Hopefully this is not beating a dead horse but I want to know what everyone thinks. I talked to Ken about this at the reunion and AZB mentioned this too. Both seemed of the opinion (and feel free to correct my interpretation of what you said) that speaking "street" spanish, "low" spanish, or whatever you want to call it, is not good for a foreigner and shows the class of people you are around most of the time.
The subject came up because MR. Mainer talked to an employee at the complex where they are living and the man said "e'cuela" and not "escuela".
I learned spanish when I was a teenager. I hung out with other teenagers. My first words were all bad, street words. I had no idea what they meant--I just knew the connotation--as in "yuck", "darn", "cool" etc. Little did I know the words were vulgar and ugly.
In my mind, if you are a foreigner and can speak any Spanish, it is better than none. Of course, if you know the difference between "good" and "bad" spanish, than that is even better. In fact, street spanish at the right time can even show how much you are in the know of the culture, place, people etc.
What do you all think?
The subject came up because MR. Mainer talked to an employee at the complex where they are living and the man said "e'cuela" and not "escuela".
I learned spanish when I was a teenager. I hung out with other teenagers. My first words were all bad, street words. I had no idea what they meant--I just knew the connotation--as in "yuck", "darn", "cool" etc. Little did I know the words were vulgar and ugly.
In my mind, if you are a foreigner and can speak any Spanish, it is better than none. Of course, if you know the difference between "good" and "bad" spanish, than that is even better. In fact, street spanish at the right time can even show how much you are in the know of the culture, place, people etc.
What do you all think?