Friday, January 19, 2007

Unidad 1

Unidad 1

* El alfabeto
* Lección 1: Vocabulario
* Lección 2: Diálogo
* Lección 3: Tarea
* Lección 4: Números 0 a 10
* Lección 5: Días de la semana
* Lección 6: Colores
* Lección 7: Cultural differences with greetings and farewells

El alfabeto

The Spanish alphabet is different than ours. There are 30 recognized characters. On top of this, they are pronounced differently.

a - a
b - be (largo)
c - ce
ch - che
d - de
e - e
f - efe
g - ge (pronounced like an h)
h - hache (H's are silent)
i - i
j - jota (pronounced like hota)
k - ka
l - ele
ll - elle
m - eme
n - ene
ñ - eñe (pronounced like enye)
o - o
p - pe
q - cu
r - ere
rr - erre (They say that they send kids to school as soon as they learn how to roll the r's!)
s - ese
t - te
u - u
v - be (corto)
w - doble be
x - equis
y - i griega
z - zeta

¡Ojo!

Ch and Ll may or may not be treated as separate letters in dictionaries.

Lección 1: Vocabulario

Saludos y Despedidas

Saludos - Greetings

Hola - Hello
Buenos días. - Good morning.
Buenas tardes. - Good afternoon.
Buenas noches. - Good evening, good night.
¿Qué hay de nuevo? - What's new?
¿Qué tal? - How is it going?
¿Cómo estás? - How are you?
¿Cómo andas? - How is it going?
¿Cómo te va? - How is it going?

Despididas - Farewells

Adiós. - Good-bye.
Chau. - Good-bye.
Hasta Mañana. - Until tomorrow.
Hasta la vista. - See you around.
Hasta luego. - See you later.
Nos vemos. - I'll see you.
Que te vaya bien. - I hope everything goes well for you.

Otras expresiones. - Other expresions.

¿Cual es tu número de teléfono? - What is your phone number?
Gracias. - Thanks.
Muchas gracias. - Thank you very much.
Muy bien. - Very well, good.
Por la mañana. - In the morning.
Por la tarde. - In the afternoon.
Por la noche. - In the evening, at night.
Saludos a ___. - Say hi to ___.
¿Y tú? - And you?
¿Como? - Excuse me? (If you don't understand what was just said.)
De nada. - You're welcome.
Más despacio. - Slower.
Por favor. - Please
Pasa. - Come in.
Perdón. - Sorry.
Permiso. - Excuse me.
Toma asiento. - Have a seat.

Otras palabras. - Other words.

Bien - Good, well
En - At, in, on
Muy - Very
Igualmente - Likewise
Tú - You, informal
Usted (Ud.) - You, formal

Lección 2: Diálogo

Por la mañana...

David: Buenos días profesor.
Profesor: Buenos días David. ¿Qué tal?
David: Todo bien, y ud.?
Profesor: Muy bien, gracias. Toma asiento.


Por la tarde...

María: Buenas tardes Andrés.
Andrés: Hola María, como te va?
María: Bien, ¿y tú?
Andrés: Muy bien.


Por la noche...

José: Hasta luego amigo.
Juan: Si, nos vemos.
José: Saludos a tus padres.
Juan: Gracias, que te vaya bien.
José: ¡Igualmente!

Lección 3: Números 0 a 10

0 - cero
1 - uno
2 - dos
3 - tres
4 - cuatro
5 - cinco
6 - seis
7 - siete
8 - ocho
9 - nueve
10 - diez


¡Ojo!

Uno changes to un before a masculine noun and una before a feminine noun:

Un chico
Una chica


Lección 4: Días de la semana

lunes - Monday
martes - Tuesday
miércoles - Wednesday
jueves - Thursday
viernes - Friday
sábado - Saturday
domingo - Sunday

¡Ojo!

* Weekdays are not capitalized in Spanish
* The week begins on Monday as opposed to Sunday in Spanish speaking countries.
* The days of the week are masculine: El lunes, los lunes.

Lección 5: Colores

Amarillo - Yellow
Anaranjado - Orange
Azul - Blue
Blanco - White
Café, marrón - Brown
Gris - Grey
Negro - Black
Rojo - Red
Rosado - Pink
Verde - Green
Violeta, morado - Purple



Lección 6: Cultural differences with greetings and farewells

Greetings and farewells are a very important part of socializing in any culture. In the United States, it is very common to greet someone with a handshake in a formal situation, or a "hi 5" or a hug in an informal situation. This simple greeting differs amongst various cultures, and getting it wrong can lead to embarrassing situations!

In Spain and throughout most of Latin America, it is very common for greetings and farewells between guys and girls and between girls to be done with a light kiss on the cheek. In Argentina, guys also greet and say good-bye to each other in the same manner. But be careful...this is only in Argentina. A guy kissing another guy on the cheek in other parts of the Spanish speaking world can lead to a very bad situation.

In Columbia, the handshake is more common, but a kiss on the cheek will be accepted between guys and girls. However, the locals will know immediately that you are not from there if the kiss happens.

The point is that something as simple as a greeting or farewell can be specific to a culture, and one should always try to learn the appropriate way to greet someone when traveling abroad in order to respect the local culture. Most people will understand that you are not from there and will accept the handshake, but in order to really get along with people from a different culture, learning their ways is best.

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