Spanish Proficiency Exercises
Talk about some stereotypes that you would like to see eliminated.


Simplified and native speakers:

• Simplified example
• Paula O.
• Oswaldo Z.
• Clarena L.
• Ana G.
• Medardo C.

.m4v (iPod) downloads
Click red links to download .m4v files for use in iPod:

• Simplified example
• Paula O.
• Oswaldo Z.
• Clarena L.
• Ana G.
• Medardo C.

Subscribe to iTunes podcast: sup08
Subscribe to podcast: sup08


Key vocabulary for this task


Example phrases for this task


Grammar points for this task

Simplified Example
"Creo que el estereotipo que más me molesta..."
Paula O.
Chile, Santiago
"A ver una cosa super importante..."
Oswaldo Z.
México, Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua
"Bien a mi me gustaría que se eliminaran..."
Clarena L.
Colombia
"Hola soy Clarena, soy colombiana..."
Ana G.
Guatemala, Guatemala
"Uno de los estereotipos que me molesta mucho..."
Medardo C.
República Dominicana, Santo Domingo
"Bueno, hay un prejuicio en particular que me molesta mucho..."
 
agobiar   to burden, to weigh down
conflicto (m)   conflict
derechos humanos (m)   human rights
enfadarse   to get mad
enojarse   to get angry
estereotipo (m)   stereotype
fastidiar   to annoy
generalizar   to generalize
 
igualdad (f)   equality
injusto (adj)   unfair, unjust
intolerante (adj)   intolerant
justo (adj)   fair, just
molestar   to bother, to bug
molestarse   to get upset
papel (m)   role, paper (context determines meaning)
prejuicio (m)   prejudice
Me gustaría que se eliminaran los estereotipos culturales de Latinoamérica. I would like for cultural stereotypes about Latin America to be eliminated.
Un estereotipo que me gustaría que se eliminara acerca de Colombia es que es un país muy violento. A stereotype that I would like to see eliminated about Colombia is that it's a very violent country.
Creo que el estereotipo que más me molesta tiene que ver con el concepto que muchos tienen de la mujer Latinoamericana. I think the stereotype that bothers me most has to do with the concept that many people have of Latin American women.
Hay muchas latinoamericanas que tienen papeles muy importantes en la sociedad. There are many Latin American women that have important roles in society.
Me fastidia que muchos Norte Americanos sepan tan poco de otros países. It annoys me that many North Americans know so little about other countries.
Me molesta el estereotipo de que todos los mexicanos vivimos en pobreza. The stereotype that all Mexicans live in poverty bothers me.
No es justo generalizar de un grupo de personas. It's not fair to generalize about a group of people.
Vivir sin sufrir prejuicios es un derecho humano. Living without suffering prejudice is a human right.
La igualdad es una de las metas de este país. Equality is one of the goals of this country.
Nos pintan como unos flojos. They depict us as being lazy people.
Changes in the Future

In this activity you will hear native Spanish speakers talk about changes that they hope will occur in the future. For example:

Espero que el machismo disminuya en México. I hope that male chauvinism diminishes in Mexico.

This construction uses the following formula:
Esperar + que + present subjunctive

Another way to address possible changes is to speak about present hypothetical situations.
For example:

Me gustaría que se eliminara el racismo. I would like for racism to be eliminated.
  Me gustaría que la opinión pública cambiara. I would like for public opinion to change.

These sentences use the following formula:
Indirect object pronoun + gustaría + que + imperfect subjunctive

In order to speak about hypothetical situations in the present you need to know how to form the conditional tense and the imperfect subjunctive.

The imperfect subjunctive is formed by taking the third person plural of the preterite, minus -on.

hablaron hablar-
  comieron comier-
  vivieron vivier-

To this stem you add the following endings: -a, -as, -a, -amos, -ais, -an.

hablar- hablara, hablaras, hablara, habláramos, hablarais, hablaran
  comier- comiera, comieras, comiera, comiéramos, comierais, comieran
  vivier- viviera, vivieras, viviera, viviéramos, vivierais, vivieran

The conditional tense is formed by adding –ía: -ías, -ía, -íamos, -íais, or –ían to the end of the infinitive form of the verb.

hablar hablaría, hablarías, hablaría, hablaríamos, hablaríais, hablarían
  comer comería, comerías, comerías, comeríamos, comeríais, comerían
  vivir vivir’a, vivir’as, vivir’a, vivir’amos, vivir’ais, vivir’an

Verbs that have irregular forms in the future are also irregular in the conditional. They use the same stem in the conditional as they did in the future tense.

decir: dir-
  hacer: har-
  poder: podr-
  poner: pondr-
  querer: querr-
  saber: sabr-
  tener: tendr-
  venir: vendr-