Synergy Spanish Systems Blog

Some say George Bush was the first American president who thought he spoke Spanish.

He would use a sentence or two in Spanish during his speeches, which his speechwriters would have made sure he got correct.

Ted, One of the characters from the Sitcom “How I Met Your Mother”, is kind of like George Bush, he thinks he can speak Spanish.

In an episode of the show he went to pick up a Latin American from the airport.
Here is what he said,

“Yo eres Ted. Esta soy Lily.”
“I ARE Ted. This AM Lily. “

Here are a couple of hints to avoid making these tedisms.

Firstly the obvious one, soy means I am, and it’s the easiest way to introduce yourself.

“Soy Ted.”
I am Ted.

An easy casual way to introduce someone else you can simply say,
“Ella es Lily.”
“She is Lily.”

Or if you are introducing a male friend you can use, “él es”
For example:

“Él es Denis Lillee”
“He is Denis Lillee”

Here is a common “tedism” for you to avoid.

Imagine you knock on the door at an amigos house. They ask,
Quien es? (Who is it?)

In English you’d probably reply, “it is me”.

If you translate that to, es yo, it will sound very strange to Spanish ears. In Spanish you say,

“Soy yo” (Literally, I am I.)

It’s better to say,
“Soy yo, Marcus.”
“It’s me, Marcus.”

Try out, “soy yo” with your amigos. You’ll avoid the Tedisms and you’ll sound authentic and real with your Spanish.

Spanish is not only a different language it’s also a different culture whether you are beginner or advanced it’s possible you are still making tedisms.

I now have 3 levels of sequential Synergy Spanish lessons for beginner, intermediate and advanced Spanish. You can go from zero to authentic, real, everyday Spanish and avoid the tedisms. Click here for details.

http://www.synergyspanishsystems.com/courses.html

Saludos

Hi Marcus,

I want to share with you a breakthrough combination that has been staring me in the face for a long, long time.

Yet, somehow I missed the obvious.

A cocktail of tactics that make it almost impossible not to speak Spanish.

I’m very excited to give this to you.

To get my latest, best and most brain friendly lesson ever, go to:

So why is it so hard?

Spare a thought for anyone trying to learn Chinese. They have to deal with a tonal language.

If you say mai with a falling then rising tone it means buy. However if you say it with just a falling tone it means sell.

That’s tough!

If you want to learn Chinese, I hope you’re not busy for the next decade or so.

There’s just nothing in Chinese to grab onto. The words, writing system and pronunciation are so different.

Spanish on the other hand has much in common with English.

These commonalities can make it easy to start speaking Spanish.

Unfortunately most textbooks do their best to make Spanish just as complicated as Chinese.

Flip open a Spanish textbook and see for yourself.

They’ll most likely start talking about how Spanish nouns have gender and English nouns don’t. And how the noun gender has to agree with the adjective gender and agree whether plural or singular.

I’m falling asleep just thinking about it.

You could study those minor points of grammar for weeks, months and years on end and still not be able to hold a decent Spanish conversation.

Right now there are people all over the world sitting in Spanish classes suffering.

Es absolutamente absurdo.
It’s absolutely absurd.

Es completamente ridiculo.
It’s completely ridiculous.

Here’s how to stop your Spanish suffering.

Firstly, take a look at the two Spanish sentences above. I’ll bet you could have had a good idea of what they were even without the translation right next to them.

That’s because there are literally thousands of Spanish words that are almost the same as English words. Por ejemplo;

completamente, absolutamente, ridiculo, absurdo.

They are familiar aren’t they?

Here’s a tip:

Many English words that end in LY end in mente in Spanish

Posiblemente, finalmente básicamente, totalmente, personalmente

Francamente, It made Spanish a lot more doable for me when I started noticing patterns to make Spanish words. It takes just 31 patterns like changing LY to mente and you can have a 3145 word Spanish vocabulary.

Spanish also has speaking patterns that English speakers can use instantly.

Por ejemplo, to talk about what you and your family, friends or spouse will do you just use:

vamos a + verbo

Vamos a hablar mucho Espanol pronto.
We are going to speak Spanish soon.

Vamos a practicar con nuestros amigos mañana.
We are going to practice with our friends tomorrow.

Vamos a visitar Costa Rica en mayo.
We are going to visit Costa Rica in May.

Put these patterns into use and you can make as many as 88, 000 phrases from just 138 words.

Here’s a package that gives you everything to take full advantage of these commonalties between Spanish and English.

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

You can stop the textbook trauma and get on the road to finally speaking the language. This package gives you 3145 Spanish words and the power patterns to speak as many as 88, 000 Spanish phrases from just 138 words.

Click below to make Spanish easy.

He’s a Spanish Jedi Knight prepared to become your mentor.

That’s right, I actually recruited Yamil Atala, who overdubbed into Spanish the voice of Obi-Wan Kenobi in La Guerra de las Galaxias 1- La Amenaza Fantasma (Star Wars 1 – The Phantom Menace)

He’s also the voice of Thomas el Ferrocarril Mágico (Thomas the Tank Engine), Flash Thompson en el Hombre Araña (Spiderman) and Charlie Simms in Perfume de Mujer. (Scent of a Woman.)

You can hear Yamil’s dulcet tones on the free audio lesson, Hard Spanish Made Easy, on the page below:

You get Christmas gifts and then tomorrow Jan 6 even more presents.

Mañana is el Día De Los Reyes. It’s more exciting than Christmas for many Spanish-speaking kids.

Why not make 2012 the year you join them in the Spanish-speaking world?
Here’s by great offer for beginning Spanish speakers to get you started.

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

I always love going to visit Mexico City over the Christmas period; there are a lot of great traditions.

Santa Claus is becoming more popular but he’s still got nothing on Los Reyes Magos.

Literally, Los Tres Reyes Magos means the Three Magic Kings but in English they are better known as the Three Wise Men.

The Kings are in all the city parks. The kids line up with their families to take a photo with the Kings.

Here’s one of us with the kings from a few years back.

Instead of asking the Magic Kings for presents the parents buy big balloons filled with helium. Then in the night on Jan 5th they tie a letter to the balloon. The letter tells Kings what presents to bring.

Tonight we’ll be watching our kids balloon go up into the sky as it makes it’s way to the line of three stars that are part of the big dipper. Those stars are los Reyes Magos.

Then, we’ll each leave a zapato (shoe) out in the living room. Magically the next morning in or next to the shoes will appear the presents from Los Reyes Magos.

See the Kings really are magical in the Spanish-speaking world.

Here’s that link again to get you started in the fun of the Spanish-speaking world.

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

Feliz Día de los Reyes

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.

You can start with those.

Most Spanish courses grind you into the ground with 14 tenses and thousands of verb conjugations.

Yet with the right patterns you can make 88,000 phrases from just 138 words.

It’s time to make Spanish simple and uncomplicated.

Let’s strip away the complexity. Speaking Spanish can be FUN for any age…when you concentrate on these essentials first.

Let’s throw away the intimidating grammar labels. And quit focusing on the minor rules that don’t give you the power to say anything.

All they do is terrify you of making a mistake.

Everyone makes mistakes.

Good teaching allows you to succeed, enjoy yourself, and communicate even through your faults.

What if instead of obsessing over rules we looked for patterns of speaking that allowed you to speak as soon as possible?

You see, language is made up of patterns and everything is held together by words.

If you start with the most useful words and patterns you can go a long way quite quickly.

As mentioned above, you can create 88,000 phrases from just 138 words.

I build all my courses on the simple idea that words and patterns make up language. If you learn the most powerful words and patterns first you can make your Spanish take off like a rocket ship.

That’s why I have a two-pronged foundation for beginners.

Shortcut to Spanish focuses on words. The 100 most frequently used words are built into the course. Plus, it shows you 3145 Spanish words you can learn instantly.

Synergy Spanish on the other hand focuses on patterns. Speaking patterns you can use right away to combine words to make 88,000 phrases from just 138 words.

If you are done with the complication, complexity and convolution this special offer will get you speaking Spanish.

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

If you have been learning Spanish for a while but can’t yet put it together in sentences this two-pronged foundation may be just what you need. It helps you make sense of everything you have learned and put it into use speaking Spanish.