Spanish by Song:

May 20, 2010 | Spanish

Lyrics:tener es tuve; estar estuveir es fui y también serponer es puse; poder es pudetraje es para traerhacer hice; haber hube;saber supe; querer quise;decir dije; venir vine;ver vi; dar di;no acentos P.S. Thank you, Robert! P.S.S. The preterite tense is the...

El Profesor de Español. Among other things.

Aug 29, 2009 | Living-In, Spanish

9 oct 2007Eduardo is our Spanish teacher. He comes to our house three mornings a week for two hours at a time. (Ok: $300/month.) We sit, we chat y nosotros aprendemos [no-SEW-troce ah-prin-DAY-moce, we learn]. Hal met him when he took a class in book-binding. Jorge...

UPDATE: On Having A Natural Seat

Jul 26, 2009 | Spanish

Remember my pithy play on words en Español regarding my natural seat when it comes to horseback riding? Well, I wrote to Christopher Howard, the expat expert on Costa Rican Spanish. He asked: “First, you need to explain what is a ‘natural seat.’ I...

Me ‘n My Natural Seat

Apr 18, 2009 | Spanish

Yesterday, Hal and the boys and I were at a birthday party and the topic turns to horseback riding. Vicky, the birthday girl, turns to me and says, “Do you ride?” Me and my big mouth say: Not anymore. But I used to. When I was eight years old, close to 100...

Costa Rica Blog about Spanish!

Jan 6, 2009 | Spanish

I love this blog! It explores the subtleties of Spanish as spoken in Costa Rica: excellent primer… and, ok, I could use it. Pura vida, mae!

About Last Night

Nov 4, 2008 | Hal, Spanish

or: Nurturing Cultural Intercourse and the Integrity of English in Central AmericaWritten by guest author, el Profesor de Inglés, Hal:The school is a single room concrete block building up in the hills behind Santa Ana in Costa Rica. It’s poorly lit and cheaply...

Jeest

Aug 30, 2008 | Spanish

So I take Mango, the big golden dog, to the vet because she has some persistent ear crud going on. El doctór, who is lovely and kind, the same guy who took the disgusting worm things out of Boo, scrapes a little sample off Mango’s ear, scrapes it onto a slide...

Vexations

Jun 11, 2008 | Culture Shock, Etiquette, Living-In, Plumbing, Spanish, Utilities

Man, my patience is tried. I’m fried, wiped out. I surrender. Ok, I almost surrender, but it’s touch and go. When bad things happen here – just everyday bad things – you come up against the culture shock thing big time. Because simple solutions...