Posts under Language

Entrevista con Ximena

Posted by adir ferreira
Nov
5
2009

I first started studying Spanish when I was in high school. There were a boy and a girl from Chile who lived in my town and I was fascinated by their bilingual background and they were the first ones to teach me the basics.

Tomislav’s dad was the manager of a hotel here and Ximena was from another family of Chileans living in Bebedouro too. I hung out with them a lot and then I found my love for the Spanish language. One experience that is very dear to my heart is when I spent Christmas Eve with these two families; it seemed like I was in Chile, because everyone was speaking Spanish and I was mesmerized, just listening to that beautiful language.

Tomislav went back to Chile for army obligations and he passed away 8 years ago from brain cancer. Ximena stayed in Brazil and she’s currently working as a journalist in São Paulo. I interviewed her over Skype. Click on the video to listen to her interview and follow with the transcript.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xg5SMoAnujQ

Ya, yo nací en São Paulo en 74, mi familia es chilena, tanto mi papá como mi mamá, entonces el primer idioma que yo aprendí a hablar fue el español cuando era niña todavía. Y cuando tenía como unos 3 años de edad empecé a frecuentar la escuela aqui en Brasil y ahí me coloqué en contacto con el portugués. Después en el 81 me fui a vivir un año en Chile y allá me alfabetizaron en español y en francés también. Y después en 82 volvimos a Brasil cuando, en ese período que vivi en Chile a mi se me olvidó el portugués, por supuesto. Pero después que empecé a ir al colegio aqui me alfabetizaron en portugués y recuperé mi portugués. Yo creo que nacer en una familia que te posibilita el contacto con dos idiomas es una experiencia riquísima además los dos son idiomas muy bonitos que tienen la sonoridad interesante y son dos idiomas que tienen grandes escritores entonces siempre tuve el privilegio de estar en contacto con, tanto con la cultura chilena como con la cultura brasileña. Ahora soy periodista y el español también me ayudó a abrir muchas puertas en mi trabajo entonces es algo que yo creo que es un diferencial muy grande en el mercado brasileño porque las multinacionales ahora están descubriendo Brasil entonces sus headquarters que estaban en Miami se están viniendo a São Paulo y yo veo que las empresas ahora no, la persona no solo tiene que tener un inglés fluente como también un español fluente. Y yo creo que eso es algo natural de la integración de Brasil con el restante de Latinoamérica, algo que se demoró un poco para, para que ocurriera pero yo creo que algo es libremente en la economía aqui en Brasil.

 
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Slang much?

Posted by adir ferreira
Oct
22
2009

¡Huy! It’s very hard to talk about slang in Spanish. Do you know why? Just imagine how many differences can be found in US English alone. The same thing happens with Spanish, but in almost 20 countries.

So here’s the deal: I found some very cool websites with Spanish slang from lots of countries. If you like Mexican Spanish, go for it and so on.

Here are the links:

http://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Spanish/Slang

http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/cool/

http://www.languagerealm.com/spanish/spanishslang.php (Slang and Idioms)

http://www.livingspanish.com/spanish-slang

Nos vemos prontito.

 
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Study tip: using DVDs (wisely)!

Posted by adir ferreira
Oct
19
2009

There are hundreds of good Spanish-speaking movies and series/telenovelas on DVD these days and here are some tips so you can get the most out of them.

1. Get your materials ready: pen, notebook and a dictionary. If you’re watching the DVD on your computer, you can also use your text editor.
2. Choose a scene no more than 5 minutes long.
3. Watch the scene in Spanish, without subtitles. Try to write down the words that you understood.
4. Watch the scene in Spanish again, without subtitles. Write a little paragraph (in Spanish or English) about what’s happening in the scene.
5. Now watch the scene with the subtitles in English. Compare the script of the scene with the words and the paragraph you wrote down.
6. Watch the scene in Spanish, without subtitles, a third time. Try and write down more words or expressions in your list.
7. Now watch the scene with the subtitles in Spanish without using the Pause button. Try and add more words/expressions to your list.
8. Watch the scene with the subtitles in Spanish once again and stop to write down words and new expressions.
9. Now that you’ve watched the scene 6 times, try to find out, through context, the definition of the new words that you wrote down.
10. Finally, use your dictionary (Spanish-Spanish if you’re an intermediate or advanced student or bilingual if you’re a beginner) to check for meaning. Remember to always write down words/expressions with the sentences, so they are now out of context.

This is it for today!

Nos vemos prontito.

 
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Word origins: terapéutica, jerga e indigente

Posted by adir ferreira
Oct
16
2009

Terapéutica was first found in Spanish from 1555 on, when it appeared in Dioscórides, by Andrés de Laguna.
The word terapéutica was taken by Laguna from vulgar Latin therapeutica, -orum (medicine treaties) and from Greek therapeutikós (the occupation of a service man who had to take care of someone, deriving from therapein). In Spanish, this word always had medical care connotation and, more recently, psychological ones. The word terapeuta (therapist) comes from Greek therapeutes (servant).

Jerga means “slang” and its first meaning was “special language, hard to understand” according to the first edition of Diccionario de la Academia (1734). Today it refers to the language that is used specifically by people who belong to a particular group, or profession. For example, la “jerga médica”.

Jerga comes from gergon, which came from Old French jargon or jergon in the Middle Ages and referred to birds chirping.

Jergon was formed by root garg-, which had an onomatopoeic origin, and meant “to speak confusely”, “to swallow” and has evolved into words like garganta (throat), gargajo (gob) and jeringoza (a child’s playful way of hiding language using the letter p and other obscuring devices), among others.

Indigente is someone who is poverty-stricken and usually lives on the streets, has no documents, etc.
Indigente comes from Latin indigens, -entis, from the verb indigere (to lack something), formed by prefix indu- (an old form of –in) and the verb egere (to be deprived of something).

We see an example of use of this verb in the Vulgate:

Qui dat pauperi non indigebit (He who gives to the poor will lack nothing).

 
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Business Spanish

Posted by adir ferreira
Sep
29
2009

According to Ed Brodow in the book Negotiate with Confidence, Americans do business in a hurry. The following sentences will show businesspeople some ways to establish rapport, induce the other part to open first, explore the needs of the client, and then resist the first offer.

Bien, en primer lugar … - Well, first of all …
Gracias por haber venido. - Thank you for coming.
Les agradezco que hayan vendio a reunirse con nosotros hoy. - I would like to thank you for meeting with us today.
Gracias por venir en tan corto plazo. - Thank you for coming on such short notice.
Gracias por reunirse con nosotros en tan corto plazo. - Thank you for meeting with us on such short notice.
Gracias por haber tomado tiempo para reunirse con nosotros. - Thank you for taking time out to meet with us.
Hemos oído muchas cosas buenas sobre su empresa. - We’ve heard so many good things about your company.
Estoy seguro de que nos esperan buenos momentos en el futuro. - I’m sure so many good things lie ahead for us in the future.

Bien, ¿por qué no me dice lo que tiene en mente? - Right, why don’t you let me know what you have in mind?
¿Le gustaría empezar? - Would you like to begin?
Creo que usted debería empezar. - I think perhaps you should go first.
Es mejor que usted empiece con lo que había planeado y continuaremos de ahí. - It’s best if you start with what you had planned and then we’ll take it from there.
No, ¿por qué no empieza usted? - No, why don’t you go first?
No, por favor. Usted primero. - No, please. You go first.

¿Qué está usando ahora en términos de …? - What are you using now in terms of …?
¿Actualmente, qué están…? - What do you currently …?
¿Están satisfechos con su … actual? - Are you satisfied with your current …?
¿Qué le gusta más del producto? - What do you like the most about the product?
¿Qué le gusta menos en el producto? - What do you like the least about it?
¿Estaría en lo correcto si dijera…? - Would I be right in saying that …?

Muy bien, pero no era eso lo que tenía en mente. - OK. Well, that’s not exactly what I had in mind.
Mire, francamente yo esperaba … - Well, to be honest, I was hoping for …
Bien. Parece bueno, pero… - OK. Well, that sounds fine, but …
Nos gustaría un poco más de tiempo para pensar al respecto. - We’d like a little more time to think it over.
¿Y si …? - And what if …?
Aún tengo algunas dudas sobre … - I still have a few doubts about …

 
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