Spanish in Mexico

[DJdave]

I have made contact with one person already in Mexico thanks to the English Club. So please tell me more about Mexico. I found this web site to help me translate. I know it will be helpful to you all when it comes to learning English or Spanish.
http://www.freetranslation.com/ I also got a library card and checked out Pimsleurs Spanish Course for free. I know it's not Study Saint, Matt, but it was free....LOL!
Yes, Like many Gringos. I wish to enjoy Mexico. I have 4 years before we retire. My wife works also. I am learning Spanish now. We will make a couple of trips to Mexico to look things over. We hope to make new friends and see many places in Mexico before we make up our mind on where to spend our retirement time.. Where do I look? What do you think would be some nice place's to look around. Warm in the winter and not to far from the coast where the pesos for living are not to much.
I am just a Maintenance man at a Nursing Home. I do not make much money. I have saved all my life so I can stop working and retire early at 55 years old..
I think Mexico would be a great place to do that! Yes, Like many Gringos. I wish to enjoy Mexico. I have 4 years before we retire. My wife works also. I am learning Spanish now. We will make a couple of trips to Mexico to look things over. We hope to make new friends and see many places in Mexico before we make up our mind on where to spend our retirement time.. Where do I look? What do you think would be some nice place's to look around. Warm in the winter and maybe an hours drive from the coast where the pesos are not to much.
I am just a Maintenance man at a Nursing Home. I do not make much money. I have saved all my life so I can stop working and retire early at 55 years old..
I think Mexico would be a great place to do that!

[Elba]

David,

Thanks for the link, I post another to you:
http://www.wordereference.com

Here at EC there are almos five mexicans: Selene (who is studing at Canada now, but I hope she return in some months)
Teacherito, Idalia, Me (Elba) and another gir from Jalisco (I don´t remember the name, I think is Lucia) but they haven´t post any messages in recent months. I hope they retunr soon.
You can search the member list and send them a PM.

[Tora]

I am from Pachuca, Mexico. I will moved to United States soon.
I am aplying to computer science major.

Tell ya more about me later. My name is Andrei

Welcome!
you know Andrei sounds quite russian! I like it!

[Dixie]

Yes, Andrei sounds Russian or from somewhere in Eastern Europe

Anyway, welcome Andrei!

[Elba]

Andrei,

Paisano welcome here. I´m from D.F and I hope to hear more about you. Here at EC are almost 5 mexicans, but some of them only writte here some months and after some months he return. I´m here permanently.
EC members. Pachuca is veru near of México city or D.F.

[Cypress]

Three weeks ago, I have started studying Spanish . And now I have a few questions about it, but I didn’t really want to make a new thread and decided to post here. Hopefully, someone will be able to help me.

My first question is technical. How to type the upside down exclamation mark? I added Spanish (International sort) to my keyboard. I already figured out how to type the upside down question mark and the accent mark above vowels. But I cannot find out how to type the exclamation mark. I think I tried all possible key combinations, but I can’t figure it out .

My second question is about vosotros. I heard that in Mexico people don’t use this form, instead they use ustedes (for you plural, both formal and informal), which I think is really cool (less memorization for me ). But what about other Latin-American countries? Does it apply to them? In other words, should I still learn the vosotros form?

Now back to accent marks again. I am astonished of how many Spanish words have to be written or typed with stress marks. But how to remember them all? Are there any rules or just pure memorization?

[Dixie]

My first question is technical. How to type the upside down exclamation mark? I added Spanish (International sort) to my keyboard. I already figured out how to type the upside down question mark and the accent mark above vowels. But I cannot find out how to type the exclamation mark. I think I tried all possible key combinations, but I can’t figure it out .

This mark? --> ¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡¡

(oh, I had to look for it on my keyboard, since I never use it ) I've got a Spanish keyboard, and this exclamation mark is right below ¿¿¿ which I also guess you must be wondering about too Sorry, can't help you here, Cypress.

My second question is about vosotros. I heard that in Mexico people don’t use this form, instead they use ustedes (for you plural, both formal and informal), which I think is really cool (less memorization for me ). But what about other Latin-American countries? Does it apply to them? In other words, should I still learn the vosotros form?

In Spain, vosotros is the used form, while ustedes belongs to Latin American Spanish. I don't think it's necessary to learn both, although it's good to know they both exist. If you learn and use just one, people will understand you with no problem

Now back to accent marks again. I am astonished of how many Spanish words have to be written or typed with stress marks. But how to remember them all? Are there any rules or just pure memorization?

Yes there are rules. There are three types of words depending on their stress. They are called agudas, llanas and esdrújulas. If the stress is on the last syllable (e.g. canté), the word is aguda. If the stress is on the second syllable (e.g. mesa), the word is llana. And if the stress is on the third syllable (e.g. máquina) the word is esdrújula.

[Dixie]

These are the accent rules.

Agudas ending in a vowel, n or s:

camión
también
leccción


Llanas ending in vowel, n or s do NOT mark the stress.

novela
hoja
casa

Esdrújulas always mark the stress.

teléfono
árbitro
esdrújula

Hope to have helped you a little, Cypress. There is more information here

[Elba]

Perfect Dixie. I see you not only are a very intelligent english teacher, but also a spanish teacher ¡Bravo!

[Paco]

Hi there!! I could´t find any other post to introduce myself. My name is Francisco García, and I'm from Pachuca, Hgo. México. I'm finishing an ELT B.A. and I want to become to a good english teacher. I hope you can help me to reach my goals!!!