Spanish Problems

[Larry_OHF]

My teacher is from the U.S., but did his Masters in Spain, where he gets his knowledge of Spanish from. People from Spain speak differently than do those from Mexico or South America or Central America. They have different words to express certain things.

Well, my Spanish teacher has twice embarrassed me in class, saying that my grammer is bad. I accused him of not being open to the variants of a culture, since any Spanish-speaking American has no reason to accept Spain as the only people in the world to do it right, much like those of the United States have no reason to teach children in English class that the European form of English is better than our own variant.

So, here are the two faults he called me on that I disagree with. Tell me what you think.

English = Pay attention
Mexico = Poner atención
Spain = Prestar atención

English = Learn how to speak
Mexico = Aprender como hablar
Spain = Aprender a hablar


So what this guys is saying is that not just me, but all of Mexico is wrong.

[ 08-26-2004, 11:41 AM: Message edited by: Larry_OHF ]

[dplax]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: English = Learn how to speak Mexico = Aprender como hablar Spain = Aprender a hablar

As far as my limited spanish knowledge goes Aprender como hablar means Learn how to speak, yet Aprender a hablar, means Learn to speak.

But I only did one year of spanish so far..., yet I am nearly sure about these, and I learnt the spanish variant.

[Larry_OHF]

That is right, dplax, and my teacher says that it is grammatically wrong to use the word "how" in that structure...and calls it an "americanized mutation".

I think he is a frickin' mutation, but that is beside the point.

[Larry_OHF]

I found my proof, and did so on websites that are from the government of Chili, a college in Equador, the Vatican, and Madrid Spain. I have four references that use my phrasing of the words, and proves him wrong.

YESH!

[dplax]

Now you shall be able to show the teacher the proof then and show him that you were right.

[Bungleau]

Minor thing, Larry... I believe that government is Chile, not Chili. Chili is what I'll be making a huge batch of in a couple of weeks

Not that it's major, but if he's a jerk about these things so far, he will take great pleasure in publicly humiliat educating you about the difference...

Note that it also doesn't prove him wrong, but it does prove that there are different parts of the world that follow different rules for language. Same happens in English... or American...

Another quick thought... ask him if it's "el radio" or "la radio". IIRC, Spain is "la", and the rest of the hispanic world (or at least Latin America) is "el". Or vice-versa...

BTW, how long do you have to put up with this teacher? I learned in my undergrad schooling that it doesn't pay to alienate the primary prof for your minor... which happened to be Spanish.

[Lauren]

I think he just means in this class that it is wrong to say the mexican version in a spanish country... although I know how it feels to get corrected although you know you are right...lol

[aleph_null1]

I've got even worse problems on this score:

My teacher for FS421 (Advanced Spanish Literature) is some dude from Boston who got his various degrees from scattered places in Spain and now thinks himself the authority on the Spanish-speaking world, even though a) he's never been south of Maryland, and b) he doesn't actually speak the language anywhere close to fluently himself.

I lived in Caracas (Venezuela) with my now ex-girlfriend for some years. I'd never studied the language before, and really haven't since, so I speak somewhat far from educated Spanish. Profe & I are always butting heads over how to say stuff, since he analyzes everything while I analyze nothing... I know something's right because it sounds right.

Whatever... the important part is to get your point across, no matter what teachers may say.

[Larry_OHF]

aleph_null1 That is exactly the same situation I am in. As Bungleau
said, I gotta be careful...but I feel that I can easily get around having him again in the future. There are other teachers, but the majority of them are from Spain so I may have the same problem.

[aleph_null1]

I've had good luck with actual Spaniards, Larry -- weird, but they're far more open to hearing South American Spanish (I've even heard that it sounds soothing to them) than an American who just studied there.

Anyway, good luck!