So there's what they teach you in class, then there's the real world. Always a little different, right? Well just like everything else in life, there's American classroom Spanish, and then there's the Spanish that everyone actually speaks. Here is a list of what I find to be the most important discrepancies between what I've learned in the Spanish classroom versus what is spoken here in Sevilla, and some important things that have just been left out. Here's what I've come up with...
1. For all those people who have never learned a single "vosotros" conjugation, and for all those teachers that say you'll never need that anyway-- LIE. Here in Sevilla, they almost never use the Ustedes form, always vosotros.
2. Usted is very formal. So no, contrary to what I learned in the US, you shouldn't always introduce yourself to someone in the usted form. Especially when interacting with someone your age, tú is much more appropriate. The only times that, from my observations, are meant for usted interactions are 1. business type relations, as in a patient-doctor interaction, and 2. when you are speaking to someone significantly older or more important than you.
3. You don't "asistir" a school, despite what you've been told over and over again. I know I've even been corrected for saying "ir" instead of "asistir" when referring to the classroom, but here, you "Ir a la universidad." The literal translation, does, in fact, work better in this case!
4. Use of the word "tía" to call a friend-- very common.
5. You can use the tú form of a verb to describe a general action, instead of the whole "impersonal se" thing / passive voice-- totally valid, and more similar to the English version.
6. The letters "c" and "z" are both pronounced almost with a lisp, not a hard "s" sound (although in Latin American Spanish, they say it's like that).
7. When someone sneezes, you say "Jesus," not "salud."
I'm sure I'll think of more later that I'll have to add-- look out for some more posts soon!
Hasta pronto!
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