Manolito Gafotas

7
Aug
2008

Have you ever heard of Manolito Gafotas? Manolito is a series of kids’ books written by Spanish author Elvira Lindo. They tell the story of Manolito in the district of Carabanchel, in Madrid. Manolito is a common kid and his stories are written with lots of humor and tenderness. These stories started on the radio, then became books, and were eventually adapted as movies and a TV series. It’s a good read and I highly recommend it. Here’s a link to one of the stories, Manolito tiene un secreto (Manolito has a secret), (http://www.literaturas.com/02infantiljuvenilelviralindo2002.htm), check it out, you won’t regret it! You can also buy his books and DVDs in the USA. Post your comments and tell us what you think!

Nos vemos prontito.


By adir ferreira | Posted in Culture, Entertainment, Literature | Comments (0)

False Friends

4
Aug
2008

English and Spanish have many similarities, but sometimes what could be helpful ends up getting in the way. That’s the case of some words called “false friends”. They are pairs of words from different languages that look or sound similar, but are actually different in meaning. If students rely on the similarity and use the foreign word thinking it has the same meaning as the word in their native language, they can find themselves in awkward, and sometimes embarrassing situations.

Actual: current, at the present time.

Asistir: to attend (also to assist people).

Atender: to pay attention, to serve.

Billón: a trillion (a billion is “mil millones” in Spanish).

Argumento: reasoning used in a discussion, but never an argument.

Cándido: It means “frank,” but it more often means “naively innocent”.

Carpeta: a folder

Conductor: driver

Constipado: suffering from a cold (the word for constipated is “estreñido”).

Criatura: “creature” or “being,” including humans, but it is most commonly used to refer to babies and even to fetuses.

Demandar: As a legal term only, it is similar to the English “sue”, but to demand something in a less formal situation, use “exigir”.

Director (de orquesta): conductor

Embarazada: pregnant. Obviously, never used this word in the masculine form. If you want to say you are embarrased, use “avergonzado/a”.

Excitado: aroused, although it can also be translated as agitated.

Fútbol: soccer

Ganga: a bargain

Largo: long

Miseria: extreme poverty

Molestar: to bother, to annoy

Notorio: in Spanish it doesn’t have the negative connotation and it simply means “well-known”.

Preservativo: a condom. Food preservatives are “conservantes”.

Propaganda: in Spanish it simply means “advertising” and it doesn’t have the negative implications of the English word.

Rape: angler fish

Recordar: to remember, to remind

Sensible: sensitive

Sensato: sensible

Vicioso: depraved or faulty.

Violar, violador: to rape, a rapist.


By adir ferreira | Posted in Language, Vocabulary | Comments (0)

Irregular Past Participles

30
Jul
2008

Learning to use Spanish verbs correctly is a hassle, and we all know that. When we learn the Pretérito Perfecto, we come up with irregular past participles. Here’s a list of some common irregular past participles.

* abrir (to open), abierto

* absolver (to absolve), absuelto

* cubrir (to cover), cubierto

* decir (to say, to tell), dicho

* escribir (to write), escrito

* freír (to fry), frito

* hacer (to make, to do), hecho

* imprimir (to print), impreso

* morir (to die), muerto

* poner (to put), puesto

* resolver (to resolve), resuelto

* romper (to break), roto

* satisfacer (to satisfy), satisfecho

* ver (to see), visto

* volver (to return), vuelto

Nos vemos prontito.


By adir ferreira | Posted in Grammar, Language | Comments (0)

Traveling through Andalusia

27
Jul
2008

Andalusia (Andalucía in Spanish) is the most populated and second largest autonomous community in Spain, as well as most visited, both by Spanish people and by foreign tourists. Among the most popular routes is the “pueblos blancos” route. On it, the traveler can visit small and medium-sized villages in Cádiz and Málaga (Sierra de Grazalema and Serranía de Ronda) and enjoy a varied and beautiful landscape. They’re called “pueblos blancos” (white villages) because its inhabitants frequently whitewash their houses, which are located on narrow streets and have red tile roofs. Many of these pueblos still have a castle or the remains of a castle.

East of Almería you’ll find the National Park Cabo de Gata-Níjar, with its beautiful and quiet beaches, going as far as Mojácar. In Almería’s countryside you can find a blend of mountains and deserts.  Its landscape made it a perfect location for shooting western movies (”The good, the bad and the ugly”, “For a few dollars more,” “A fistful of dollars,” and even “Lawrence of Arabia” were shot on location there). On the way to Granada, you can choose between crossing the Alpujarras or going north towards Sierra Nevada.

Another very interesting excursion is “Ruta del Califato”. It goes through Córdoba, former capital of the Muslim empire in the 10th century, and Granada. There you’ll find remains of the Arabic splendor like La Mezquita (The Mosque), the Medina Azahara ruins in Córdoba or the Alhambra in Granada. Bullfighting and flamenco (a music and dance form that originated and is still exclusive to this region) also attract visitors from all over the world.

Among several famous people from Andalusia we have Pablo Picasso, Alejandro Sanz, David Bisbal, Lola Flores, Estrella Morente (and her father Enrique), Diego Velázquez, Federico García Lorca, Camaron de la Isla, Paz Vega, Antonio Banderas, Joaquin Sabina and Paco de Lucia.


By adir ferreira | Posted in Culture, Holidays | Comments (0)

Che!

24
Jul
2008

¡Che! is an interjection used mainly in Argentina and Eastern Spain (Valencia) and it’s often used to get attention or express surprise. It can be roughly translated as “Eh!”, “Wow!”, or “Hey!”. It’s also used as a discourse marker to initiate an utterance, or tagged at the end of a sentence.

¡Che, está buena la cerveza! – Man, this is some good beer!

Vamos a buscar unas cervezas, che. – Let’s go get some beers, then.

In Brazil, che is used in the southern part of the country, especially by the gaúchos (people from Rio Grande do Sul). Its origin may have derived from several native South American languages, but some people argue that it has its origin from the archaic Spanish word ce, used in order to get someone’s attention. Another theory is that it is connected with the Italian word Ciao (hello or goodbye) introduced in South America by Italian immigrants. Another version is that che is a shortened version of the word escuche (listen) , just like oye, which also means listen.

Here are some interesting articles (in intermediate/advanced Spanish) about the word Che.

- Manuel Talens’ report about Valencian and Argentinian che.

- Etimology of Che.

- Che in the website AsiHablamos (very good Latin American Spanish reference).

Nos vemos prontito!


By adir ferreira | Posted in Culture, Language | Comments (2)

Spanish or Castillian?

21
Jul
2008

To answer that question we have to go back to the origins of the language. Spanish comes from Latin, which arrived in the Iberian Peninsula around 2,000 years ago. As in many other Roman provinces, Latin became Vulgar Latin by adopting some of the vocabulary of the indigenous languages and later developed even further into the romance languages. For many reasons,  mainly political  and cultural ones, the dialect that was common in the north-central region of Spain, including Castile, spread throughout the region. King Alfonso X helped the process by making this dialect standard for educated use of language and government administration. That’s where the term Castilian came from.

Castilian became the primary language of what is now known as Spain, after the country was unified under Christian rule in the 15th century, but it didn’t eliminate other Latin-based languages in the region like Galician and Catalan, or Euskera (Basque), a non-Latin-based language spoken in the Basque region. All these languages have coexisted in Spain ever since, with some regions being officially bilingual.

Today, the term “Castilian” is used to distinguish the north-central standard of Spanish from regional variations such as Andalusian (used in southern Spain). It is also used to distinguish between the official national language and the other languages spoken in Spain (Castilian vs. Catalan). Sometimes, not altogether accurately, it is used to distinguish the Spanish of Spain from that of Latin America and sometimes it’s used solely as a synonym for Spanish, referring to the “pure” Spanish promulgated by La Real Academia Española, which preferred the term “castellano” in its dictionaries until the 1920s.

In many parts of Latin America, the Spanish language is known routinely as “castellano” rather than “español”, whereas in Spain choosing terms – castellano or español – may have political implications, since some people from bilingual regions can be quite sensitive to the choice of term.

To sum up, both terms are equally appropriate to refer to the Spanish language, and are interchangeable except in cases where a contrasting reference is needed.


By adir ferreira | Posted in Culture, Language | Comments (2)

Verbs in -ducir

18
Jul
2008

We know that a suffix is often added to a word stem to create new words, but that isn’t always the case. Let’s take the example of the suffix –ducir in Spanish and some verbs formed with it: conducir, reducir, deducir, etc. Such verbs are derived from Latin ducere, which meant “to lead”. The examples below are cognates of English verbs ending in either “-duce” or “-duct” and their meanings coincide in English and Spanish. They have irregular conjugation in the first person singular in the present (yo conduzco) and its preterite forms are conjugated as conduje, condujiste, condujo, etc. The website 123 Teach Me (www.123teachme.com) has a very good Spanish verb conjugator, so make sure you check it out. Here are the most common verbs ending in -ducir, along with a usage example of each:

Aducir (to adduce, to allege) – Él adujo que estaba borracho como atenuante. (He alleged being drunk as an extenuating circumstance.)

Conducir (to drive, to manage, to lead) – El director condujo la reunión de forma muy dinámica. (The director conducted the meeting in a very dynamic way.)

Deducir (to deduce, to infer) – Como llegaba empapado, deduje que había estado en la lluvia. (As he arrived soaking wet, I deduced he had been caught in the rain.)

Inducir (to induce, to lead) - A mí me indujeron el parto en la semana 41 del embarazo. (They induced labor on the 41st week of my pregnancy.)

Introducir (to introduce) – Este país introdujo el café en Europa. (This country introduced coffee to Europe.)

Producir (to produce) – Emilio Estefan produjo discos para artistas como Ricky Martin, Shakira y Thalía. (Emilio Estefan produced records for artists like Ricky Martin, Shakira and Thalia.)


By admin | Posted in Grammar, Language | Comments (0)

Elections en español

15
Jul
2008

US elections are around the corner and candidates are doing their best to get votes from the ever-growing Latin communities.  John McCain  www.johnmccain.com/espanol and Barack Obama www.barackobama.com/espanol have Spanish versions of their websites with lots of useful information. In case your Spanish is a little rusty, here’s a list of some handy political vocabulary.

apoyar – to support
aprobar, respaldar – endorse
Cámara de los Representantes – House of Representatives
conservador – conservative
de derechas, el/la derechista – right-wing
el caucus – caucus (for picking delegates to a U.S. convention)
el Colegio Electoral – Electoral college
el Congreso – Congress
el retador – challenger
el senador, la senadora – senator
el voto, la urna (para votar) – ballot, ballot box
el/la activista – activist
el/la demócrata – Democrat
el/la líder - leader
el/la republicano/a – Republican
el/la gobernador/a – governor
individuo en el cargo - incumbent
de izquierdas, el/la izquierdista – left-wing
la contienda – race
la elección – election
la elección primaria, las primarias – primary election
la política – politics
la legislatura - legislature
liberal — liberal
la mayoría - majority
la minoría - minority
el parlamento - parliament
el partido – party
el/la presidente - president
el primer ministro, la primera ministra – prime minister
el senado – Senate
el socialista — socialist
votar, el voto — vote


By admin | Posted in Language, Vocabulary | Comments (3)

Para vs. Por

8
Jul
2008

The prepositions por and para have very specific uses in Spanish. Here are some of them.

PARA

1. Para is used to indicate destination or purpose.

El barco salió para Francia. – The ship left for France.
Este regalo es para María. – This gifit is for María.
Estudia para abogado. – He studies (to be) a lawyer.

2. It’s also used to express a deadline.

Quiero el informe listo para mañana. – I want the report ready by tomorrow.

3. Para also jeans in order to.

Necesito anteojos para leer. – I need glasses (in order) to read.

4. Estar para means to be about to or to be ready to.

Estoy para salir. – I’m ready to leave.
Está para allover. – It’s about to rain.

5. Para is used to express a comparison of inequality.

Para un norteamericano, habla muy bien el español. – For an American, he speaks Spanish very well.

6. In Latin America, to say (minutes) to the hour:

Son diez para las cinco. - It’s ten to five.

POR

1. Por is used to indicate different types of movement in relation to a location.

Viajaron por Francia. – They traveled around France.
El barco pasó por la orilla. – The ship passed by the shore.
El ladrón entró por la ventana. – The thief entered through the window.

2. It also has the meaning of in behalf of, in favor of, instead of. Notice the difference with para in this context:

Compré el regalo para Juan. – I bought the gift for Juan. (I’m going to give it to him.)
Compré el regalo por Juan. – I bought the gift for Juan. (Juan couldn’t make it to the store, so he asked me to buy it.)

3. Por is used after verbs ir (go), mandar (send), volver (return), venir (come) etc. to show the object of the errand.

El muchacho fue por agua. – The young man went for water.
Vine por el médico. – I came for the doctor.

4. Estar por means to be inclined to, to be in the mood. When referring to a person, it means to be have a crush.

Estamos por salir. – We’re in the mood to go out.
Creo que mi hermana está por ti. – I think my sister has a crush on you.

5. Por is also used to express manner, means, or motive.

La madre conducía al niño por la mano. – The mother was leading the boy by the hand.
El paquete llegó por correo. – The package arrived by mail.
Los esclavos tuvieron que luchar por su libertad. – The slaves had to fight for their freedom.

6. It also means in exchange for.

Ella me dio cincuenta dólares por el trabajo. – She gave me fifty dollars for the work.
Juan cambió su coche por otro nuevo. – Juan traded his car for a new one.

7. It expresses opinion or estimation.

Pasa por nativo. – He passes as (for) a native.
Lo tomó por tonto. – He took him for a stupid person.

8. As a correlation between operations and units of measure, or expressing fractions.

Los venden por docenas. – They sell them by the dozen.
Mi coche nuevo va a más de 130 millas por hora. – My new car does over 130 miles an hour.

9. In math, it is a multiplier.

Eight times five equals forty. - Ocho por cinco (son) cuarenta.


By admin | Posted in Grammar, Language | Comments (0)

Vegetables

5
Jul
2008

OK, so your mom always told you: “Eat your vegetables, theyre good for you!”; and guess what? She was right! Heres a list of some common verduras in Spanish.

artichoke — la alcachofa
asparagus — el espárrago, los espárragos
avocado — el aguacate, la palta
bean — la judía, la haba, la habichuela, el frijol
beet — la remolacha
broccoli — el brécol, el brócoli
Brussels sprout — la col de Bruselas
cabbage — el repollo
carrot — la zanahoria
cassava — la yuca, la mandioca, la casava, la casabe
cauliflower — la coliflor
celery — el apio
chard — la acelga
chicory — la achicoria
chickpea — el garbanzo, el chícharo
corn — el maíz
cucumber — el pepino
eggplant — la berenjena
garlic — el ajo
green pepper — el pimiento verde, el ají verde
lentil — la lenteja
lettuce — la lechuga
mushroom — el champiñón
okra — el quingombó
onion — la cebolla
parsley — el perejil
pea — los guisantes, la arvejas, los chícharos
potato — la patata, la papa
pumpkin — la calabaza
radish — el rábano
red pepper — el pimiento rojo, el ají rojo
shallot — el chalote
soybean — la semilla de soja
spinach — las espinacas
squash — la cucurbitácea
string beans — las habas verdes
sweet potato — la batata
tapioca — el tapioca
tomato — el tomate
turnip — el nabo
water chestnut — la castaña de agua, el abrojo acuático
watercress — el berro
yam — el ñame, el boniato, la batata, el yam
zucchini — el calabacín


By admin | Posted in Vocabulary | Comments (1)