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7:28pm on Monday, 24th April, 2006:

Instant Spanish

Weird

Here's the last of Tom and Kate's adventures, from Instant Spanish:



The ending is dramatic because in the first lesson Pedro said he had a house in Mallorca — but Nancy has now said they don't have one! He also said that they had a large apartment and a Mercedes.

It's interesting how the same lessons differ across languages in ways that seem unnecessary:

• In Instant German, Pedro was called Klaus.
• In Instant French, Pedro was called Henri and owned a house in St. Tropez.
• In Instant Italian, Pedro was called Gino, owned a house in Portofino and drove a Ferrari.

My favourite, though, is the cultural difference implied by the "Test your progress" at the end of lesson two, which asks you to convert the text into whatever language you're learning. The first problem in each of these exercises is:

• In Instant Italian: Where is there a telephone?
• In Instant Spanish: Where is there a telephone? On the right?
• In Instant French: We would like to have a coffee.
• In Instant German: I drink a lot of beer.

Maybe I should put together a book proposal for Instant Stereotypes?

Hmm, come to think of it, that's not actually a bad idea.

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Copyright © 2006 Richard Bartle (richard@mud.co.uk).