Speak Spanish

I know some people on TNL have to be fluent in Spanish and now it's your chance to help out us n00bs. I had some Spanish speaking friends at my old job, some who barely spoke English. I eventually got to a point where I could communicate with all of them (through horrible structure) over basic to moderate level things. My vocab is terrible and I still don't fully understand how to form proper sentences in a lot of cases. I've always wanted to be more advanced (possibly to the point of being semi-fluent) in the language and I thought a thread where aspiring Spanish speakers could ask questions would be kind of neat.

Anyways, I just friended a guy I used to work with on Facebook. He's from Ecuador (though the norm in my industry is the Mexican dialect) and speaks good enough English to be able to hold conversations. I attempted to reply to him "What's up my crazy friend? I miss you and my friends at Iron Hill. How have you been? My new job is going well." My reply in Spanish came out:

"Que Pasa mi amigo loco? Te extrano y mi amigos en Iron Hill. Como estas?

Mi nuevo trabajo va bien."

I'm very sure the last sentence is all wrong and I couldn't quite think of how to say "How have you been?"

What would have been the correct way with a little bit of insight into why?

Fuck you.

In the nicest way possible of course.

Razor is so smooth.

bitches all the time about people being racist towards Mexicans and other minorities, but if someone asks for help to break down the language barrier, he tells them to fuck off.

real smooth razor. You're a king of men.

What' ¿s sobre mi amigo loco? Careciéndolo y a mi amistoso en la colina del hierro. ¿Cómo usted ha sido? Mis nuevas obras van bien. TU MADRE

Puedo ir al bano? RASCACIELOS!

You actually did pretty well, Gohron. I guarantee you your meaning came across at the very least.

"How have you been" is "Como estabas" informally, unless I am even more rusty that I think I am.

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Originally Posted by Hubbitron

What' ¿s sobre mi amigo loco? Careciéndolo y a mi amistoso en la colina del hierro. ¿Cómo usted ha sido? Mis nuevas obras van bien. TU MADRE

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Yahtzee. Obviously you're going with what I said but it looks drastically different. What does Careciéndolo mean (translated)? Guess I'll just start from there.

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

"How have you been" is "Como estabas" informally, unless I am even more rusty that I think I am.

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I will keep that in mind. Thanks.

What' s on my crazy friend? Lacking it and friendly in the hill the iron. How you have been? My new works go well. YOUR MOTHER

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Originally Posted by Yoshi

You actually did pretty well, Gohron. I guarantee you your meaning came across at the very least.

"How have you been" is "Como estabas" informally, unless I am even more rusty that I think I am.

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Incorrect. If you're asking someone how they're doing you just say, "Como esta?" (formal) or "Como estas?" (informal).

You could also go with "Que pasa, mang?" That may be more "authentic".

Kick balls into outer space for maximum authenticity.

HEY LASERLIPS

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Originally Posted by Type Ryan

Incorrect. If you're asking someone how they're doing you just say, "Como esta?" (formal) or "Como estas?" (informal).

You could also go with "Que pasa, mang?" That may be more "authentic".

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That's not what he asked.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Type Ryan

Incorrect. If you're asking someone how they're doing you just say, "Como esta?" (formal) or "Como estas?" (informal).

You could also go with "Que pasa, mang?" That may be more "authentic".

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Regardless of Yoshi's response, this is informative. What is the main difference between "a" or "as" added on to the end of a verb? Obviously it has something to do with formality but I'm wondering if there is some deeper idea to it. Would this carry on to other verbs?

There are six verb forms in Spanish. Latin American Spanish generally only uses five of them. Two of those five are the you (singular, formal) and you (singular, informal) forms. The "a" above is the formal (Usted), while the "as" is the informal (tu).