09/26/02: Aprendiendo Español
 

It's required for my degree that I take three semesters of spanish. I've already been through 2 semesters of it, and i've so terrible at it that i've started all over this semester and gone back to the first class. I know that's bad, but this is the one thing that I just can't seem to learn. It's really depressing, but I know the only reason i'm doing badly is that I have no motivation to study it.

Last night and today I spent some time in some spanish irc channels. To my surprise, I was able to hold conversations for extended periods of time. I helped people with linux problems, which I enjoy doing.

I cheated, of course. I used google's translation page. It's useless for full sentences, but it works perfectly for short phrases and combinations of words, and it's quicker than looking something up in the dictionary. Combined with my rudimentary knowledge of the language, I was able to communicate quite a bit.

This gives me good experience with actually using the language. I'm really excited about being able to do this. I hope i'll feel motivated to do it more often in the future. It felt really good to actually feel like i'm using what i've learned, especially after doing so badly in the subject for so long.

I also learned to use xmodmap to remap the keys on my keyboard. I made it so that my left windows key is a modifier, like control or shift. For example, if I press it and 'n', I get 'ñ'. Windows_Key + 'a' = 'á'. You get the idea. This way I can get the accent marks I need. Anyway, I thought that was super-cool, that you can just change your keyboard around however the hell you want.

I met a guy last night that spoke a little English. We mostly stuck with Spanish, but I had a heck of a time explaning to him what 'neat' meant. Also, he had no idea what a Best Buy was.

I became incredibly familiar with the alt- keys.

alt-164=ñ
alt-162=ó
alt-160=á
alt-168=¿

etc., etc.

and then there's alt-156=£, which I use when ordering from Mute Records in London. ;)

Mi problema con hablando en cuartos de la charla era que no sabía si utilizar "tú" o "usted." Depende de la muchedumbre.

Desafortunadamente, eso no trabaja en Linux. El otra manera es muy bien, aunque, porque está menos tecla combinaciones. Es mucho más fácil.


Uso siempre "tú", porque joder ellos. No estan realeza.

Creo que quieres "funcionar" en vez de "trabajar". Todos los usos para "work" en inglés no traducen a "trabajar" en español.

Pero nunca he hablado español con un nativo, así que podría ser incorrecto.

I took 3 years of Spanish, so...

Tobiasly's right, trabajar typically is not used to mean "works" in the sense that you use it. Using trabajar means that it does work/labor in Linux, not that it functions properly. :)

En español, por favor.

Gracias, Tobiasly. Me preguntaba sobre ése, pero no era seguro, tan uso utilicé 'trabajo'. Estoy realmente muy terrible en esto, pero intento. :)

Otras palabras que he aprendido:

joder (v) : to fuck
mierda(n): shit
polla (n): cock

Juju, "chingar" significa "to fuck" tambien.

¿Como se dice "eat my asshole, motherfucker" en español?

After reading here and being pretty satisfied that my Spanish was coming back to me, I've decided to take up learning Spanish again. This will, of course, be in parallel with my German. I have such a head start on Spanish that it'll come fairly easy to me - since I know how it all works, I really just need to memorize words and meanings (and work on slang). German is more of a new thing for me, but I'm going to find a class at a local school and take that (in addition to reading some books and whatnot). Anyway, just thought you fools would like to know. So juju, you and I can work on our Spanish together. :) I'm really rusty though, so forgive me if I have to pull up Sherlock every once in a while. :)

Excelente. :)

Según este sitio, "motherfucker" es "hijoputa". "Asshole" es en mi diccionario debajo "Arsehole" como "ojete".

Tan, es, "Come mi ojete, hijoputa".

¿Pero pensé hijo significa 'child'?

Perhaps it's one of those cases where "hijo" means something and "puta" means something else, but together, they mean "mother fucker" :)

Sí yo recuerdo correctamente, "puta" significa "shit."

I asked a mexican sitting outside my apartment, and he said something that sounded like, "Chino tomai". He was drunk as shit, though, so I couldn't really understand him. :) Still, at least I actually said something to them that they could understand.

Dumb question maybe, but how do you know he's Mexican? Has he told you, or did you ask him?

Or are you just a typical dumbass from the south that needs a good ol' fashioned ass whippin?

These phrases may also help you:

"Besa mi culo!"

"Me gustan las nalgas!"

;)

I don't know for sure, I just assume. It's a fairly good assumption, though, because a lot of Mexicans immigrate here from Mexico. I guess he could be from some other country, though.