Posted by adir ferreira
Luis Fonsi was born in Puerto Rico, but spent most of his childhood in Florida. He went to the Florida State University to study vocal techniques. While in FLU he was overheard singing by a music department president, who offered him his first contract with a large disquera (recording company). Below is a video of Fonsi singing live the song “Sería Fácil” (It Would be Easy). Here’s some vocabulary to help you understand the lyrics.
remediar los problemas - to solve problems
lágrima - tear
tristeza - sadness
reproche - criticism
desamor - lack of love or heartbreak
traición - betrayal
detener el tiempo - to stop time
envejecer - to get old
no poder evitar - can’t help something
sentimientos - feelings
¡Aprovéchenlo!
Posted by adir ferreira
Today we’re going to learn about “signos de puntuación” (punctuation marks). Let’s see what they’re called in Spanish.
el punto final - period/full stop
el punto y aparte - period/full stop (and new paragraph)
el asterisco - asterisk
la coma - comma
el punto y coma - semicolon
las comillas - quotation marks
las comillas simples - single quotation marks
los corchetes - square brackets
la diéresis - diaeresis
la exclamación - exclamation mark
el guión - hyphen, dash
la interrogación - question mark
las (letras) mayúsculas - upper-case letters
las (letras) minúsculas - lower-case letters
el paréntesis - brackets
el párrafo - paragraph
el punto y coma - semicolon
los dos puntos - colon
los puntos suspensivos – ellipsis
la virgulilla – swung dash above the n in the letter “ñ”
la tile/el acento - accent
See you next time!
Posted by adir ferreira
Paronyms are pairs and sets of words in a language that may be easily confused because they are similar in form. Sometimes they are related in meaning and sometimes they are quite unrelated. Check them out!
1. abertura / apertura / obertura
Abertura = hole, gap, orifice. Hay una abertura en la pared. (There’s a hole in the wall.)
Apertura = act of opening (as in an inauguration). La apertura del congreso fue con una orquesta. (They opened the conference with an orchestra.)
Obertura = overture (music). La obertura de La Traviata. (The overtura of La Traviata).
2. abrevar / abreviar
Abrevar = to water, to drink. Los animals abrevan en el río. (The animals drink water from the river.)
Abreviar = to abbreviate, to shorten. Él tuvo que abreviar su tesis. (He had to shorten his thesis.)
3. acatar / catar
Acatar = to obey, to respect. Tienes que acatar la ley. (You have to obey the law.)
Catar = to taste (esp. wine). Su trabajo consiste en catar vinos. (His job is to taste wines.)
4. aderezar / enderezar
Aderezar = to prepare, to dress (salad). Aderezó la ensalada con sal y aceite. (He dressed the salad with salt and oil.)
Enderezar = to straighten, to set upright. Hay que enderezar esta verja. (We have to straighten this railing.)
5. afrentar / afrontar
Afrentar = to affront (insult). No me gusta que me afrentes así. (I don’t like you insulting me like this.)
Afrontar = to place (two people or things) face to face; to confront (danger, difficulties). Afrontar un peligro o una dificuldad. (Face up to a danger or difficulty)
6. agrupación / grupo
Agrupación = association, gathering (political, religious, etc.). Una agrupación política (a political group)
Grupo = a group (general). Un grupo de animales. (A group of animals.)
Posted by adir ferreira
One of the greatest things in learning a language is learning new vocabulary. I just get a major kick out of it and not so long ago I was thinking about how many synonyms there are for the word “obstáculo”, an obstacle. Check them out!
1. escollo - pitfall, stumbling block.
2. impedimento - impediment.
3. bache - pothole.
4. badén, loma(o) de burro, tope - speedbump
5. banda sonora, vibrador - rumble strip
6. barrera - barrier
7. estorbo - obstacle (usually refers to a person)
8. inconveniente - inconvenience, disadvantage
9. traba - obstacle, lock
10. obstrucción - block
11. lastre - burden
12. embrollo - tangle, maze
See you next time!
Posted by adir ferreira
Since Ricky Martin’s appearance on the Grammy Awards ceremony in 1999 singing La Copa de la Vida, Spanish has received a lot of attention throughout the English-speaking music world and many English-speaking artists decided to follow this path. Here’s a collection of videos from some artists singing in Spanish (well AND badly). Check it out!
Aún Existe Amor - Celine Dion
Christina Aguilera - Pero Me Acuerdo de Ti
‘N Sync & Son by Four - A Puro Dolor / Yo Te Voy a Amar (Mix)
The other way around is also true, with Spanish-speaking artists singing in English (yea, well and badly too!)
Paulina Rubio - Don´t Say Goodbye
Thalia - You Know He Never Loved You
Nos vemos prontito!
