Archive for 'Spanish Vocabulary'
Mi vida loca Posted by Adir on Sep 8, 2008
I’m a helpless internet addict and as a teacher I’m always looking for alternatives to supplement my classes. While surfing the web, I came across this course, by BBC Online, called Mi Vida Loca. It’s a mystery series and it has tons of audio, video and explanations both in English and in Spanish. There are…
Ask away! Posted by Adir on Sep 5, 2008
“Ask” has several meanings in Spanish. They’re not interchangeable, and there are some subtle differences in meaning. Preguntar – “to ask a question” or “to ask about” something. Preguntó por ti en la fiesta. – He asked about you at the party. Pregunté si habían estudiado para la prueba. – I asked if they had…
Expressions with Take Posted by Adir on Aug 11, 2008
Whenever I teach my students vocabulary, I always tell them to take notes using real and meaningful examples and to learn fixed expressions. Let’s take for example the verb “to take”. If we look it up in an English-Spanish dictionary, dozens of entries will crop up and if we´re not very familiar with the language…
False Friends Posted by Adir on Aug 4, 2008
English and Spanish have many similarities, but sometimes what could be helpful ends up getting in the way. That’s the case of some words called “false friends”. They are pairs of words from different languages that look or sound similar, but are actually different in meaning. If students rely on the similarity and use the…
Elections en español Posted by Transparent Language on Jul 15, 2008
US elections are around the corner and candidates are doing their best to get votes from the ever-growing Latin communities. John McCain www.johnmccain.com/espanol and Barack Obama www.barackobama.com/espanol have Spanish versions of their websites with lots of useful information. In case your Spanish is a little rusty, here’s a list of some handy political vocabulary. apoyar…
Vegetables Posted by Transparent Language on Jul 5, 2008
OK, so your mom always told you: “Eat your vegetables, theyre good for you!”; and guess what? She was right! Heres a list of some common verduras in Spanish. artichoke — la alcachofa asparagus — el espárrago, los espárragos avocado — el aguacate, la palta bean — la judía, la haba, la habichuela, el frijol…
Idioms with Bread Posted by Transparent Language on Jul 2, 2008
The word bread (pan) is the source of several idioms and expressions. Contigo, pan y cebolla – We shall live on love alone. Para casarse se necesitan muchas cosas, no sólo decir que contigo pan y cebolla. Llamar al pan pan y al vino, vino. – to call a spade a spade. Voy a hablarte…