Mistakes Are Good Welcome to Mistakes Are Good. I'm making this lesson for a reason. I've studied languages in school before. And it wasn't fun or productive. It seemed like the majority of our time was spent correcting our mistakes and our pronunciation. I distinctly remember one class where the teacher made us all repeat the same word literally the entire period. Going around the room, one by one, until we each said the word perfectly. I didn't even notice the difference between the right way and the wrong way. Ridiculous! The truth is, most your mistakes will go unnoticed by YOU, because the person you're talking to will still understand you, and answer you as if you said it perfectly. Getting somebody to correct my mistakes has been one of the hardest parts of learning Spanish. Seriously. I made a few videos about pronunciation. So if you're worried about that or need any help, watch those videos for sure. But just real quickly, your pronunciation doesn't really matter that much. If you say the right word, in basically the right way, they'll understand you. Which stret is this? How much does this coast? Would YOU answer me? One of the most complicated parts of Spanish, and something that trips up every single beginner, is verb conjugation. Verb conjugation is when you take a verb and put it in different forms based on who's doing the action and when. So I want vs he wants. I want vs I wanted. That stuff. Most courses, teachers and books dive right into verb conjugation--and trust me, there's a lot. It gets really confusing, really fast. But you know what? Verb conjugation doesn't really matter! Dialogue Me: I want one hamburger, please.

Dialogue Me: He wants one hamburger. Man: Hamburger?

Dialogue Me: We want one hamburger, please.

Woman: One hamburger?

Dialogue Me: We will want one hamburger, please. Woman: Okay, anything else?

Dialogue Me: She wanted one hamburger. Man: One hamburger? Did you see what happened there? In each clip, it was just me every time--there was nobody with me. In the first one, I said "I want one hamburger." In the second, "He wants one hamburger." Then "We want..." then "We will want..." then "She wanted..." They might of thought I was a little strange, but they all knew exactly what I was talking about--I got my hamburger every single time. Dialogue Me: I want one hamburger, please.

Dialogue Me: He wants one hamburger. Man: Hamburger?

Dialogue Me: We want one hamburger, please. Woman: One hamburger?

Dialogue Me: We will want one hamburger, please.

Woman: Okay, anything else?

Dialogue Me: She wanted one hamburger. Man: One hamburger? Same thing goes for the word order. Most Spanish courses will drill it into your head that if you put the words in the wrong order, you'll never be understood. Oh really? Dialogue Me: One burger cheese double. Woman: One double cheese burger? Me: One burger cheese double. Yes. I put the words in the completely wrong order--it doesn't matter! One burger cheese double? I had to sit down before I went in there and really practice saying that backwards. I said "burger cheese double" instead of "double cheeseburger". And guess what? I walked out of there with my burger "cheese double". Dialogue Me: One burger cheese double. Woman: One double cheese burger? Me: One burger cheese double. Yes. And Spanish is different than English in that, some words are feminine, some are masculine, and some are both. In this course, we don't care about that stuff. It won't be covered at all. Well, except for right now. Because if you use the wrong form of the right word, you'll be understood literally 100% of the time. One example of the whole masculine/feminine thing is "otro" and "otra". They both mean exactly the same thing, "another". "Otro" is masculine and "otra" is feminine. But don't worry about that. We're going to Spain for our next example. I was in Barcelona and I had just had lunch. The waiter was nearby, so I asked him for "another Coke".

Dialogue Me: Otro Coca Cola, por favor. Man: Coca Cola? Pretty normal, right? I said "Otro Coca Cola." Then he confirmed "Coca Cola?" Then went and got my Coke. He obviously understood me perfectly. But here's the thing. I should have said "otra". "Otra Coca Cola" is correct not "Otro Coca Cola". The point is, if you mess this up every time, you'll be understood every time. If I tell you to say "otra" but you say "otro"--not a problem. Dialogue Me: Otro Coca Cola, por favor. Man: Coca Cola? Here's a funny sequence that you'll see elsewhere in the course. I was looking for the post office in Valencia, and I thought it was "el correos" or "los correos". Notice every single person corrects me exactly the same way? Then each and every one, answers my questions. Dialogue Me: Dónde está el correo? Woman: Perdón? Me: El correo? Woman: Correos?

Dialogue Me: Dónde está los correos? Woman: Correos? Me: Sí.

Dialogue

Me: Dónde está los correos? Man: Correos? Me: Los correos.

Dialogue Me: Dónde está los correos? Man: Correos? Don't worry about understanding all that right now, you'll learn how to do that in the Asking Directions module. For now, just pay attention to the beginning. They always immediately correct me, "Correos?" I guess there's no "el" or "los" at the beginning. Dialogue Me: Dónde está el correo? Woman: Perdón? Me: El correo? Woman: Correos?

Dialogue Me: Dónde está los correos? Woman: Correos? Me: Sí.

Dialogue Me: Dónde está los correos? Man: Correos? Me: Los correos.

Dialogue Me: Dónde está los correos? Man: Correos?

I'm pretty sure if you're ever looking for a "post office" in Spain just saying "Correos?" will do the trick. A word you'll see pop up in pretty much every module is "this". But in Spanish, "this" can be "esto", "esta" or "este". Then "that" is "eso", "esa", "ese". Then there are the plurals, "estos", "estas", "estes", "esos", "eses". But here's the thing. No matter which one you say, as long as you're pointing to the right thing, you'll get exactly what you want. To prove this to you, I took a trip to four different supermarkets in my hometown. I went to the bakery section each time and pointed to exactly the same thing every time, a cinnamon twist thingy. But each time I said something different. See if you notice. Dialogue Woman: Do you need help? Me: Yes. Can I have one of these please? Woman: Okay. How many? Me: Just one, please.

Dialogue Me: Hi. Can I have one of this please? Woman: Pardon? Me: One of this, please. Woman: Okay. Anything else for you? Me: That's it.

Dialogue Me: Can I have one of that please? Woman: Cinnamon roll...

Dialogue Me: Yes. Can I have one of those please? Woman: Which one? Me: Those.

Woman: [gibberish] Me: Yeah. See? It doesn't matter! I was pointing at the same thing every time. First I said "one of these" then "one of this" then "one of that" then finally "one of those". One of these, one of those. What's the difference? Obviously, nothing. Dialogue Woman: Do you need help? Me: Yes. Can I have one of these please? Woman: Okay. How many? Me: Just one, please.

Dialogue Me: Hi. Can I have one of this please? Woman: Pardon? Me: One of this, please. Woman: Okay. Anything else for you? Me: That's it.

Dialogue Me: Can I have one of that please? Woman: Cinnamon roll...

Dialogue Me: Yes. Can I have one of those please? Woman: Which one? Me: Those. Woman: [gibberish] Me: Yeah. Here are some similar examples from Spain. I'm not necessarily pointing to the same thing here every time, but I'm also not paying attention to what I'm pointing to. I just choose "eso" one time, "esa" another. I throw those words around like they're basically the same, because

they basically are. Dialogue Me: Hola. Woman: Hola. Me: Uno de eso, por favor. Woman: Qué más?

Dialogue Me: Hola. Una de esa, por favor.

Dialogue Woman: Hola. Me: Hola. Uno de eso. Woman: Esta? Did you hear that lady in the last one? I said "eso" then she said "esta". These words are basically interchangeable. Imagine if you were working in a bakery, or anywhere, and somebody walks in and asks for one of those. Does it change his request at all if he says "one of these" instead, but is pointing at exactly the same item? Say whichever you want. Dialogue Me: Hola. Woman: Hola. Me: Uno de eso, por favor. Woman: Qué más?

Dialogue Me: Hola. Una de esa, por favor.

Dialogue Woman: Hola. Me: Hola. Uno de eso. Woman: Esta? Another very common pitfall in Spanish is the word "to be" or "is". In Spanish there are two different versions, so "is" can be "está" or "es"--and you'll see both in this course. Most teachers make it seem like it's the end of the world if you use the wrong version. And quite frankly, if you want to learn Spanish for real, you'll want to get this right. But for this course, or when you're just traveling, it's not a huge deal if you mess it up. Dialogue Me: Qué es adentro? Man: Tiene Jamón Serrano.

Dialogue Me: Qué está adentro? Qué está adentro? Man: Atún. In the first one, I said "Qué es adentro?" -- "What's inside?" Then in the second one, I said "Qué está adentro?" -- "What's inside?" In both examples, they just told me what was inside. See what's going on here? I was in exactly the same situation both times and wanted to know what was inside a food item in front of me. You'll learn how to do this in the Ordering Food module. I said "es" in the first clip but "está" in the second clip. They can't both be right. But they both sure worked. Dialogue Me: Qué es adentro? Man: Tiene Jamón Serrano.

Dialogue Me: Qué está adentro? Qué está adentro?

Man: Atún. If can only get one thing through to you in this module, it would be this: Nobody waltzes out into the middle of Madrid and speaks perfect Spanish right away. Even when you're just doing the bare minimum. So don't be disappointed in yourself when you make mistakes. As this video is called, Mistakes Are Good. What I mean is, since mistakes are inevitable, if you're not making them, well, you're not really doing anything. I still make basic mistakes all the time. You'll even hear me say the word "gracias" incorrectly in some clips. One time I seemingly lost control of my mouth and just said "gracio" or something like that. Dialogue Me: Okay. Gracio. Gracias. It doesn't matter. So get out there and make some mistakes. Try this stuff. Not only will it be fun, but you'll feel great. And you'll have one of the more unique trips you've ever had. See you in the next video. Hasta luego. Dialogue Me: Okay. Gracio. Gracias.