Mexican Independence Day, September 15, 1810: To fix- Fíjate!

There were a couple of great points brought up today in class that I want to clarify. (Thank you Elizabeth and Lucas!)

1.) A "Beanie" can just be called a "gorra."

2.) Equipo is a suitable word for "outfit" and so is "traje" and so is "conjunto" (as in, go-together)

3.) A good translation for "to fix" from Lucas (discussed below) and

4.) Elizabeth had properly used the imperfect (long term) past tense rather than the preterite (short term) in her story. I wanted to explain these two further, it is interesting.

TO FIX:

I had told Lucas that the word "arreglar" is a better fit for fix rather than "fijar".

Well, fijar does mean to fix. But it also means to fix as in, to fix yourself on. But that, of course, is REFLEXIVE "fijarse". I am so used to "fijarse" that I have never heard or used fijar in its other form, so it sounded like a mis-translation.

"¡Fíjate!" is a SUPER common phrase, meaning "Focus" but also "Imagine!" or "You better believe it!" or "You wouldn't believe it, but..." etc.

I wanted to explain this to you guys because it is another neat example of how verbs change when they take the reflexive form.

Fijar- fix, fijarse- fix yourself upon.

Arreglar (most used in Mexico)- still means to fix (repair), and also means to organize.

1. Tengo que arreglar mi carro. (I have to fix my car.)

2. Tengo que arreglar mis papeles. (I have to organize my papers.)

Reparar- means to fix, repair.

2.) Elizabeth's imperfect phrases.

She had said, "I wanted to know Spanish better." "Yo quería conocer el español mejor."

and "I knew the answers!" "Sabía las respuestas!"

Both of these sentences refer to the short term. But the meaning for Querer-to want and SABER-to know changes in the preterite, so imperfect... well, perfect in this case! Good job Elizabeth!

You will almost always use the imperfect form of Quería and Sabía to say "I wanted" or "I knew".

In fact, the chart below shows how the meaning changes when some common verbs are in preterite.

Verb	Present tense	Preterite tense
Querer	Quiero "I want.."	Quise "I tried to.."
No Querer	No quiero "I don't want.."	No quise "I refused to.."
Conocer	Conozco "I know someone /some place"	Conocí "I met someone (first time)"
Saber	Sé "I know a fact.."	Supe "I found out.."
Poder	Puedo "I can"	Pude "I managed to.."
No Poder	No puedo "I can't"	No pude "I failed to.."

By the way, here is how these common verbs are conjugated in the preterite. They are irregular. I would recommend purchasing "501 Spanish verbs", a great handbook for outlining verb conjugation. But I also really like this website: www.conjugation.org

Querer-

Preterite:
yo quise
tú quisiste
él/usted quiso
nosotros quisimos
vosotros quisisteis
ellos/ustedes quisieron

Saber-

Preterite:
yo supe
tú supiste
él/usted supo
nosotros supimos
vosotros supisteis
ellos/ustedes supieron

TOP TEN TIPS FOR LEARNING A NEW LANGUAGE

Don't expect to be perfect!

Can you remember when learned to ride a bicycle? Did you ride perfectly from the first time you sat on the seat? When learning a new language, expect that you will make mistakes, and don't be embarrassed by them!

Work on developing an "ear" for Spanish.

Remember that language is first and foremost oral communication. A written alphabet is merely a collection of symbols used to represent the sounds of the language, and cannot be expected to capture every nuance of sound and intonation. Try to develop a "good ear" for Spanish. An easy and fun way to do this is by listening to Spanish music, watching Spanish movies, or watching Spanish cable TV.

Practice SPEAKING!

The only way to learn to speak a language, is by actually SPEAKING. You can study for years, and master all of the grammar rules, but unless you actually practice speaking, you will never speak well. When you are practicing speaking, remember to do it out loud, at normal conversational volume.

Be consistent.

To really learn a language takes time and committment. Consistency is by far the most important factor. If you can devote a solid twenty minutes a day, nearly every day, you will be far more successful than if you "cram" for an hour or two, but only sporadically.

Talk to yourself.

When learning a foreign language, it is common for listening skills to develop more rapidly than speaking skills, leaving the learner in the unfortunate situation of being able to understand, but unable to respond. A good way to surmount this problem is to talk to yourself as much as possible. Because there is no one else around, you won't be weighed down by the inhibition that so frequently burdens the beginning language student.

Use flashcards.

One of the best tips we can give you is to make and use flashcards. Make cards that are small enough to easily carry with you, and write the English on one side and Spanish on the other. Be sure to ALWAYS have some cards with you. This way, you can capture "wasted" time (standing in line, riding the bus, waiting for class to start, etc.) and turn it into productive study time. Even if you only have a couple of minutes, you can use it to study a few flashcards.

Label your surroundings.

Make labels for things all over your house. For example: la pared (wall), la puerta (door), el escritorio (desk) etc. Remove the labels only after you have mastered the vocabulary.

Be patient.

Progress in language learning does not follow a straight-line graph. You cannot expect to make the same amount of progress, day after day, week after week. You may find yourself struggling at times, seeming to make no progress. Don't let this discourage you. It is normal to reach plateaus in your learning progress. If you find yourself "stuck" try spending time going back and reviewing things that you already know well. Often this will help prepare you to break through to the next level.

Find a partner.

Try to find a native speaker who can be your conversation partner. This can be your greatest asset and perhaps you can also provide assistance to your partner in your native language.

Read out loud.

Try reading out loud. You will get all of the benefits of reading, plus you'll get really good pronunciation practice. In fact, as a beginner, you should read aloud as much as possible.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...: Muchas gracias para explica la palabra fix. Y tengo el libro 501 Spanish verbs. works extremely well.; November 13, 2009 at 4:59 PM
Elizabeth Harding said...: The Sr. Wooly website was pretty funny, and I could understand pretty much all of what they were saying in the song PAN!; November 16, 2009 at 2:39 PM

Mexican Independence Day, September 15, 1810

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Amigos for learning SPANISH

To fix- Fíjate!

2 comments:

TOP TEN TIPS FOR LEARNING A NEW LANGUAGE