Learning Spanish from place names such as Costa Rica (and growing pineapple tops)

Problems
Spanish is handy, widely spoken, and a second language or first language of many people in the USA, tn there territory of the island of Puerto Rico, as well as central America (Costa Rica) and several countries in south America. Over in Europe, Spanish is spoken in Spain and popular islands such as Mayorco, Minorca and Tenerife. How do I remember place names? How do I pick up a few words of Spanish quickly?

Answers
Translate a few place names from Spanish into English. I learned one today. Costa Rica means rich coast. What could be easier!

Spanish - English
Costa - coast
Costa Rica - rich coast
Rica - rich

English - Spanish
coast - costa
rich - rica
rich coast - C o s t a  R i c a

It seems obvious, but only after you know it. My first guess was that Costa meant cost. No - coast.

Notice that in English the adjective is before the noun. But in Spanish the adjective comes after the noun.

One account says that Christopher Columbus named the area rich coast. With water on both sides, and a volcano in the middle, and green and red birds, and gold, the words rich and coast are apt.

I found another place name, Cocos Island. In Spanish Isla de cocos.  Coconuts Island.

Spanish - English
coco(s) - coconuts
isla(s) - island (s)

English - Spanish
coconut(s) - coco(s)
Island(s) - isla(s)

I was just writing the above when I looked down at the wast paper bin and decided to empty it. At the bottom was a label. I looked at it and it said Pineapple from Costa Rica.

My goodness, it travelled a long way. The label says that pineapple is called ananas in almost every language except for English.

Spanish - English
anana(s) - pineapple(s)

English - Spanish
Pineapple(s) - anana(s)

Wikipedia reminded me that pina is also pine, or pineapple, as in pina colada.

The piña colada (/ˌpiːnjə koʊˈlɑːdə, -nə-, -kə-/;^[1][2] Spanish: piña [ˈpiɲa], "pineapple," and colada [koˈlaða], "strained") is a sweet cocktail made with rum, coconut cream or coconut milk, and pineapple juice, usually served either blended or shaken with ice.

Spanish - English
pina - pine
colada - strained

English - Spanish
pine - pina
strained - colada

Apparently, if you cut the top off a pineapple, you can grow it.You suspend it over water so it grows roots. When you see the roots, you bury the roots in compost in a pot in a conservatory. Keep it watered and within a couple of years time you will probably have another pineapple.

Photo of pineapple by Angela Lansbury, copyright.

http://www.wikihow.com/Grow-a-Pineapple

You can pull out the top or cut it off.

The base you have cut off should be fixed by a horizontal cross of toothpicks and the underside should touch the water. 

(An alternative is to dry it and then bury it.)

What about Puerto Rico?

Wiki says:

Puerto Rico^[a] (Spanish for "Rich Port"),

Spanish - English

Puerto - port

rico - rich

Puerto Rico (literally rich port)

Notice the adjective after the noun in Spanish.

English Spanish

port - puerto

rich - rico (o matching a masculine noun)

Spanish - English

adios - goodbye 

LANGUAGE TIPS  Learning Tips

Spanish is widely spoken in the USA, Equitorial Guinea (on old maps Spanish Guinea), Andorra, Latin American countries such as Argentina, Chile and Guatemala. Cuban Spanish is more usual in Florida, Puerto Rican Spanish in New York.

(Brazil is the country which speaks Portuguese, but people who speak Portuguese can mostly understand Spanish.

To learn the Spanish language decide whether you want to speak Spanish as in Spain, Europe, or Spanish  as spoken in Mexico and South America.

Duo lingo.com - free internet teaching of Spanish

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_language

https://www.thoughtco.com/varieties-of-spanish-3078185

https://www.thoughtco.com/ways-spanish-english-verb-tenses-differ-3079929

TRAVEL TIPS

Mexico

www.visitmexico.com (beta - meaning website in the planning and testing stage)

Puerto Rico 

Tourist information

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puerto_Rico

Spanish Tourist Board

6th Floor, 64 Noter Row

London W1K 7DE

Tel: +44 0207 3172011

6th floor, 64 North Row

London W1K 7DE   

www.spain.info/en_GB/

Costa Rica tourist information:

essentialcostarica.com

www.visitcostarica.com

Also see wikitravel and TripAdvisor.

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker, teacher of English and other languages. I have several more posts on learning languages and visiting sights. Please share my posts.