Spanish words which sound similar to English

 I have been re-learning, revising, Italian which I learned two years ago on Duolingo, but using Spanish as which I have been learning for 6 months, as the instruction language. A huge number of words in Spanish sound similar to English. Once you have learned the correct translation, the Spanish words is easy to recognize.

Here are the ones I have found.

Spanish - English

acerca de - about (think of encircled by)

ahora - now (now is the hour, as the old song said, on the hour) (not to be confused with allora, Italian for now, let's go, then)

allegra/o - lively

amatista - amethyst

ascenso - ascend/rise

asi - so (ah - see, so)

borrar - delete (brush off, rub out)

clic - click

descenso - descent

describir - describe

division (accent on the o) - division

empleo - employment

escribe - write/inscribe

estado - status (in Spanish the letter e often goes before s at the start of the word, like the name of the country, Espana, escuala - school)

felicidades - congratulations (felicitations)

gramaticales - grammatical

impresionante - awesome/impressive

legas - leagues

minutos - minutes

perfecta - perfect

practicar - practise

reportar - to report

terminos - terms

utilizar - to utilize

zona - zone

verdad (Spanish)/vero (Italian) - true (like the English word verify)

 

Buying jewellery, websites and walking

Gold of 18 carat, or 8 carat, rolled gold or gold plated, gold on silver, white gold, jade, pearl, freshwater pearl, diamond or cubic zirconia, real amethyst or synthetic, leather or imitation leather, opal or a p a l i t e? You might want to spend less and be quite happy. You might prefer not to have real fur or real leather. But do you know what you are being offered? Faux is French for false or fake.

I looked at some pretty jewellery on eBay. Then I reflected on the term o p  a l i t e . What is it? Obviously not opal. Is it a slice of opal rather than a whole stone? No, it appears to be synthetic. If you just want something pretty to wear whilst travelling (leaving your more expensive jewellery elsewhere) then it might suit you. But at least be aware what you are buying. In a shop you can decide if the colours are vibrant, or garish, drained out, or subtle. On line you have to be more careful. Here from the website below is a detailed guide.

In a shop, especially when travelling, you may have to make a quick decision. At least you can investigate in advance if you like buying opals from Australia, or amethyst from Asia.

If you are able to tell the difference and discuss it with the jewellery seller, you may get a straightforward answer. The seller may be quite happy to admit that you are looking at a 'fake' or synthetic gem if there's a chance of getting you to spend more on a real gemstone. The jewellery might happily say, "This is very cheap because it is just o p a l i t e. Very good value if you just want costume jewellery. But if you are prepared to pay more, I have this one for you which is real opal as you can see ..."

My view is that websites such as eBay should require the seller to publish a link, or they should make a pop-up to a link.

http://www.jewelledweb.com/2014/12/13/dont-get-fooled-opalite/

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer.

Korean Tours - Ginseng, Amethyst, thank you, so kind

I took a guided tour in a minibus to see the city including a ginseng tour. I want to visit the jewellery store selling amethyst. So I took another tour the next day.

We stop unscheduled at the ginseng tour. I don't want to get out. I tell the guide, "I saw this yesterday."

He says, "But the (Chinese or Japanese tourist) has asked to see the ginseng factory instead."

I say, "I took the tour yesterday and they said there was no time for the amethyst factory because we took so long at the ginseng factory. So I booked this tour specifically to see the amethyst factory to buy amethyst. If I can't do that, I want my money back.

The guide chases off and brings back the other tourist who is smiling and bowing apologetically. The guide tells me that they other tourist is happy to see either factory, both factories or neither, equally happy with either, just said, 'Can see that as we passed the Ginseng factory pointed out on the tour', guide keen to oblige said yes, but tourist is equally happy to see amethyst factory, 'so sorry'.

All happy all around. I say, 'I am so sorry,' to call him back, 'thanks so much,' to guide, 'so kind for trying to please everybody'.

I am getting the hang of this now. Never say no. Always say please. Always say thank you. Always end up with everybody happy.