V is F and V is B.....

Clase siete of Bueno, entonces... and it seems David is not in the best of moods after last nights antics, but then that is only to be expected in Buenos Aires! And in comes Jimena with the great news... ‘we’re going to learn to conjugate the past tense...’ NOOOO!

The thing I often find with Spanish, when I am asking Spanish speaking friends to translate English sentences for me, which is often, they are unable to provide me with a direct translation, because it just does not exist. This frustrates me, because I can’t understand why I have to change what I want to say, and what they tell me to say does not seem to make sense to my English mind, but this is something I am learning to get used to, and today Jimena tells David he must too....easier said then done I’m afraid! For example, to me ‘hace una hora’ (since one hour) is gramatically incorrect, but NO, now one hour ago is incorrect because I am a ‘Spanish speaker’!

When David tells the little story of how he was laughed at in a restaurant I have a flash back of a similar situation- well not the whole outlandish story, but a few times when I have been laughed at, so this section on food is invaluable to save face!

The pronouncation of letters is often suprising in Spanish, especially Argentine Spanish, and the truly correct pronouciation of ‘naranja’ is something I have been struggling with when I order my regular ‘vodka con naranja’ in the famous Sugar Bar- so I am finding the pronouciation lessons in Bueno, entonces... VERY useful. In fact this whole lesson has proved to be useful, as I was trying to describe to my rooms mate what an alfajor was, and suddenly they popped up on the screen- perfect timing! But all this talk of Vodka and Alfajors in whetting my appetite...