Learn Spanish with SpanishPod101.com! Are you getting ready to declare your love to that special woman? Is your mom’s birthday just around the corner? Why not hire a group of “mariachis” to set that background tone, while you win her heart over. Here, we have another edition of Gayne’s Mexican Audio Blogs. Today, we’ll learn about a long-standing Mexican tradition: “las serenatas”. In this blog, Gayne takes us into this Mexican tradition, and she even lets us know where we can find the musicians in Mexico City, if we’re looking for a little backup! ¡Suelta la lengua con SpanishPod101.com!
This entry was posted on Tuesday, January 22nd, 2008 at 6:30 pm and is filed under Advanced Audio Blogs. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
6 Responses to “Advanced Audio Blog #15 - The Serenades (Mexico)”
January 14th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
This Audio Blog was recorded on location in Mexico City, Mexico. Here’s the complete transcript from today’s blog:
Las Serenatas
Jorge, mi amigo, me dijo que esa noche iba a darle serenata a mi prima Socorro, para declararle su amor. Así que esa noche, alrededor de las 11 pm, Jorge llegó acompañado de un grupo de amigos que tocan en un grupo musical, un ‘trío’. Un poco más tarde se escucharon las guitarras y… ‘Despierta, dulce amor de mi vida …. Esta noche te vine a decir te quiero’.
La serenata es una bella tradición que se está desapareciendo. Pero para quien aun la practica, es costumbre contratar a un grupo de músicos– Mariachis, tríos, norteños –para llevarlos al domicilio de la amada para decirle cuánto la ama. También es costumbre llevar serenata a las mamás para desearles felicidad en sus cumpleaños o en el día de las madres, el 10 de mayo en México.
En la Ciudad de México, uno de los lugares donde puedes encontrar grupos musicales es en la Plaza Garibaldi, en el centro de la ciudad, y ahí, por si no cuentas con los suficientes recursos, puedes llevar a la novia, amiga o a tu mamá, para que le canten una canción.
January 22nd, 2008 at 7:14 pm
I think I was able to play some serenade waaaay back when I used to play the guitar…. Not anymore though
January 22nd, 2008 at 10:49 pm
Hey!
I am taking the advice of Joseph profesor (profesor Joseph?) and going through this audio blog with a fine toothed comb to see exactly how much I understand.
One word!!!! It’s a start though, right? 
I don’t think we’ve covered “es” in the newbie series, it’s the 3rd person singular of “ser”, right?
So buy saying “La serenata es una bella tradición …” I think she’s saying that the seranade is a beautiful tradition… right? And that it’s unchanging.
One thing though… the title is “the serenades” but we’re using “es”, the singular, instead of the plural.
6Por que?
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:34 am
Hey there!
You are correct, Maxiewawa. ¡Bien hecho! (Well done!). Let’s take a closer look: “La serenata es una bella tradición” (The serenade is a beautiful tradition). After that we have the conjunction “que”, which can be translated as “that” or “which” and then the verb in the present tense with a gerund “se está desapareciendo” (is disappearing).
As for your second comment, right again. “la serenata es una tradición”… in the singular; and it would be “las serenatas son canciones” (the serenades are songs). The title of the Blog is “Las serenatas” (The Serenades) because we are talking about them in general. If we were to have used “La serenata”, then it would have been more appropriate to talk about one single serenade. Does that make sense?
You’re doing a really great job! Another suggestion I have is that you try to recognize word that are common between English and Spanish, even if this is just in their appearance.
For example:
“grupo” looks a lot like “group”, and in fact, that’s what it means.
“centro” looks like “central” or “center”, and it means “center”.
Because you are familiar with English, you have the ability to connect English words with a Latin origin with those of Spanish. 
Now, if you’ve never studied Latin, you’re probably saying “this guy must be nuts!”, but you’ll be surprised how easy it really is. For example, take the word “driver”, which can be traced back through Old English to Old High German “tr?ban” (to drive). Now, if we want to think of how we might say this in English, think of a synonym for “driver” which sounds Latin or Latino. We can think of “cabby”, but that doesn’t sound very Latin, or how about “conductor”? Now we have found a Latin word. This word “conductor” comes from “ducere” (to lead). So a conductor is a driver. Now we’re speaking Spanish.
Here are some words from the blog with which you can try for yourself!
declarar (to state, or… find a Latinate synonym)
costumbre (habit, or… find a Latinate synonym)
acompañado (joined, or… find a Latinate synonym)
Good luck! Let me know how this turns out. 
Saludos,
Joseph
January 23rd, 2008 at 3:45 am
Graham,
Come on! I’m sure you’ve still got a couple of serenades in you!!!! Hahaha. Maybe you remember the lyrics to one of them? If you do, I think it would be really cool if you posted them here! Thanks for listening.
Saludos,
Joseph
January 23rd, 2008 at 12:31 pm
I do declare that I’ve developed a habit of accompanying every sentence with a smiley face.
Saludos y gracias,
Max
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Category: Advanced Audio Blogs |
Function: declaring your love | Topic: celebrations, customs, festivities | Politeness Level: informal
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