Trying to understand the language

How about if someone could put up a word each day....a word that is used very frequently and could be of good use to me....ie:cerveza, bano, agua,...and then I'll learn that word and use it as many times as I can during the day....and before you know it ....viola...I sound like some idiot trying to massacre the language. My wife and I took Spanish for Travellers and now she(just her) is enroled in a intense (by our standards)course...taking it 3 times per week, 3 hours per day, and she is...or should I say she does know a lot more than myself, and I have traveled to Spanish speaking countries about 5 times as many times as herself. Of course the word would have to be spelled phoneticly and correctly so as I could pronounce it, as well......any takers? Thanks.....Doug

Everyone help him out !!!!

Travelers (not "travellers") = viajeros
Colmado = carry-out
Malecon=sea shore drive
Guagua=bus (caribbean language only...means "baby in South America")
Carro concho = raggedy taxi (car)
Moto concho = motorcycle taxi
Sanky Panky = Gigolo, Dominican Flavor (special)

Everyone help him out and add to the list!

I'd love to help out with what I know, but it sounds like you already know a little bit. If you have more specific questions, it would be a lot easier. Also, if you could give a brief explanation about what you already know, that would help a lot. Are you looking to learn Dominican Slang, or just basic Spanish? I'm not claiming to be an expert by any means, but I would love to help, as I'm sure everyone else here would.

-Justin

Learning a new language is not easy

If it was, everybody would speak a dozen or more. It's difficult. Most people in the USA never even bother. I started teaching myself spanish more-or-less to make friends with all the mexican gals who clean the building where I work. I just got tired of exchanging a smile and a 'buenas noches' with them. I probably spend 15-20 hours per week trying to get better at it. I converse whenever possible. I read books, newspapers, websites all in spanish. I have a great tutor once a week to help me with the really difficult stuff (like when to use imperfect subjunctives).

Music-wise I listen 99% of the time to music in spanish (and I don't count that in my hours per week total). Well, in two years and about fours months I've gotten pretty good at it. I don't even take a dictionary anymore when I visit my mexican friends. But then again, I'm sure they're 'dumbing down' their conversations on my behalf. Almost two and half years of very intensive study just to be understood; not anywhere near fluency yet.

That said, I arrived in the DR last October, only to find that my 'mexican' flavored spanish was barely adequate to carry on even the most basic of conversations with people. Most of time, honestly, I had little or no idea what people were saying to me or around me. As anyone on this board will tell you, you have to learn a new vocabulary of words only used in the DR, new pronunciations, and just new patterns of thought and sentence-making that you're not going to learn anywhere else.

I say this not to discourage you, but to reiterate what you've probably heard many times already. THERE ARE NO SHORTCUTS. You will need hours and hours and hours of 'practicando' and, more importantly, 'platicando.' The best book I ever read on this subject is called Breaking Out of Beginner's Spanish. I highly recommend it. And I wish you luck, I really do. Bilingualism is great, what little I've experienced of it. I only wish I'd started sooner. Suerte, amigo!!!

Re: Learning a new language is not easy

Gracias mucho, usted ve que puedo entender un digito binario,pero no

Re: Learning a new language is not easy

Gotcha!!! That was my wife..see I told you she's learning a lot more than me!

Language speed...

I've been learning spanish mostly by talking with dominicans. A lot of people say that this is a bad way to learn because dominicans speak spanish poorly, or broken spanish. Well, when you don't speak spanish at all, any spanish is good spanish.
If there is one good thing about learning spanish from dominicans, it is that the spoken speed is much faster than many other spanish-speaking countries. Now when I talk to my Mexican/Guatemalan/or even Puerto Rican friends, I can understand them pretty easily. I still have a lot of trouble understanding dominicans. If you show them that you know even a little bit of spanish, they'll have no mercy. They sound like they're speaking in tongues. You'd swear it was another language. There are some exceptions. The dominicans that I talk to on a regular basis are easier for me to understand. I've accustomed to their manner of speaking. However, everytime I meet someone new, I just smile and nod. I know that if I tried to understand them, my head would explode. One more thing: don't bother telling them to speak slower. There is no such thing as slower. They speak at one speed only. FAST!

-For anyone who disagrees with any of these statements, that's fine. This is based on my own personal experiences, which could very well differ from yours. Thanks, Justin

Colmado=carry out, daytime, but at night?

Colmado= carry-out
Colmad?n= a place where you can drink till drown. if you like presidente beer, this is the place to go (aqu? so m?s frias)
if you are Bachata fan. this is the place.
they have the louder music in town.(bueno, quiz?s los car wash la tienen m?s alta), if you want another beer, you have to show them an empty bottle and use your body language, because they cant hear you.
they are very cheap. with less than 200 pesos you can party all night. Most of then now have a new area. the lounge (picalonga),
where you can eat fried pork and longaniza con tostonos !ummm, delicious! for just 40 pesos.
these colmadones started in low class areas like Capotillo, but now you can find it all over the city, even in Naco, piantini, i have one here very close to los Cacicazgos. full of jeepetas.
a warning! never go to this place after 7pm to buy milk, butter or sugar,everybody will make laugh of you.

Yeah, they are the plague!

There's a Colmado in my area, just by the border of Cacicazgos. On account of owning a bunch of expensives SUV's and cars they take the whole street, double and even triple parking leaving the street clogged. Nothing gets me madder when arriving home. One day I will leave the paint of my raggedy small car on their fancy cars & SUV's, that will teach them a little something.

Re: Everyone help him out !!!!

COLMADO=Grocery store(at least thats how they call carry-outs in New York) What is 7-Eleven then? It is not a colmado. What do you call the fancy mini-shops at the gas stations? They are not colmados, but carry-outs. To be a colmado you need a certain tackiness and poor taste. The smell of a colmado is disgusting.They sell you butter by the spoon. They even sell you one cigarette. There is no smell at Gas Station shops. Colmados are also much more expensive than supermarkets. The last time I bought at a colmado? Cannot recall. I stay away from them like the plague. Plus I would have to drive about half a mile to find one.Thank God!

COLMADON:It is a colmado that pretends to be a super market(Some even have signs saying it)but its main purpose is to sell beer and create a neighborhood social scene with the socially-isolated. Although you see Jeepetas there and expensive cars, it does not mean the society crowd is there, just the new rich. Many politicians, engineers and professionals who were born in Villa Juana, Villa Consuelo or Los Minas and now, thanks to politics they share the spoils. But high society people they are not. They are loud, rude, and wear beepers and cellulars in their belts. Fist fights common for Domino playing arguments.Gun shootings are frequent.Tigueritos playing video-slot machines, Cheapo coin phones. Extremely low class.

SUPERMERCADO:The real supermarket. This is where people should shop to help eliminate colmados and colmadones. A very quiet crowd, respectful(No piropos for women),modern facilities and the very best imported products. Smell of supermarket. Your groceries are carried to your car. If it rains a porter takes you to your car with an umbrella. Ample parking and security.No gun shootings. No fist fights for domino playing arguments. If I want to have a drink, I go to a club not a colmadon.

MALECON:Santo Domingo Shore Drive. Once someone called it the largest discotheque in the world. Favorite of tourists. I will reserve my comments on this one.

agree..I need to learn also

I've learned a few..see if they'er correct...
Cotorra tuya=your lying...babbling....
chin=a little bit
que lo que=what's up? whats happening
bote llon=those big 5 gallon jugs of water

I'm trying to learn but its not easy...
Common you guys..you said you would help me ..we did discuss a word of the day at the party..I think you were really there with us Doug...you have ESP???jejeje

First off, no DSL for language learning..

Now the vowels:
a= ah
e= eh (like Bugs Bunny--Eh what;s up Doc?)
i= ee ( like in "eek, a mouse!")
o= oh (like in "Oh schitt!)
u= oo (like in "Ooh, la la! What a babe!)

Dipthongs
ai= Aye, as in "Aye mate!"
oi/oy= Oy veh! with a Yiddish accent
there are others

Important phonetic tips.

The 'r' in Spanish is pronounced with the tongue just in back of the front upper teeth, while the 'd'is pronounced with the tongue between the teeth if intervocal (colmaDo, for example) or just in back of the teeth if not. NOTE: These points of articulation are just forward of the p. of a. for the respective English sounds that correspond to 'r', 't ' and 'd '.

Examples: Toro vs todo

NOW, in Dominican Spanish, the 'ado'endings are reduced to 'ao'
'odo'is reduced to 'toh'

Try this phrase: El dedo del toro es duro::
Work on the interdental 'd', use a mirror, you must see your tongue sneak out there. DE THO, and a little less so on 'del'and 'duro'.
Now work on the trill of the 'r' . Practice the sounds you used to make when a child or the sound of the music inthe Little Tin Soldier: rrratta - tat-tat You want that "rrrrr"like a content cat sound.

Colmad?n: "coal mah Thon"
Colmado: "coal "Mah though" Strange but sorta true until you get the hang of it.

From the pphonetic phingers of the ol'
HB, who used to teach this stuff!!

Re: First off, no DSL for language learning..

To put it another way what HB said about the "d" sound...
a "D" with a vowel in front of it and behind it is pronounced like english "th".

Re: agree..I need to learn also

'Xaver mi amor' == 'Xavielll mi amolll' in
Dominican pronounciation. They also
never pronounce the last 's' in a word like
Klaus == Klau.

I'm also about 2 years into my spanish
studies. Since my native tounge is German and my current one is
English
I am some times mightyly confused.
Reading Spanish is fairly easy but listening comprehension takes much
longer so: siempre trae lapiz y papel.

You discourage me BIG TIME!!! Good grief!

Perhaps I am striking too personal a note here, but I feel a need to make a comment, that I believe is shared by many people contemplating a move to DR.

I am downright SCARED by the language barrier!

My native language is Swedish. For this reason, I have learned English, German and some French. I am quite proud of this but I keep getting reminded time and again that in DR, and in Spain last October, it is not an issue of me speaking four languages but rather a demand that I should speak five? Quadrolingualism is not enough, Pentalingualism is the demand!

The main reason for my worry is that my primary skill is ?communication?! Obviously, the utilization and application of such a skill is the mastering of a language.

In my professional career, I have always had positions, where my ability to speak and write several languages have been highly appreciated.

At Volvo, I would speak to my suppliers in UK, Germany and France in their respective language.

At Tetra Pak, my boss, being Managing Director of the company I worked for, would often ask me to check the language in documents before he made them public. I also wrote some of the ISO 9000 documentation, in english.

Here in Saudi-Arabia I am experiencing a similar situation, for example in writing contracts and agreements with suppliers and revising our quality manuals.

The major companies I have worked for, have all had english as the ?company language?. At Tetra Pak, for example, all written communication, with some few exceptions, had to be in english, even between Swedes in Sweden!

I feel that all of this, being my forte, as it were, will be lost when? if? I move to DR! I feel like an athlete, superb in baseball, about to take a decision to take up ballet instead!

Before I have a decent command of Spanish, I will be too old? Sigh!

Again, sorry if I went too detailed and too personal here!

Re: First off, no DSL for language learning..

"To put it another way what HB said about the "d" sound...
a "D" with a vowel in front of it and behind it is pronounced like english "th". "

If you wish to emulate the poorest of campesinos, who only talk that way because they have no teeth!

I'm more used to hearing it spoken as a soft "d".

Re: You discourage me BIG TIME!!! Good grief!

Don't worry John when I moved to the DR the only words I knew were Hola Mi Amigo..Yo quiero una cervaza.... y gracias. The Dominican people are very happy to teach you Spanish and have you teach them English. Dominicans also have a great sense of humor so they may teach you the wrong words sometimes just for a laugh. If you move there you will learn as you go and it is quite exceptable there. I hired a Dominican professor to privately teach me because the Spanish from books is much too formal and far from Dominican Spanish. You will find in different areas of the country people use their own phrases. For work most all companies you will deal with will use English and Spanish. You will do just fine because all of us "Swedes" do. I will give you a private lesson in January if you like.

:-D

Slight correction

Qu? lo que hay= What's up?

hb

Re: Slight correction

qu? lo que hay? = qu? lo qu?? in capotillo

Re: First off, no DSL for language learning..

for the d: th as in "all though" not the.
and if you think about this phrase said quickly:
pot 'o tea, you could be saying "para ti" ("for you") in no time...