O sea, comprate un bosque y piérdete

O sea, comprate un bosque y piérdete
Like, buy yourself a forest and get lost

This is a pretty nifty phrase, and I'm sure we've all been in situations where this phrase would have come in handy.  At least now you have it for future situations.   This phrase is pretty commonly used in Mexico, so use it without fear.  But there's one potential caveot that comes with it.  You might be mistaken for a fresa.  Okay, maybe I'm exaggerating, but if you can trick them into thinking you're not a gringo, then you might be mistaken for a fresa.  But I digress.

In my last post we talked about nacos. This time we're going to take a look at what it means to be a fresa. 

You can read about fresas in the Urban Dictionary by clicking here, but I'm going to give you the condensed version. 

 Fresa's are usually stuck up, have expensive clothes, cars, are usually middle high or high class, and talk different than everyone else.

 Stuck up Spanish girls or boys that have picky tastes, are extremely spoiled and always get their way, have little concern for the needs of others, and are snob, rude, and overly obnoxious.

Here in the states we call them "preppy". 

So what makes a fresa a fresa?  One trademark of a fresa, quite possibly their signature trademark, is the use of the words o sea and guey (wey, wee).    Here's a few classic fresa expressiones:

O sea,¡Vales mil!
(Eres importante)
Like, you're really important to me

O sea, mi fresh y tú cool
(Soy mejor que tú)
Like, I'm better than you. 

O sea, omítete
 (Desaparece de mi vista)
Like, get out of my site

While reading about something is good, seeing it action is always better.  And for that, we'll turn to YouTube.

Okay, they aren't real people, but our  friends in this video are definitely fresas. 

Guys can also be fresas.  In fact, someone took the time to make an entire blog dedicated to nacos and fresas.  In the video I'm about to give you the link to, you'll get to hear a naco and a fresa have conversation and hear the differences in their speech.  Here's the link:

http://nacoyfresa.blogspot.com/2006/07/naco-y-fresa-episodio-3el-niuyor.html

This video will definitely be good practice for your Spanish.

Hopefully you learned something from my this and my naco post, and maybe even got a few laughs.  To be honest, I've barely scratched the surface of nacos and fresas, not that I'm any kind of expert on the subject to begin with.  My goal of these posts is to simply entertain you and introduce you to these two cultures.  Take the time to talk with your Mexican friends about the subject or do some searches in Google or YouTube and you'll not only get a chance to practice your Spanish, but also get to know a little bit more about our Mexican neighbors and realize that we really aren't that different after all.

¡Hasta la próxima!

Tienes nopal en la cara - Transcripts

So in my last post, I discussed the phrase "tiene nopal en la cara". If you missed it, you can find it here. I actually discussed the phrase in a video, and as promised here's the transcript:

Hola, que onda, como estan a todas?
Hello, what’s up, how is everybody?

Hoy voy a hablar de una frase. La frase es tiene
nopal en la cara.
Today I’m going to talk about a phrase, and the phrase is tiene nopal en la cara (You have a cactus on your face).

OK, primero voy a explicar que es un, un nopal.
First I’m going to explain what a “nopal” is.

En ingles, nopal significa "cactus". Desde hace mucho,
desde los tiempos de los Aztecas y los Mayas, nopal
se refiere a la gente mexicano.
In English, nopal means catctus. For a long time, since the times of the Aztecs and the Mayas, nopal has been used to refer the Mexican people.

OK, entonces, que signicica "tiene nopal en la cara"? "tiene nopal en la cara" significa que alguien se ve muy, muy, mexicano.
OK, so then what does “tiene nopal en la cara” mean? It means that someone looks Mexican.

OK, les doy un emjemplo. Ella tiene nopal en la cara pero no se hablar espanol.
**I should have said "...no sabe hablar español"
OK, I’ll give you an example. She looks Mexican, but she doesn’t know how to speak Spanish.


Esa frase tal vez no es muy util, pero pense que era muy interesante,
por eso queria compartirlo con ustedes.
This phrase may not be very useful, but I thought it was interesting and wanted to share it with you.

Bueno, ya esta, nos vemos. Hasta la proxima.
Well, that’s it. See you later. Until the next time!

México, Méjico y Mexicas

If you don't know, there are two ways to spell México, with the second way being Méjico.

While I was aware of the difference in spelling, I had no idea why there were 2 spellings, and never really put much thought into it. But thanks to my maestra and Google, the mystery has been unraveled.

The word México is deeply intertwined with the history of the Mexican people, taken from the language of the Nahua Aztec tribe, also known as the Mexicas, who spoke Nahuatl.

In short, the word México comes from the language of the Mexicas (Aztecs), Nahuatl. So now that I've given you a very abbreviated history of the word "México", then where does "Méjico" come from?

Méjico is the spelling given to us by modern day Spanish, although the Real Academia de la Lengua Española does recognize both spellings.

So then the question becomes, which one do I use, or does it even matter?

Mexicans will use México because of the historical and cultural ties, but in Spain the standard is Méjico. Which one you use is up to you. If the Spanish of Spain is going to be your forte, then perhaps going with "Méjico" is your best option.

My explanation here barely scratches the surface of what can be a touchy subject for some people. If you want to know more, here are a few links that might be of interest:

WordReference - México vs Méjico

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Name_of_Mexico

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mexica

I hope you enjoyed this brief history lesson.

¡Hasta luego!

Escuelas en México

Today my tutor and I had a discussion about schools in México. Now, my school days are long gone, but I thought it would be interesting to learn a little about how things work in México.

Let's start with the types different schools there are. Their system isn't really that much different than ours:

Kindergarten - Jardin de niños (also called Kinder)

Elementary - Primaría

Middle School - Secondarìa

High School - Prepatoría (commonly refered to as Prepa), also known as Colegio and Bachillerato

Now, there are differences in the names of the various grade levels then schools here in the US.

Kinder starts at age 3.

Primaría runs from 1st to 6th.

Secondarìa starts over with 1st - 3rd

Prepatoría starts over yet again with 1st - 3rd

Speaking of grade levels (grados), here's how to talk about them in Spanish...

1st Grade - Primer grado (1ro)
2nd Grade - Segundo grado (2to)
3rd Grade - Tercer grado (3er)
4th Grade - Cuatro grado (4to)
5th Grade - Quinto grado (5t0)
6th Grade - Sexto grado (6to)

I'm sure you noticed that Primaría, Secondarìa and Prepatoría all have 1st - 3rd grades, so to distinguish them, you say:

Primer grado de Primaría [or Secondarìa, Prepatoría]

Tercero grado de Secondarìa

Sexto grado de Primaría

I think you get the picture.

If you want to ask your friends what grade their kids are in, you can ask:

¿En que grado está tu hijo? Está en primer grado (de secondaría)

¿En que grado va tu hijo? Va en primero.

If you want to ask if they graduated to the next school year, you can ask:

¿Pasó de año? Pasó con 9.1

If you're curious about the 9.1, then let me explain.

First of all, grades are called calificaciones.

Apparently the grading scale in México goes from 1 - 10.

A 5 is an F. Nothing below a 5 is awarded. 6 is a D, and 10 is an A (100%).

To talk about what kind of grades someone is getting in school, you use the verb sacar.

¿Cuándo eras niño sacabas buenas calificaciones en la escuela?
When you were child did you get good grades in school?

No saqué buenas calificaciones hasta el segundo año de prepa.
I didn't get good grades until my second year of high school.

Mi hija saca buenas calificaciones
My daughter gets good grades

That's it, or perhaps you're thinking that's enough. Even though this post is about how schools work in México, you can use much of the same vocabulary to talk about schools and grades here in the US with your Spanish speaking friends.

¡Espero que te sirve!

Además de mal

This is a simple, great piece of Spanish that you can use in your day-to-day conversation. But I'm not going to tell you what it means.

Instead, I'm going to let my friend Mexico Bob explain it to you. I figure it's only fair, since I learned it from him in the first place. You can read about "Además de mal" here. Now let me tell you a little about Mexico Bob.

Mexico Bob is a great guy currently living in Mexico, and has a fantastic blog, which you have to see for yourself. His posts go well beyond the Spanish language, providing great insight into Mexican culture and daily life there.

I know that some of you found my site through Mexico Bob, but for those of you who haven't been to his blog, I think you'll enjoy his site, especially if you have an interest in Mexican life and culture.

¡Que disfrutes!