with Centro de Idiomas el Mar...

This week we have decided to share with you the delights of long distance electronic communication with some of our students. A lot of our students leave the area for months at the time and the only way for them to practice some Spanish is maintaining email communication with us. We quite like hearing from students telling us about their life back home telling us how much they miss Spain…
This is a good way of practising the language, because not only do the students get to practice their reading and writing but also they get to be corrected. And lets be honest, it’s a good laugh for us all.
This letter, was written by Susan, who has been coming to class with her husband Steven for a couple of months before going back to England for the summer. As is usually the case the wife takes the initiative to send us an email to start a regular email conversation with us.

Hola Marga y Sam
Gracias para vuestro e-mail! Son las doce y soy mucho “tired”. Steven todavía es muy feo y perezoso, por eso tengo que escribir yo.
William´s cumpleaños es Julio 10. Mañana vamos a comprar un diccionario español. Es muy necessito para nosotros tener una bebida antes de escribir ajo.
¿Podéis venir a Inglaterra rápidamente? Es necesario para nosotros tener más lecciones!
Steven dice que escribe pronto cuando tiene un diccionario!!! Tengo hambre- Me gusta una de lomo con queso!
¿Cómo estáis?
Vosostros dos amigos ingleses
Besos desde un “wet” y frio Worcester y éste es el fin de la primera carta.
Susan & Steven xx
(Vuestros perezosos amigos) xx

Translation of the text:
Hello Marga and Sam
Thanks for your e-mail! It’s twelve at night and I am very tired. Steven is still very ugly and very lazy, and it is why I have to write.
William’s birthday is Julio the 10th. Tomorrow we will buy a Spanish dictionary. It is necessary for us to have a drink in order to be able to write something.
Could the two of you come to England quickly? We need more Spanish lessons!
Steven says that he will write when he has the dictionary!!! I am hungry I would like a pork loin and cheese rosca!
How are you?
Your two English friends
Kisses from a wet and cold Worcester, and this is the end of our first letter.
Susan & Steven xx
(Your lazy friends) xx

1. As you will all remember, “para” cannot be used after “gracias” since we are witnessing a substitution or exchange: “Thank you for…” The correct use would have to be: “Gracias por…”
2. “Tired” that as you will all have noticed isn’t a Spanish word. It translates into “cansado” or more precisely into “cansada” since Susan is writing the letter. This reflects a temporary state (for most people…) in which case the correct verb to use is “estar” in the 1st person of singular: “estoy”.
3. “Mucho” is always used when followed by a noun and not by adjectives as “tired” for which you always use “muy”. Notice the difference:
   Mucho, Mucha, Muchos, Muchas Muy
   Mucho dinero Muy cansado
   Mucha comida Muy simpático
   Muchos amigos Muy bonito
   Muchas casas Muy grande
4. This example is one of the most common mistakes made by foreigners: the “possession” in Spanish is always done by first stating the possessed object followed by “de” and its possessor: “William´s cumpleaños” would be corrected into “El cumpleaños de William.”
5. Quick note: in Spanish the day always come before the month: “el 10 de Julio”.
6. “Necesito” is an already conjugated verb that means “I need” and it is not possible to use it in this scenario since what should be used is the adjective “necessary”= “necesario”.
7. Be careful! “Ajo” means garlic and what Susan meant to write was “algo” = something.
8. “Me gusta” means “I like” when what Susan really wants to say is that: I would like one of cheese and pork loin (rosca) = Me gustaria una de lomo con queso!
9. “Vosotros” means “you” in plural but what Susan wanted to say was “Vuestros” which is the possessive adjective for “your”.
10. Please note that “wet” = “mojado”.