April 2021
Monthly Archives
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in Mexico
The Largest Spanish-Speaking Town in the World.
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Mexico City, the largest Spanish-speaking town in the world. This is a day landing in Mexico City apparently from a flight arriving from Frankfurt. Let me try to explain to you what you are seeing here. First, this window shows the inner part of the city, towards the Zócalo, which you can’t see […] More
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The Spanish H vs. F in other Romance Languages
There are dozens of examples of words in Spanish that are spelled with a (silent) H, for which you can find at least one cognate in another language that is spelled with F. Most languages followed the original Latin spelling. I don’t like this, haha, why do we have to be different to the […] More
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Preposition “para” in a Coca Cola TV commercial.
Para ti, para mí, para ella, para él, para todos, para nadie…¡para vos! I hope this commercial in Spanish from Argentina made for Coca Cola Femsa, helps you understand one of the uses of the preposition para. Similar commercial with subtitles. (also Argentine accent). Cola in Spanish means cola, ass, […] More
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in Grammar, Translation, Vocabulary
Desconocer
Every Spanish language student knows that there are two verbs that mean to know, saber and conocer. This is true in other Romance languages as well. What many students don’t know is that we have a verb with the opposite meaning: desconocer. The main meaning of desconocer is to not know, but it could […] More
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in Culture, Mexico, Translation, Video
Amores Perros. Lucha de Gigantes.
I saw the film Amores Perros together with one of my students. Below is one of the main soundtrack songs. Its name is Lucha de Gigantes, by the Spanish band Nacha Pop. The actual movie scene is too strong to embed on this website. It’s not for kids and it’s not for many people. […] More
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Astro Rey. 10 expressions that are not so easy to figure out (9)
Here are 10 common random idioms you may have trouble with if you hear them for the first time: Expression Approximate literal translation (what you might think you actually heard) Explanation el astro rey the king star the Sun. ( nickname). el primer trimestre the first trimester first quarter. Used extensively in financial […] More
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Sí se puede. The other Spanish YES
We have a YES that English doesn’t use. This sí is used to contrast two opposite ideas, to confirm something, or to eradicate doubts about something. Spanish English (literal translations, ungrammatical English) A mí no me gusta cantar, pero sí me gusta escuchar música Singing is not pleasing to me, but YES listening to […] More
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Talking about rodents, a very unusual Spanish verb.
Talking about rats and mice, do you know why they are called rodents? Because they roen. In Spanish, roer means to gnaw. They are roedores because they roen. This is the only Spanish verb I can recall that has 3 different choices for the present yo form. In the present tense, this verb is […] More
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Essential telenovela Spanish
If you want to try practicing Spanish by watching telenovelas, this is the essential vocabulary you need to know. ¿Qué hace Chuchito José Rodriguez de Anda y López en el cuarto de la sirvienta? What is Chuchito José Rodríguez de Anda y López doing in the maid’s room?. Yes, telenovela characters have many […] More
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¡Por poco….! Accidents that almost happened
There is a little difference between accidents that almost happened in English and Spanish, in English we use past tense, in Spanish we use the present tense. (almost, nearly) + accident verb in the past (casi, por poco) + accident verb in the present I almost fell casi me caigo (caer) I almost hit myself […] More
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Foto movida. 10 expressions that are not so easy to figure out (5)
Here are 10 common random idioms you may have trouble with if you hear them for the first time: Expression Approximate literal translation (what you might think you actually heard) Explanation ¿qué crees? what do you believe? guess what. cambiar de opinion to change opinion to change one’s mind, also cambiar de parecer. ser […] More
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Un purasangre. 10 expressions that are not so easy to figure out (21)
Here are 10 common random idioms you may have trouble with if you hear them for the first time: Expression Approximate literal translation (what you might think you actually heard) Explanation a solas what? alone? privately acaramelarse, estar acaramelados (MX?) what? to coat with caramel to canoodle apantallar (MX) what? (la pantalla, screen) […] More
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