Ahh, no day is complete without a little Daddy Yankee. Thanks to David (our student), we not only get some Daddy, but we get some Spanish practice, too!

Think the verb gustar is a pain in the ass?  Yup, us, too.  Well, luckily we can help you out a bit! The video below is just a quick clip of one of the many lessons in the Bueno, entonces… program.  Here, David is practicing his gustars with Jimena.

¿Te gusta la gasolina?

Like what you see?  Check out the Bueno, entonces…learn Spanish website and see why our unique (and sometimes bizarre) teaching method works! You can also go to our Youtube page to see more clips from our Spanish classes.

Teal Video Clips Spanish grammar, Video Clips

In the Spanish language, diminutives and augmentatives are common to hear in everyday conversations. In fact, they are so common that you probably hear them in every sentence spoken.

What are diminutives and augmentatives? They are word endings that can be linked to a word to make it seem smaller or larger. Examples: -cito/a, -ito/a (as in panCITO, casITA,) or -ón/ona (as in huevón, llorONA).

The diminutive form is more commonly used, but you will hear the augmentatives used on occasion, although most often when the augmentative form is used, the meaning of the word changes (huevo means egg, but huevón most often will be used as a slang word for idiot, although it’s not as common in Argentina as in Chile or Colombia).

In English, diminutives aren’t as common, and closest thing we have to it would be something that resembles baby-talk (fishy, daddy, horsey, etc…) or adding ‘little’ before a noun. But really, that doesn’t do the diminutives in Spanish any justice. A lot of people are reluctant to use too many -itos and -itas, because it feels a little… cutesy, but in Spanish, it doesn’t give off that vibe at all.

Diminutives can also be used as a term of endearment—you might have heard people call each other by Pablito or Lucita. Sometimes these are names that an individual was referred to as a kid, and it just stuck with them, but a lot of the time it is used in any given conversation as a term of endearment (In English, it’d be something like Maggie for Margaret, or Robby for Robert). Dónde está Pablito? (Where is little Pablo?) Or Pobre Lucita, está enferma (Poor little Lucia, she’s sick.)

Now get out there and cutesy-fy some palabritas (er..word-ies?)!

Spanish is really fun when it comes to being creative - the slang terms and -itos/-itas/-ons are just the beginning. Start Bueno, entonces…Learn Spanish now and you’ll be speaking and understanding native Spanish in just five weeks! We also have clips of our Spanish classes on Youtube - go check ‘em out and get a taste of our style.

Tara Mini Lesson learn Spanish, Spanish grammar

Here’s an Argentine Internet company commercial to… well, not help you learn Spanish, but it’s still worth a watch.

All you really need to know is ‘Que bolu,’ which is what they sing over and over again in the song. Bolu is short for boludo, which is Argentine slang for something like an idiot. So, the song is essentially saying ‘What an idiot, what an idiot,’ but with much more of a ring to it.

But don’t worry, if someone refers to you as a boludo, as in “Che, boludo!” no need to be offended. Boludo can also mean ‘man,’ as in “Hey, man!”

And believe us when we say this song will be stuck in your head for the next few hours. Catchiest. Tune. Ever.

Sorta makes you want to learn Spanish, huh? We can get you understanding and speaking native Spanish in five weeks! Check out our teaching (and level of inappropriateness) on our Facebook Page.

Tara Culture/News Commercials, Funny, learn Spanish, Slang

Here’s a phrase that’ll help you (not) make some new Argentine friends: Andate a la c*ncha de tu madre.

Now, before you go and shout this into the streets, just know that 1) we were being sarcastic about using this phrase to make friends, and 2) this is actually a very, very crude thing to say, so be careful where you use it. However, you can never know too many insults, so here’s another to add to the book.

Literally, andate a la c*ncha de tu madre means go to your mother’s vagina (or a variety of other crude terms that mean the same thing, but for sake of being remotely PC, we’ll stick to ‘vagina‘). Now, you can probably imagine a circumstance or two in which this would appropriate, but hopefully that circumstance comes only once in a blue moon. How about we break the phrase down a bit.

Andáte comes from the verb andar, which means to walk—it’s not as commonly used as caminar, but you’ll definitely hear it every so often in conversation. The te at the end is referring to the person you are talking to (so when you say it, it is in the form of tú or vos). In this case, it is put into imperative form, which is the form used for commands, which is why it is andate instead of vos andás. Essentially, you are commanding or urging the person to go to their mom’s vagina.

Now, if you know know a little Spanish, you’re probably thinking ‘Wow, they use the same word for vagina as they do for fields,’. Actually, COncha is the word for vagina, and cAncha is the word for field. One letter makes a very, very big difference, so be careful with this one. Although, when at the cancha (de fútbol), it is not unusual to hear people say (or yell) ‘concha’. In some other Spanish-speaking nations, concha isn’t even a bad word—in fact, in some places it is the word used for a shell (in English, it’s called a conch shell) and in Mexico it is a type of sweet bread. But we can pretty much guarantee if you say this phrase to anyone in the Spanish-speaking world, you’re not going to get a very friendly response.

Check out Episode 26 of Bueno, entonces…Learn Spanish for Jimena’s and David’s conversation about c*nchas!

If you’re not offended by c*nchas and the Kama Sutra, our learn Spanish program is for you - start today and in five weeks you’ll be speaking and understanding native Spanish!

Tara Video Clips Insultos, learn Spanish, Slang, Video Clips

These are the top 15 Most ‘Liked’ Photos on the Bueno, entonces…Learn Spanish Facebook Wall (in no particular order here). The top 10 will become Finalists in our pool of 100 fans to win a trip to Argentina! Click on any of the photos below and you’ll be redirected to Facebook, where you can ‘Like’ them!

Step One: Become a Fan (Wahoo!)

Bueno, entonces… on Facebook

Step Two: Like a Photo (or 2, or 3…)

The ones in RED need your help!

#15

‘Like’ Zoe “Soie” Loftus-Farren

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#14

‘Like’ Sarah “I want to visit my sister” Sykes

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#13

‘Like’ Kaci “Keepin’ it Classy” Tucker

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#12

‘Like’ Alyson ‘Needs a Good Lesson’ Kilday

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#11

‘Like’ Paul “Caliente” Zimmerman

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#10

‘Like’ Nakia “I have the best hair in this competition” Casey

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#9

‘Like’ Chris “Oh so Dreamy” Knauer

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#8

‘Like’ Elish “I’m in a Bush” Henderson

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#7

‘Like’ Laurence “I’m already bi-lingual, suckers” Allyson

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#6

‘Like’ Ceyda “I may cut you up into little pieces if I don’t become a Finalist” Marifet

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#5

‘Like’ Alex “Steez” Spencer

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#4

‘Like’ Trevor “Holy Crap!” Schrock

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#3

‘Like’ David “Giddy up” Rascoe

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#2

‘Like’ Kathryn “I deleted my photo but I’m still kickin’ ass” Colleen

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#1

‘Like’ Stephen “The Rockstar” Sbanotto

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Honorable Mention:

‘Like’ Amy “I’m already a Finalist but I’m such a stud that I’m competing again” Freyn

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REMEMBER: We need to get to 10,000 fans by March 12th to give away the trip! Are you a fan yet?

Share

*Note: If you uploaded your photo to our Facebook Page and it isn’t on here, get your friends to ‘Like’ it - you still have two days left!

Tara Random Argentina, contest

We all love piropos (pick-up lines), and, like insults, you can never have too many at your disposal, which is why we are posting yet another one to woo the crowds.

Here’s one for the romantics: La única flor que le falta a mi jardín es tu flor de poronga. Now practice saying it a few times. It sounds charming, doesn’t it?

Well, turns out that this pick-up line about flowers and a garden is pretty deceiving. The direction translation is:

The only flower missing from my garden is the flower of your penis.

Ahem. We don’t know if this line has ever worked for anyone, but it’s probably not worth trying. Nonetheless, it is well worth a Spanish lesson, so let’s get on with it!

This phrase is interesting for a couple reasons:

1) Did you read the translation? That’s interesting enough.

2) The noun flor (flower) looks as though it should be masculine (doesn’t end in ‘a’), but in fact, it is actually feminine. And,

3) The term le falta might have thrown you off. Don’t worry, it isn’t an easy concept. In order to break down the meaning of le falta, we need to look at the phrase:

“la única flor que le falta a mi jardín.”

Faltar means to be lacking something—in this case, the garden is lacking the flower of your penis. Instead of saying ‘the only flower that my garden lacks,’ the word order changes a bit, and the word for ‘lacks’ comes before ‘garden’.

The ‘a’ in falta a mi jardín is what connects the two parts of the phrase—first the action, and then who (or what) receives the action.

Lastly, the ‘le‘ in le falta refers to the garden—the garden is lacking something. It is an indirect pronoun that can mean him/her/it (or in this case, the garden). The ‘a mi jardín’ is only there to specify, as there is no prior context to the phrase, but if there had been context, a simple ‘le falta‘ would’ve been just fine.

Whew, exhausted yet? Don’t worry, that was like Spanish Levels I, II, and III in about 5 minutes. With Bueno, entonces…Learn Spanish, you’ll watch David (our protagonist) goes from “Hola” to picking up local girls (or at least, attempting to.) Become a fan on our Facebook Page and save $50 now!

Tara Mini Lesson, Random Funny, learn Spanish, Mini Lesson

Learning Spanish has been one of our main goals since walking the Camino de Santiago in 2008. When we decided to visit South America in 2010, we really wanted to get a move on. During 2009 Linda and I tried lots of ways to learn Spanish: Spanish tutors, Spanish classes, Spanish-speaking friends and dozens of sites for learning Spanish online.

Because I’m really an auditory learner, I started off listening to lots of podcasts from iTunes but I found it really difficult to find any that caught my attention. I’m so busy and learning Spanish is so tough for me, that I really need to be entertained or I pass it off and work on other, more enjoyable, projects. The same is true for many of the systems to help you learn Spanish online: I just struggled to find time for them because I didn’t enjoy them — and learning Spanish was something I did on my downtime.

Bueno, entonces…

OK, so … I was offered the chance to try a new language learning programme based in Buenos Aires. Because the course was developed in Latin America it more closely suited the type of Spanish I wanted to learn and since it was custom-built for iPods and media devices, I could do it while waiting for the bus or whenever I had some downtime while out and about.

The thirty lessons are video files, which you can download in five .zip files or have delivered on DVD. You can also buy some lessons individually from the iTunes app store. The cheapest way is to get the video downloads in one shot for US$147 while the DVDs come in at $199. Each lesson is around 35 minutes long and is hosted by Jemina — a hot Spanish teacher, and David — her flirtatious British student. The interplay between them gets quite heated at times and, in fact, one episode was banned from the Apple store for their discussion of the Kama Sutra! Let’s just say this is a language programme with adult themes.

David and Jemina are joined by a few other characters, like the Professor who explains grammar points and a man and woman who take turns at expanding vocabulary points or talking around a topic. The change of voice and pace come at regular intervals and give good structure to the show, breaking up the story with various expansions.

At times the conversation goes over my head, at other times David’s jokes seem a bit too adolescent, but the shows always make me laugh and because of that, I come back to it time and time again. Because you’re both hearing and seeing the conversations (thanks to the colour-coded magic whiteboard) there’s a high retention factor and there’s a great motivation to re-watch sections.

Is it good for you?

My impression is that Bueno, Entonces… is good for:

• Spanish learners at beginner to intermediate level. More advanced learners who have had little immersion will probably benefit from the native-style language use.
• Visual and auditory learners.
• People who don’t have a puritanical streak. If you find South Park hideously offensive, then it might not be for you.
• People who wish to focus on learning Argentinian or Latin American Spanish.

Read more or buy it here

As someone who teaches English to speakers of other languages for about half the year, I wish I had material like Bueno, Entonces for my class. It’s an excellent learning programme and the research that I’ve read on language acquisition has been put to good use throughout the script and delivery.

Win a trip to Buenos Aires

Bueno Entonces is giving away a trip to Buenos Aires for one lucky person! To enter, visit the blog and follow the instructions there.

We recommend you check out Linda and Craig’s awesome travel information website - he’s got tons of cool travel tips, guides, and of course, Podcasts. You can also subscribe to the Indie Travel Podcast newsletter and get a weekly newsletter of postings and cool things to check out.

Tara Bueno, entonces... Reviews Bueno entonces... Reviews, learn Spanish

Meag, an expat blogger who moved to Rosario last year, writes about the Bueno, entonces…Learn Spanish program in her blog, A Domestic Disturbance.

I finally found Spanish class that speaks the same language I do. And by that, I mean that there’s a teacher speaking Spanish and a student ‘answering’ in English. My version of Spanish (or Castellano) is a half-in, half-out sort of deal. I’m not willing to commit to speaking completely in this god-forsaken language but I’ll throw out what I know to complete a sentence…as in “Gimme another glass of cerveza, por favor.”

So, when Bueno, entonces asked me to review their language videos I was delighted to see someone with a similar attitude struggling along! Honestly, it is helpful and I am learning but mostly it just makes me feel good about myself to know that I’m not the only loser in Argentina (no offense, David). Plus, Jimena speaks so articulately that I feel like maybe I do understand Spanish when I watch these videos.

To find the series helpful, I think you do need somewhat of a background in Spanish. My background is having started Spanish classes several times at a variety of institutions. (I can’t tell you how well I know the vocabulary for school supplies.) Going through the first week of classes, I’ve been reminded of some of the basics and now we’re pilling stuff on top. Useful stuff, like ‘Don’t bust my balls’ and ‘I’m useless.’ I was hoping that I could just watch and remember most of the new phrases - and I did for some, like the proper time to use ‘dale’ - but by the third lesson I started taking notes. It provides an opportunity for learning alongside a little sarcasm (the best medicine). And I’m learning all kinds of inappropriate vocabulary and phrases that I wouldn’t be able to ask my Spanish tutor about (without blushing). I also love that David doesn’t hold back with his frustrations about Spanish - ahhh, thank you, it IS a sexist language!

Anyway, as I said, I’ve watched a week’s worth of Bueno, entonces… - 6 classes. I’ve been having trouble finding time to watch an entire 35-40 minute episode every day so it may take me a little longer but I think a little extra time is great to actually practice using what I learn. The real test will be to see if I get a better handle on the past tenses from these videos.

I’m really excited to finish the series and it’s nice to have some control over learning (meaning I can wear pjs and I don’t have to go to class and be nice if I’m in a bad mood, etc). A lot of people seem to like it for their iPods and I would definitely have watched it while on the subway in NYC but I’m afraid I’ll get mugged if I try to do something like that in public here. I just watch in the comfort (and safety) of my home - usually while eating breakfast or ice cream.

Bueno, entonces… also has a Spanish grammar blog and teaches daily Spanish phrases on Facebook.

Tara Bueno, entonces... Reviews Argentina, Bueno, Bueno entonces... Reviews, expat, learn Spanish

Ok, so… I’m having a hard time being coherent today because yesterday essentially spilled over in today and well, suffice to say that there’s a never ending supply of places to go out in this city and it never stops. I haven’t even made a dent in it, nor have I done many of the touristy things… I did see the big metal flower that opens and closes and is the place to hang out underneath and drink a mate in the sun. I also went to Malba which is a gorgeous art gallery and it has a great cafe.
Winetasting last night, and after that we went to a restaurant that’s so underground that it’s only open once a week and only twenty people know about it and the food is thai.. the best thai I’ve ever had.
We went to another bar after that, basically I didn’t sleep very much, so this morning in the bus I really wasn’t with it and almost got robbed in the bus. I was hanging on with one arm staring out the window in a full ‘colectivo’ and then got rather annoyed as a little man who kept kind of pushing upto me. I looked down and literally caught him red-handed with my bag clip opened and his hand IN my bag. I was so baffled I forgot all my Spanish and yelled lots of expletives at him in English. He told me “You’re crazy”, IN ENGLISH and got off in a hurry. I stood there seething but figured out pretty quickly he didn’t take anything. When I got to my class my teacher was so kind to fill me in on what words I should have used to ‘make a scandal’, as they say here.

Vibeke (our winner from last year) is a feisty one, that’s for sure. We’re going to be real here: shit can happen abroad. While her experience on the bus isn’t a common one (and it is really unfortunate it happened to her), she definitely handled it like a champ. Luckily, if you come down to Buenos Aires, you’ll have a bunch of Gringos (and locals) from the Bueno, entonces… office to help you out with whatever happens.

So, do you think you have what it takes to hang with the Bueno, entonces… Learn Spanish crew in Buenos Aires? Become a fan on our Learn Spanish Facebook Page and participate in our Photo Upload contest!

Tara Culture/News Argentina, contest

Six Super Simple Steps:

1) Go to the Bueno, entonces…Fan Page

2) Become a Fan. Woohoo!

3) Take a photo of yourself holding a sign saying “I want to win a trip to Argentina!”

4) At the top of the Wall on the Fan Page, under “What’s on your mind?”, you will see a Photo icon and a Video icon. Click on the Photo icon.

5) Upload your photo and tag yourself.

6) Tell your friends to like it! (and tell them to become fans - we need to get to 10,000 fans by March 12th to give away the trip!)

The top TEN most “liked” photos will become finalists (in a pool of 100) to win a trip to learn Spanish in Argentina (the sooner you do it, the more time your friends will have to like it!)

Every fan to upload their photo will receive a FREE 40-minute portable Spanish lesson, formatted for the iPod, iPhone, Blackberry, and computer.

Contest ends Friday, February 5th at 7 PM EST. Winners will be notified via Facebook Message (check your Inbox on Friday night!)

GRAND PRIZE includes:
* Round trip airfare from a major international airport to Ezeiza International Airport, Buenos Aires, Argentina.
* Gateway Argentina customized (10-day) package
* Two sessions with the educational director of “Bueno, entonces…”
* Welcome dinner with the cast and crew

Only one photo per fan. To find out more contest details (and everything else that is included in the Grand Prize) click here: http://bit.ly/ContestDetails

If you have any questions at all, please don’t hesitate to write to us at marketing@generallinguistics.com

Tara Random contest, learn Spanish