Posted on November 8th
If you only have 2 minutes of attention this is it:
What would you say if I were to tell you that you already speak Spanish but don't realize it yet? That is the premise behind my method for teaching languages, let's put it to the test…
1) number one, there’s a famous game called UNO
2) Dusty shoes, how many dusty shoes do I have? 2
3) Triple hazard. Do not trespass
4) Quadruple: to make 4 times more
5) Cinco de Mayo
6) Many say six pack abs are not difficult to obtain, If you say so..
7) See, ethereal is like the 7 days of the week: you keep denying its existence until suddenly, you’re 90 years old
8) How should I chop up this onion?: Oh chop it up in 8ths and see if you manage not to cry for it
9) The old everest is 8,849 meters high, but the New everest is 9,000
10) That was such an audi escape, I’ll give you 10 points for it
With those 10 sentences you have mastered numbers 1 to 10 in Spanish, don’t believe me? Read on:
If you have 10 more minutes:
Many people don’t realize this but they have been saying the numbers in Spanish all their lives, they just say them in combinations that have different topics other than the numbers themselves. Let’s read the explanations to the phrases you just read so that these are forever engraved on your memory for good!
1) Number one is the easiest, just remember that famous game called UNO and make sure you don’t elongate the sound of the o, make it sound like the letter combination: awe.
2) starting from here, the associations are related to specific things that the numbers may remind you of, in this case I thought of shoes, which we typically can only wear 2 at a time. But of course after a long day at work they can get really dusty. How many dusty shoes do you have? Dos = two
3) Do you remember that famous symbol for toxic waste? It looks like the three blades of a fan. So you just picture that and say to yourself: triple hazard do not trespass. Tres = Three
4) This is one of the easiest: what do you say when you want to make something 4 times bigger? Quadruple, from the same root where four comes from in Spanish: cuatro (four)
5) Wait, I think this is the easiest: what is the name of that famous celebration on May the 5th? Cinco de Mayo. Just remember not to elongate the sound of that o, make the sound short as in the word awe.
6) Summer is coming and a lot of people start working on their six pack ab routine, I don’t know why whenever you ask the lazy people they say it’s so easy to get them that they will work on it tomorrow. Easy six pack abs…? If you say so… Seis = six , just make sure to drop the o in say so, and you get say s…
7) I remember not long ago I was watching a nature documentary where they said that because of the damage man has caused to the planet many populations of fish are disappearing while others are growing out of control due to the lack of natural predators. One growing population is the jellyfish: there must have been at least like 100 in that take of the video, the narrator referred to it as an ethereal beauty. See, ethereal is like the 7 days of the week: you keep denying its existence until suddenly, you’re 90 years old. Siete = seven
8) Take a close look at the shape of number 8: doesn’t it look like two onions? And don’t you just hate it when people force you to chop it up? Yeah no one likes to cry for that, but indeed we need to imagine that for a moment: How should I chop up this onion?: Oh chop it up in 8ths and see if you manage not to cry for it. Ocho = eight, just drop the p in Oh chop, and make sure not to elongate the sound of neither o, keep it short and sharp like in the word awe.
9) This one is kind of funny because you would have to keep in mind the actual height of the Everest which according to my research equals to : The old Everest is 8,849 meters high, but the New Everest is 9,000. Nueve = Nine, drop the “rest” part in New Everest, and you’ll get the right pronunciation
10) I will let you in on a little secret: in Spanish speaking elementary school we don’t do A’s or A+ for grades, we do numbers from 1 to 10, so if someone tells you he gives you a 10 instead of 100 don’t get offended, he’s just respecting the preconditioning we all received in elementary to reach out for the 10 and nothing more. So now we are ready to imagine an action movie with someone in a wonderful Audi: That was such an audi escape, I’ll give you a 10 for it. Diez = Ten
Thanks for reading, see you in the next blog.
P.S. By the way, do you have any suggestions for my next post? Your question could be the next one I write about, feel free to send your ideas to: