H, B and V

Just returned from 2 weeks in Mexico where I had a chance to practice my Spanish. I did fairly well and luckily I was well received and they were kind when I made mistakes. Two interesting things about Spanish vocabulary... The first is that they do not always use the letter H in print or on many of their signs, written materials, emails and even TXT messages. I suppose that its considered unnecessary since it is silent (why bother typing it when its not going to be pronounced anyway??). The other thing is that they consistently spell words with the letter B when its really a V. I suppose this is similar in that its going to be pronounced as a B anyway (so why bother???) There is a part of me that wonders if its always intentional or if maybe over time, the correct spelling gets lost? What do you think?

Hello Tocayo, I've not much experience with Mexican people, but I do know when it comes to languages most Latinos are very lazy speakers and don't really worry about grammar or rules... if it sounds good and people understand it, it's all go. Again, this is only true when you are in the street talking, if you meet the same person in a more formal environment you will be surprised at how well spoken they are... so it really pays to know both ways. Hope you had a good time... it sounds like you did. Saludos Mauricio.

I am having this same problem with a guy I know who grew up in Mexico. When he texts me, he does not use any h's and any word that starts with a 'v', he puts in a 'b'. ('boy' instead of 'voy', 'bas' instead of 'vas', 'oy' instead of 'hoy') It took me a while to figure out what he was saying. My question is, should I now text to him the same way? I tried asking him about it, but he told me these words do start with a 'b'.

Hola Cathy. It sounds as if your friend isn't all that well educated if he really thinks that "voy" and "vas" are spelled with a "b". People who aren't well educated and know Spanish mostly from speaking it (but not reading it) often make this mistake, but it IS a mistake. It's up to you to decide whether to duplicate his mistakes. If he's gorgeous and rich, maybe :-). As for me, I prefer gorgeous, rich, and well-educated. :-)

He is definitely gorgeous but not rich. Oh well. I have had my suspicions about him not being well-educated. You have just confirmed them. I appreciate your help. Gracias.

Hola!!! Im Mexican and live in Mexico, and this happens a lot, but as Mauricio already told you... is not the same street talk than speaking or writing in a different environment..."Errores ortográficos" , that is the name this mistakes have...and i think a big part of why this mistakes have been showing up recently because of the new techonology (facebook, msn, texting, etc) where you need to write fast and sometimes leave orthography behind....e.g "ola ¿k tal? komo t va?"..insteaf of...."hola ¿que tal? como te va?" I am not an expert in grammar or orthography but i dont like to write things the right way!.... NOW!!...if you say "ola" instead of "hola" we are talking about two different things..."ola" means "wave" as in the waves you get on the sea and "hola" means hello. "onda" vs "honda"...one is a wave as in microwaves and "honda" means HERE IS ANOTHER ONE...THIS 3 WORDS SOUND THE SAME BUT THEY MEAN A WHOLE DIFFERENT THING.... "vaya" means "oh well"(as in something that surprises you) "valla" means "go" and "baya" is the name we give to some berries..." The words in the example above are called "HOMOPHONY" ...sounds the same...means another! so ve carefull! ;)... IT IS NOT THE SAME "ARTE" THAN "HARTE"...they sound the same but the first one is the spanish word for art and the second one has to do with becoming saciated, jaded or tired of something.... advice and advise bear, bare beat and beet buy, bye and by etc! En pocas palabras, debemos hacer el esfuerzo por escribir bien las palabras utilizando la ortografia correcta!!! saludos desde México! (yes Mexico in spanish it is spelled with an accent in the "e")...MExico ;)

P.S!!! Excuse me and my poor english, if you find any mistakes on my writing , just let me know!!!...que tengan un buen día!