[chileno]

Originally Posted by laepelba

Thanks for your encouragement, Hernan - please keep challenging me - it REALLY helps!!!

When I mentioned about living in Peru for 20 years, it was rethorically speaking. I wanted to point out that if you don't pay attention at what you are saying and what the locals are saying then most likely you are not interested in "how" they say it. :-)

Like I stated in a previous reply to another post. If you know how to read, write and express in English, you do not have to re-learn all that in Spanish. I know ... but my brain is SO analytical that I break ALL of my thinking down into WAY WAY lots of details, and it takes a LONG time to process through it all. I'll get there - and I will learn a lot - but am not yet up to writing all of my questions/replies in Spanish....

Consider this. You know perfectly well how to read and write and the meaning of the following phrase.

This book is mine

Now you look up in the dictionary and read it means le, la, los , las. Most likely you will be able to understand the description, and depending on the dictionary, it will give you more or less example of the use of these words. But for the sake of argument, let us say you make a mistake in judgement and use "la"

and as you look further in the dictionary looking for book, you are going ti get "libro".

Then "es" or "esta" and again make the mistake and use "esta"

and then you are going to get "mio"

So you construct your prase as "la libro esta mio"

Armed with that you tell a friend, and the friend laughs. :-)

However, if you get curious, instead of mad or selfconcious you are going to "learn" or capture a lot of how the language is used.

In this case your friend or interlocutor could correct you and you have to be snappy about the correction and play it in your head, Do not spend too much time mulling it over... :-)

When I arrived inthis country I had to buy a car. So as part of of the ritual, you have to perform a tune on it. I knew whow to say "where is the..." and "oil" but I did not know how to say motor. So I looked up in a little pocket dictionary I had brought with me, and it stated "engine" i tried the pronounciation and I went to Pep Boys. I asked the cashier "where is the engine oil?" :-) The guy looked at kinda puzzled and asked "you mean MOTOR oil?

At that moment a spark of intelligence, which I did not know I had. ;->, ignated my little brain, and I said YES. He told me where it was. And while I was going to get the oil, I was thinking- "incredible, it is said exactly like in spanish..."

That's all. And I hope to ignite your, and everybody else's brain too. :-)

Hernan.