Buenos Aires has recently become a popular place to produce commercial podcasts teaching Spanish to foreigners. Generally, these purport to teach "regionally-neutral Spanish", which basically means using tú instead of vos. Speaking as an advanced learner of Spanish, hearing marked Argentinian accents using tú is extremely distracting and prevents one from concentrating on the text. It's like saying "Yo 'sup, dawg" in Received Pronunciation (or "I ain't bovvered" in a Midwestern American accent). It doesn't work. Just don't do it.
Other things that are bovvering me at the moment, in no particular order:
1) How nobody in America knows who Boris Vian is.
2) How it seems to be impossible to type upside down exclamation points and question marks on an American keyboard even when I put it into Spanish mode.
3) Getting a pinche Paraguayan visa.
martes, 15 de enero de 2008
Spanish music recommendations
One of the most popular reasons adolescents and young adults here give for wanting to learn English is to be able to understand American song lyrics. Conversely, few people learning Spanish seem to give much thought to listening to Spanish music for the lyrics, but some of it is excellent, especially if you want to learn how people actually speak rather than what your textbook tells you to say (if my high school Spanish teacher knew I listened to such things, she would hang her head in shame).
I think reggaetón is overrated, but really that's just because I think Daddy Yankee is overrated. Calle 13, another Puerto Rican group, is less popular and much better. They're essentially the Spanish version of Ludacris*, with similarly inventive and offensive lyrics. I recommend El tango del pecado, Suave, and La cumbia de los aburridos. Pal norte is less offensive and more political, and is nominated for a Latin Grammy this year.
A somewhat more traditional rock group with similarly creative lyrics, El Cuarteto de Nos come from Uruguay and have been around forever. Watch (you have to watch the videos) Ya no sé qué hacer conmigo, Yendo a la casa de Damián (nominated for a Latin Grammy last year), and Las invasiones inglesas.
Although it's not in Spanish, and the male singer has the most abominable Spanish accent I've ever heard, I also really like this song. (Well, to be fair, his accent is better than this guy's.)
*For the record, I have been asked, as I suspect has everybody who has taught English in the past few years, "Teacher, what means to pop pooty on handstand?"
I think reggaetón is overrated, but really that's just because I think Daddy Yankee is overrated. Calle 13, another Puerto Rican group, is less popular and much better. They're essentially the Spanish version of Ludacris*, with similarly inventive and offensive lyrics. I recommend El tango del pecado, Suave, and La cumbia de los aburridos. Pal norte is less offensive and more political, and is nominated for a Latin Grammy this year.
A somewhat more traditional rock group with similarly creative lyrics, El Cuarteto de Nos come from Uruguay and have been around forever. Watch (you have to watch the videos) Ya no sé qué hacer conmigo, Yendo a la casa de Damián (nominated for a Latin Grammy last year), and Las invasiones inglesas.
Although it's not in Spanish, and the male singer has the most abominable Spanish accent I've ever heard, I also really like this song. (Well, to be fair, his accent is better than this guy's.)
*For the record, I have been asked, as I suspect has everybody who has taught English in the past few years, "Teacher, what means to pop pooty on handstand?"
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