Medellin Reports

[Knowledge]

Thank you, this is much appreciated.

Out of respect for Surfer's respectful request I started a User Blog called "Learning Spanish" - to find it you back out to the "Colombia Forum" and scroll down past the "Reports" threads and down to the "User Blogs" section. If anyone is interested: As of right now it is on top but of course the order of the threads change according to when the last post was made in each thread. So this may be a conversation that runs its course in a short while but in the mean time I copied and pasted some of the recent posts here (which means the content is not my post but it will say it was posted by me).

http://www.internationalsexguide.nl/...nish&p=2656361#post2656361.

[Mojo Bandit]

I / you / he / she / they / it / we will be


Not only does English have conjugations, but the rules aren't consistent. Except for the irregular verbs, conjugation in Spanish is consistent.

The correct word is not "concu nos". Is concu nados (with and enie).

"I think with Spanish there is some frustration with for example having to learn all the conjugations because it is just counterintuitive for an English speaker to find out they have to learn so many different forms of what is one word in English."
To me, the problem is that because the US educational system sucks, native speakers of English don't know what a perfect tense is, for example, and when confronted with "conjugating verbs," they don't realize they have been doing it in English since they were three years old.

All due respect, and perhaps I started this rampage of Spanish posts, but enough is enough, and I don't mean this in a dis-respectful way, in fact I'm envious of you and others on this board who are totally fluent in Spanish, but this board as of lately has been somewhat devoid of some meaty, nasty posts of what's going on in Medellin, and yes, there are a few members physically here besides me, but seems to be a lot less than prior to the Holidays. Again, no dis-respect.

Out of respect for Surfer's respectful request I started a User Blog called "Learning Spanish" - to find it you back out to the "Colombia Forum" and scroll down past the "Reports" threads and down to the "User Blogs" section. If anyone is interested: As of right now it is on top but of course the order of the threads change according to when the last post was made in each thread. So this may be a conversation that runs its course in a short while but in the mean time I copied and pasted some of the recent posts here (which means the content is not my post but it will say it was posted by me).

http://www.internationalsexguide.nl/...nish&p=2656361#post2656361.

[ChuchoLoco]

I am; you / we / they are; he / she / it is.

I / he / she / it was; you / they / we were.

I / you / he / she / they / it / we will be.

Etcetera.

Not only does English have conjugations, but the rules aren't consistent. Except for the irregular verbs, conjugation in Spanish is consistent.

For, four, fore.

Here, hear.

There, their, they're.

Hair, hare.

Etc.

All languages are difficult to learn. The hardest one is the one that you are trying to learn. When you speak your own language you don't stop to think what tense etc you just know what to say and you should do the same for Spanish. Just learn dialogue and how to say something in a particular situation. If you are over 45 or so, it will be difficult so make up cheat sheets of what you want to say and keep it simple. A good canslator can help but better to look up phrases.

[Huacho]

" If I think of my past fucking as being over and done with, 'Cog con muchas putas. ' Pretrito because over and done with. But if I view my current situation as being more open ended and it's possible I might screw more hookers, I might go with 'Cog a con muchas putas,' meaning I fuck a lot of working girls in general, no real time frame.

So the autocorrect defeated my lesson by erasing the 'a' in my example of the imperfect, making it look exactly like the preterite, and making the post useless while making Huacho look stupid. It's really fabulous software, though.

Coger in the first person preterite is see oh gee eye with an apostrophe.

Coger in the first person imperfect is see oh gee eye with an apostrophe and then a 'A' which the autocorrect software erases if you put in accent marks.

[Surfer500]

Recent gratuitous fotos.

Seems like your expanding your horizons, besides the backdoor, your into the pregnant ones. LOL.

There's a whole crew of guys here into them, and I think Tallman spotted like nine pregnant ones out working in Centro a while back he posted about, or maybe it was only a half-dozen.

And on occasion, I have seen three to four out working in Centro.

About a decade ago, I did one that was close to popping, but it just isn't my cup of tea.

Perhaps a three-some of two very pregnant women is in the cards for you, but it might be a bit awkward.

But if anyone can pull this off, I'm sure it's you! LOL.

[JjBee62]

"I think with Spanish there is some frustration with for example having to learn all the conjugations because it is just counterintuitive for an English speaker to find out they have to learn so many different forms of what is one word in English."

All verbs in English must also be conjugated. To me, the problem is that because the US educational system sucks, native speakers of English don't know what a perfect tense is, for example, and when confronted with "conjugating verbs," they don't realize they have been doing it in English since they were three years old. Example verb, to fuck. Obviously I fuck, you fuck, we fuck, they fuck. Simple indicative. English grammar is no longer being taught in Yew Ess schools because it's been so long since they taught it, the teachers don't know it. I have fucked a hooker. Past perfect. I fucked a hooker. Simple past tense. I fucked one or more hookers a lot over some period of time. Imperfect. Or in general if I say I fucked a lot of but hookers. How I feel about that and where I am going with that will determine preterite vs imperfecto. If I think of my past fucking as being over and done with, 'Cog con muchas putas. ' Pretrito because over and done with. But if I view my current situation as being more open ended and it's possible I might screw more hookers, I might go with 'Cog a con muchas putas,' meaning I fuck a lot of working girls in general, no real time frame.

I am; you / we / they are; he / she / it is.

I / he / she / it was; you / they / we were.

I / you / he / she / they / it / we will be.

Etcetera.

Not only does English have conjugations, but the rules aren't consistent. Except for the irregular verbs, conjugation in Spanish is consistent.

[Surfer500]

"I think with Spanish there is some frustration with for example having to learn all the conjugations because it is just counterintuitive for an English speaker to find out they have to learn so many different forms of what is one word in English."

All verbs in English must also be conjugated. To me, the problem is that because the US educational system sucks, native speakers of English don't know what a perfect tense is, for example, and when confronted with "conjugating verbs," they don't realize they have been doing it in English since they were three years old. Example verb, to fuck. Obviously I fuck, you fuck, we fuck, they fuck. Simple indicative. English grammar is no longer being taught in Yew Ess schools because it's been so long since they taught it, the teachers don't know it. I have fucked a hooker. Past perfect. I fucked a hooker. Simple past tense. I fucked one or more hookers a lot over some period of time. Imperfect. Or in general if I say I fucked a lot of but hookers. How I feel about that and where I am going with that will determine preterite vs imperfecto. If I think of my past fucking as being over and done with, 'Cog con muchas putas. ' Pretrito because over and done with. But if I view my current situation as being more open ended and it's possible I might screw more hookers, I might go with 'Cog a con muchas putas,' meaning I fuck a lot of working girls in general, no real time frame.

All due respect, and perhaps I started this rampage of Spanish posts, but enough is enough, and I don't mean this in a dis-respectful way, in fact I'm envious of you and others on this board who are totally fluent in Spanish, but this board as of lately has been somewhat devoid of some meaty, nasty posts of what's going on in Medellin, and yes, there are a few members physically here besides me, but seems to be a lot less than prior to the Holidays. Again, no dis-respect.

[Osteoknot]

When you guys start talking grammar I get left back at the bus station. I am a product of a weird Florida public education system that at that time, English instruction was called "Humanities" and I never got any sentence structuring or diagraming or whatever it's called after elementary school. Subject, predicate, noun, verb. That's pretty much it for me. I don't know where I heard it, but somewhere I read for humanoids in my situation, who are older, transplanting to a new country that speaks a foreign language, was to not concentrate on getting everything purrfekt but focus on how to communicate, how to understand and be understood, there won't be any tests, and learn by immersion and osmosis. Half the battle is culture and not specific sounds. That resonated with me because it sounded like less work, jaajjajjaa. Give me another year, I will be functionally fluent in Spanish.

Recent gratuitous fotos.

[ParamySpam]

Speaking good Spanish was probably the greatest single contributor to my success on my recent trip to Medellin. I'd consider myself fluent due to being married to a Central American and working in Central America. I speak Spanish almost every day as my Spanish is stronger than my wife's English. Actually, one of the funniest backhanded compliments I got this trip was from one of the facebook girls, Sara, who told me "no hablas como un gringo. Tienes un accento como un campesino". Or you don't speak like a gringo. You've got a peasant accent. I'd notch that as a win for me and my Central American Spanish. That's not to say I don't make mistakes. I still get noun genders mixed up for some words and my grasp of the subjunctive is less than perfect. But being able to flirt with them and ask them about their lives and families pays dividends in terms of how they treat you.

I don't think Spanish is that hard if you're motivated and in the right environment. It probably took me 2 or 3 years to get close to where I am now. Just like lifting weights, it's about getting something done every day / week. In terms of environment, you can either travel and immerse yourself, or if you are in the States make friends with your Hispanic contractor, yard worker house cleaner, etc. That's also a great way to get discounts and contacts for other jobs. I find that most Spanish-speaking Latinos both abroad and in the US are usually really happy to speak with you, no matter how bad your Spanish, and really glad to teach you about their culture and language..

The correct word is not "concu nos". Is concu nados (with and enie).

[Huacho]

"I think with Spanish there is some frustration with for example having to learn all the conjugations because it is just counterintuitive for an English speaker to find out they have to learn so many different forms of what is one word in English."

All verbs in English must also be conjugated. To me, the problem is that because the US educational system sucks, native speakers of English don't know what a perfect tense is, for example, and when confronted with "conjugating verbs," they don't realize they have been doing it in English since they were three years old. Example verb, to fuck. Obviously I fuck, you fuck, we fuck, they fuck. Simple indicative. English grammar is no longer being taught in Yew Ess schools because it's been so long since they taught it, the teachers don't know it. I have fucked a hooker. Past perfect. I fucked a hooker. Simple past tense. I fucked one or more hookers a lot over some period of time. Imperfect. Or in general if I say I fucked a lot of but hookers. How I feel about that and where I am going with that will determine preterite vs imperfecto. If I think of my past fucking as being over and done with, 'Cogí con muchas putas. ' Pretérito because over and done with. But if I view my current situation as being more open ended and it's possible I might screw more hookers, I might go with 'Cogí a con muchas putas,' meaning I fuck a lot of working girls in general, no real time frame.

[Huacho]

I don't think they count conjugated verb variations in the numbers.

I am not sure either but it would definitely make a difference.

Scottish can be very tough. Scouse too. But for me the country accents of Ireland are the worst.

Probably equally challenging but I've spent time in England and Ireland but not in Scotland. So less of an ear for the Scots. I spent half my time in England so I can speak Scouse but it's tough, oi?

If someone wants to start a thread for talking about the Spanish language so it doesn't clutter up all the pussy, feel free. I just met a gringo in a bar and we were chatting and he said, 'It is a shame there aren't any hookers here. ' I said, 'Who told you there weren't any hookers here?' 'Um well I haven't seen any. ' So I showed him on Google maps where the *****houses were, and he did not want to go there because he 'could not speak Spanish. ' That gives one more data point on whether it does or does not matter if you speak Spanish. Now in this particular gringo's case, whether it was a language problem or a huevos problem, I am not sure. Some of both so why not eliminate the former problem?

[Recondite]

Speaking good Spanish was probably the greatest single contributor to my success on my recent trip to Medellin. I'd consider myself fluent due to being married to a Central American and working in Central America. I speak Spanish almost every day as my Spanish is stronger than my wife's English. Actually, one of the funniest backhanded compliments I got this trip was from one of the facebook girls, Sara, who told me "no hablas como un gringo. Tienes un accento como un campesino". Or you don't speak like a gringo. You've got a peasant accent. I'd notch that as a win for me and my Central American Spanish. That's not to say I don't make mistakes. I still get noun genders mixed up for some words and my grasp of the subjunctive is less than perfect. But being able to flirt with them and ask them about their lives and families pays dividends in terms of how they treat you.

I don't think Spanish is that hard if you're motivated and in the right environment. It probably took me 2 or 3 years to get close to where I am now. Just like lifting weights, it's about getting something done every day / week. In terms of environment, you can either travel and immerse yourself, or if you are in the States make friends with your Hispanic contractor, yard worker house cleaner, etc. That's also a great way to get discounts and contacts for other jobs. I find that most Spanish-speaking Latinos both abroad and in the US are usually really happy to speak with you, no matter how bad your Spanish, and really glad to teach you about their culture and language.

Also, don't be shy. Use what you know and you will get better / learn more. I've found at least that some of my biggest language mistakes from when I was learning Spanish ended up making good stories later. For example, I used to work with my wife's brother-in-law in Honduras. We don't have a concise term for this familial relationship but in Spanish, he and I are "concuños". Now my big Spanish mistake happened after someone asked us how we knew each other and I proudly stated "somos con cuernos" wanting to say concuños. The literal translation is we are with horns. But the expression "con cuernos" refers to someone whose been cheated on by their spouse. It's something he and I still laugh about.

[BeachBumCeo]

Currently shopping for Airbnb's. Wanting something for under $50 a day with a nice balcony w great wifi so I can smoke cigars and work from my laptop. It's interesting trying to read between the lines in the descriptions to figure out if they're "guest" friendly or not. I remember reading on here to first book an airbnb for a day and then negotiate with the owner for a longer stay, right? Also, I've found an apartment I think I like in Poblado but it's on the ground floor with no security. I see this as good and bad. No guest fees or hassles but I feel like a bit of a target too. Do you guys know of any spots in Poblado where I could smoke a cigar and get some work done too? I was looking at Laureles but my Spanish sucks (working hard on it though) so I figured I'd just stick to Poblado.

When looking at Airbnb's, always check the "house rules". Also, make your reservation for 2 people. Not one. So you can always justify your guest. PobladoRentals is a place I used to rent from when I first started coming down here because they are very chica friendly, and they have some nice properties.

[Mojo Bandit]

Haha, I will be one of those that think translator is fine, at least for the first time.

Especially with regards to pronunciation English is much harder to learn than Spanish. To, too and two rhyme with you, flu, slough, flew and true. Most of us here grew up with English, making every moment of every day a learning opportunity.

I have studied Spanish on and off for years, wish I had more time to study the immersion way it is the best. Use it or lose it.

I agree that comparing learning Spanish to learning English is a moot point for a native English speaker. We learned English so young and picked up our language habits so young that there is know way to remember the learning of it,

I think with Spanish there is some frustration with for example having to learn all the conjugations because it is just counterintuitive for an English speaker to find out they have to learn so many different forms of what is one word in English. We get off easy in English by just haveing to add an S to a verb when talking about the second person (I write, you write, they write, we write, he writes) compared to Spanish (Yo escribo, tu escribes, ellos escriben, nosotros escribimos, el escribe) of course in some cases it saves writing because if I say "escribimos" then I do not have to write "nosotros" for the reader to understand - so this does have its advantages - but it just adds to the learning in the meantime.

About a year ago I started studying French. And now Spanish seems much easier LOL. I do appreciate that Spanish has a straightforward 5 vowels sounds. English has 14. Spanish has 16 and 4 of them are nasal vowels which explains why the French sound like snobs when they talk LOL.

[Surfer500]

I hit ground zero today at high noon, and it was quite disappointing.

Lots and lots of ugly chunky Venezuelans milling about, and I didn't see any thin cute ones out, perhaps they were all occupied.

Perhaps it will be better tomorrow.