Snappy Answers...

I think I have written about Snappy Answers before... in the marvellous and fascinating book "Breaking Out of Beginners' Spanish" Joseph Keenan devotes a chapter to a wonderfully confidence-building array of quick, snappy answers to suit most occasions.
What a good idea.

So, since then, I have kept up , and added to, my own collection of these rapid-fire replies, including some of his of course.

Whatever you are reading, you will come across them... so write them down, and practise them.

Here is a snapshot of some of my collection.

Quite a few of these can be used even if you didn't understand a single word of the question..........

Verdad............. really?
en serio ?.......... really?
Imaginese! ...........imagine that!
qué mas da ? ..........who cares?
y qué .................. so what
y ........................so what
Cual es tu opinion ? ..... what's your opinion?
me temo que sí ............. I am afraid it's true.
ojalá .......................I wish
Siempre pasa igual........... it's always the same
Ahora ya sabemos dónde estamos..... now we know where we are
Vaya por Dio..................... oh dear!
ca! ..............................not a bit of it!
piensa en todas las posibilidades antes de que empecéis a divertiros.....think of all the possibilities before starting to enjoy yourself.
Asi es la vida....................... such is life
no me extraña.......................No wonder!
Vete tú a saber .................... God knows
Trato hecho ...................... it's a deal
hecho ..............................done!
Ya basta .........................enough! cut it out!
Vamos andando .....................that's how it goes.
Y a mi qué ......................... what's it to me?
Pero me vale gorro.................. I don't give a damn
No es para tanto.....................There's no need for that
Que fresco ! .........................What a cheek!
Habráse visto ?........................Did you ever?!
No doy más abasto.......................It's too much!
De mucho interés.......................Very interesting
Quia! ..................................What nonsense
Nanay!...................................No way!
Que bararidad!............................How awful!
Para nada.................................No way.
Disparate !................................rubbish... a crazy idea.
Que no puedo más!.......................... I can't take it any more!
Que te parte un rayo ........................go to hell
Parece mentira ...............................would you believe it?
Ya............................................I know.
Ya te digo ....................................you're telling me.
Venga!.........................................good idea
Esta bien............................... OK
Seguro ! ..............................sure
De acuerdo .......................OK. all right.
Para nada.........................no way
En absoluto! .......................absolutely NOT
N'ombre .................................. no way
No peude ser! .................... that can't be!!
A poco ........................you must be kidding!



But just remember folks... body language speaks volumes as well.

I'm tired of typing now!... this is just some of my list, but I would love to collect more, so please contribute if you can.... also there are bound to be mistakes, so please let me know..

More peeks into the wonderful " Observer's Book of Spanish" in the future.

Well, music time looms once more.Today it's Marwan + Conchita with a live version of Qué Pasa... it takes about a minute of chatting with the audience to get under way, but ends with a fine embrace!



Here are the words, thanks to Fuente Musica.com .........

Me canso de la gente que no tiene
el corazón más que para su cuerpo.
Me canso de llorar tanto por dentro ..
recuerdo que a uno con mi nombre ayer le vi riendo.

Mi vientre se retuerce de dolor por las aceras,
la cordura nunca pierde la cabeza ..
se me ha acabado el saldo y la paciencia
y aquí estoy agarrando con las uñas las promesas.

No sé qué pasa últimamente ..
que siempre me peleo con cada canción que escribo.
No sé qué pasa últimamente ..
será por todos los botones que yo no te quito.

No sé qué pasa últimamente ..
me pesa más el cuerpo si me siento más vacío.
Y yo no sé qué pasa, qué pasa, qué pasa, qué pasa,
qué pasa, qué pasa, qué pasa, qué pasa, qué pasa ..

Ayer el hastío no pasaba
a buscarme por la puerta de mi casa.
A menudo, pienso que la madrugada
es la materia prima que revienta nuestras almas.

A veces, yo me canso de acostarme con el viento ..
me arrincona en los bares el deseo.
A veces, miro a fuera y descubro ..
que aunque haya gente cerca estamos solos en el mundo.

No sé qué pasa últimamente ..
que siempre me peleo con cada canción que escribo.
No sé qué pasa últimamente ..
será por todos los botones que yo no te quito.

No sé qué pasa últimamente ..
me pesa más el cuerpo si me siento más vacío.
Y yo no sé qué pasa, qué pasa, qué pasa, qué pasa,
qué pasa, qué pasa, qué pasa, qué pasa, qué pasa ..

No sé qué pasa últimamente ..
me pesa más el cuerpo si me siento más vacío.
Y yo no sé qué pasa, qué pasa, qué pasa, qué pasa,
qué pasa, qué pasa, qué pasa, qué pasa, qué pasa ..

Fuente: musica.com

Oh... I've just remembered that I meant to start with a clip from Father Ted... maybe you remember the episode where they tried to teach Father Jack to use just TWO answers to any question the Bishop might ask him..

Answer 1.......... Yes

Answer 2... That would be an ecumenical matter.



Actually, it worked very well, and people thought him very wise indded.

Spanish Mode

A few nights ago the family ray decided to watch Toy Story 3 for the first time.
Me, the Librarian, dog Lottie and cat Poppy all loved the film, but the funniest bit by far...and a real treat for any of you who haven't seen it.... is this section where Buzz Lightyear is inadvertantly switched to " Spanish Mode."



Isn't that just brilliant....if only we all had a button like that... and maybe some day we will.There's more of his Spanish adventures on youtube...but just as an extra, here's a trailer for the film in spanish.....



I've not had time to write much lately as the Librarian has broken her foot and I have finished up being a full-time support worker, cook, washer-up, dog-walker, cat-feeder, shopper, ferryer etc.

Plus I'm busy trying to improve my German and learn Welsh.

Here's a bit of Spanish music for you though....

This is Lidia Guevara and Nadie como tú..it's lovely stuff, and a fine video too...



here's the words..

Hace tiempo que no encuentro
la manera, el lugar y el momento.
Hace tiempo que me enfrento al recuerdo.

Busco alguna forma de olvidar,
ando por la calle y al cruzar
paso entre la gente y no veo más.

Y no veo más que caras
que tropiezan con mi voluntad
de poder hayar un hombre que me quiera,
pero sin rechistar,
y que tenga tus manías,
yo también quiero que tenga tu nariz,
y que sólo tenga ojitos para mí.

No sé dónde ir, no sé...
A veces pienso que jamás encontraré
a nadie como tú, nadie como tú,
nadie que consiga escapar de mi vida
sin adiós ni despedidas.
Nadie como tú...

Y me convierto en la princesa
que te espera sentada en la mesa,
mientras se enfría lo nuestro
se enfría la cena.
O tal vez me vendrá como agua de mayo
enamorarme de cualquier vasallo
y lo que sienta por ti yo mejor me lo callo."

In-Car Entertainment...

To start with, this is a little home-made "road movie" of Nena Daconte's El Aleph... the production values are a little lower, but then so were the production costs. It is full of incident though, and there is rather an abrupt ending... in fact it finishes before the song does







If you are busting to know how this stunning film was made, I blu-tacked the tiny pocket digital camera to the dashboard, turned up the in-car sound system ( or tape player as it is more commonly known) to all, and got going!



And while we are talking about cars, drive-time is a great opportunuty to listen to Spanish...as long as certain people aren't in the car with you...



I listen to all sorts of Spanish stuff in the car.... I've got Michel Thomas's stuff which I've put onto tapes, I've got lots of different GCSE/A level tapes such as Vaya and Al Tanto...







I've also taped selections from Retales de Carnaval ( Nena Daconte ) and Mala Rodriguez ( Malamarismo)... both brilliant CD's which are great for in-car Spanish + entertainment.



These are the only two really good Spanish CD's I've got because the ones I want are very expensive or not available... especially Vetusta Morla!



So...can any of you lot recommend any other things I should have which don't cost the earth?



For now, here's some music...



This is Love of Lesbian with a very basic version of Incendias de Nieve.... they do a bit of talking first, but then it's a terrific intimate song... I'm still so pleased that I have found people like these, and Vetusta Morla, Nena Daconte, Love of Lesbian, Zahara, Facto Delafe etc who make such beautiful music from the heart.....




*... I know Munoz should have a circumflex, and it used to work fine with ALT 0241 but now the bloggy thing won't let me do it....anyone any idea what has changed?

Street Talk......

OK........... we've looked at various ways to listen to Spanish... and I haven't even touched on films, Spanish TV, Michel Thomas etc.I will at some time.

Of course, if you are lucky/southern/live in big cities... you can hear quite a bit of Spanish just wandering the streets.

Up here in gloomy wet Lancaster we don't hear much Spanish around the (small) city. Although we hear some Polish, the occasional bit of French ( student exchange?) ,Gujerati and its relatives, a little German sometimes,there's hardly any Spanish to be heard.

As I've just come up with a remarkable new way to practise speaking Spanish, I'm going to tell you about it.

It was my idea.... but you might think it is mad...so be it!!

In the good old days, if you wandered the streets talking to yourself people would cross the road to avoid you, or maybe do something worse.

However, we can all wander the streets talking to ourselves now... as long as we are holding a mobile phone up to our ear.

Aha!



It doesn't even need to switched on, it can be completely kaput, bust, knackered... it could even be a Mars Bar at a pinch.



Maybe that's going a step too far....

With this terrific de-nutcasing device you can wander the streets talking Spanish for as long as you like.

If you prefer leisure,or are as old and decrepit as me, you can plonk yourself on a handy bench or wall and sit there chatting away.

You can describe the passers-by, you can enthuse about the architecture, the weather... or best of all, you can talk about yourself... the good old 1st person singular.

You can have a loud argument with an imaginary friend/enemy/bank clerk/librarian/vicar/builder... the possibilities stretch out....

What fun!

And it's free too..... but whatever you do, remember to keep that mobile up to your ear.



You might even pull in a few Spanish-speakers while you are at it ( as long as your description of them was OK) and then you could speak real Spanish to a real Spanish speaker. Double bonus.

Now I know some of you will think this is a silly idea.... fair enough.

I'll tell you what though... you might be horrified to realise all the things you don't know how to say..... ouch.

It can be a shock. Or a challenge.

Anyway. to round things off nicely, here's a lovely delicate Nena Daconte song... Marta......



and the words are from lyricsmania...


Lyrics to Marta :
Marta viste ojos verdes y un sol marcado en la cabeza. Con su descapotado blanco recorre la ciudad. Crecen flores por donde ella pisa, es la reina del local.

Le gustaba volar, le gustaba jugar, desconectarse de tí. Hace tiempo que voló, sin despedirse de mí.

Pero Marta ya no dice nada, porque no hay nada más que pueda decir. Se llevó mis pinturas de colores, me dejó plantada en éste mundo raro.(bis)

Marta, por Madrid, un duende con mirada triste; un espejo para la soledad que siempre va detrás de ella. Nunca cumplirá los 50 y no quieres descubrir, que de todas formas, le costaba seguir.

Le gustaba volar, le gustaba jugar

Pero Marta ya no dice nada, porque no hay nada más que pueda decir. Se llevó mis pinturas de colores, me dejó plantada en éste mundo raro.(bis)

Pero Marta ya no dice nada, porque no hay nada más que pueda decir. Se llevó mis pinturas de colores, me dejó plantada en éste mundo raro.

Marta o Marta,Martaaa,Martaaa
Marta viste ojos verdes y un sol marcado en la cabeza. Con su descapotado blanco recorre la ciudad. Crecen flores por donde ella pisa, es la reina del local.

Le gustaba volar, le gustaba jugar, desconectarse de tí. Hace tiempo que voló, sin despedirse de mí.

Pero Marta ya no dice nada, porque no hay nada más que pueda decir. Se llevó mis pinturas de colores, me dejó plantada en éste mundo raro.(bis)

Marta, por Madrid, un duende con mirada triste; un espejo para la soledad que siempre va detrás de ella. Nunca cumplirá los 50 y no quieres descubrir, que de todas formas, le costaba seguir.

Le gustaba volar, le gustaba jugar

Pero Marta ya no dice nada, porque no hay nada más que pueda decir. Se llevó mis pinturas de colores, me dejó plantada en éste mundo raro.(bis)

Pero Marta ya no dice nada, porque no hay nada más que pueda decir. Se llevó mis pinturas de colores, me dejó plantada en éste mundo raro.

Marta o Marta,Martaaa,Martaaa

[ These are Marta Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]

The imperfect world...

Yes, we live in an imperfect world all right, and as this imperfect world chunders on, things happen. And things happen in the preterite.

The preterite seems to bob about in a sea of imperfection.



Which is a common feature of Spanish sentences.

Things happen ( in the Preterite) against a background of happenings in the Imperfect.

Y mientras andaban, Tigle le contó a Ruh todo sobre las cosas que peuden hacer los Tigles.

andaban is in the imperfect.... it's the background to the action, we don't know when the andabanning started or when it will finish.

contó is in the preterite... it's time is clearly defined as "while they were walking."

Y ahora que yo pensaba, empezó a acordarse de que no había visto mucho a Christopher robin últimamente.

The "empezó/preterite" takes place against the background "pensaba/imperfect."

When you are reading, you come across this pattern all the time, but unless you are actively watching the grammar, and asking yourself WHY each verb is the way it is, you will simply let it all flood past you and not learn anything.

I know we all want to get on with the story... so I recommend ( and I've mentioned this before) that AFTER you have read a page or so, go back and read it carefully... noting down all the stuff you whizzed through the first time.

Y cuanto más se alejaban, más espesa era la bruma, así que Tigle empezó a desaparecer....

The background happenings ( alejaban, era) are in the imperfect, and the thing that happens ( empezó) is in the preterite.



Dual-language books are really good for this type of grammar-spotting. All sorts of patterns like this can be picked up/reinforced when you have the English and Spanish side by side.

Reading the English side, you can think... hang on, this is going to be an imperfect background/preterite happening thingy... and glance over to the Spanish to see. And so on.

Grammar-spotting is do-able using any old rubbish.... but it's nice if it's a text you really love... these examples I just picked up from El Rincón de Puh... who could have guessed that.

You don't just have to wait for these ideas to pop up in your reading... you should make up your own, and say them out loud, and use them.

Here's Mäbu again with a live version of Tierra.... there's 2 Mabu's... this lot have an umlaut over the a... Mäbu and the other ones have an acute accent over the u ... Mabú .



here's a cleaner studio version...



...and here's the words, from musica.com

Mäbu - Tierra

Hoy la tierra anuncia que ha visto morir
Miles de inocentes viviendo la paz
Y a la vez rezándole a un mismo dios
Estar con los suyos en calma

Que somos polvo de estrellas sin más
Nos dieron la vida, nos dieron de más
Nos encanta el aire y disfrutamos del mar

Y disfrutamos de todo lo que tengo
Desaparece y aparece
Todo lo que somos
Hoy le da el aire y desvanece
Todo lo que tengo
Desaparece y aparece
Todo lo que somos
Hoy le da el aire y desvanece

Emperatriz en esta habitación
Más allá de aquí no soy nada
Y en contra toda indicación
Le he contado a el quien sea el que manda

Tanto vives como cuanto quieras dar
Siempre depende el recuerdo de los demás
Quiero beber del aire y disfrutar del mar

Y disfrutar de todo lo que tengo
Desaparece y aparece
Todo lo que somos
Hoy le da el aire y desvanece
Todo lo que tengo
Desaparece y aparece
Todo lo que somos
Hoy le da el aire y desvanece

Todo lo que tengo
Todo lo que tengo
Todo lo que tengo
Todo lo que tengo

Todo lo que tengo
Desaparece y aparece
Todo lo que somos
Hoy le da el aire y desvanece

Musica.com - Letras, vídeos, wallpapers, foros, biografías...

Grammar-spotting... you know it makes sense!

telenovas

Going back to my current theme... how can you get plenty of practice at listening to spoken Spanish, there's Spanish soap operas ( telenovelas) to watch and listen to.



Here's some of the commoner ones... though this first clip from Gitanas isn't overstuffed with words...



Here's the final episode of "Daniela".. a bit of a spoiler really!


This next one is chapter 21 part 3 of "El juego de la vida)... there's billions of episodes of this to watch...



This next one seems to be a compilation of " La Madrasta"



and here is bit of tempestuous lives in " La Usurpadora"..



When you search around for these Spanish/latin soaps, you've got to watch out for the zillions of "College Projects" done by American students.... this lot aren't actually trying to fool you though...



but this lot might think they have got away with it... NOT!!!



Hmmm... the way to avoid this is by searching for telenovas rather than , Spanish soaps.

Well, music time today is a song I meant to put on ages ago but mysteriously ( I think) didn't... it's Coti + Nena Daconte and Perdóname... and it features plenty of Mia Meneses and her dippy vertical dancing.. I love it!



These words are from the mamarrachi site....

Mi corazón no entiende más tu idioma,
si querías estar sola,
¿para que me abrís?

Creyéndote, presiento que me extrañas
me estaré alucinando, parece que no.

No te preocupes, la condena me empieza a caer,
yo que creía que sentías lo mismo que ayer.
Perdóname, me equivoqué,
perdóname, me equivoqué,
perdóname, me equivoqué,
perdóname, me equivoqué.

Oí tu voz que susurraba algo,
yo entendía lo contrario de lo que hoy haces.
Siempre me haces equivocar,
siempre me llevas al mismo lugar,
si ya te ganaste mi pecho roto,
para que insistir mandando fotos.

No te preocupes,
la condena me empieza a caer,
yo que creía que sentías lo mismo que ayer.

Perdóname, me equivoqué,
perdóname, me equivoqué,
perdóname, me equivoqué,
perdóname, me equivoque