Dialogue

Vocabulary

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Lesson Notes

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Lesson Transcript

INTRODUCTION
Megan: ¡Bienvenidos a Spanishpod101.com!
David: ¡Buenos días! Me llamo David.
Megan: Megan here. And this is Iberian Spanish Series, Lesson 7.
David: “Yo de aquí, de España”.
Megan: Hi! My name is Megan.
David: And I’m David.
Megan: ¡Bienvenidos! Last time we looked at how to ask why someone is where they are and what he or she does for living.
David: Today’s lesson references Newbie Lesson 7 – “I’m Argentinian. I’m American.”, so be sure to check that out on our website.
Megan: To start out, let’s go back to Newbie Lesson 7 where we heard the following conversation:
DIALOGUE
SRA. ROSSI: ¿De qué país es usted?
SR. GUTIÉRREZ: Yo soy estadounidense. Y usted, ¿de qué país?
SRA. ROSSI: Yo soy argentina.
SR. GUTIÉRREZ: ¿De qué ciudad es usted?
SRA. ROSSI: Yo soy de Mendoza.
M3: This time with the translation! Ahora incluiremos la traducción.
SRA. ROSSI: ¿De qué país es usted?
F3: “What country are you from, Sir?”
SR. GUTIÉRREZ: Yo soy estadounidense. Y usted, ¿de qué país?
M3: “I’m American. And you, madam, what country?”
SRA. ROSSI: Yo soy argentina.
F3: “I am Argentinean.”
SR. GUTIÉRREZ: ¿De qué ciudad es usted?
M3: “What city are you from, madam?”
SRA. ROSSI: Yo soy de Mendoza.
F3: “I am from Mendoza.”
Megan: Now, let’s hear what that sounds like in Iberian Spanish.
POST CONVERSATION BANTER
David: ¿De dónde eres?
Megan: De Estados Unidos. ¿Y tú?
David: Yo de aquí, de España.
Megan: Ya, ¿pero de qué parte?
David: ¡Hombre! Pues de Madrid.
M3: Once again, slowly. Una vez más, esta vez lentamente.
David: ¿De dónde eres?
Megan: De Estados Unidos. ¿Y tú?
David: Yo de aquí, de España.
Megan: Ya, ¿pero de qué parte?
David: ¡Hombre! Pues de Madrid.
Megan: Great! So, as you can see there are some differences in the Iberian Spanish adaptation. Some localisms that we’ll cover a bit later in today’s lesson and some pronunciation issues. We already covered one in Lesson 6 which is the “D” at the end of a word which can be pronounced quite differently in Spain and in particular in Madrid.
David: Yes, the correct pronunciation is “Madrid”, the way this word is pronounced in Madrid is “Madrith”, and the way it’s pronounced by Catalan speakers is “Madrit”. How do you think I pronounce it?
Megan: I don’t think that you can hide that you’re from Madrid. Not that you’d want to, but next I think it’s interesting to hear how a no rolled “R” sounds in Spanish as oppose to the rolled or trilled “RR”.
David: Okay! So, a no rolled can be hear in “eres” when I ask “¿De dónde eres?” which means “Where are you from?”, “eres”. And you can compare this with “erres” which means “R letters”. So, “eres”, “you are”, and “erres”.
Megan: Which is the letter “R”.
David: Yes, that’s right.
Megan: So, after this brief review of the previous lessons, I’d like to talk about something that we touched on briefly before. I’m referring to the contamination of a sound with another contiguous sound. We could hear that in funny conversation where the “es que” contaminated by the “Q” sound it ended up sounding something like a very guttural “J” sound. Could you give us that example again?
David: Okay! But remember, this is not standard. It’s just the way Spanish is spoken in some areas and we talk about it because you could hear it in Spain.
Megan: Don’t worry, you’ve already warned us. But I do think that it’s really important for people learning Spanish to get a tune to the way that it can really sound on the street, so to speak.
David: Okay! So, there we go. “Loj colegash”.
Megan: Which means “the friends” or “the buddies”. And today we can see another kind of interaction between the sounds of different words. We could say that instead of a contamination this is kind of a joining of two different sounds or two different words into one. David, can you give us the example from the dialogue?
David: Yes. “Yo de aquí, de España”.
Megan: Did you notice the two “E” sounds get merged into one resulting in “despaña” instead of “de España”.
David: This happens because when you speak so fast sounds tend to merge and surprisingly would be doing words disappear. When you speak slowly, you don’t make that mistake, but you made it, too, Megan.
Megan: I did?
David: Yes. Repeat your phrase and we’ll check it out.
Megan: “De Estados Unidos. ¿Y tú?” Hey, you’re right! Now let me say it slowly, “De Estados Unidos. ¿Y tú?” If I slow down and really think about it I don’t do it.
David: Yes, but that sounds really unnatural.
Megan: David, this kind of union doesn’t happen in “¿de dónde eres?” even if I say it really fast, both of the “Es” are pronounced separately.
David: Right! And that has to do with accents. Spanish words have just one accent, which means that just one syllable in the word is pronounced a bit stronger. Megan, can you say “Estados”, “España” and “eres” pronouncing a bit louder the syllable which holds the accent?
Megan: “EstAdos”, “EspAña”, “Eres”.
David: Great! So, I’m sure you can now infer why the two “Es” are not combined in just one.
Megan: Right, I get it. It’s because the “E” found in “eres” is the vowel which holds the accent, so that prevents both of the vowels from getting merged into one. However, in “Estados” and “España” the “Es” don’t hold the accent, so they’re weaker and the second syllable does, so the weaker first syllable gets “comido” or “eaten up.”
David: Right! But, keep in mind that this is not a rule that is studied or that the Spanish speakers have to think about. It’s just what happens when people speak so fast.
Megan: Right! It’s a shortcut. And let’s face it, “madrileños” are people from Madrid, speak really, really fast. So, it’s something that foreigners have to get used to listening for, just so that they can keep up. Okay! Let’s quickly go over the localisms that came up in this conversation. David, what can you tell us?
David: Well, not very big words. I’d say just two small words about that which gave so much information or nuance as in solid little space. Our first word, “ya”, which you introduced in one of your phrases.
Megan: Yes, when you said you were from Spain and I said “ya, ¿pero de qué parte?” which means “I know, but from which part?” So, “ya” could be translated as “I know”, right?
David: That would be a very good translation for this situation and it could be a short form for “ya lo sé”, “I know it” or “I already know it”. The literal translation of “ya” is “already” or “now”.
Megan: So, in this situation I ask something and since you answered something so obvious I said “ya” giving the meaning “Okay, I already knew that.” But “ya” can be used in a lot more situations, can’t it?
David: Yes, lots of them. For example, it’s very common to hear parents say “¡ya!” to their children or “¡ya basta!” when they’re doing something they shouldn’t.
Megan: Right, meaning “stop it” or “enough already”. I’m a mom so I’m really familiar with that one.
David: Yes, so “ya” is used too when giving orders to transmit urgency. I mean, that something needs to be done right now.
Megan: “¡Quiero que vengas ya!” would mean “I want you to come right now!”, but “right now!”. It’s such a little word, but it’s used as very forceful and Spaniards don’t tend to beat around the bush too much when something needs to be done in a hurry. I’m sure we’ll talk again about “ya” in future lessons. It’s a very useful word with a lot of nuances. All right! Moving right along, you said there were two localisms. I guess the second one has to be “¡hombre!”.
David: You’re right.
Megan: “Hombre” literally means “man”, but in my experience “hombre” isn’t always used quite the same way that “man” is in slangy English. For one thing in context like this it’s very commonly used whether the person you’re talking to is a man or a woman, right?
David: Right, this word is not addressed to anyone in particular. It just used as an interjection. And, yes, I think you’re right. Expressions like “Hey, man, how are you doing?” in Spain we would use “tío”, which we talked about in Iberian Lesson 5.
Megan: Right! And “hombre” as it was used in this lesson’s dialogue is a slang interjection that expresses surprise or that you’re a bit taken aback by something. How would you describe the meaning in this particular context?
David: Kind of both. I was surprised that you didn’t know where I was from because it was so obvious and by saying “¡hombre!” I was a bit cocky because I’m from Madrid.
Megan: Vaya, la chulería madrileña. Well, that’s the stereotypical cockiness that “madrileños” are so famous for.
David: Yes, this sentence could mean something like “Hey, don’t you see I’m from the best city in Spain?”
Megan: Oh, come on now, don’t get us in trouble. Anyway, you know I have a self spot for Barcelona.
David: ¡Hombre! Well.
Megan: Of course, we’re only kidding.
David: Yes, that’s right.

Outro

Megan: Well, I think that’s a good place to stop for today.
David: Can’t we continue just for a while?
Megan: ¡Ya!
David: Okay!
Megan: We’ll say goodbye for today.
David: Nos despedimos por hoy.
Megan: See you soon!
David: ¡Nos vemos pronto!

Dialogue - Iberian

Dialogue - Standard

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