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Conjunctions and discourse markers Posted by Transparent Language on May 30, 2008
When we read and write in Spanish, or any other language, we need to provide this text (an e-mail, a letter, a report, a memo, or even a simple note) with cohesion and coherence. Conjunctions and discourse markers play a major role in connecting your ideas logically over long stretches of text or speech. They…
Food vocabulary Posted by Transparent Language on May 27, 2008
Hello there! OK, so a reader e-mailed me last week and asked, “Adir, Spanish is spoken in so many countries, and I just found out that food has several names in different countries, so how do I do to memorize that?” I gave it some thought and the answer to that question is: you don´t…
Expressions with “ir” (to go) Posted by Transparent Language on May 22, 2008
The verb ir, like its English counterpart to go, has several meanings and sometimes you can´t figure them out by considering indivual parts of the expression. “Ir” is usually used with the preposition a, when it means direction or future time: Voy a estudiar para la prueba. – I´m going to study for the test…
El voseo Posted by Transparent Language on May 18, 2008
Voseo is the use of the second person singular pronoun vos instead of tú. Vos is used extensively as the primary spoken form of the second-person singular predominantly in Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, and in the Central American countries of Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua and Costa Rica. In the dialect of Argentina and Uruguay (known…
Body part idioms I Posted by Transparent Language on May 12, 2008
Today we´re going to learn some idioms related to body parts. PELO – hair No tener pelos en la lengua – not to mince words Le dije que era un sinvergüenza porque yo no tengo pelos en la lengua. – I told him he was shameless because I don´t mince words. Poner los pelos de…
MAKE THE MOST OUT OF YOUR SPANISH COURSE Posted by Transparent Language on May 8, 2008
So you´re taking a Spanish course, either at a language institute or college, but you feel you need to do more to go beyond that intermediate-level plateau? Well, as an avid language learner myself, I have gathered here some tips that might help you do some extra work and get your Spanish on to a…
Learning tip: reading newspapers Posted by Transparent Language on May 5, 2008
Not very long ago, breaking news was mostly available in English and the few Spanish-language websites were devoted to local news only. Fortunately, the situation is changing rapidly and nowadays we have very comprehensive sites with updated information. Here´s a list of some interesting sites for you to check out. CNN en español – The…