Guide to Costa Rican Spanish

Someone sent me this and I wanted to share it with all of you who are studying Spanish. Next time you want to lament over how ‘Diificult’ Spanish is, think about those poor folks studying Englsh and trying to wade their way through all of our ‘expressions’.
Enjoy!

You Think English is Easy??? Think of trying to explain these to someone studying English as a second language!

1) The bandage was wound around the wound.
2) The farm was used to produce produce.
3) The dump was so full that it had to refuse more refuse.
4) We must polish the Polish furniture.
5) He could lead if he would get the lead out.
6) The soldier decided to desert his dessert in the desert.
7) Since there is no time like the present, he thought it was time to present the present .
A bass was painted on the head of the bass drum.
9) When shot at, the dove dove into the bushes.
10) I did not object to the object.
11) The insurance was invalid for the invalid.
12) There was a row among the oarsmen about how to row .
13) They were too close to the door to close it.
14) The buck does funny things when the does are present.
15) A seamstress and a sewer fell down into a sewer line.
16) To help with planting, the farmer taught his sow to sow.
17) The wind was too strong to wind the sail.
18) Upon seeing the tear in the painting I shed a tear.
19) I had to subject the subject to a series of tests.
20) How can I intimate this to my most intimate friend?

Let’s face it - English is a crazy language. There is no egg in eggplant, nor ham in hamburger; neither apple nor pine in pineapple. English muffins weren’t invented in England or French fries in France. Sweetmeats are candies while sweetbreads, which aren’t sweet, are meat. We take English for granted. But if we explore its paradoxes, we find that quicksand can work slowly, boxing rings are square and a guinea pig is neither from Guinea nor is it a pig.

And why is it that writers write but fingers don’t fing, grocers don’t groce and hammers don’t ham? If the plural of tooth is teeth, why isn’t the plural of booth, beeth? One goose, 2 geese. So one moose, 2 meese? One index, 2 indices? Doesn’t it seem crazy that you can make amends but not one amend? If you have a bunch of odds and ends and get rid of all but one of them, what do you call it?

If teachers taught, why didn’t preachers praught? If a vegetarian eats vegetables, what does a humanitarian eat? Sometimes I think all the English speakers should be committed to an asylum for the verbally insane. In what language do people recite at a play and play at a recital? Ship by truck and send cargo by ship? Have noses that run and feet that smell?

How can a slim chance and a fat chance be the same, while a wise man and a wise guy are opposites? You have to marvel at the unique lunacy of a language in which your house can burn up as it burns down, in which you fill in a form by filling it out and in which, an alarm goes off by going on.

English was invented by people, not computers, and it reflects the creativity of the human race, which, of course, is not a race at all That is why, when the stars are out, they are visible, but when the lights are out, they are invisible.

PS. - Why doesn’t “Buick” rhyme with “quick”

Now we know why it’s been said that the English language is the hardest to learn.

Correct Spanish pronunciation is very important. If you cannot pronounce a word correctly, how can you expect people to understand you when you are speaking Spanish.  Also, not being familiar with the correct forms of pronunciation may keep you from understanding words when someone is talking to you.

There is nothing worse than hearing some foreigner butcher Spanish by mispronouncing words. Instead of saying,  “I want an order of tacos,” you might hear “tacos” pronounced as “take-ohs.” With a little work and awareness, most of these pronunciation errors  can be easily avoided.  All you have to do is follow the rules below and you will improve your Spanish accent.

The first and most important step is to master the FIVE vowel sounds which are relatively easy.  Once you have done this you are on your way to sounding like a native speaker.

Here are the five vowel sounds:
1. The “a” in Spanish is pronounced like the vowel sound in the English word “top.” Try to pronounce the “a” like this when you say these words: Ana, la, banana, cantar.
2. In Spanish the “e” sound is similar to the “e” in the English word “they” or the name of the first letter of the alphabet “a.” Say these words: le, Elena, Pepe, me.
3. The ‘i” in Spanish and the word “y” (and) are pronounced like the “i” in the word “Lisa.”  Pronounce the words: si, y, risco, María.
4. In Spanish the “o’ is similar to the vowel sound in the English word ‘no.” Try keeping this in mind and pronouncing the following words: rojo, motor, Toni, lote, ojo.
5.  The “u” in Spanish is pronounced like the letters “o” in the word “root.” Try to say these words: duna, una, Lupe, gusto.

Practice the five vowel sounds over and over and you will be surprised how much better your Spanish will sound.

Part 2 will come next week.

Tiquismos of the week:

Hacer loco to do something crazy or irrational
¡Qué madre! An exclamation of disgust, anger or disappointment