AUTUMN BEGINNERS COURSE, 2013, CLASS 1

In the first session of our beginner’s course, we introduced ourselves and we talked briefly about the different stereotypes and characteristics we find in the Spanish culture, such as the food, flamenco, the beautiful beaches, bullfighting or siestas (naps).

We also talked about the Spanish pronunciation and we saw some examples of words with those particular pronunciations.

“ñ” in España (Spain), uña (nail), niño (child)

“ll” in lluvia (rain), llave (key), llamar (call, ring)

“j, g” in mujer  (woman), gente (people) genio (genious)

“q” in queso (cheese) que (what)

“r, rr” in perro  (dog) borracho (drunk), ratón (mouse)

“h” in hola (hello) hielo (ice), hermano (brother)

“v” in volver  (go back, come back), volar (fly), ver (see)

“c, z” in cien (one hundred), zapato (shoe), diez (ten)

(It was also worth mentioning that we only have five sounds to the five vowels a,e,I,o,u,  unlike the vowels in the English language which there are twelve sounds).

We learnt the basic introductions:

Hola – hello

Buenos días – Good morning

Buenas tardes – Good afternoon / evening

Buenas noches – Good night

¿Qué tal? – How are you?

Bien, gracias. ¿y tú? – Fine, thanks. And you?

Muy bien, gracias. – I’m good, thanks.

Adiós – Bye

Hasta luego- See you!