Word, Phrase or Sentence

What is your favorite word, phrase or sentence in the current lesson? I am now studying Rocket Spanish Premium Plus 11.2 Terrible Traffic ( Estoy estudiando Rocket Spanish 11.2) I like this particular phrase Mejor el demonio que uno conoce que el demonio no conocido. My all time favorite is a quote from Pable Neruda, "La risa is el lenguaje del alma"

That quote from Pablo Neruda would be hard to beat in any language.

Me gusta la historia de La Flor de Nochebuena en lección 10.6. Yo no había oído esa historia antes.

¿Está bien si llego al trabajo tarde? I am not sure if Mauricio sounds like he is asking a question. And another thing "llegar", do you pronounce it as "ll" or jegar or yegar. I am just trying to be more critical with the hopes that I'll remember the sentence. I found that I understand a lot but I can't remember them when I want to use the sentence with my bilingual friends.

Aurora: I think that Mauricio is supposed to be asking if it is okay...está bien... if he arrives at work late. The double ll pronunciation gets me as well. I have listened closely to native Spanish speakers and the pronunciation seems to range from a very soft, barely audible j or hard y sound, all the way to a very hard j. I remember talking about this with my Peruvian tutor, and saying that I heard the Y sound when she said llevar or llama or any other double ll word. She said she was deliberately softening up the pronunciation so that I could understand her better. As for me, I just stick with a kind of hard Y. Speaking of pronunciation, when I started learning I made a clear distinction between b and v. Now that I have heard the native Spanish pronunciation so often I find myself trying to soften up the b sound a bit without going clear to v. I want to pronounce letters and words correctly, but I don't want to go to such extremes that a native speaker thinks that I am affecting an accent or trying too hard not to sound like a gringo.

That's a good comment about not pronouncing the letters and words correctly. About 10 years ago, George and I attended a class in the local community college taking "Oral Interpretation" in English. I did it because my father said that my Filipino accent is still very strong while my 2 sisters and 2 brothers are more Americanized (Hollywood sounding). My husband who is caucasian and born here in the States decided to enroll with me. It was funny because at the final exam which is doing an oral interpretation of a of a literary work, I got an "A" and George got a "B". Part of the testing was speaking before the class with the instructor rating the pronunciation. I later asked the professor that the reason I took the class is to be able to pronounce the English words better. He said that my pronunciation is good and to try not to lose my Filipino accent completely. Back to Spanish pronunciation. I am really trying to do a better job because my bilingual Spanish friends are very critical and will correct me again and again until I get it. Like "ll" doble elle, in Filipino calle is pronounced as "calye", in Mexico, it sounds more like caye, and in Argentina it sounds more like caje ,hard j

Mauricio did not sound like he was asking a question, it sounds like it was a sentence with a period, not a question mark. It is important because in the Write test, I would make it a sentence and not a question.

Aurora, I just went back and listened, and Mauricio raises his voice just slightly while saying tarde, signifying the question. It is not much of an inflection, and could be mistaken for a sentence. I have noticed that in other sentences.

Hola, I agree with Dan that Mauricio is asking is it okay to arrive late. When I go to a restaurant for the first time or if someone new is waiting on us I say: Buenas tardes señorita. Estudio español y necesito practicar hablando. ¿Si está bien? Voy a pedir en español. Saludos, Ricardo