Hola a todos. Today is Day 1 of the Spanish OPI: White Belt to Black Belt Video Course. I'm publishing the entire 30 minute session in this post. After today, the videos will only be available in the Classroom. Day 1 is about: - the path from Pre-Conversational to Conversational - how to answer questions under pressure by looking for a 'Verb Door that will open' - the connection between White and Violet Belt Get acces to the full course: https://www.skool.com/linguablox/classroom

1. In English, I think of a "soft c" as in cease, cent, face, rice. 2. However, in Italian pronunciation the "soft c" is the sound like at the start of the English words "chap" and "chocolate" or the "choo choo" sound of imitating a toy train. For example Ciao! ( pronounced "Chow") would be described as a "soft c". This "soft c" in Italian is ONLY pronounced like the "choo choo" sound if the C is IMMEDIATELY followed by E or I. 3.And what helps me is that the Italian "soft c" sound is both at the beginning of the English word "chickpeas" AND with BOTH C´s in the Italian word for chickpeas, which is "ceci", giving an example of the ONLY two letters that can make a "C" sound like at the beginning of choo choo, chocolate etc. Ceci (chickpeas) is pronounced "CHEH CHI" And so is every other C that you see in any word, and in any place in a word, that has an E or I IMMEDIATELY after the C. 5. If there is an H or any other letter after the C it is hard like cat. 6. In Italian, when many English speakers see an "h" after a c, our brains can habitually want to say "ch" as in choo choo of a train. It is NEVER like that with c and h together in Italian. CH in Italian is ALWAYS hard like cat, car, coal. 7.So ... after this long explanation ..., in case this helps, just think ceci and chickpeas. The start of the English word "chickpeas" is the same sound you have to make if an Italian "c" has an e or i after it. So dinner, food, cinema and hi/bye in Italian (cena, cibo, cinerma, ciao) are pronounced "chena", "chibo", "chinema", "chow". And you have to admit, how cute does "chinema" sound?

Hello everyone. This is the last in my series of subjunctive phrases. Sorry for the delay. Been on the road for work and having family holiday time. When I get a free moment, I’ll see if I can put them in a pdf for @Tony Marsh to do his magic. Starting in 2026, I plan on doing a weekly post on common sentence starters/phrases that are plug and play that you can use every day. Today’ subjunctive is Te recomiendo que-I recommend that. The que in this phrase triggers the subjunctive. It’s my subjective opinion, not necessarily a fact. I attached my yes/no question and answer cup. Feel free to share any you come up with using your notebook, cups, linguablox. I use the cups for these just for visual. My handwriting is hard to read, lol.

¿Cómo quieres que ...?