Synergy Spanish Systems Blog

Nothing like it’s seedy reputation.

Unfortunately, these days Tijuana is only famous for drug cartels, prostitution and drunkenness.

And if you just crossed the border from the USA and turned right, that perception would be pretty close to reality.

You’d head to a strange twilight zone that is neither the USA nor Mexico or like anywhere on earth, it’s Planet Tijuana

Yet, if you went straight ahead, you’d end up in “Paseo de los Héroes” an entirely different world.

 
 
 As you enter the paseo you see on the left an interesting piece of architecture, a completely round building next to El Museo de Las Californias. (The museum of the Californias)

Later you’d go past a statue of the last Aztec emperor, Cuauhtémoc.

The avenue spits in two with a lovely green nature strip with tall palm trees down the middle. On the sides there are very modern buildings, terrific restaurants, and quality hotels all around.

At the next glorieta, (traffic circle/roundabout), you see a huge statue. It’s a very tall man, with a beard and no moustache.

 
 
 What is the great emancipator doing in the middle of Tijuana? Yes, Abraham Lincoln stands tall over Tijuana’s best area.

It turns out the statue was a gift of friendship from the USA.

Mexico also gifted a statue of Benito Juarez to the USA. It’s somewhere in Pantoja Park.

What a contrast between Cuauhtémoc with his feather headdress and tomahawk and Abraham Lincoln in suit and barba sin bigote (beard without mustache).

There’s also a big contrast between how you say Abraham in English and Spanish.

So great is the difference you might just have a better chance of saying Cuauhtémoc right the first time than saying Abraham correctly.

In English we have three different sounds for the letter A, and we use all three in the name Abraham – AY BRAH HAAM.

In Spanish there is only one sound for the letter A.

Also in Spanish the letter H is silent.

So Abraham in Spanish is pronounced AH BRAH AHM

Right there in the 16th president’s name you have two of 9 major differences between Spanish and English pronunciation.

The complete free course “Speak Spanish and be Understood” will help you nail those 2 and the other 7 differences between the two languages.

Click below for the complete course, es gratis.

Q) What’s the similarity between a Spanish onion and an elephant?

A) Both are red, except for the elephant.

Q) What the similarity between Chinese and English?

A) They are both languages

Q) What’s the similarity between Spanish and English?

A) There’s a lot more than you might imagine.

Yes, Spanish and English have many differences; they also have mucho en común, much more than an onion and an elephant, or Chinese and Spanish.

This is very good news.

I’ve already shown you there are tons of words in common between Spanish and English.

Words you can instantly recognize like, universidad, revolución, problema etc.

It goes even deeper than that. There is much more in common between these languages than just words. There are also language patterns that have mucho en común.

If you are in una clase tradicional you could completely overlook these similitudes.

You see while you’re busy studying las diferencias triviales between the languages like the text book stuff of por vs para and ser vs estar, you’ll miss la gran oportunidad.

The big opportunity is to make the most of the similar speaking patterns because you can use them to speak flowing Spanish right
away.

Here’s what I mean.

Just like English you can talk about the future in Spanish by saying I am going to, which in Spanish is, voy a,

voy a comer.
I am going to eat.

voy a invitar a mi profesor a la fiesta.
I am going to invite my teacher to the party.

voy a visitar a mi amigo mañana.
I am going to visit my friend tomorrow.

As in English there’s also a pattern in Spanish for speaking about something that you just did. In English we say, “I just + (verb) “while in Spanish you say acabo de + (verbo)

It works like this,

Acabo de escuchar el peor chiste del mundo.
I just heard the worst joke in the world.

Acabo de comer.
I just ate

Acabo de hablar con mi amigo.
I just spoke with my friend.

Acabo de aprender a hablar del futuro en español.
I just learned to speak about the future in Spanish.

Acabo de aprender mas español con Marcus.
I just learned more Spanish with Marcus.

Can you see how simple patterns lead you to speaking more Spanish?

There’s much more Spanish to be had this way than you’ll ever get by slaving over direct and indirect object pronouns, the pluperfect and indefinite articles.

Language patterns get you off the bench and straight into the game of Spanish.

Synergy Spanish will give you the most powerful patterns that’ll take you from being a spectator in the stands to a player in the
thick of the action.

Jump into this fun packed game here:

www.SynergySpanish.com

I often mention how synergy Spanish gives you 88,000 phrases from just 138 words. Some people think the magic is in the words,
it’s not. It’s all in learning the simple ways to use the patterns. That’s where the secret power lies and it’s yours for the taking at:

I was home for my dad’s 70th birthday. As I’m the closest thing to a Mexican in those parts I was asked to make the carne asada.

Yes, I was the taquero. (The guy on the taco stands who makes the tacos.)

So I needed to get just the right kind of meat.

Over several visits to the butcher shop we refined the cut of the meat. Tacos are cut across the grain, which is an unusual request for an Aussie butcher. Also, the meat is cut very thin, not much thicker than prosciutto.

It turns out the butcher had a sister who manages a hotel in Zihuatanejo, Mexico. (That’s the tropical paradise Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman escaped to in the 1994 film Shawshank Redemption)

We chatted all about Mexico. I told him everything I knew about where his sister is living. He had been especially helpful getting the meat just right for my dad’s seventieth.

Then it happened.

He said, “anything else I can do for you Mr. Santamaria?”

Who the heck is Mr. Santamaria?

That’s the guy turning 70. It’s not me.

It was jarring to be called Mr. Santamaria. Especially as Nick is around my age and we got to know each other quite well. So what’s up with this mister business?

Yes, I’m getting older but don’t call me mister.

When I arrived in Mexico at 35 years old all the street vendors would get my attention by calling out joven (young man) or güerito (a term of endearment for a light skinned or blonde person)

Now in Mexico the vendors often call out to me señor.

Yet, being called señor by a Mexican vendor never smacked me between the eyes as hard as being called Mister by an Aussie butcher, who’s more or less my age.

All the connection I felt with Nick went out the window.

People often write to me that they don’t want to speak formal Spanish. They don’t want to make a mistake like Nick the Butcher.

They see themselves as friendly, casual, easygoing people, so they want to use language that reflects this.

BIG mistake!

The chance of doing a Nick is actually very slim. On the other hand you could get yourself in quite a fix by using informal Spanish at the wrong time.

Using informal Spanish in the wrong situation will make you sound arrogant.

If a policeman pulls you up on a traffic stop, he’ll probably speak to you formally. I’d like to be a fly on the wall if you speak back to him with informal Spanish. It’d be comical to watch. Worse it could end badly for you, as you would be disrespecting a policeman.

If you go to the doctor, do business with Spanish speakers or any kind of negotiation, formal Spanish is almost always the appropriate form to use.

When it’s all said and done you really need to know how to use both types of Spanish.

You’ll want to use formal Spanish to show due respect. On the other hand you’ll speak to your amigos with informal Spanish as it conveys warmth, intimacy and friendliness. Here’s how to start using both types of Spanish today. Order Shortcut to Spanish with this link and I’ll throw in the course Shortcut to Informal Spanish Conversations gratis.

http://www.how-to-speak.com/InformalSpanish.html

That’s an extra 3 hours of audio where you practice speaking just like you will with your amigos, kids and in casual situations.

http://www.how-to-speak.com/InformalSpanish.html

By the way, here’s a good rule of thumb to know which Spanish to use. If they speak to you formally speak to them formally unless you are speaking to a child.

If they speak to you informally speak to them informally unless you are speaking to someone who is a lot older than you.

Once you know the formal Spanish, speaking informally is not hard at all. It just takes a few very small changes.

The Shortcut to Informal Spanish Conversations course gives you those easy steps and plenty of real conversational practice. Here’s the link again to get both courses with your order of Shortcut to Spanish today.