Spanish language Q&A Forum

Dear Kwiziq,

In virtually all of the dictations I have completed, I have found that it is quite difficult to discern when a sentence ends based on the speakers voice. This is to say, the speaker lowers his/her voice in a way that implies the end of a sentence, but when the answer is shown it becomes apparent to me that the lowering of the speaker's voice was actually meant to convey a pause. Is this the natural way hispanohablantes speak --- whether from Spain or Central/South America?  Of course, as recommended, I do listen to the dictation before attempting to write it out, but I cannot memorize where sentences end vs. when there is a pause in the speaker's speech. Consequently, I'm constantly guessing at when the sentence ends. I am a native English speaker and typically, when translating spoken English to written form, lowering of the voice signifies a period --- not a pause (comma). As such, I often find it confusing (indeed, quite frustrating) to differentiate pauses from ends of sentences in the Kwiziq dictation exercises.

Pati Inez Ecuamiga

The translation for final sentence in this exercise ("I would like to visit Medellín next year) was confusing for me.

I wrote:   "Querría a visitar a Medellín el próximo año. But "the best answer" was "Quiero visitar Medellín ..."

I find this confusing because I understand "quiero" to translate to I want/would like -- not I would want/I would like.

Please help up clear this confusion.

Regards,

I. Pati Ecuamiga

Worth a trip to Spain just to hear Inma speak . . .

In this example, the subject (in English) of the sentence (todas las chicas) precedes the verb in the first sentence, but follows the verb (todas) in the second sentence. Would it be acceptable to place the subject before the verb in the second sentence so that it reads: "No, no a todas les gusta."?