Level Two
Nivel Dos

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Level II Samples:
Entire Unit 14 Text 16pp (.pdf) (616kb)
Audio 14.21.12 (partial) (mp3) (1.12) 1119kb

Whether the Meso-American civilizations (primarily the Aztec and Maya) or the Andean civilizations (the Inca) would have developed further economically and culturally so as to have been better equipped to withstand a foreign invasion a century or two later is a question that can never be answered.  Their primary weaknesses, economically and militarily, were failure to develop the use of the wheel (which they knew of), lack of any kind of significant draft animals (the Inca had llamas, which aren't very strong).   In any case, and largely because of factors having nothing to do with military strength or ability, the Conquistadores were able to conquer, with ridiculously small armies.   The conquest and its aftermath of oppression and exploitation literally decimated the native population.  The status of indigenous peoples is still a major problem in many Latin American countries.  In countries which had smaller, and less developed indigenous populations, the Indians were either exterminated or assimilated.  The Conquest gave Spain unimaginable riches in gold and silver, and the legacy of Spain in the New World is still evident in everything from language to culture to political organization.  For Spain itself, however, the power and glory lasted only a little over 250 years, and by the mid-1800's, Spain was in an impoverished and weak position from which it is just now emerging.

Overview of Level II

Don't be put off by the technical language in the course description. See the introduction for an explanation of why this kind of presentation was considered necessary, but remember that this is not the way the program is presented.

In Level II, we continue with Spanish structures that are unfamiliar to English, and have no real parallels in English.  Prominent examples in Level II are so-called "clitic pronouns," which despite its formidable title only refers to Spanish pronouns which are attached to verbs when they are used as direct or indirect objects. Our time-tested method of teaching this, as well as other unfamiliar constructions, is through the use of a multitude of examples--we don't expect you to memorize the definition of "clitic pronoun," or a list of them.

Level II also introduces another aspect of Spanish which makes little sense to English speakers--the existence of two past tenses, called the preterit and imperfect.  Like the two verbs for "to be" in Level I, the two past tenses have more to do with culture (in this case, a different conception of the passage of time) than with formal linguistic structure.  Once again, we don't expect you to memorize a bunch of rules, we try to help you to use these forms almost unconsciously. You can do it!

For some interesting reading about the Spanish conquest, some knowledge of which is necessary to understanding present-day Mexico and Latin America, see our book and video stores.  I (Don Casteel) particularly recommend "Conquest" by Hugh Thomas.

Unit 10.   Personal a, direct clitic pronouns, --do forms functioning as modifiers, theme class in present tense forms.

Unit 11.   Shortened forms of possessives, the negative particle with verbs, unemphatic "some, any" from English.  Shortened forms of possessives, the negative particle with verbs, unemphatic "some, any" from English.

Unit 12.   Subject pronouns, pronouns after phrase relators, components of phrases, statement intonation patterns in normal and contrastive statements, adjective agreement in remote positions.

Unit 13.   --ndo forms and the present progressive construction, possessive constructions with de, nominalized possessive constructions, question intonation patterns in information questions, placement of negative participles.

Unit 14.   Present tense forms of the irregular verbs ir, dar, and ver, the periphrastic future construction, question intonation patterns in yes-no questions, theme class in --do forms of verbs.

Unit 15.   Indirect clitic pronouns with one object, indirect clitic pronouns with two objects, question intonation patterns in yes questions, review of possessive constructions  Indirect clitic pronouns with one object, indirect clitic pronouns with two objects, question intonation patterns in yes questions, review of possessive constructions.

Unit 16.   Redundant constructions with indirect clitic pronouns, question intonation patterns in "no" questions, review of possessive constructions.

Unit 17.   Past I (preterit) forms of regular verbs, question intonation patterns in affirmative confirmation questions, possessive phrases with quien.  Past I (preterit) forms of regular verbs, question intonation patterns in affirmative confirmation questions, possessive phrases with quien.