Posted by adir ferreira
Today we’ll have a look at some typical vocabulary used in Cuba. Check them out!
Amarillo – a coward person. Aquel hombre es un amarillo. (That man is a coward.)
Caballo – friend. ¿Cómo estás, caballo? (How are you, my friend?)
Curralo – work. Voy pa’l curralo. (I’m going to work.)
Embori – a snitch, a rat. Ten cuidado con ese tipo, es embori. (Be careful with that guy, he’s a rat.)
Facho – theft, robbery. El facho fue anoche. (The robbery happened last night.)
Fardo – pants. ¿Cuánto costará este fardo? (I wonder how much these pants cost.)
Fuca – a gun. Cuando la policía llegó al local del crímen, la fuca ya se había desaparecido. (When the police arrived at the crime scene, the gun was already gone.)
Gao – house. Aquel gao se está cayendo. (That house is falling down.)
Güiro – a party. El sábado habrá güiro en la casa de Ana. (On Saturday there will be a party over at Ana’s.)
Jama – food. Ven ya, que la jama se enfría. (Come quickly because the food is getting cold.)
Lima – a shirt. ¿Te compraste una nueva lima? (Did you buy a new shirt?)
Macri – a white man. Ese macri no es de aquí. (This white man is not from here.)
Nébole – a friend, a buddy. ¡Hace cuánto que no te veo, nébole! (I haven’t seen you for so long, buddy!)
Pincha – work. Está muy dura esta pincha. (This work is very hard.)
¡Qué bola! – How are you doing?
Tacle – deceit, swindle. Con tacles no me vas a convencer. (You won’t convince me with deceits.)
Teque – a long-winded speech. No me vengas con teques, chico. (Don’t give me your long speeches, boy.)
Yira – Money. Estoy sin yira. (I’m broke.)
Take a look at this video of a boy speaking in typical Cuban accent, vocabulary and speed!
Nos vemos prontito!
Posted by adir ferreira
Radio Nacional de España
Mi gente, hoy les traigo algo muy pero que muy bueno. The thing is, I just stumbled upon Spain’s National Television and Radio website and I flipped out, ¡me he vuelto loco! You can listen to and watch lots of recorded programs like interviews, music reviews, politics, movies or live radio broadcasts. Check it out at http://www.rtve.es/alacarta. Also read their blog area, which contains very interesting articles about Spanish culture and current events. Do you have a favorite Spanish website? Share it with us!
Cuídense mucho, les dejo un abrazo.
Posted by adir ferreira
There are many Latin expressions used in formal and written Spanish. Let’s learn some of them.
ad hoc - a propósito (for the purpose)
a fortiori - con mayor razón (with all the more reason)
ex aequo - con igual mérito (equally)
in extremis - en caso extremo (in an extreme case)
modus vivendi - arreglo entre dos o varias personas (arrangement, compromise)
non plus ultra - el tope (the absolute limit)
persona non grata - persona indeseable (unwelcome person)
sine qua non – imprescindible (essential condition)
a posteriori – después (after)
a priori - antes (before)
exabrupto – brusquedad (abrupt remark, outburst)
ex catedra - en tono magisterial (authoritatively)
ex profeso - expresamente (deliberately)
ex voto - ofrenda dedicada a Dios (offering to God)
(a) grosso modo - de forma general (in a general way)
ipso facto - inmediatamente; por el mismo hecho (immediately, by the very fact that)
(todo) quisque - todo el mundo (everybody and their uncle)
vox populi - voz popular (public opinion on something)
Nos vemos prontito.
Posted by adir ferreira
Again some readers wrote me and asked about business Spanish vocabulary in negotiating. First off, we need to establish a rapport with the clients and try to sound them out to see what they really want, so we can pitch our product correctly. Here are some useful expressions when negotiating:
Bien, en primer lugar … - Well, first of all …
Gracias por haber venido. – Thank you for coming.
Les agradezco que hayan venido a reunirse con nosotros hoy. – I would like to thank you for meeting with us today.
Gracias por venir con poca antelación. – Thank you for coming on such short notice.
Queremos que sepan que nos alegra que… - We want you to know how happy we are that…
Hemos oído muchas cosas buenas sobre su empresa. – We’ve heard so many good things about your organization.
Estamos seguros de que nos espera un futuro brillante. – We’re sure that many good things lie ahead for us in the future.
Creo que tal vez ustedes deberían empezar. – I think perhaps you should go first.
¿Qué están usando ustedes ahora en términos de …? – What are you using now in terms of …?
¿Están satisfechos con su… actual? – How satisfied are you with your current…?
Muy bien, pero no era eso lo que teníamos en mente. – Good, but that’s not exactly what we had in mind.
Mire, para ser honesto nosotros esperábamos un poco más, pero … - Well, to be honest, we were hoping for a little bit more, but …
Me gustaría tener un poco más de tiempo para pensarlo. – I’d like to think about it for a little bit longer.
Hay algunos puntos con los que no estamos totalmente de acuerdo. – There are a few points we don’t feel totally comfortable with.
Aún tenemos algunas dudas sobre … - We still have a few doubts about …
Nos vemos prontito.
