VERBeration!

[maxsims]

Depends on the particular accent she wishes to acquire!   As you girls are qucik to point out, there are some speakers of English you wouldn't want to know!   

(I am not one of them, by the way!)   

[madgirl09]

i advised them to just listen to the english eagle 810 radio round the clock. that's our US base radio service at AM bandwidth...free. as for me, i kind of miss aussie accent. i worked with australian bosses and colleagues for 4 years...but maybe, i had adopted quite a few of their twang, and lost it eventually after 10 years of life in japan.   what's funny was that, sometimes, i'm mixing up american and british/aussie word spelling, like licence/ license, behaviour/behavior...and i always have to give the japanese learners the correct american spelling, their preferred variety. it is hard to keep shifting from accent to another accent, and moving from one continent to another. in png where the english and school materials used were australian, i always had to go to cairns and brisbane on sch. breaks for short studies in order to catch up; on long vacations, take proficiency courses in UK. what's funny was that, i learned more history than english...and rediscovered the historical sites in britain . oh, i love english...it takes me to various places.

[renzphotography]

Believe it or not Maxims putting on cosmetics is part of communication. In fact, this is taught in finishing schools like Cora Delaroso and John Robert Powers here in the country. This is also an important part in flight attendant training I'm sure.

Finishing schools were supposed to teach social graces, proper communication, and even executive skills. Cosmetics is part of the "power dressing" concept where an individual dresses up properly before attending business functions, formal occasions, etc. in order to create the desired results by way of commanding respect.

Come to think of it, are finishing schools still relevant today? Or let me put it this way, are they still in business with the same training programs or have they evolved and offered other services to survive in today's market realities?

[renzphotography]

Madgirl09, if you are refering to the US Armed Forces radio then maybe listeners could familiarize themselves with American English while they listen to cowboy music; how servicemen could relocate with their family; which resorts they could visit in Hawaii; what documents to fill up before a serviceman gets deployed to combat; the dental benefits of dependents; how to cope with battlefield stress and so on.

I wonder how students of English will enjoy listening to that station. Alternatively, they could listen to radio news programs on VOA (Voice of America) or the BBC.

[madgirl09]

oh no, this radio is superb, especially on weekends when students could hear very natural english. dr. laura slazenger's time is wonderfully entertaining and enlightening not only to me and hubby but students of various levels listening to interesting conversations, etc. on saturdays, my students who drive enjoy the wacky chats between the automotve experts cracking jokes and anecdotes. the station connects on air live stations in the US of A. i love this radio station. just 20 %  is japan life.

as for cosmetics, i always tell my trainee teachers to wear bright lipsticks when they teach, as students lip read their talk during lessons. lipsticks help a lot in pronunciation and listening.
of course, i also remind them that they themselves are the number 1 visual/teaching aid. they must try to look like catherine zeta jones or phoebe cates...at least try to...

[hill roberts]

Good evening, Joe. So good to know your daughter is learning Spanish seriously. I wish I could say the same to some Filipinos living here. Somehow, they fail to realise the importance of learning a major language. But how can they when they watch TFC everyday, 24 hours a day? I just learned about this when a Filipino builder whom we hired recently was here to repair our bathroom. He speaks  Spanish since he surrounds himself with Spanish locals because of the nature of his job. To tell you the truth, when I first came here almost thirty years ago, I thought I'd never understand what these TV presenters were talking about...still, I sat down and began the renewed interest in the Castillan language knowing that learning another language is a skill. Here in my hometown, people speak numerous languages at the same time, especially when you're sitting in pavement cafes, a very common scene in many European cities. Sadly, I don't get to speak the language everyday since my British husband doesn't speak it.

[hill roberts]

Good evening, Madgirl,
Greetings from Spain.
You asked about the difference between Mexican Spanish and Castillan Spanish.
Having met a few South Americans (some of them come for English lessons) the
difference would be the pronunciation. The letter Z in Spain is pronounced, "th" as in "theta",
whereas, the South Americans and Mexicans pronounce it simply as "zed". The
nuances too are somewhat different. The accent too can be confusing. Overall, the
grammar and construction wouldn't be dissimilar. As for the Andalucian region where I live,
the accent is totally different from those of the north of Spain. Andalucians, although they
speak proper Castillan, they drop the letter "s" as in "lune", marte, miercole...." which irks me
since Andaluzes spell these words they way they  pronounce them. For example, Madrilenos
have a rather "posh" lilt, whereas Sevillanos or Malaguenos would be somehow foreign-sounding  at first
especially those who are learning basic Castillan for the first time. But one gets used to it though.
I'm sure you will , once you get the nuances and the accent.

[hill roberts]

Hello, Max,
We can't be too serious all the time. We need to break the monotony from time to time and have
some genuine fun. Learning a language can be quite boring. I learned to understand
those students coming to me for English lessons that they do get bored and I understand
why, especially when they come at 4'oclock in the afternoon---when human beings are
mentally "slower".
Yesterday, while having lunch at our usual Chinese restaurant, the mother of one of the
students who also owns the restaurant approached me if I could teach her son, again.
However, the subjects she mentioned were History, Philosophy, Spanish language and
Science. I said yes, but Science isn't my cup of tea. Her son is a genius at maths but according
to her, he has been lagging behind: two years in fact. The son is a bit hesitant since he's
all grown up! What I was surprised about was when he said that in Philosophy class, the
teacher doesn't provide books. That now defeats the purpose, right, since philosophy requires
physical presence in the absence of textbooks. As for Science, I said, "no thank you..." I mean,
who am I to teach Science? I flunked my Physics. Anyway, maths is his forte. I await the son's
confirmation.

[madgirl09]

Hi Hill, Thanks for your short lecture . I am back to reviewing my Spanish. There's a Spanish man who recently contacted us in Spanish through our community blog. Apparently, our villages (his Spanish town and our Phil village) share the same name. Our community was believed to have been named after one Spaniard's hometown. The Spaniard, surveying our community way back during the Spanish era, found similarities between his native town and ours. One of the descendants of that town in Spain is now interested to know more about our place and its history. I'm happy to have understood and replied to his short query. My late grandmother was half Spanish; some of my grandfather's ancestry was also Spanish. I guess, I also need to travel to Spain someday  .

[Joe Carillo]

I think that our Spanish colonizers had made us Filipinos more Spanish-minded than we usually think. This dawned on me when I picked up and bought an old, old hardcover book a few years back from a thrift shop in Cabanatuan,  Nueva Ecija, up north in Luzon. The book, Blood and Sand by Vicente Blasco Ybañez, was immensely good and instructive reading not only about the Spanish mind but also about the Filipino psyche. Indeed, when I read that book about bullfights and the life of bullfighters in Spain, I was astounded that it was almost the same as reading about the Philippines in terms of people's names, names of provinces and towns, names of town districts and streets, objects of excessive religious veneration, fiestas and other forms of festivities--everything, in fact, except the bullfights. For instance, all the while I had thought that place names like "Pritil" and "Tetuan" are names indigenous to pre-Hispanic Manila and Zamboanga; from Ybañez's book I was to discover that they are actually names of Spanish towns! After reading Blood and Sand, it was no longer a surprise to me that practically every major provincial district and town and sitio and street in the Philippines is named after a Roman Catholic saint. Most of northern Spain, except perhaps some parts that the Moors had occupied for centuries along with southern Spain, is in fact like that--Roman Catholic through and through in social, cultural, and religious trappings. The Spanish friars had simply tried to replicate Spain in its 7,100-colony in the Pacific for almost 400 years and were immensely successful in the effort! Too bad that they didn't think that the Indios were deserving as well of speaking the Castilian language! And this, I think, largely explains why we Filipinos are the way we are today.

[hill roberts]

Hello Joe,
I'm so glad we've "accidentally" integrated snippets of our motherland's Castillan language in this forum. Anyway, I just thought I'd let you know that "Tetuan" is a city in northern Morocco. As for
|Morocco itself, one can go by boat from Algeciras which takes only under two hours. I hope someday you and your wife would be able to do this romantic trip. Morocco is one of the safest Muslim countries around, and one of the most modern. (Algeciras is a beautiful coastal town, very clean and orderly in Cadiz province.) When you visit the EU, you can do North Africa since this is
near (to) Andalucia than Madrid, can you believe that? Cheers!

[hill roberts]

Hi Madgirl,
It would be nice to see you in Spain one of these days. So, your grandma was half-Spanish. Well, my paternal grandfather was half-Spanish from the Basque region. Here are the top five Spanish cities I'd recommend when you come: Madrid, Sevilla, Toledo, Oviedo, Salamanca. But if you only fancy beaches, come down to the Costa del Sol although not many people know that Malaga has a rich cultural history too. Pablo Picasso was born here and he has a museum right in town. Granada and Cordoba are next-door provinces and these two are very rich in culture. Hopefully, you'd be able to see these gorgeous places within the next two years, yes?

[madgirl09]

Oh, yes, about five years ago, I was searching the net for the cheapest Spanish course with a homestay package. My adult students studying English were also interested to venture into any Spanish city, and they wanted me to be their tour guide  . It's sad, my kids were still very young, so we just looked for a Spanish/Mexican teacher around (luckily found a Mexican on a scholarship here in Japan) to give us a short course. That was just three months, but we needed a replacement tutor when the guy suddenly got married  ...so end of our Spanish study.

I want to try Madrid in the future (Hmmn, I wonder why my grandmother's maiden name was La Madrid/Lamadrid). I guess, she never asked her father what their Spanish homecity was. But maybe, if I ask her younger cousins, they could tell.

We also have a sister city in Spain (Sagunto...errr, I forgot the province), and my cousin and I are wishing we could pay that place a visit in the future. Gosh, there are so many Roman structures, something like the colosseum, even in a small city like Sagunto, Spain. Their website shows lots of historical sites.

Actually, my cousins  just gave me one Spanish article to translate again, but it is too long to try transcribing in one sitting (...and I am two term papers late in my grad. course, ... :'(sigh). I have a Spanish picture dictionary, too simple to refer to in this formal translation job  .

Hill, do you know of any online Spanish dictionary?

[hill roberts]

Hi, Madgirl,
You can probably find it in a multinational bookstore. Try Collins Spanish dictionary. It's what I use but it's a pocket dictionary...the proper one is expensive. It cost around €40-50...I would suggest memorising Spanish verbs...five a day, then start conjugating. There's so much to learn. I still open the Spanish dictionary to learn a few words/verbs each day. In the past, I'd even take it to the bathroom when I sat  on the throne! Also, I read Hola magazine, watch Spanish afternoon films during weekends, listen to the radio in the morning while memory is still fresh. There are indeed many ways to learn Spanish, or other languages for that matter. Above all, the interest must be clearly paramount. Otherwise, it's going to be a lost cause. In my case, it wasn't so much interest but necessity in case we got sick and my husbandwasn't capable of communicating with the family doctor, or when there are accidents, I can explain to the cops what just happened, or haggling in shops, defending our domain, etc. Yes, Madgirl, I had to drag myself to the table daily, in the past, to learn the language properly, four hours a day, by myself. Lonely, lonely. At times, I still fluff my lines!!