aqui, aca

[macocael]

folks, always a good idea to check your dictionaries before dispensing grammatical advice. Ahí is a legitimate word, synonymous with allí.

"bein" is "ven" (second person imperative), though you might use "venga" if you speaking politely (second person -- usted). It is not pronounced "bein" as the "ei" sound is very specific in spanish. Note the difference in sound between the word "peine" (pAY-neh) for comb and "pene" (pEH-neh) for penis -- you dont want to confuse those sounds and since they are both masculine nouns there is no other distinguishing feature.

There is some confusion also about v (known as "v corta") and b, which are used indiscriminately in Dominican orthography because they sound the same. The "b" sound in English is close in some cases but not all. Admittedly there are regional variations in pronunciation, but it is still advisable to learn the basic rule:

"these letters (v,b) have the same value. At the start of a breath group, and after written "m" or "n" the sound is similar to English "boy"." (from the Collins Gem Spanish Verb Tables and Grammar)

So for example, bomba, voy, vicio are words that would have this English sounding "b" (though to my ear it is not quite the same.)

However, there is an exception:

"In all other positions the sound is unknown in English. This is pronounced between upper and lower lips, which do not touch, unlike English "b" as in bend."

So labio, hubo, de veras, lavar all would receive this alternative pronunciation, and if you listen carefully you will hear it. When I practiced this I used to concentrate on not quite closing the lips, and you eventually hear it and render it.

[George Holmes]

I used to live near "playa de las conchas" in Spain, which my Argentinian friends found hilarious.

Remember folks: E' Pa'lante que Vamos!

The point that Macocael makes about pronouncing V as B is one that confuses Dominicans when they try and spell stuff - they constantly write things like "Se Bende Serbesa" instead of Se Vende Cerveza". Interestingly, older generations in some parts of Spain pronounce their V as halfway between a hard B and an English V - apparently in centuries past the V in Spanish was pronounced the same as in English.

[Stodgord]

Originally Posted by George Holmes

I used to live near "playa de las conchas" in Spain, which my Argentinian friends found hilarious.

Remember folks: E' Pa'lante que Vamos!

The point that Macocael makes about pronouncing V as B is one that confuses Dominicans when they try and spell stuff - they constantly write things like "Se Bende Serbesa" instead of Se Vende Cerveza". Interestingly, older generations in some parts of Spain pronounce their V as halfway between a hard B and an English V - apparently in centuries past the V in Spanish was pronounced the same as in English.

Ask them what their educational background is and you'll then know why they can't spell. It is not only between the b and v, but also the j and g, the s, c and z and y and ll, the n and m before a b or p and the h and any other consonants.

Most people making signs for businesses are school dropouts.

[Chirimoya]

Campesino/barrio sign-writing aside, just read the comments under any online newspaper article and you'll want to round up all the country's teachers and... These are written by people who are 'educated' enough to use computers, so how did they miss out on spelling and punctuation?

Apart from newspapers I don't even read that much in Spanish. I had maybe one year of Spanish as a second language at school and I spell better than many university educated Dominicans I know, just by being exposed to the written language around me.

[rolfdog]

Ha, ha. Im well aware of the meaning of panocha. It was an attempt at off color humor. Anyway, the contraction helps me remember the word!!

Thanks all


Steve

[Lesley D]

What contraction? Panocha is one word and not a contracted form of two words. Al is a combination of a +el and del is a combination of de + el. The rest that you hear in colloquial speech are not official contraction of words in Spanish. For example pa'que is not one word it is just colloquial lingo.


-LDG.

[rolfdog]

Sorry Lesley for my malapropism. But I'll never forget what pa'nocha means!

[laurapasinifan]

Originally Posted by macocael

folks, always a good idea to check your dictionaries before dispensing grammatical advice. Ahí is a legitimate word, synonymous with allí.

"bein" is "ven" (second person imperative), though you might use "venga" if you speaking politely (second person -- usted). It is not pronounced "bein" as the "ei" sound is very specific in spanish. Note the difference in sound between the word "peine" (pAY-neh) for comb and "pene" (pEH-neh) for penis -- you dont want to confuse those sounds and since they are both masculine nouns there is no other distinguishing feature.

There is some confusion also about v (known as "v corta") and b, which are used indiscriminately in Dominican orthography because they sound the same. The "b" sound in English is close in some cases but not all. Admittedly there are regional variations in pronunciation, but it is still advisable to learn the basic rule:

"these letters (v,b) have the same value. At the start of a breath group, and after written "m" or "n" the sound is similar to English "boy"." (from the Collins Gem Spanish Verb Tables and Grammar)

So for example, bomba, voy, vicio are words that would have this English sounding "b" (though to my ear it is not quite the same.)

However, there is an exception:

"In all other positions the sound is unknown in English. This is pronounced between upper and lower lips, which do not touch, unlike English "b" as in bend."

So labio, hubo, de veras, lavar all would receive this alternative pronunciation, and if you listen carefully you will hear it. When I practiced this I used to concentrate on not quite closing the lips, and you eventually hear it and render it.

It would seem that the term Por Favor....wouldnt follow your examples.

unless there is something different about it.....the V in favor...always sounds like an english V...from every single spanish person I have heard use it.


bob

[macocael]

not really true Bob, Listen carefully it is not really quite a full "v" sound (which is called in phonetics a voiced interlabial if I remember correctly), and if you practice the sound as described in the dictionary you will discover I think that it does approximate the Spanish sound in "favor" much more closely. The English "v" is just a tad stronger and more vibrating.

[macocael]

In fact bob I just came across a great example of the pronunciation of both "v"s. Get hold of Marco Antonio Solis singing "si no te hubieras ido" (you probably know the song already) and when he breaks into the chorus, "no hay nada mas dificil que vivir sin ti" you will hear the difference in both "v"s very clearly and thus understand what the dictionary is talking about. Now I know that Solis is a very clear singer and he is not Dominican, but still it provides a model for you. Then again, it could be that under different circumstances the "v" gets emphasized so you hear more of the English voiced interlabial sound -- just as when parent gets mad at a child here and shouts out "ya, ya" (enough!), the "y" sound becomes very much like the English "j" even though normally it is also softer ( and of course in Argentina it is pronounced as "zh"). We need Lesley D to weigh in here.