos: Why not? |
| Natalia: Because today we are not going to be covering localisms per say we have a special guest. |
| Carlos: Wait, wait don’t tell me I didn’t get a memo. |
| Natalia: No memo. This info is confidential and personally sent to me. |
| Carlos: Oh you think you are a big stuff now. |
| Natalia: I am big stuff. I don’t think I am a big stuff. |
| Carlos: Earlier today she told me her draw was sacred. |
| Natalia: Carlos! |
| Carlos: She did man. |
| Natalia: Sush! God, you know he makes up stuff. He can deal with it. Okay today “me da muchisimo gusto” to introduce a Paco Jimenez what’s up Paco? |
| Paco: Ey ¿qué pasa? Pura vida tuanis. |
| Carlos: Alright so Paco, you my friend are a master of impersonations and voices and I am not just talking about being able to do a bad Richard Nixon impression, but you sir are gifted with the talent of imitating regional forms of Spanish. Is that right? |
| Paco: Well yeah we can say that. I speak Spanish like a Mexican. |
| Carlos: You speak in English like a Mexican right now. |
| Paco: Oh yeah. |
| Carlos: No, no so you’ve heard today’s lesson conversation. Now could you do a few impersonations for us with some different regional forms of Spanish? |
| Natalia: Let’s say Mexican. |
| Paco: ¿Cómo está mi amigo? Bienvenido esta noche al estudio de grabación. Para mí es un placer estar aquí grabando con ustedes, compadre. |
| Natalia: Argentino. |
| Paco: Viste, boludo cómo están las cosas de hermosas aquí en Buenos Aires. Hoy vamos a hacer un asado sabroso. Loco, ¿sabes qué? El vino tinto y un pansito vamos a comernos esta noche para hacernos un choripan, loco. |
| Natalia: How about Spain Iberian? |
| Paco: Bueno pues que a mí la paella es un plato que me -- me a gustado desde que yo estaba pequeño. Y como les decía yo a Marissa, eh, aqui se come pero de verdad. Oye Mancha que se come de verdad, tío. |
| Natalia: That’s so cool. Hey, how about Cuban in Miami |
| Paco: Bueno un cubanito te puede explicar asi las cosas rapidamente. Te digo que socialmente estamos activos ahora que Fidel ya no está, entonces estamos muy contentos, muy agradecidos con el pueblo. |
| Natalia: ¿Puerto Rico? |
| Paco: Pues Puerto Rico siempre tiene así como a él le pega. Es un poquito parecido al cubano pero… |
| Natalia: What else? |
| Carlos: Paco. Yeah. |
| Natalia: Let me keep going. |
| Carlos: Just take one out of your pocket. Well, what else you got, one more. |
| Pacos: Well it depends. I have been traveling around Latin America, I’ve been in Columbia. For example, |
| Carlos: Yeah Columbia. |
| Paco: I was with couple of friends from Columbia and they speak very similar to Costa Ricans. |
| Natalia: Parecido... |
| Carlos: So let’s say Bogota They speak like: ¿Cómo está mi amigo usted? Viera que hace muy poco tiempo que lo vengo conociendo pero viera que para mi usted es una persona que siempre me ha caido bien y aquí en Bogotá le estamos muy agradecido de tenerlo como amigo. |
| Natalia: ¿Venezuela? |
| Paco: Bueno Venezuelan, they speak un poquito así como pana. ¡Pana, pana! Loco que es lo que pasa, loco. |
| Carlos: Okay Paco, excellent job. Thank you, very, very funny. One more question before we wrap up. Now here at spanishpod101.com, we take an extra step to expose our students to the Spanish as its actually spoken in the real world. Now for many of our listeners who are just starting out, it seems like these regional forms are something that can only be learned after a “Universal Spanish” is learned. So let me ask you this. How important do you think it is for new students to learn how Spanish is actually spoken. |
| Paco: Es importante aprender el Español-- |
| Natalia: It’s important to learn Spanish. |
| Paco: con los regionalismos de cada país |
| Natalia: With the regional series of each country. |
| Paco: pero es importante también aprender un Español neutro |
| Natalia: But it is good also to learn a neutral Spanish. |
| Paco: donde puedas hablar |
| Natalia: Where you can speak |
| Paco: en cualquier país latinoamericano |
| Natalia: In any Latin American country. |
| Paco: y ser entendido |
| Natalia: And be understood. |
| Paco: sin embargo es muy bonito |
| Natalia: Regardless it is very nice. |
| Paco: cuando llegas a un país, por ejemplo… Argentina |
| Natalia: When you go to a country let’s say Argentina. |
| Paco: y le pides a un amigo |
| Natalia: And you ask a friend. |
| Paco: en el acento de ellos |
| Natalia: In their accent. |
| Paco: cualquier cosa |
| Natalia: Anything |
| Paco: pienso que puedes aprender las costumbres de cada país |
| Natalia: You can learn the customs of each country. |
| Paco: para poder expresarte con la gente. |
| Natalia: To be able to express yourself with people. |
| Carlos: Well thank you very much Paco for taking the time to come in here and sharing that with us. |
Outro |
|---|
| Carlos: Well, this wraps up today’s lesson. |
| Natalia: Be sure to reference this lesson with newbie lesson 24. |
| Carlos: Be cool. Show some love and post the comment. We will see you soon. |
| Natalia: Nos vemos pronto. |
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