Vocabulario para un fotógrafo

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Fazor

Mi novia es una fotógrafa profesional. Nosotros conocimos en las escuela de arte. Estudiaba animación en el pasado.

There's no need to add en el pasado. The verb tense already tells us that. The sentence means 'she was studying animation (when we met).' You could switch to the preterite tense to indicate that that course of study had an end.

[Fazor]

Isn't "Estudiaba" the yo past imperfect form? I was studying animation when we met, she's always been a camera monkey. (I joke with her that she has three years of school to tell her how to push the button on the camera, and that a monkey could do it. She doesn't find the joke as funny as I do. Go figure.)

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Fazor

Isn't "Estudiaba" the yo past imperfect form? I was studying animation when we met ...

Yes, it is. It is also the third-person form, so without a subject pronoun to steer me in the right direction, I was thinking you were referring to your girlfriend again.

[Fazor]

Oh, yeah. Sorry forgot they're the same in that tense. :d'oh: I'm still in the processes of memorizing the (standard) tenses without having to verify them, and since the meaning was clear to me, I didn't look at the el/ella/usted form and catch that it'd need clarification.

[PIKI]

Originally Posted by Fazor

Isn't "Estudiaba" the yo past imperfect form? I was studying animation when we met, she's always been a camera monkey. (I joke with her that she has three years of school to tell her how to push the button on the camera, and that a monkey could do it. She doesn't find the joke as funny as I do. Go figure.)

lol, i wouldnt find that funny either, im into photography myself, im still studying though, but I dont think a monkey could do it lol

[Fazor]

Originally Posted by PIKI

. . . but I dont think a monkey could do it lol

Neither do I, but that doesn't stop me from teasing her from time to time.

She's really good at it anyway, so it doesn't really bother her.

I can send you the link to her flickr account if you want to see her pictures; though they're mostly portraiture, which is how she earns her money, but not what she's most interested in doing.

[PIKI]

Originally Posted by Fazor

Neither do I, but that doesn't stop me from teasing her from time to time.

She's really good at it anyway, so it doesn't really bother her.

I can send you the link to her flickr account if you want to see her pictures; though they're mostly portraiture, which is how she earns her money, but not what she's most interested in doing.

Yeah send it, I like portraiture, sports and glamour photography, I mainly like shooting (taking pictures of) people, im best at sports taking action shots.
tu novia habla espanol o estudiando espanol como tu?

[Fazor]

Originally Posted by PIKI

. . .tu novia habla espanol o estudiando espanol como tu?

No. Ella estudiaba la idioma en escuela, pero no puede comprendar aun. Sus abuela es panameña. Es por que yo digo a ella que necesita saberse español.

Did I use the reflexive right in that last sentence?

[Rusty]

Originally Posted by Fazor

No, ella estudiaba el idioma en la escuela, pero aún no lo puede comprender. Sus abuela es panameña. Por eso (yo) le digo a ella que necesita saberse español.

Did I use the reflexive right in that last sentence?

Yes, saberse communicates a thorough knowledge.

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

Slight disagreement: "Necesita saber español" would be the right choice to talk about Spanish as the whole language.

In any case, (still a little forced) the sentence needs an article "ella necesita saberse el español".

It's not the same "saberse un poema de memoria" ("to know a poem by heart") as "saber una lengua" ("to know a language")