Archive for 'Spanish Culture'
Latin music: Marc Anthony Posted by Adir on Nov 24, 2008
Marc Anthony (Marco Antonio Muñiz) was born in New York, in 1968. Born to Puerto Rican parents, Latin music was always present in Marc’s life. Singer Paul Simon was the one who helped him kick off his career by casting him to be the leading man in the musical “The Capeman” (1998). He started as…
Cool Spanish Posted by Adir on Nov 13, 2008
BBC Online has many interesting resources for students who want to improve their Spanish. One of them is Cool Spanish. It’s basically informal and slang words used in Spain and some countries in Latin America. They come with audio and translations, so you won’t get lost. Check it out at http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/cool Here’s another very good…
Business Spanish – Job Interview Expressions Posted by Adir on Nov 7, 2008
One of our readers wrote and asked for tips on Business Spanish, more specifically job interview expressions. Here are a few useful gambits and sentences. Your résumé I studied at … – Estudié en … I majored in … – Mi licenciatura es en … I specialized in … – Me especialicé en … I…
¡Por Dios! Posted by Adir on Nov 3, 2008
Spanish has a myriad of interesting expressions using the word “Dios” (God), not all of them religious. Check them out! 1. a la buena de Dios – without preparation, carelessly. Como no sabía coser, hizo el vestido a la buena de Dios. 2. como Dios le da a entender – without thinking a lot, using…
Mario Benedetti, Uruguayan writer Posted by Adir on Oct 27, 2008
Mario Benedetti was born in Uruguay and is not well known in the English-speaking world, but he is considered one of Latin America’s most important living writers. He lived in Argentina, Bolivia, Cuba and Spain from 1973 to 1985, during a military dictatorship in Uruguay. Nowadays he divides his time between Montevideo and Madrid. Benedetti…
More expressions! Posted by Adir on Oct 23, 2008
Spanish has thousands of fixed expressions. I have chosen some adverbial phrases with the preposition “a” so you can see how colorful those expressions can be. A ciegas – without thinking A deshoras – at an inappropriate time A diestro y siniestro – left and right A duras penas – with difficulty A fe mía…
Months of the Year – Origin Posted by Adir on Oct 20, 2008
Do you know the origin of the months of the year? In Ancient Rome there were only ten months in the calendar initially. That created a lack of alignment with real time, and artificial adjustments had to made every year. Eventually Julius Caesar supervised a reform of the calendar that took into consideration the four…