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Frizztext Story Challenge H Spanish, Hostal Cruzita Ecuador, Hostal Palo Santo Jama Ecuador, Learning Spanish, Pointers for Spanish, Spanish words with H
Early Morning at Hacienda Guachala – Cayambe, Ecuador
The Frizztext Alphabet has reached the letter “H” and presents a great opportunity for another Spanish pointer.
View of Bahia de Caraquez, Ecuador
About an hour down the coast is the lovely coastal small city of Bahia de Caraquez. Several years ago I asked an Ecuadorian, “Does it bother you that most extranjeros say, “Bah-HEE-ah?”
He slowly nodded, “Yes,” and grimaced!
Like a beginning piano student forgetting to keep the wrists up, many of us forget to keep that H silent!
“Bah-ee-ah.” The H is silent, and I often slipped back into Bah-hee-ah until finally I nailed it.
“Hola!” – Near Rivas Nicaragua
We’ve heard “Hola” so many times that we don’t need to be reminded to keep the H silent. Hombre/man and hambre/hungry are words that tripped me several times – to my friends’ amusement. I used ‘hombre’ to describe my hunger! Those friends still remind me of my blunder!
Proud of my mastery over pronouncing ‘Bahia,’ I forgot to apply that lesson to many other words!
Hostal Palo Santo – Jama Ecuador
Hostal Cruzita – Ecuador
Hotel and hostal are not HO-tel and HAH-stal; they are oh-tel and ohs-tahl. When a taxi driver doesn’t understand my request for “Hotel California,” it’s because that foreign H surely sounds harsh! (My Costa Rican friend Elvira politely helped me with that lesson while we visited at Hostal Cruzita!)
How easy it is to slip back into English and pronounce the H in Hamburgesa! A native Spanish speaker will understand your request for a hamburger but will surely appreciate your attempt to pronounce it correctly!
Hambre for Hamburgesa o Helado? Luchi at Palo Santo Cyber Cafe – Jama, Ecuador
Helado/ice cream is E-lado – not HE-lado!
Remember to drop the H in hamaca/hammock!
Hamaca/Hammock – Hacienda Guachala
HONDURAS border crossing
My creative approach turns that H into a hurdle, and -if I remember in time- I clear the random H as if it were an obstacle in my path! Ohn-duras not Honduras!
At this point I was really happy to be wearing mud boots!
When visiting a beautiful Ecuadorian family reunion, I was surprised when my friends burst out laughing when I replied to their question, “How is the road from your house to town?’
I replied, “Or-REEEEE-blee!” (Horrible!)
They said that I nailed that word like a true Ecuadorian!
Z
Zeebra Designs & Destinations 
Just shows; we can manage quite well with a silent h. I will look at all the H words around town and say them silently and see what fun I can have.
it would be great for you to share all of those ‘h’ words! i’m heading to town later today and will do the same!
thanks, amiga!
z
I like to learn Spanish via your blog: Hacienda – Hola (Hello!) – Hombre – Hostal – Hamaca (Hammock) – Hambre for Hamburgesa o Helado – Helado – P.S.: when my daughter studied in Spain she in the first weeks only had Hambre for diner, the only word she understood. Then she bought a book POINT IT – with pictogramms of several food …
“Point to it” is an easy way.. I had the luxury of sketching what I needed, so my talents prevented me from finding and using words!
Thanks for the Spanish lesson, z. 🙂 Gosh, that road really does require mud-boots. 😯
Si! We had a lot of rain last night, so I’ll be wearing mud boots later today when I leave to meet friends in town! It’s cool, and I’ll enjoy the walk! Z
Great photographs to accompany this lesson! It’s helpful to not only heat the rule, but to have it applied to many words. Thanks!
Thank you! Some seem to grasp new languages easily, and others (like me) need repetition! How are you with foreign languages?
If I can immerse myself in the language, I can learn it. When I studied Spanish (one college semester only), I labelled everything in the house, spoke common phrases to my children, excelled in class and had gotten to where I could read and understand short stories. I have now totally forgotten 90% of it. I obviously – like you – need repetition!
i suspect that yours would come back really fast if you are immersed in that life.
now it’s time for ‘j.’ hmmmm, or should i say, ‘jmmmmmm?’!!!!
This is an appropriate lesson in language. I am embarrassed at times when I reflect on how few Americans learn a second language. Our new neighbors are visiting from Quebec, so naturally they are fluent in both French and English. Their daughter lives and works here in Cuernavaca, so add Spanish. And their granddaughter, who is just graduating high school decided she should add Italian to her repertoire.
We would be a better connected world with a second or third language available to us. Thank you for a great lesson, not just in language, but also in world citizenship.
What a beautiful comment you added to this post!
Thank you, and you are so right. I think the younger generation realizes the importance of learning second and third (and fourth) languages and will try to provide those opportunities for their children.
Hopefully the USA will soon join those other countries in bilingual skills, as we are all walking ambassadors and should do our best – as you so well stated – as citizens of the world!
Thanks so much, and have a great day!
Lisa/z
Your post is a great lesson in using “H” or rather not using “H.” For me, as I’m not very good in foreign languages I’d have to repeat many times over until it finally sank in. But perhaps it would be a bit easier if learning the native language in a foreign country was the only way to communicate, outside of hand gestures – because it would become a necessity for living day-to-day. Got me thinking ~
some people seem to have a gift for languages, and others struggle! i have found that musicians often do extremely well.
Waiting for you to get to “rr” on the alphabet trail. I thought I was doing OK till that challenge came up. Once I got to the point that I could say “ferrocarril” without a lot of undue effort and an aching jaw I felt a whole lot better!
ja! maybe i’ll delegate that one to you!!! that might be fun!
thanks, amiga!
z
I like How you explain words in spanish for english language it remind me When I started to learn english………it was hard for me to forget that in english “H” is not mute……it sounds like “J “en spanish….
how interesting to hear the flip side, and yes, that must have been just as difficult! thanks so much for adding that perspective to this post!
z
Thanks for the great post, I truly enjoyed it! I never studied Spanish in school but I definitely could have used it when working with Mexican immigrants, made me wish I had!
yes, we often look back and wish we’d made different choices. i wish that i had studied spanish as well, though the trade-off for me were math courses, which i enjoyed and am glad for that balance. z
Thank you for the great lesson! I took Spanish for some years and I still understand a lot…can speak some, but when you don’t practice – you tend to lose it. This was another good repetition as well as having fun with pictures and story! Always a joy to read your posts.
thank you so much, and thanks for the time it takes for such genuine feedback! z
thank you so much! we can acquire basic knowledge, but one really learns when immersed and experiencing those lessons! z
So funny Lisa! I used to mistakenly say “tendo hombre” instead of hambre! I got quite the laughs! I love these lost in translation moments of language learning!
i’m glad i’m not the only one who mixed those two words! at least we can laugh! z
With the H you’ve created a wonderful artistic and beautiful pots.
Bien “H” hecho 😉
Carlos
so true’hecho! any suggestions for j?
“J” Jugar con los pensamientos artísticos. Playing with artistic thoughts.
that’s a great one! you should join us and would add a lot to the weekly alphabet, especially if you helped with a second set of spanish posts!
Hola. Muchas gracias Senora. Z, I am close to exhausting my Spanish. Thanks for making people like me smarter, although it was not a hard task. BTG
ha! some of us learn ‘poco a poco’ – little by little! it’s time for ‘j’ and i have no idea what to post! i’ll give it a few more days! z
I should come visit you for Spanish lessons…great post!
Well done, and well said! What the ell, eh?
I had also heard that musicians seem to do better with learning foreign languages. When we were in Mexico taking Spanish lessons, my husband, who practiced piano for many years, seemed to pick up the language faster than me.
Hola amiga. I also find it hard to remember that the “h” and the “j” are silent…
To me “Bah-ee-ah” sounds like the braying of a donkey and not the name of a city.
oh that’s funny, rosie! now when i hear that word, i will also think of a donkey!!!
heh heh
Fun lesson lisa, chuckling at the thought of you skipping the H’s when conversing in English 😀
I’m good with hola! – I get to say that at least once a day. I need to really push my Spanish learning somehow…. In any case, I’m glad to learn about the “H”. I’m one of those who’s been guilty of “baHeea”. I need to cut that out!
This is slightly off-topic, but I’ve been searching for this video for you and finally found it. After seeing your posts about the rain and muddy roads, I thought you’d enjoy seeing the real deal in Liberia. On the Lofa Road. I’ve been on that road, in pretty much those conditions.
Or – REEEEE-bleee!
wow! that is true mud! it was fun to hear the southern accent as well!
it’s raining again here, and i have a road trip to manta and back tomorrow. i’ll be out of pocket all day, and i’d best get some sleep!
thanks so much!
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I have a wonderful smile all the way through reading this again.A real sense of joy…thank you Z.
what a beautiful comment! thank you so much, and now — thanks to your comment, i have a smile as well!
z
Two very happy people. lol! Have a great week Z…
We take a ‘ammock with us when we travet in the van and at ‘ome it is always ‘anging some where for napping. That is not Spanish it is fair dimkun Aussie to drop the ‘H’.
how fun!!! thanks for adding that tidbit to this post! z
It’s reciprocal: Spanish speakers may know they’re supposed to pronounce an English h but they have to be trained out of pronouncing it like the harder j in Spanish (which is similar to the ch in German). The softer English h is surprisingly difficult for them to pronounce, and many never do get it right.
you are so right, and many have difficulties with words that begin with s as well. i think those english speakers who have difficulties learning a new language have more empathy for others who attempt to speak ours!
thanks for your comment!
z
The problem for them is when s comes at the beginning of a word before p, t, or c. When I taught in Honduras (a long time ago) my students initially called me /estiv/. I used to practice with them and hiss for a long time as I said Sssssssssssssstiv, which they could manage to imitate.
yes, i love to hear them say, ‘es-teven’ or ‘es-paghetti’ —
honduras, you surely know, is a very dangerous country these days. it’s so sad that places with such beauty are tainted with extreme corruption and violence.
z