A city of white and silver, doctors from all over the world come to converge here and find work. Hospitals of all kinds decorate the white walkways of the city. There are many notable ones you can visit if your pet is in need of some attention. (+3 Precision)

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¿Tú hablas español? (MULTILING-Open to all Spanish learners)

Postby Freezair » 05/08/2010 7:30 PM

((Important OOC Note: This is a multilingual RP, spun off from Shrewd's language-learner thread. It is open to anyone at any time. Everyone is welcome! However, that also means that this thread has no posting order. I will ask you not to doublepost unless you need to, but otherwise, go nuts. Most of my posts will be educational in format, and I will also answer questions.

This thread is for learning Beginner-level Spanish. If all you can do is count to 10, or say the days of the week, this is the thread for you. If you know no Spanish at all, or want to review the basics, you're welcome here! :D))



Leonard Newhouse didn't know a lick of medicine. He knew you should wash cuts to protect them from being infected. He knew (too well) that you should elevate a sprained ankle. But he had no idea what CCs were, thought IVs should be called "fours," and didn't even know what those little balls inside a headache pill were.

But he knew doctors treated patients from all walks of life. Sometimes, they didn't even speak the same languages as the people who came to their hospitals and offices. And if a doctor couldn't figure out what was wrong with a patient--because the patient couldn't communicate with them--that was Bad.

And so, even here, his skills were needed.

Leonard stared anxiously around the classroom. He had his papers set up on his desk--organized, he thought. He had his lesson plans set up in his binder--if he could remember to follow them. On the board behind him, he had written his greeting.

BIENVENIDOS A ESPAÑOL PARA LOS PRINCIPIANTES
Welcome to Spanish for Beginners


Students were already filing in from the doors. He couldn't read their expressions at all. Were they all medical students? He knew there were some non-medicine programs at the local colleges. Maybe they were just interested.

He looked at his watch. It was almost time to begin. Well, moment of truth. He cleared his throat.

"Hola. Me llamo Leonard Casanueva, el maestro de esta clase. Hello. I'm Leonard Newhouse, the teacher of this class. You don't actually have to call me 'Casanueva.' I was... I was just trying to be funny." He laughed weakly, betraying his nerves. "You can call me Señor Newhouse if you like, or Casanueva, or... You could just call me Sr. Leonard or just Leonard if you want. I have no preference, so long as you're polite about it." He shrugged. "Bienvenidos a clase."

[1]

I'm so cool (too bad I'm a loser).
I'm so smart (too bad I can't get anything figured out)!
I'm so brave (too bad I'm a baby).
I'm so fly
That's probably why it feels just like I'm falling for the first time!

I'm so green (it's really amazing).
I'm so clean (too bad I can't get all the dirt off of me)!
I'm so sane (It's driving me crazy)!
It's so strange
I can't believe I'm falling for the first time!

Critters -Ramblings - Single & Looking -Majikul Wishlist -This Stuff's Important

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Silver

Postby rayquaza7996 » 05/08/2010 11:15 PM

Image

The Tarnished Garagnir was very glad she had a human form. She was unusally small in her "full" form, but that didn't mean that it wouldn't be a tight squeeze. She grinned, bowing to the teacher. She couldn't remember the proper form of respect, so that would have to do.

"Hola. I'm Silver Lukeson. I'm a medical student. Does "bienvenidos" mean welcome?" She tilted her head quizzically, silvery-green hair limp. She had been planning to wash it out, but there had been an ER case at her patron Ray's clinic/home that she also lived at, and she hadn't had time. "I apologize for my appearance, Sr. Leonard. We had a severe ER patient and I had to help keep them alive until we could get the poor beast onto the proper equipment. Then I had to help run the IVs and...Oh, I'm rambling! Sorry, sir!" She hustled back to her seat, sitting down.



You've been known to obsess over the future,

Do you think you'll get away from the past?

As you starve yourself just to make it through to midnight,

Consider what you might have found.

You think you've got a good thing now?
Ludo - Topeka

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Re: ¿Tú hablas español? (MULTILING-Open to all Spanish learners)

Postby Freezair » 05/08/2010 11:41 PM

"Ah! Welcome, welcome, Señorita Silver. Take any seat you like. And yes, 'Bienvenidos' means 'welcome.' Don't--don't worry too much about your appearance. I know what kids are like--I'm not that old." He laughed. "I know people wear their pajamas to class and things like that. It'll be fine. Don't worry."

Leonard watched the class fill in, as the stragglers joined them. The Bruma man nodded and moved to in front of the white board. "So, yes. There's a basic vocabularly lesson then, huh? Bienvenidos."

He turned toward the board and brought out a pen.

"Spanish, as you may or may not know, is one of the most wildly-spoken languages in the world. It's in the Top 5, which also includes Mandarin Chinese, English, and Pet. Blame it on the fact that the Spaniards liked to colonized everything. ...Little history for you. It's a Romance language, but that doesn't mean anything about how much your girlfriend or boyfriend will like it if you speak it to them! ...You should probably tell me now if the jokes are that bad." He grinned nervously. "It means it's descended from Latin, which they spoke in Rome. Hence, Romance. Other Romance languages are French, Portugese and Italian--in fact, Italian and Spanish are so similar they're almost mutually intelligable."

He turned to the class. "Oh, and while English owes a lot to Latin, it's not generally considered Romance. It's a Germanic slash Celtic language."

He wrote more facts on the board as he went. "English and Spanish have very similar grammatical structures. And understanding the grammar of a language is one of its most important aspects.

"Before I can start to teach you the language, I need to know a few things. Do you know what all of the following words or terms mean?"

Tense
Conjugate
First, Second, and Third Person
Subject-Verb Agreement


[2]

I'm so cool (too bad I'm a loser).
I'm so smart (too bad I can't get anything figured out)!
I'm so brave (too bad I'm a baby).
I'm so fly
That's probably why it feels just like I'm falling for the first time!

I'm so green (it's really amazing).
I'm so clean (too bad I can't get all the dirt off of me)!
I'm so sane (It's driving me crazy)!
It's so strange
I can't believe I'm falling for the first time!

Critters -Ramblings - Single & Looking -Majikul Wishlist -This Stuff's Important

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Re: ¿Tú hablas español? (MULTILING-Open to all Spanish learners)

Postby SpringsSong » 05/09/2010 12:16 AM

Krattia had tried her best not to be late, but that was unavoidable, evidently.

The woman, who had dark purple hair with bright green highlights that looked like it had been a good day or so since it had been properly washed or brushed, slipped in behind a few of the other stragglers and took to her seat, her sweatpants and tank top indicating that she had been working out or something before she got here.  She listened to the professor speak, and when he asked about the terms written on the board, she raised her hand slightly.

"I know what tense and conjugate are," she said, "but, as far as Spanish goes, I'm afraid I've forgotten the other two.  Tense and conjugation go hand in hand, don't they, Señor Newhouse?" she asked, tilting her head.  "L-lo siento... my Spanish is not as good as it once was.  I only remember a few basic things.  But now I'm rambling--I'm Krattia Nightwing, and I'm hoping to enter the medical profession in some capacity, be it a doctor, nurse, or just someone at the desk, which... would require some knowledge of Spanish."

She knew that she was half-lying, but she needed a cover for her other job, right?

[1.2]
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Re: ¿Tú hablas español? (MULTILING-Open to all Spanish learners)

Postby rayquaza7996 » 05/09/2010 10:01 AM

Silver raised her hand, smiling. "I know all but conjugate somewhat, but my memory on subject-verb agreement is poor. I've taken some College-level composition so I could work on my medical papers, but we never got to the conjugate lesson, and we skipped most of subject-verb. I couldn't exactly afford a really long class, after all." Silver smiled.

She turned to Karria, figuring that she was another student. "Hello, I'm Silver Lukeson. You have a significantly cooler last name than mine, though I figure if I ever find a pairbond I'll change it then. Oh, but I'm rambling again. I  live and work at a small local clinic catering mostly to nonhumans, so if you're ever injured, you can come over to our place. We don't charge costs."



You've been known to obsess over the future,

Do you think you'll get away from the past?

As you starve yourself just to make it through to midnight,

Consider what you might have found.

You think you've got a good thing now?
Ludo - Topeka

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Re: ¿Tú hablas español? (MULTILING-Open to all Spanish learners)

Postby Freezair » 05/09/2010 3:05 PM

"Alright." Leonard nodded. "Everyone seems to be good on Tense, but as for the others, well, I'll give a quick review."

He wrote on the board.

CONJUGATE

"Conjugation is something you all know how to do--you do it any time you speak! But you never really think about it. Conjugation is the act of choosing which form of a verb you use in a sentence. For example: 'I am a Bruma. He is a Bruma. They are Brumas.' All the different forms of 'be' there--is, am, are--those are different conjugations. Similar is: I walk, she walks. Walk and walks are the conjugations. You do it automatically for English, but it will be slower in Spanish. Don't worry; you'll get to practice."

FIRST, SECOND, and THIRD PERSON

"First, second, and third person are types of pronouns. We usually conjugate according to them in English. First person is anything that includes the person speaking. 'I, me, my, mine, we,' and 'our,' basically. Second person is someone you're addressing directly. 'You' and 'yours.' Oh, and if you want to get technical, 'thou, thee, and thine,' but only people talking faux-Old English use those anymore. Third person is anybody else you're just talking about. 'He, her, him, his, hers, they, their, theirs, them,' and anybody's name; all that good stuff."

SUBJECT-VERB AGREEMENT

"This is one that goes along with the first two. It means the noun or pronoun you're using--the first, second, or third person, that kind of thing--and the way you've conjugated a verb line up. ...It's hard to explain, but examples make it clear. You do not say 'I are a Bruma,' you say 'I am a Bruma.' You also don't say, 'They walks to the store,' you say 'They walk to the store.' Do you understand?"

He sighed as he turned to face the class. "Sorry if I'm delaying from getting to the actual language, but these concepts are very important."

[3]

I'm so cool (too bad I'm a loser).
I'm so smart (too bad I can't get anything figured out)!
I'm so brave (too bad I'm a baby).
I'm so fly
That's probably why it feels just like I'm falling for the first time!

I'm so green (it's really amazing).
I'm so clean (too bad I can't get all the dirt off of me)!
I'm so sane (It's driving me crazy)!
It's so strange
I can't believe I'm falling for the first time!

Critters -Ramblings - Single & Looking -Majikul Wishlist -This Stuff's Important

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Re: ¿Tú hablas español? (MULTILING-Open to all Spanish learners)

Postby SpringsSong » 05/09/2010 3:31 PM

Krattia listened as Leonard spoke about the other terms, and almost instantly, she felt slightly stupid for forgetting.  However, it had been well over four years since she had even bothered speaking the language, so she knew that she would be bound to forget something.  Of course the subject-form agreement stemmed from conjugation and first, second, and third-person subjects.  After a few minutes, she gave a slight nod to the other girl, but in her head, she was saying that she would not be needing medical attention for anything.  After all, she was a Placid Paragon; Placids were natural healers.

", I do believe I understand and remember now, Sr. Newhouse," she said, smiling as she pulled out a notebook and began writing down notes.  She wasn't going to forget these again.

[1.4]
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Re: ¿Tú hablas español? (MULTILING-Open to all Spanish learners)

Postby rayquaza7996 » 05/09/2010 5:26 PM

Silver nodded. "Oh, I remember those now. It sure can be confusing, Sr. Leonard." She began jotting things down in her gray-and-red notebook. It hadn't originally been gray-and-red, but there had been some pretty messy buisness when she had been a bounty-hunter. She smiled at the Placid Paragon. She didn't seem to want to talk or interact with others, so Silver turned back to her notes.

"Conjugating is hard. I'll have to pay special attention to that."



You've been known to obsess over the future,

Do you think you'll get away from the past?

As you starve yourself just to make it through to midnight,

Consider what you might have found.

You think you've got a good thing now?
Ludo - Topeka

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Re: ¿Tú hablas español? (MULTILING-Open to all Spanish learners)

Postby Freezair » 05/10/2010 1:22 AM

"Good, good!" Behind his square glasses, Leonard's eyes bubbled. "Now, if you will! We're going to start with pronouns. Basic but easy!"

He drew three columns on the white board.

FIRST PERSON | SECOND PERSON | THIRD PERSON

He began to scribble under the "FIRST PERSON" column to begin.

YO
NOSOTROS


"'Yo' has nothing to do with calling over your friends." He looked around sheepishly. "...Seriously, you... you people don't mind the jokes? Most people tell me... well, alright. 'Yo' is the first person singular pronoun. That would be 'I' in English. But I don't want you to be thinking in terms of just translations. I mean...  You can, and probably will at first. But it helps to really try and think in a new language, you know?"

He tapped on the chalkboard. "Also, when we get to talking about verbs, sometimes, when you conjugate,, you won't always have a pronoun to rely on to tell you how to conjugate a verb. This is why it helps to think in terms of the technical stuff."

He sighed. "I'm rambling, aren't I? Well, further.

"'Nosotros' is the first person plural pronoun. 'We' in English."

As he moved to the side to get to the next column, he realized he'd partially rubbed out part of what he'd writen already. Darn! He couldn't tell if he was extra clumsy that day, extra nervous, or both. \


USTED
VOSOTROS*
USTEDES

*Won't be used in this class.


"Second person is where, in English, we use 'you.' Spanish has two second person singular pronouns. The first is Tú. The second is usted, sometimes shortened as Uds. It's always captialized like tat, mind."

He turned toward the class. Nervously, he fiddled with his marker, throwing it up and down gently. He watched it spin in the air hypnotically. "The difference between the two is one of politeness. Tú is more familiar, while usted is more polite. Your close friends, younger siblings, and classmates would be 'tú'; your parents, your teachers and professors, and other people you simply don't know very well would be 'usted.' English doesn't really differentiate between polite and formal 'you' any more, so you might have to think about it. If you have questions about when you might use each, ask me."

One kid in the back did raise his hand and ask. "What do you mean by 'any more?'"

"Huh...? Oh. Well, technically, remember 'thou?' As it happens, 'thou' used to be the equivalent of 'tú.' It was the informal form you used with your siblings, lovers, and maybe people you saw as a little below you. But it fell out of use, like things in language tend to. There's a lot of fascinating things in the histories of most languages; I recommend studying it if you ever get the chance!"

He looked at the class again. "Getting back to Spanish... The two secon person plural pronouns are vosotros and ustedes. They correspond to tú and usted, respectively. However, we will not be using 'vosotros' in this class. Only ustedes. 'Vostros' is mostly used in Spain, and rarely elsewhere. Plus, nobody will think it's weird if you use 'ustedes.' The closest English equivalent is probably 'you all.'"

He sighed, and looked at everything he'd written. He'd even thrown in some cryptic scribbles about 'thou.'

"Finally, for the third person...

él/ella
ellos/ellas


"Third person singular is él or ella. Plural is ellos or ellas. He put heavy emphasis on the "ll" sound in the middle. "In Spanish, two 'L's' together make a Y sound. 'Eya. Eyos. Eyas.' The difference between those two is that el/ellos is masculine, while ella/ellas is feminine. He and him versus she and her, as it were. But there are two forms of 'they.' For a group of mixed gender, use the masculine 'ellos' unless they're primarily female.

"..Have I thoroughly confused you all yet?"

[4]

I'm so cool (too bad I'm a loser).
I'm so smart (too bad I can't get anything figured out)!
I'm so brave (too bad I'm a baby).
I'm so fly
That's probably why it feels just like I'm falling for the first time!

I'm so green (it's really amazing).
I'm so clean (too bad I can't get all the dirt off of me)!
I'm so sane (It's driving me crazy)!
It's so strange
I can't believe I'm falling for the first time!

Critters -Ramblings - Single & Looking -Majikul Wishlist -This Stuff's Important

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Re: ¿Tú hablas español? (MULTILING-Open to all Spanish learners)

Postby rayquaza7996 » 05/10/2010 7:27 PM

"Sr. Leonard?" Silver asked. "I took some notes. Could you verify their accuracy? I don't want to study something if it isn't right." The girl read off a piece of lined notebook paper.
"'Bienvenidos' means 'welcome
"Señorita/Senor means ms and mr
"Yo means "I"
"Nostros means "We"
"Tu means "you"
"usted/Uds is similar to "thou"
"Ustedes is similar to "you all"
"el is a masculine "he" or "him"
"ellas is a femenine "she" or "her"
"ellos (eyos) is a masculine "they"
"ellas (eyas) is a feminine "they".
"Is that correct?"

She sighed, wondering what he'd say. She had probably screwed up.



You've been known to obsess over the future,

Do you think you'll get away from the past?

As you starve yourself just to make it through to midnight,

Consider what you might have found.

You think you've got a good thing now?
Ludo - Topeka

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Re: ¿Tú hablas español? (MULTILING-Open to all Spanish learners)

Postby Freezair » 05/10/2010 7:47 PM

"You've got 'Tú' and 'usted' backwards," Leonard said, leaning over her paper. He pointed it out. "The 'thou' thing was just for fun. Usted is 'you,' while tú is 'thou.' But think of it in terms of politeness. Usted is polite, tú is familiar. Otherwise, though, you're off to a good start!" He tipped his glasses at her.

[5]

I'm so cool (too bad I'm a loser).
I'm so smart (too bad I can't get anything figured out)!
I'm so brave (too bad I'm a baby).
I'm so fly
That's probably why it feels just like I'm falling for the first time!

I'm so green (it's really amazing).
I'm so clean (too bad I can't get all the dirt off of me)!
I'm so sane (It's driving me crazy)!
It's so strange
I can't believe I'm falling for the first time!

Critters -Ramblings - Single & Looking -Majikul Wishlist -This Stuff's Important

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Re: ¿Tú hablas español? (MULTILING-Open to all Spanish learners)

Postby SpringsSong » 05/10/2010 7:54 PM

Krattia nodded as she wrote these down, and then, she frowned as she raised her hand to get the Bruma's attention.  She then asked her question.

"Perdón, Sr. Newhouse, I have a question," she said.  "I heard that Usted is to be used in a formal situation or with adults, while tú is more informal.  Is this correct?"

[1.6]

{Bah, fail. xDx}
Maybe I'm foolish, maybe I'm blind
Thinking I can see through this to see what's behind
Got no way to prove it, so maybe I'm lying
Take a look in the mirror, what do you see
Can you see it clearer, or are you deceived in what you believe?
Don't ask my opinion, don't ask me to lie
Then beg for forgiveness for making you cry
'cause I'm no prophet or Messiah
You should go looking somewhere higher

I'm only human, I make mistakes
I'm only human, I do what I can
I'm only human, that's all it takes to put the blame on me

Don't put the blame on me

"Human", Rag'n'Bone Man

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Re: ¿Tú hablas español? (MULTILING-Open to all Spanish learners)

Postby Freezair » 05/10/2010 8:13 PM

"Precisely that! But you can use either one with me," Leonard said. "It's actually a contraction of... some words I don't remember. But it was originally a longer form of address, translating to something like 'Your Grandness' or something similar... I'm sorry; I'm not a historian for this language." He shook his head. "Grammatically, you've got it, though!"

[6]

I'm so cool (too bad I'm a loser).
I'm so smart (too bad I can't get anything figured out)!
I'm so brave (too bad I'm a baby).
I'm so fly
That's probably why it feels just like I'm falling for the first time!

I'm so green (it's really amazing).
I'm so clean (too bad I can't get all the dirt off of me)!
I'm so sane (It's driving me crazy)!
It's so strange
I can't believe I'm falling for the first time!

Critters -Ramblings - Single & Looking -Majikul Wishlist -This Stuff's Important

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Re: ¿Tú hablas español? (MULTILING-Open to all Spanish learners)

Postby rayquaza7996 » 05/10/2010 8:35 PM

"Thank you, Senor Leonard." Silver smiled, scribbling a small picture of the teacher on the corner of her notes. She was enjoying this. It would be so much easier to help her patients when she could tell who they were talking about!

She grinned, flipping to the next page in her notes. She quickly titled it before going back to paying close attention.

(and dead muse is dead. 0/3)



You've been known to obsess over the future,

Do you think you'll get away from the past?

As you starve yourself just to make it through to midnight,

Consider what you might have found.

You think you've got a good thing now?
Ludo - Topeka

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Re: ¿Tú hablas español? (MULTILING-Open to all Spanish learners)

Postby Freezair » 05/10/2010 11:35 PM

"Good, good! Now, having been over that... Let's press on to verbs, shall we?"

Leonard shuffled back up to his desk, trying not to knock anything off either his own or his student's desks. With regards to his own notebook, he failed spectacularly. He sighed and began as he picked it back up.

"Now, Spanish uses verbs just like English does. You know... you need a subject and a verb to form a sentence? Well, for Spanish verbs, there are three kinds of verbs."

-AR
-ER
-IR


"The -AR, -ER, and -IR verbs," he repeated as he wrote them. "It's pretty easy to identify which is which, because the two letters represent what the verb ends with in its infinitive form.

The Bruma's eyes suddenly shrunk behind his glasses. "Uh... uh-oh. Umm... Do you all know what infinitives are?"

One student raised her hand. Leonard pointed her out with his claw.

"Well, I know in English, it's the 'to' form... like 'to run, to jump, to swim...' But I forget what it means, like, with grammar."

Leonard finished for her. "Well, it means the unconjugated form of the word. The 'basic' form, if you will. You use them if there's more than one verb attributed to a subject, for example: 'I went to the store to buy a cake. 'Went' is the normal, conjugated verb, while 'to buy' is in the infinitive. 'I' is the subject for both--I went to the store. I bought a cake. Infinitives are generally used exactly the same in Spanish as they are in English, so, hopefully, it will come naturally.

"Now. About the words themselves."

He move over to another section of the white board and started drawing up three more columns. He headed each one with a different word.

HABLAR: to talk
APRENDER: to learn
ESCRIBIR: to write


"See how easy it is to tell which is which?" He pointed to each one. "Just look at the last two letters."

[7]

I'm so cool (too bad I'm a loser).
I'm so smart (too bad I can't get anything figured out)!
I'm so brave (too bad I'm a baby).
I'm so fly
That's probably why it feels just like I'm falling for the first time!

I'm so green (it's really amazing).
I'm so clean (too bad I can't get all the dirt off of me)!
I'm so sane (It's driving me crazy)!
It's so strange
I can't believe I'm falling for the first time!

Critters -Ramblings - Single & Looking -Majikul Wishlist -This Stuff's Important

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Freezair
Globetrotter
Globetrotter
Pets | Items
Keystones: 80
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Joined: 09/04/2007 10:20 AM
Location: A comfortable spot by the window
Status: Terrified of grade-schoolers

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