Can anyone help this man, por favor?

[Dale]

I got this email:

hola mi nombre es salvador y soy de chile y nesesito hablar con algien de suecia lo mas urgunte posible, por el mundo de la flauta traversa quisiera saver si ustedes conocen a jente o algo po rel estilo q sea de suecia

My spanish is dreadful, but I think I'm seeing that this guy's name is Salvador and he's from Chile (Or maybe he's from Salvador and his name is Chile) and that he's asking about flute playing in a Swedish style? Or maybe he's asking me to oven-broil his tractor. That's how bad my Spanish is. Is it something like this?

Hi, my name is Salvador and I am from Chile and I need to speak with someone from Sweden as soon as possible, through the world of the transverse flute I would like to know if you know someone or something for the style that is Swedish.

[emmline]

I got this email:

hola mi nombre es salvador y soy de chile y nesesito hablar con algien de suecia lo mas urgunte posible, por el mundo de la flauta traversa quisiera saver si ustedes conocen a jente o algo po rel estilo q sea de suecia

My spanish is dreadful, but I think I'm seeing that this guy's name is Salvador and he's from Chile (Or maybe he's from Salvador and his name is Chile) and that he's asking about flute playing in a Swedish style? Or maybe he's asking me to oven-broil his tractor. That's how bad my Spanish is.

Whoa. I think you got the gist, but some of his words aren't words, or at least he can't spell.

[Dale]

Well, I gather it's pretty colloquial.

[Walden]

I'm almost beginning to think I ought to learn me to talk some Mexican.

[lenf]

Well, I gather it's pretty colloquial.

When I first moved to south Texas, 90%+ Hispanic, I wrote at a local newspaper and would sometimes have help in translating from English to Spanish. I remember one morning trying to translate "egg carton" for a piece on recycling. Eight native Spanish speakers were around my desk helping, and they came up with seven different ways to say it, including a wide variety of spellings.

Still, I think you can rule out the "oven-broil his tractor" idea. Grilling it, with some fajita seasoning, maybe...

[peeplj]

Many people in this neck of the woods have discovered, to their puzzlement, that after taking years of college Spanish, they still can't speak or understand a word of street Mexican.

--James

[kkrell]

Henrik Norbeck's site has Flute in the Swedish tradition at http://www.norbeck.nu/flute/tratonen.htm

Some general Swedish tune info at
http://www.norbeck.nu/swedtrad/index.html


And I've heard some nice clips from Markus Tullberg. Here is his site.
http://www.vilja.nu/markus/Engelsk/ehome.htm

Above in English, alternative for the last one in Swedish. I don't suppose your man in Chile has Swedish as a second language?

Kevin Krell

[Monster]

Many people in this neck of the woods have discovered, to their puzzlement, that after taking years of college Spanish, they still can't speak or understand a word of street Mexican.

--James

I've met people like this. They can however read a Spanish book or newspaper, just can't speak it or understand the spoken word, most curious!

[Wombat]

Many people in this neck of the woods have discovered, to their puzzlement, that after taking years of college Spanish, they still can't speak or understand a word of street Mexican.

--James

I've met people like this. They can however read a Spanish book or newspaper, just can't speak it or understand the spoken word, most curious!

Is it all that curious? They'd learn Castillian Spanish which would be about as much use to them with Mexicans as a knowledge of Oxford English would be an an African-American ghetto.

[scottielvr]

Many people in this neck of the woods have discovered, to their puzzlement, that after taking years of college Spanish, they still can't speak or understand a word of street Mexican.
--James

I've met people like this. They can however read a Spanish book or newspaper, just can't speak it or understand the spoken word, most curious!

Is it all that curious? They'd learn Castillian Spanish which would be about as much use to them with Mexicans as a knowledge of Oxford English would be an an African-American ghetto.

¡Exacto! I thought I was lucky; my college Spanish prof had studied in Mexico. So after two years under his tutelage I could kinda-sorta understand Mexicans...but alas, this was in south Florida. I remained hopelessly lost trying to understand Cubans, or Guatemalans, or Costa Ricans, or Venezuelans....

[avanutria]

US High School spanish is mexican, not castillian, and I expect that US college Spanish is the same. I didn't know some of the simple differences between the Spanish taught in the US and European spanish until a list of spanish words was given to me here during my linguistics coursework as an exercise...even the word "water" was spelled and pronounced differently!

As for being able to read Spanish but not understand it spoken - the same thing happens to me here with English.

[Tyler]

I got this email:

hola mi nombre es salvador y soy de chile y nesesito hablar con algien de suecia lo mas urgunte posible, por el mundo de la flauta traversa quisiera saver si ustedes conocen a jente o algo po rel estilo q sea de suecia

My spanish is dreadful, but I think I'm seeing that this guy's name is Salvador and he's from Chile (Or maybe he's from Salvador and his name is Chile) and that he's asking about flute playing in a Swedish style? Or maybe he's asking me to oven-broil his tractor. That's how bad my Spanish is.

Whoa. I think you got the gist, but some of his words aren't words, or at least he can't spell.

A lot of those spelling errors come from letters that sound identical or nearly identical in the Chilean dialect. (The dialect that I speak is kindof a mix between Argentine and Chilean spanish, and if you think you cant understand Mexican spanish, understanding some of these south american dialects would be a nightmare!)
Sone of the letters that sound nearly identical are v and b, g and j, z and s (and I've ever seen people spell with a soft c down there before).
The spelin erors ar no mor or les comun then sum we C heer on tha massage broads in inglush.

[emmline]

The spelin erors ar no mor or les comun then sum we C heer on tha massage broads in inglush.

Yeah, that's what I figured.

US High School spanish is mexican, not castillian, and I expect that US college Spanish is the same.

The emphasis at the community college where I go is Latin American Spanish. That is most likely the prevalent trend, although 20 or so years ago, my mother studied at U. of Maryland-Baltimore, and was taught Castilian. Rosetta Stone is available in both dialects.
My brother and I had a discussion about this--as much in Spanish as we were capable--last week. He was speaking with the distinct Castilian lisp, and I said I preferred to speak with the accent of the people who lived around here, and he said, in both truth and humor, "Soy un 'snob.'"

[Tyler]

The term "Latin American Spanish" is sort of a misnomer coined by a gringo attempting to put a large subject into a small box...
The Spanish language differs so greatly even just from Mexico to El Salvador that it's impossible to teach a beginner student the entire gamut of the Spanish spoken in Latin America.
Think of the differences in American and British English. Multiply that by the number of countries in Latin America, because each has their own distinct dialect and vocabulary. For example, you can speak Mexican spanish in Argentina and get by, but you're likely to embarrass yourself if you don't know the vocabulary differences. One example of vocabulary difference is the word 'cajeta.' (ok, those of you in South America, don't kick my arsie for using vulgarity...) In mexico 'cajeta' is a sweet similar to dulce de leche, however in Argentina it is an extremely vulgar description of a part of the female anatomy.

[emmline]

The term "Latin American Spanish" is sort of a misnomer coined by a gringo attempting to put a large subject into a small box...
The Spanish language differs so greatly even just from Mexico to El Salvador that it's impossible to teach a beginner student the entire gamut of the Spanish spoken in Latin America.

No doubt, but Rosetta Stone is unlikely to publish 20 different dialects, nor is a college likely to offer that variety, so the only realistic place to draw the line in teaching is between American and European. After that, I guess we're on our own, ¿no?