Originally Posted by TeAmo06

i REAAALLLY want to learn spanish. my bf is from el salvador and his family is always speaking spanish. i hate that i cant talk to them too much and i feel SOO lost. ive been taking spanish in school for 3 years now but i feel like im getting nowhere. my bf teaches me but no matter how hard i practice i still cant have a conversation with him....any tips???

I had to learn a foreign language too (English) when I came to the US. I had a solid knowledge as far as writing and grammar but there is only so much you can learn from books because you can't talk to them. The best way to learn is to take what you have learned in your earlier and apply it in conversations with your bf etc. As soon as you start talking you will find what areas you need to improve. It is like learning how to be good at playing soccer... By talking you are forced to listen closely and so you become better at listening too without realizing it. I remember when I couldn't watch movies without captioning and after watching thousands of movies I no longer need them. There was no point when I said "Wow, I don't need captions anymore", only a moment when I decided if I had the captions I didn't need to listen to what the people were saying and so I was practically reading a book, so I dropped the captions. Little by little my ears alone started understanding without effort on my behalf. In other words, force yourself to advance through the different stages of writing, understanding and talking and focus on the weakest areas. Apply whatever you learn in one area into the rest...

Hi! this thread is so great!I am Greek,living in Tokyo to study kendo(martial art) and here I made many latin american friends so I ended up addicted to reggeaton!LoL whatever
Thank for all the explanations!

Originally Posted by sugarcane

hey yall - i'm not sure if there's been already a post regarding the word "combo" but can someone tell me what it means? in the song Chevere (Voltio), he says "pa' mi combo de sicarios" at first i thought that meant a gun, but not really?

speaking of aguanile, also, what does "mai" mean really? it's not just in aguanile... someone uses it like, "mi mai" right?

"Combo" = Group of friends, squad.

"Sicarios" = Assassins

"Mai" - A short way of saying 'mami'. The English counterpart of this: In the song "Hey bay bay" they used 'bay' instead of 'babe'.

arux> thanks! & one more... do you know what's an espaldota? there's a song called that, i think.

eva> yeahhh... tokyo's got some awesome latin music scene & a surprisingly decent latino population. found any good places to hang out?

[QUOTE=sugarcane;317814]arux> thanks! & one more... do you know what's an espaldota? there's a song called that, i think.

"Esto se baila de espaldota" is what the song says. they are saying that the song is danced back to back with the other person. "Espaldota" comes from 'espalda' which means "back(as in my 'back' hurts)"

ah you're so awesome. thank you!

i need help learning spanish!!! i can TOTALLY read and write it, and i can speak some but when my bf starts talking it a LOT it seems sooo fast and i feel like no matter how hard im practicing im getting NOWHERE. pls help lol

thanks. i'll try. ur english is really good. when did u start learning it?

can someone help me make sense of this part in ñejo's no quiere novio?

No te habías tirao ni que la soga al cuello
Si te pilla tu mujer
Vas a correr lindo y bello

he hasn't thrown or tied the rope to her neck yet
so if she robs you
you'd be running with nothing...?

i can't quite picture what he's saying... i have a bizarre image in my head

Originally Posted by sugarcane

Si te pilla tu mujer
Vas a correr lindo y bello

if you're caught by your wife
you'll have to run like a madman
-------------------

I'm not sure about the first sentence coz I don't know the song. "Echarse/tirarse la soga al cuello" means to get yourself in trouble... but sometimes it can also mean to get married; it depends on the context.

Hi to all ....

About word COMBO ... I give you a hint ... when you go to Mc Donalds, you ask for a COMBO BIG MC , which have the hamburguer, the coke and the fries .... : P

Indeed Citlalli ... depends on the context and what part of America are you from .. I´m from argentina as you can see ... and here is not the same " Vamos al antro " that in "mexican". here it means another thing !

¡Hola Glorioso!

Ahora si que has logrado despertar mi curiosidad... ¿qué es un "antro" en tu país?

Hasta luego...

hola a todos,

En España un "antro" es un lugar de mala muerte, o sea una porquería de sitio un lugar no muy recomendado para visitar

citlalli> gracias xx

Originally Posted by xiurell

hola a todos,

En España un "antro" es un lugar de mala muerte, o sea una porquería de sitio un lugar no muy recomendado para visitar

Hehe... In Mexico it originally has the same meaning as in Spain; but nowadays it's also used to refer to a bar or night club... "fuimos a un antro"=fuimos a un bar (o disco) ...

I can't wait to find out the argentinian meaning... Glorioso, are you there?

@sugarcane: you're welcommmmmme!!!

Best greetings and a nice day to everyone!

Buenas buenas !
hahahaa si aca en argentina ir a un antro es ir a un lugar de lo peor , mal ! Igual que el amigo español !

Al igual creo que cuando decia en Xajapa " dame una gaseosa" no me entendian !. Varian muchas cosas, aunque el idioma es el mismo ...

Jajajaja parecido a lo que es Venezuela comparado con el resto del mundo... El dialecto Venezolano solo lo entedemos nosotros. Cualquier otro que nos escuche pensara que tamos hablando Chino.. Quien sabe XD jajaja

Originally Posted by elglorioso77

Buenas buenas !
hahahaa si aca en argentina ir a un antro es ir a un lugar de lo peor , mal ! Igual que el amigo español !

Al igual creo que cuando decia en Xajapa " dame una gaseosa" no me entendian !. Varian muchas cosas, aunque el idioma es el mismo ...

¡Hola!

Entonces "antro" es básicamente lo mismo ... al menos en el D.F. (ciudad de México), aunque no sé en el resto del país.

Si, nosotros no usamos la palabra "gaseosa", por lo tanto la gente se confunde y no sabe si estás pidiendo un agua mineral o un refresco

jeje... ¡lo siento por los pobres extranjeros que se dan a la tarea de aprender Castellano!

Jeje que bueno. En Grecia usamos esas palabras también. Andro y gazoza!

Originally Posted by maria_gr

Jeje que bueno. En Grecia usamos esas palabras también. Andro y gazoza!

Γεια σου Μαρία, τι γίνεσαι;

Ahora que empiezo a conocer un poco el griego me doy cuenta que el castellano tiene un montón de palabras muy parecidas como βάζο, ερμάρι, ρολόι, τηλέφωνο kai οι μήνες του χρόνου, etc.