Work / Becoming a SPANISH teacher in Poland [21]


Thanks Alicja! I'll check it out
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Vaca, one thing is that you want everybody to speak with your beloved Castellano, and another thing is to to be ridiculous and think I would teach such words. That's something called common sense Vaca, don't know if you've heard of it.

I'm concious that in Europe they teach your Castellano so I never thought about teaching mexican Spanish. I've always been concious that I have to try to speak like you love so much, with the vosotros thing, the ceceo, the past perfect and all that. Well, at least in class.

I of course never thought of teaching such informal language and that if my students ever ask me about them I know I have to be responsible and tell them that's informal and they should first learn the good things before learning the bad ones. Just like I'm sure spaniards don't teach things like "joder", "gilipollas" or phrases like "me cago en la hostia". Words that although might be normal to any spaniard I don't think they fall in the category of "teachable" language. As I said before: common sense.

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Well this sounded a bit derogatory. I wonder if Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra would be happy with the way spaniards speak today, and before you say anything, yeah yeah, he would be even angrier with the way we speak in Latin America, happy?. Or if Shakespeare would be happy with the way british people speak today.

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And well, it's a pity you can't understand anybody besides spaniards, or that you are so intolerant to other spanish-speaking people, or that you don't want to understand anybody besides spaniards, that's a small universe you have then. It's like I could only understand americans and not british, australians, irish and all that. Well, I know there should be differences but I mean I would just try and understand them, not start criticising the way the speak and tell them that I can't understand them because of that, that it's their fault I can't understand them. Because that's the way you sound.

Or it's like I would dislike the way the others speak. I was taught in the american way, but I still find the british accent very neat and the irish/scottish accents also great, interesting.

Have you been in contact with Puerto Ricans or Argentinians? Just to mention two other distinctive spanish accents in Latin America. Eventhough they speak differently I don't go and tell them "hey, you shouldn't speak like that", I find it interesting and I enjoy listening to Argentinians :) Look Vaca, nobody speaks a pure language, not even british people speak pure English. All languages are affected by regions and other languages, even in the same country, even in Spain itself.

So I'd say maybe a bit of more tolerance and respect from you to other people's differences would be welcome.

Anyway, I've already spent much energy with you so that's all I will comment on the subject.

Thanks for your good wishes, hope they last after you read this message :)
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So again, anybody who has some information about teaching Spanish (Castellano for Vaca) in Poland? Dziekuje!!

Work / How hard is it for an American in Poland? I'm computer networking IT / salary [12]

Right Smooth, I found some information about the Schengen Agreement which lets people drive from one EU country to another without any physical border or checkpoint. Here you can find info about it. Apprently as from Jan the 1st, 2008 it will be the same between Germany and Poland.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schengen_Agreement

Work / Becoming a SPANISH teacher in Poland [21]

Well, I'm still considering teaching Spanish as an option, just to be able to be there eventhough that means I won't earn much.

I'll keep looking for a school, see if I can find one.

Thanks for the info Zion.

Anyone else has any idea?

Work / Becoming a SPANISH teacher in Poland [21]

Where are you from little cow and how did you learn Spanish?


Let him zion, don't interfere with his freedom of speech. Some people find bliss by making such kind of comments. Everybody has the right to be happy.

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Anyway... somebody who would be so kind and give me useful information about teaching Spanish in Poland? (or Castellano, just to keep Cow in his lovely state of bliss, I don't want to be the one to ruin it).

Thanks!

Language / A Native American or a Native Pole: Who is better into which language? [116]

Yes Marek you are right and most foreigners have problems with "ser" and "estar". I always tell them "ser" is when you want to say something about what you are, your inner self; and "estar" is when you want to say something about how you are, the physical or emotional you.

I'm a man = soy un hombre (ser)
I'm an engineer = soy un ingeniero
I'm catholic = soy católico
I'm in Mexico = estoy en Mexico (estar)
I'm hungry = estoy hambriento
I'm in love = estoy enamorado

And we have "querer" and "amar" for two kinds of love ;-) And we have "amiga" and "novia" for a girl-friend and a girlfriend, you know what I mean ;-)

So this along with other things makes English much simpler, though unfortunatelly poorer in some cases.
But yes, for slavic people, the use of articles is a big problem. My girlfriend always makes mistakes about "a" and "the". Sentences like "Did you read a book?" when what she actually wanted to say was "did you read THE book?". Or even cases like "I send you a letters". But I stopped trying to correct her cause she always felt bad :-(

But again, thanks to English we all can communicate in this forum ;-) Cause besides TheKruk, most of us can speak only one or maybe two languages besides our mother tongue :-D

Language / A Native American or a Native Pole: Who is better into which language? [116]

The easy thing about english is the lack of conjugation of the verbs. They might have 16 tenses like some Guest pointed out. In spanish we have the same and we use them. Yes, other languages are simpler in terms of tenses because instead of saying "I'm doing something", they just say "I do something". So no continuous forms which is a pity cause I like to use them hehe.

But it's really an advantage in learning english that you don't have to conjugate the verbs. And I'm talking of course about the verb forms for the different persons (I, you, he/she, we, you, they).

We all "do" something, well, besides he and she ;-) So everybody executes a verb the same way, you just have to remember that he and she don't. And it's as simple as writing an "s" or "es" at the end of the verb. While in many other languages you have to learn the painful rules of conjugations which are one of the biggest problems in learning a new language unless you don't care sounding like Tarzan.

Anyway, no offense to all the english-speaking people but english is not a very rich language. It's an easy one and I think that's one of the reasons it's become the "international" language. Yes, just one of them, not forgetting the influence of the US power and all that ;-).

And english is quite ambiguous which is a pity cause it can lead to misinformation or misunderstandings. Take for example the phrase "I love you". Makes no distinction from fraternal and friends love to that of the love to your partner/spouse. If you say "you do it". You don't know if it refers to one person or to many, you have to check the context and even then it can lead to misunderstanding or the necessity to ask to clear that up.

Although one thing I like about these ambiguities is not having an informal and formal "you". Sometimes it leads to problems in spanish or german or other languages about "how should I treat this person, formal or informal?". That, and the fact that you get rid of learning another conjugation ;-)

Anyway, I finish before I lose the track of a point (if I didn't do it already). I just wanted to share what I think about english and the difference to other languages. And to those native english speakers, no offense, I like languages and I have nothing against english. On the contrary, I mean if it wasn't for english I woudln't have met my polish girlfriend. It's very useful and it's a nice language.

And well, I'm not fluent in german but I wouldn't agree with Michal, Polish seems more difficult than german to me. It's confusing to me, and sometimes even funny, how in polish they decline even personal names. It's funny in my case. If I say "Miguel's house" I have to say "dom Miguela" and that's funny cause in spanish most nouns ending in A are feminine so it's like they make me a woman every time they say something that's mine.

Oh, and in Mexico we use double negatives too hehe... Although some english-speaking people use them as slang too, like "I don't see nothing" :)

And TheKruk: 45 languages?!?!?! Including Elfic and Klingon? :-) No seriously, as I see some are dead languages, right? That's cool, how could you learn so many languages? I'd be more than happy being able to speak like 6 languages.

Sorry for the long message, sometimes I start writing and can't seem to be able to stop.
Cheers!
Miguel