Hi, lovely_rita!

How are you?

When you say "to get the accent right", are you talking about pronunciation? Or maybe it�s because your Spanish sounds to much "English"?

Hey Angeles:

How do you get those "accent" marks and other Spanish characters in your posts?

And you probably stated this, but excuse me for asking - late to this forum and too lazy to go back and read stuff/lol - did you learn Spanish as a "first" or "second" language?

Thanks,

Hi, Angela,

All these accents �, �,... and these �! and �?, I can type them as I am using a Spanish keyboard.

If you are using an English one and want to type them, here's some info:
How to Type Spanish Keyboard Symbols

(Please, let us know if it worked for you.)

And, about your last question, don't worry, no problem. I can tell you I was born and live in Spain, so I'm a Spanish native language or... Native Spanish language?? LOL :-)

(I'm always joking about this, as from the point of view of a Spanish speaker, it is somehow difficult to understand how to place those words in the correct place!)

I started studying English when I was 14, on my own, as at that time, the only language taught at school was French.

Ah! If I had this wonderful internet to study English when a was a student!!
So, my first language is Spanish.

�Hasta pronto!

Yes, I have my little cheat sheet next to the keyboard. It works great!

Thanks AnneE & Welcome to the forum, I see you are NEW

Hi Angeles, thanks for the feedback and I am so impressed with your English. I did BOTH Spanish & French in high school (now 52) and wished I had paid attention Yes, I aced both finals, but really did not care to learn. I remember my French teacher and her showing us the importance of "tongue" placement. She was good and really old. Wish I could remember her name.

Hmmm, "cheat sheet" Angie Hey, whatever it takes... By the way, if you don't mind me asking - is Angie short for Angela? Reason for asking - I have some folks that call me Angie

Hey! My boss, at the office, also calls me "Angie"!! But he's Spanish! It could also be, somehow, the short form for "�ngeles"!

Yes, that's really interesting!

Here in Spain, we have "Pepe" for "Jos�" (Joseph), or "Fina" for "Josefina" (Josephine).

The funniest thing about my name (my complete name is "Mar�a de los �ngeles") is that it has a lot of variations: Mar�a, Mari, Mari�ngeles, Angelines, �ngeles, Mari�n... So you can choose! LOL

That's maybe because it is a very long name. The reason for that "Mar�a" is that I was born during the dictatorial period, with Francisco Franco as the dictator during those years. And it was a -let's call it "oblitation"- to name a girl using always "Mar�a", and then, any name. For example: Mar�a de la Encarnaci�n, Mar�a del Carmen, Mar�a del Mar, etc...

Nowadays, it is different. You can name your daughter without that "Mar�a", it is totally optional. :-)

Hi Angeles, thanks for the awesome information I have always been fascinated with how the Spanish do their names...

Same happens to me, talking about how names -proper names- are used in English speaking countries.

And something people in Spain do not understand... first: Why women "loose" their name when they get married?

And second: Why people in English speaking countries- or, at least, in US and UK, do only have one name. I mean, my complete name is Mar�a de los �ngeles Fern�ndez Ram�rez (Fernandez is my father's name and Ramirez my mother's name).

As you can see, every country/culture has their own peculiarities but, from my point of view, that's what make us all interesting!