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Context
Another great Spanish learning video! Ben and Marina tell a quick story about why the Spanish never send ‘thanks’ a few days after a lunch/party etc, and why Ben is a ‘paleto’! Plus we thank all of you that have signed up for Gold Season Two on the first day!
Vocab and phrases from the ‘Analysis’ section
Eres un poco paleto – You are a bit of a country bumpkin
Despiste – Absent-minded
Soy un poco despistado – I’m a bit absent-minded
Mi cuñada – My sister-in-law
Yerno – Son-in-law
Nuera – Daughter-in-law
Aqui hay tomate – There’s some juicy stuff to talk about here!
Muchas gracias once more to everyone that has joined us already in Gold Season Two!
Update: the above-mentioned Gold Season Two is now available as a complete season pack in our store:
Get the Gold Season Two Complete Pack Here.
Queuing in my local estanco I never hear those ahead of me ever using “por favor” or “gracias”, and when I, being English do give thanks I receive a short, sharp “d’na” (de nada) from the snappish lady behind the counter, as if to say “these phrases are wasting my time. Get going so I can serve the next customer”.
Regarding the use of “por favor”, it was once explained to me that it is not a direct translation of the English “please”, but the actual asking of a favour. In times gone by you would only ask a favour of those superior to you and just issue an order to those below you. As shop assistants fall into the servant class (by those standards) one would never ask them for a favour. So they don’t!
That said, I get into trouble with a couple of ladies in my group if I don’t show this basic form of good manners, so I do!
Great to see you guy’s making more Video and Gold audio.. all with the essential analysis…
.. pero quizas, no debería decir “gracias” !!
Love the videos! Just wanted to comment on the English equivalents for “despiste” and “Soy un poco despistado”. “Dreamy” sounds a bit odd to me, especially since this adjective is used to describe good looking (“hunky”) men in US English (no offense, Ben). “Absentminded” or “scatterbrained” might be better for “despistado”. And since one of the meanings of “pista” in Spanish is “clue”, I also like “clueless” for “despistado”, especially in the contexts in which we use “clueless” in the US. For example, we might say that Ben is “clueless” when it comes to finding his way around Madrid.
Again, thanks for the great video content. I’m recommending it to my students of Spanish.
Great videos. I keep meaning to remind my A level students to get into the habit of watching them every day ! I agree with David’s comment above, and I think scatty/absentminded is less offensive than clueless!! Poor Ben! I love the way you interact with each other and how Marina corrects Ben when necessary – this shows we all make mistakes and we learn by them. Good, natural teaching.
Thanks so much Ben and Marina!
I signed up for the total package (Basic, Intermediate, Advanced plus extras) about a month ago, and am happy to say that, even though I’m only on Lesson 26, I have a real comfort now in saying and understanding Spanish, even if I’m still making lots of mistakes – you’ve made it fun! Watching the video above, I was really surprised at how much I could pick up – not just basic ideas, but word for word translation.
Thanks so much, and I look forward to progressing to the Advanced level soon.
Thanks for all the great comments! We love making these videos, hopefully we can fit some more in over the coming weeks.
@Richardksa – I’ve only ever bought stamps in estancos, and to be honest most of the people I encountered that worked there seemed quite grumpy!
@Chris – It’s OK, you can say gracias to us as much as you like!
@David and Sara, thanks for your great comments, and I see your point, I make no pretence about being hunky! I’ve always used dreamy like this, but your words work just as well, I’ll add an extra translation above.
@Phoebe – Great news that you are progressing so fast!
I was suprised that “yerno” doesn’t have a feminine form like most Spanish words so that daughter-in-law would simply be yerna. Oh well, one more exception to the many rules of grammar.
I’m sure I have seen yerno spelt as ‘hierno’. But then I have seen a lot of written Spanish, mainly on the internet in comments or forums where people seem to make basic mistakes with ‘h’ at the beginning of a word where it shouldn’t appear. Similarly I have seen random interchange of ‘v’ and ‘b’ within words. Has anyone else noticed this?
@Holly – Sorry, yes, one more exception, but be reassured that a lot of Spanish people get confused by the -in-law words too!
@Anthony – I used to think it was spelt with an h too, right up until yesterday!
Yeah, I’m always being called ‘despista’o’ by the Spaniards I know! If you saw me you would know that I am certainly not ‘dreamy’!!
But if you saw my desk, you would know how disorganised and scatter-brained I am! So I am with you, David!
About the ‘dreamy’ controversy…
I’m not sure that it matters what ‘dreamy’ means in American English. Ben clearly isn’t American, and neither is Marina
It’s only attested since 1941 in US English anyway, and is classed as ‘teen slang’, so it’s a modern US convention to use ‘dreamy’ to mean someone physically attractive.
In the UK ‘dreamy’ isn’t often used to mean ‘absent-minded’ or ‘scatterbrained’, but it does indeed have that meaning:-
dreamy adj (dreamier, dreamiest) 1 unreal, as if in a dream. 2 having or showing a wandering mind. 3 colloq lovely. dreamily adverb. dreaminess noun.
ETYMOLOGY: 16c.
Source: Chambers dictionary
So, in short, Ben is absolutely right to use it. Sorry to say it Americans need to get used to other forms of English. After all, everyone else has to!
Hola desde la isla Mauricio,
aquí hace buen tiempo y me sorprende un poco al ver vosotros en suéter en esta época del año, bueno es difícil para mi de imaginar que en Europa hace frió.
Gracias por todos los podcasts y el blog.