In this lesson of our English Spanish Parallel Texts course and we are going to practice discussing The Family in Spanish. Start by reading the texts in Spanish below. The English translations are provided later but please try not to look at them until you have read the Spanish versions various times and tried your best to understand them.

There may be some words and phrases in the text that you are unfamiliar with, but you should be aiming to capture the main essence of what is happening. There will always be words and phrases popping up in real-life situations that you have never heard before, so it is important never to get too distracted by details.

If you want to investigate some of the words you don’t know with a dictionary that would be great, please do, but do this after trying your best to understand with what you already have in your head.

Check out this video lesson with information relevant to this topic:

The Family in Spanish

Image by Markus Christ from Pixabay

Spanish Text

Salva: Hola Olivia, ¿cómo estás?
Olivia: Muy bien Salva. Estoy con mi hermana y su familia en este momento.
Salva: ¿Tu hermana no vive aquí normalmente?
Olivia: No ella vive en Holanda normalmente.
Salva: ¿Dónde? ¿En Amsterdam?
Olivia: No, en Rotterdam. Ella está aquí dos semanas con sus hijos y su marido.
Salva: ¡Qué bien! ¿no?
Olivia: Si, me encanta estar con mi hermana. Su hijo hace mucho ruido pero es muy majo. La niña es muy tranquila.
Salva: ¿Tu hermana habla holandés?
Olivia: Sí, habla holandés perfectamente.
Salva: ¿Trabaja allí?
Olivia: Sí, es vendedora.
Salva: Tienes un hermano también ¿no?
Olivia: Sí, tengo un hermano. El vive en África.
Salva: ¡Qué dices! ¿Por qué?
Olivia: Mi hermano es misionero.
Salva: Tienes familia por todo el mundo Olivia.
Olivia: La verdad es que sí. También tengo un primo en Los Estados Unidos, una tía en Argentina, y un sobrino en Francia.

English Text

Salva: Hi Olivia, how are you?
Olivia: Very well Salva. I am with my sister and her family at this time.
Salva: Does your sister not live here normally?
Olivia: No, she normally lives in the Netherlands.
Salva: Where? In Amsterdam?
Olivia: No, in Rotterdam. She is here two weeks with her children and her husband.
Salva: Great! Eh?
Olivia: Yes, I love being with my sister. Her son makes a lot of noise but he is very nice. The daughter is very calm.
Salva: Does your sister speak Dutch?
Olivia: Yes, she speaks Dutch perfectly.
Salva: Does she work there?
Olivia: Yes, she is a saleswoman.
Salva: You have a brother too, right?
Olivia: Yes, I have a brother. He lives in Africa.
Salva: What! Why?
Olivia: My brother is a missionary.
Salva: You have family all over the world Olivia.
Olivia: That is true. I also have a cousin in the United States, an aunt in Argentina, and a nephew in France.

So, how did you get on? How much did you understand of the original text before checking the translation? Please let me know in the comments section below…

Don’t worry if you didn’t understand that much, practice makes perfect! Be patient and keep reading, hearing, writing, and speaking Spanish. See you next time!