Soy yo, Marcus, with another Spanish Beyond the Textbook tip.
Some say George Bush was the first American president who thought he spoke Spanish.
He would use a sentence or two in Spanish during his speeches, which his speechwriters would have made sure he got correct.
Ted, One of the characters from the Sitcom “How I Met Your Mother”, is kind of like George Bush, he thinks he can speak Spanish.
In an episode of the show he went to pick up a Latin American from the airport.
Here is what he said,
“Yo eres Ted. Esta soy Lily.”
“I ARE Ted. This AM Lily. “
Here are a couple of hints to avoid making these tedisms.
Firstly the obvious one, soy means I am, and it’s the easiest way to introduce yourself.
“Soy Ted.”
I am Ted.
An easy casual way to introduce someone else you can simply say,
“Ella es Lily.”
“She is Lily.”
Or if you are introducing a male friend you can use, “él es”
For example:
“Él es Denis Lillee”
“He is Denis Lillee”
Here is a common “tedism” for you to avoid.
Imagine you knock on the door at an amigos house. They ask,
Quien es? (Who is it?)
In English you’d probably reply, “it is me”.
If you translate that to, es yo, it will sound very strange to Spanish ears. In Spanish you say,
“Soy yo” (Literally, I am I.)
It’s better to say,
“Soy yo, Marcus.”
“It’s me, Marcus.”
Try out, “soy yo” with your amigos. You’ll avoid the Tedisms and you’ll sound authentic and real with your Spanish.
Spanish is not only a different language it’s also a different culture whether you are beginner or advanced it’s possible you are still making tedisms.
I now have 3 levels of sequential Synergy Spanish lessons for beginner, intermediate and advanced Spanish. You can go from zero to authentic, real, everyday Spanish and avoid the tedisms. Click here for details.
http://www.synergyspanishsystems.com/courses.html
Saludos
P.S. Here’s a clip of Ted “speaking” Spanish.
no pudo a ver el video.
soy yo
Haven’t much time to study as yet but in the new year Im going to learn properly. Looking at all your tips I feel I’ll be able to get somewhere after years of trying to learn spanish
nothing happened just “this video is private”
Hope you can get the technicians on the job Soy Anne (Peru)
Hola Marcus, love the tips, I get so much out of them, and even more interesting, I remember it all, you are a great teacher indeed! I now know how to introduce a person in the right way, thanks, I know ill speak Spanish one of these days, thanks again!
Hi Marcus . Thank for the video but this one is not running . Gracia . Paul
Hola Marcus,
Soy yo, Renée!
The video wasn’t running, only the text in German ‘ the video is private.’
I can imagine Ted doing that but would have actually enjoyed reliving it. Maybe you can get it set up??
Saludos
Dear Marcus
Thank you for all the tip for speaking Spanish.
If I tried to open the clip of Ted “speaking” Spanish, I only get a mesage saying “This video is private”
I would really like to see it.
Regards
PK
Thank you so much Marcus. Just a beginner but your free emails and tips make it so much fun.
Still trying to work through the beginners course I purchased but the easy way that it is presented
makes it “do-a-ble” My dream is to speak to the “natives” whilst enjoying “Shirley Ballantyne” time on the Costa Coast on retirement. Bye for now and please keep them coming
The more Spanish you have the less time you’ll spend on your “Pat Malone” own.
Hola Marcus, Thank you for the clip it made me smile, and realize the mistakes I have made over the years. Helen
Well, there you have it. Corporate copyright trumps people learning each others’ languages and getting closer to becoming a global community.
I didn’t get the opportunity to hear the video. Can you make it available again? Thank you Betty Middleton
Me encanta la forma que marcus ensena espanol y tu tambien lo haras
I love the way Marcus teaches Spanish and you will too.
Thank you for the wonderful system I have bought a lot of your courses and now I am able to speak Spanish. I now just need to practice !! The local tips are great .
I enjoy le arning spanish by the free lessons you have provided. I have trying to learn spanish for three years and i couldn’t learn anything but words. I couldn’t write a sentence until you started giving free lessons, now I can. Thank you very much.
Im lagging at getting involved in this easy spanish course. If I could I would kick myself in the **!
You put all the info. out here so all can learn.
Thank you Marcus
J. in Colorado
I’m taking GCSE Spanish course on monday nights, Really love it but your learning processes are so easy and simple to replicate. I hope uno dia hablo espanol muy bien.
Regards,
Keith
Darlington (England)
cinquenta y tres hoy, adios.
Many thanks for the texts, i have passed your e-mails onto my 93 year old patient who also lives here on this beautiful island of Mallorca in Spain. We find these very useful in every day life here, keep up the good work.
thanks so much for the info even if im not so much into spanish i do find your lessons quite easy to understand and enjoyable.thanks again Marcus.Beryl.
Marcus, I am so glad you have not abandoned us “freebies.” I really do want to avail myself of your system. The one thing I do find difficult, however, is thinking fast enought to pull everything “out of the hat” when in a real situation. I do all right during the exercises, yes, but then when it comes to actually using the things I’ve learned I can’t think fast enough. I guess somewhere in your lessons there is some practice to meet this need. Thanks for everything I’ve learned so far. I do practise some with native speakers, and believe it or not I think they sometimes learn from me. Sr. Michael
Hola Marcus, your lessons are fantastic, although I am slow I love doing them when I have time. I put my lessons on when I am in the gym which kills two birds with one stone. It makes the time go faster and teaches me at the same time.
Gracias
Carol Miller.
thanks for tip. I am living and speaking Spanish in Costa Rica and I plan to go through your whole program (I bought the $49 package). I am, however, quite overwhelmed with how much there is to download etc. so have not begun. but I know it will be good.
Thanks for the emails and lessons. Yours are the only lessons I’ve found that have taught me how to use all those Spanish words I memorized in actual sentences. Please keep them coming!
Thank you for your help. I live here in Puerto Vallarta so want to learn spanish so I can speak more to the people. Thank you for your internet help.
I am very grateful for all of your free spanish lessons.
Sincerely
Shilan
Gracias por tu ayuda. Es maravilloso. Mi espanol es mal pero con tu ayuda me van a dar mejor . Espero Que hacerlo divertido intentarThank you for your help. It is wonderful. My spanish is bad but with your help I will get better . I hope. You make it fun to try Mauricio Maurice
Thanks for all the tips Marcus. Have just come back from Barcelona which was quite difficult as they speak Catalan there but if we spoke Spanish they replied in Spanish so was ok.
Mucho Gracias Marcus.
Chao
Thanks Marcus, It is really difficult to understand the native speaker, I myself being an Urdu speaking person know that very well. Culture plays an inportant part to know a language, the way you think and do things.
I really admire you to let us understand that part of Spanish language. Thanks
Helpful. I’ve been taking Spanish lessons for almost two years in the Dominican Republic. I appreciate these little tips.
A bit fast, but great having the sub titles, enjoy all your lessons.
Muchas gracias.
love all your little bits of info. still working my way through your courses.
Hello Marcus, yours is the first site i have seen which explains the expression in natural spoken Spanish rather than the text book translation, it is really informative, keep up the good work.
Marcus, I have been following your wedsite for some time and really enjoy your courses.
Unfortunately, I am not able to practice much with other Spanish speakers but still get a great deal of pleasure from the courses because even the reading and writing enable one to understand the Spanish grammar. Ian
Hi Marcus, I have completed the Shortcut to Spanish Course, but am confused as to which to choose next.
think you have a great system, am learning a lot.
thanks
Dorothy
Hola Dorothy,
I recommend Synergy Spanish next for you.
Saludos,
Marcus
Gracias Marcus
I think your way of teaching is excellent. Thank you very much I am enjoying it.
Martha
You have said don’t worry about being perfect, just jump in and start talking; people will get the general idea and you will be communicating. Then you use examples of George Bush and Ted making fools of themselves which is exactly what I’m afraid of.
As they used to say in primary school, “you learn from your mistakes”. That’s great advice.
In this post, I’m having a bit of fun with George and Ted. However, As I mentioned in the post below, I think you should always have a go:
http://www.synergyspanishsystems.com/blog/be-bold-in-a-spanish-emergency/
This is great! I live in the Dominican Republic and am an American. I always get excluded from discussions because my family speaks so fast. when I try spanish they always understand but tell me I sound like a a”text” book. I am living with it but this lesson certainly help in some of the more casual conversations I include myself in. Thanks!
Bill Pieczara
Hola Marcus,
I had your courses 1 & 2. But now I lost everything due to a crash of the PC.
Can I download the courses again?
Further I like to know what do you have in your “store” as number 3 or as logical continuation.
Best regards,
Hans
The Ted clip is too close to home! Ouch.
Hiya i have completed my course of basic synergie Spanish to a level that i feel that i could use a course that follows on, but i am confused as there is so many now ! what do you reccomend ?
many thanks Bob.
Hola Bob,
The sequential follow on course after Synergy Spanish is Bola de Nieve.
http://www.synergyspanishsystems.com/sidewaysfluency.html
Hola Marcus,
I am always happy to recieve your emails. Something new and useful is always in them. The video lessons did’nt seem to be any help at first. But then I realized that with audio only , I cannot hear the spelling of the words to get them in my memory.
Everything you have ” invented” for learning Spanish has a practical use. Including this idea.
You are a generous young man, and this old man thanks you.
Gracias por el joven. Thanks for (calling me) the young man.
Thanks marcus keep them coming, best regards you are a star!
Thank you for your help with my spanish, I am from England but live in Andalucia ,Spain now and at 72 years it does not come naturally but your free lessons are a great help to me. Gillian
Thanks
Much appreciated
Thanks Marcus, I don’t get a lot of time to study spanish but I am getting there. I find these emails a great help. Much appreciated. Roger
Hello!
Thanks so much for everything you produse.
And as I have told baefore; it very interesting to learn what is problemes to englishspeaking people. Beeing a Norwegian. Many of your problemes do no occure for me. I think it’s because my language is more close to spanish in many ways. But than you again. And this way I even get interesting new konwledge of egnlish and hopefully will do better there as well.
From Nils
for the time beeing in Gran Canaria
Winter – stay
Thanks once again Marcus , You do make Spanish interesante !! Regards, Victoria.