In my experience, many people like the way Spanish sounds but think that it is a language that is spoken quite fast in general especially when comparing it to English. Just this past Friday, two days ago I was asked many questions about Spanish and typical ones such as Spanish has genders and how is the gender determined. For example, why is la mesa feminine, why is la ventana feminine, why is la pantalla feminine etc. Now for some nouns there is a reason why it is one gender over the other which I explained. However, in a general sense the fact that el techo is masculine and la manguera is feminine may not have any logical reason other than it is the gender associated with the word.
Another shocker for this individual was adjectives. By definition they agree in number and gender with the nouns they modify which I further extended and said if you study Spanish or any language that has noun gender do not just learn the noun, learn the article associated with it which represents the gender. To study a list of nouns for example mesa, puerta, silla, carro, libro, manzana etc. is great but what is the definite article el or la (singular) that represents the gender.
In my opinion, I think Spanish grammar is rich and takes a lot of time to master correctly if that is the goal of the learner. If you want to achieve xxx level what will it take to get there is the question that one needs to ask. You can’t get away without knowing how to conjugate the verbs. Spanish verb conjugation as mentioned in the blog can get tricky with all the irregularities but they are of everyday usage. No, you can’t just say I will only learn the present tense which I know people have tried to do which results in very limited usage of the language. There are thirteen tenses used in everyday speech and three moods, the indicative, the subjunctive and the imperative mood. The goal to learn all three is what the objective of the speaker should be.
Other grammar concepts that challenge learners are:
1) por vs. para. E.g Es por ti vs. Es para ti- do not mean the same.
2) The subjunctive mood- people try to get around it. Good luck! In my opinion, a sign of good command is mastery of the subjuntive at all levels.
3) saber vs. conocer- to know. This concept and usage is common across the languages that derived from Latin. If you speak one of them just transfer your knowledge.
4) spelling- this should be quite easy but for many it is not however, I believe it is because the rules have not been studied. If you are one that is willing to study the language don’t skip the chapter on the alphabet, accentuation and rules of stress regardless how advanced you believe your Spanish may be.
5) the usage of the pronoun Se. First of all not all usage of se means that it is reflexive. I think that is the first concept learners need to understand. However, in my experience beginners are taught all verbs with se are reflexive and if they go on to advanced level Spanish they realize that it is not so. If one says me voy, te vas , se va etc. these are not reflexive forms of the verb irse. As one studies more advanced grammar the conversation changes.
Those are just some examples of difficult grammar topics that I thought of as I write this post.
One other aspect that is mentioned in the blog is the variety of Spanish in the Spanish-speaking world but Spanish speakers understand each other which means it is a unified language although with many varieties. The local and regional differences do not impede communication. In my opinion, this is one of the richest aspects about Spanish. However, there is still what is considered a standard and that is the Spanish you learn when you buy a grammar book. The grammar is standard and so is the vocabulary as much as possible although many will offer a few common words in Spanish to show the variety. In terms of grammar many text books have eliminated vosotros in verb conjugation forms since it is only used in Spain and in contrast the usage of vos with sample conjugations is introduced since it is the primary form of address in Rioplatense Spanish, parts of Central and South America.
I could go on but I will stop here for now.
-MP.
