2008 December | Spanish Blog

Posts in December 2008

La Bolsa - Stock Market vocabulary

Posted by adir ferreira

Dec

2008

A lot has been said and written about the world’s economic crisis, mostly concerning the Stock Exchage. Here’s some useful vocabulary to talk about it.

la Bolsa - the Stock Exchange
parqué - floor (in Stock Exchange)
sala de la Bolsa - Stock Exchange hall
tablón con las cotizaciones bursátiles - (Stock Exchange) prices board
accionista - shareholder
accionariado - stock/shareholders
agente de la Bolsa, bolsista, corredor de Bolsa - stockbroker
capitalista - capitalist
suscriptor/-ora - underwriter
invertir en Bolsa - to invest on the Stock Exchange
acción - share
tramo - share issue
gestionar una cartera - to manage a portfolio
Las acciones se cotizan a mil pesos. - Shares are quoted at a thousand pesos.
obligaciones - bonds, debentures
lanzar una emisión de obligaciones - to launch an issue of bonds
título de portador - bearer bond
invertir en bonos del Estado - to invest in Government bonds
vender títulos - to sell securities/bonds
páguese al portador - pay the bearer
plusvalía - capital gain, added value
actividad bursátil - activity on the stock market
contratación - transactions, trading
estar cotizado en Bolsa - to be listed/quoted on the Stock Exchange
cotización de apertura - opening price
cotización de cierre / de clausura - closing price
índice de la Bolsa - Stock Exchange index
ampliación de capital - capital increase
La Bolsa sube - The market / Stock Exchange is becoming bullish
experimentar une ligera subida - to go up slightly
experimentar una subida acusada - to go up sharply
caída de los valores - drop in value of stocks/shares
La Bolsa baja - The market / Stock Exchange is becoming slack
experimentar una ligera baja - to drop slightly
El precio fluctúa - The price fluctuates
evolución del índice de cotizaciones - change in the price index
fluctuación de la moneda - currency fluctuation
gráfica de estadísticas - statistics graph

See you next time!

Posted under Culture, Language, Vocabulary
Tagged with bolsa

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Idioms with Numbers

Posted by adir ferreira

Dec

2008

There are several idioms formed with numbers. Check them out!

Cero

ser un cero a la izquierda - to be useless

Uno

una y no más, Santo Tomás - once is enough

Dos

cada dos por tres - very frequently
estar entre dos fuegos - to be caught in the crossfire
estar entre dos aguas - to sit on the fence
estar a dos velas - to be without something (money, sex)
como dos y dos son cuatro - as sure as eggs is eggs

Tres

dar tres cuartos al pregonero - to let a secret out
buscar tres pies al gato - to make things more complicated than they are
donde Cristo dio las tres voces - in a very distant, solitary place
A la tercera va la vencida - third time lucky
Ni a la de tres - Nothing doing!
no ver tres en un burro - to see nothing (because it is so dark)

Cuatro

echar un cuarto a espadas - to intervene, give an opinion
estar a la cuarta pregunta – to be pennyless
Estaban/había cuatro gatos. - There were very few people ther

Cinco

Choca esos cinco - Give me five!

Siete

hacerse un siete en la ropa - to have a tear your clothes
estar en el séptimo cielo - to be in seventh heaven
andar/recorrer las siete partidas - to keep going over (an idea)
tener siete vidas - to have nine lives
pícaro de siete suelas - helluva rascal

Diez

hacer las diez de últimas - to end up with nothing

Once

meterse en camisa de once varas - to poke your nose in (where it is not your concern)

trece
mantenerse en sus trece - to stick to your guns
martes y trece - Tuesday the thirteenth (considered an unlucky day, like Friday the thirteenth in the English-speaking world)

Cuarenta

cantarle las cuarenta - to give someone a piece of your mind

Cien

poner a uno a cien - to (cause to) get in a state of high excitement
Dentro de cien años todos calvos. - in the future it won’t matter

Mil, millón

Mil gracias /Un millón de gracias - Many thanks
Vendrá a las mil quinientas. - He’ll come well beyond the agreed time.

Nos vemos prontito!

Posted under Culture, Language, Vocabulary
Tagged with idioms, numbers

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Getting into trouble? Te la vas a cargar.

Posted by adir ferreira

Dec

2008

There are a number of verbal expressions in Spanish that involve a reflexive verb and the pronouns -la or -las. Check them out.

1. apañárselas, arreglárselas – to manage, to get by. No te preocupes, me las apañaré. (Don’t worry, I´ll manage.). Jorge vive solo y se las arregla bien en la cocina. (Jorge lives alone and gets by well in the kitchen.)

2. cargársela – to be punished. Luis se la cargó sin haber hecho nada. (Luis was punished without having done anything.)

3. dárselas de (adjective) – to brag about. Antonio se las da de listo, pero en realidad es muy lento. (Antonio brags about being smart, but he’s actually quite thick.)

4. echárselas de – to pretend to be, to make a show of being. Se las echa de héroe. (He’s playing the hero.)

5. habérselas con uno – to deal with, to face somebody. Se las tendrá que haber con el director. (He’ll have to face the principal.)

6. pegársela – to have an accident. En esta curva me la pegué hace un año con el coche. (I had a car accident in this curve a year ago.); to deceive someone. Somos tan ingenuos que nos la pegan cada dos por tres. (We are so naive that we’re often taken advantage of.)

7. pirárselas – to go away. Mañana, en cuanto salgamos de trabajar, agarramos el coche y nos (las) piramos de vacaciones. (Tomorrow after work, we take the car and go away on vacation.)

8. sabérselas todas – to be a know-all. Él se las sabe todas. (He’s a know-it all.)

9. traérselas – to be very difficult. El examen se las trae. (The test is very difficult.)

10. vérselas con uno – to own up, to explain one’s actions to somebody else. El niño tendrá que vérselas con su papá. (The kid will have to explain himself to his dad.)

Nos vemos prontito!

Posted under Culture, Language, Vocabulary
Tagged with expressions, pronouns, reflexive verbs

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Christmas, Latin style!

Posted by adir ferreira

Dec

2008

We’re used to seeing Christmas in movies and TV and it involves snow, cold, chimneys, and all of the North American and European style feature. However, things are different in Latin America: it is warmer, and for Latinos, we like to party! Usually we have supper at someone’s house and return for the famous Christmas lunch the next day. Music is a very important part of Latin celebrations (Spanish-speaking America as well as Brazil) so I have chosen a very fun video by Puerto Ricans Olga Tañón, Manny Manuel and Victor Manuelle (one of the three greatest merengueros nowadays!) and they are at a Christmas party. So, vamos a parrandear!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYkWekEI5Ks

Nos vemos prontito!

Posted under Culture, Entertainment, Holidays
Tagged with christmas

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¿Gorra o gorro?

Posted by adir ferreira

Dec

2008

Because of its distinctive gender endings, Spanish does not have many words with the same form but different meanings (true homonyms). However, there are many pairs of words distinguished only by the –o and -a (and sometimes also -e) endings which are easily confused. These are known as gender paronyms.

Here are some examples:

el acta (f) – minutes, record (of a meeting)
el acto – action, deed, act (in a play) – En el acto = immediately

el ánima (f) – spirit, soul (religious concept)
el ánimo – energy, courage, spirit

la banca – banking (system); bank (in a game of chance)
el banco – bank (individual establishment); bench

la banda – gang; (music) band; strip, ribbon
el bando – faction, party, side

la bolsa – bag; stock exchange
el bolso – handbag

la calzada – roadway
el calzado – footwear

la caña – reed; cane (of sugar); (fishing) rod
el caño – pipe, jet

la cerca – hedge, fence
el cerco – siege; rim; hoop

la charca – pond
el charco – puddle

la cuenca – basin (geographical) – La cuenca del río (the river basin)
el cuenco – bowl

la cuenta – account, bill
el cuento – short story, tale