Some handy Spanish Words In Argentina and South America, Mexico and Spain , for banks, silver and plates

The name Argentina sounds Spanish but actually comes from the Italian for silver or silver coloured. The Italian masculine is argentino. But Spanish is the language of Argentina. Let's go!

Even if you have never been to Argentina, you may recall the emotive song, Don't cry for me, Argentina, about the Argentinian heroine, Eva Peron. Spanish isn't only useful in Argentina. Spanish a handy language if you are ever going to Spain in Europe, and to popular Spanish islands such as Mallorca or Tenerife. 

You also find Spanish handy in Mexico and all over South America and central America. The exception is Brazil where they speak Portuguese, but understand Spanish, and when I was on holiday in the Portuguese speaking island of Madeira I could recognize and understand a huge number of street signs, shop names, and leaflets.

Spanish is a very handy language to know. It is one of the easiest languages to pick up if English is your first or second language. Large numbers of English words are derived from Latin, or romance languages. The same roots lead to the Spanish words. Add an a or an o and you have many Spanish equivalents. For example. Bank is the English.

For example, add an o to the English word bank, and you get the Spanish word Banco. That is easy to recognize in a street, on a website, or when speaking. But what if you say banca? That means banking.

What about plato and plata? Plato is a plate. 

But Plata is silver.

Un plato. Imagine asking for a plate in a shop. 

The assistant replies, 'Oh, a plate'. 'Un plato.'

However, imagine that you are looking for something more expensive, silver. 

'Ah!' she replies. Silver! 'Plata!'

Accents

The accents are not a hindrance but a help. They tell you which syllable should be pronounced more heavily. 

The squiggly line above the n tell you to pronounce it like ny. You probably already know the word 'mananya' meaning tomorrow. it sounds like 'man - yarn - a'.

English - Spanish

bank - Banco

banking - banca

beautiful - hermosa

capital - capital

capital city - ciudad capital (note that the adjective is after the noun in Spanish)

city - ciudad

a plate - un plato

plates - platos

silver - plata

silver jewellery - joyeria de plata

silver mine - mina de plata

silver plated - platado

a silver plate - un plato de plata

tennis - tenis

white - blanco (feminine blanca) (like blank)

Spanish - English

Banco - bank

banca - banking

blanca - white

capital - capital

ciudad - city

ciudad capital - capital city

hermosa - beautiful

joyeria de plata - silver jewellery

mina de plata - silver mine

plata - silver

platado - silver-plated

platos - plates

un plato - a plate

un plato de plato - a silver plate

tenis - tennis

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

translate.google.com

How Do I Remember Male And Female Portuguese Words?

Problem
Is it o or a?

Answers
the plate - o prato

How do I remember it has an r instead of an l and o twice?

Plate has only one a. It is shaped like a circle, in fact with a rim like two circles, one outside the other.

EngLish pLate but PoRtuguese pRato
o prato - the plate

Author
Angela Lansbury, teacher of English and other languages.

Food photos to show your waiter or server or restaurant manager.

Problem
How do you order food when you don't speak the language?

Answer
Show photos. (More in previous post.)

Bread.

Coffee. Coffee with decoration.

German marzipan centre stollen cake.

Chocolate cake with nuts and vanilla ice cream.

Bread with nuts and fruit to accompany coffee.

Plate and cutlery.

Champagne bottle, rosé wine, jug of water. 

Meat with mushrooms, sauté potatoes and green beans.

Toilet and washbasin with toilet paper and soap.

Fruit bowl: green apples, red apples, oranges, pear (right).

Cake with fruit - orange slices on top.

Cheesecake with fruit topping and jug of cream. Background chocolate cake.

Pub lunch of baked potato in its jacket with butter, cheese, tomato, mushroom, peas. Napkin and fork.

All photos by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Author

Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer. Teacher of English and other languages.

If the customers steal, then sell souvenirs! They want graffiti, pens or towels? Sell souvenirs at historic sites and hotels - what I bought

The customer is always right about what he or she wants. If you are in sales or marketing, give it to them. Use it to promote. Give some things away free to those who like freebies. Give luxury or plus version to make money. You can do two, or all three.

What Tourists Want To Leave Behind
I saw that Californian tourists were arrested for carving their initials on an ancient monument, the Colosseum. Usually people sign a visitors book. For those who want to leave behind their name, comments, witticisms, to prove 'I was here'.

Most modern attractions offer opportunities for photos, often going beyond the selfie you could take. Your photo at the attraction can be added to a key ring or printed on a tee-shirt or plate.

How do you stop the tourists stopping to write on walls, leave their mark like cats marking their territory? Keep the tourists busy, on a train, or following a guide. Keep them sitting eating, waving to the camera in a group photo, having a group photo. Then you limit their chance to do damage. You keep the goodwill. Nobody wants to walk through a site full of warnings and threats.

Obviously visitors want to leave their names. So charge the for it. Sell space on a giant modern wall alongside, adding their photo for extra money. Dress them as Romans and write their names in English and Latin. Use the money to develop the site.

Have a wishing well, or donation area, and reward them with a photo or certificate. Have their names on a card or poster.

Eventually you could computerise the visitors' records. Add statistics or names. How many Americans, people from Paris, Japanese speaking tourists, visited this site? How many children under the age of 11, and people over the age of 100, climbed the 99 steps? How many visitors this year threw a stone or coin in the pool? Gave a dollar or Euro to sponsored a brick for a canteen or wheelchair for visitors? (And got a pin or key ring or headband or hat or tee-shirt in return?

What Tourists Want To Leave Behind Souvenirs

I've been in hotels where they have signs telling you not to take the towels.

Hawaii and Hong Kong
Others are smarter and tell you that you can have brand new dry towels, packed small to take him in your suitcase, or posted on to you, for a modest price. Sometimes with added extras to make a set, matching facecloths.

At a hotel in Hong Kong, you could buy almost everything in the room, the sheets, lamps, ash trays, vases, wall art, bedcovers, pillows, sheets, even the mattress or a complete bed.

At the Halekulani Hotel in Hawaii, you could buy thick absorbent towelling robes, in sizes to fit a tall man, a shorter woman, or a young child. We bought a matching set of all three. they were bulky, and we had to pay for them to be shipped to our home. I still have one hanging in the bathroom.

Malta
At the Grand Hotel Excelsior in Malta I was impressed by the bedside notepad in a magnetic cover. I looked around the hotel shops at the crockery and was persuaded that we had enough crockery at home already. Then I saw the notepad. I bought it.

I am sure many tourists would be happy to pay for items, if you could offer them the opportunity to buy a souvenir.

Get a receipt which states whether you have real jade, amber, opal or synthetic stone

I love elephants, national symbol of Thailand and probably some other places. Jade in stronger colours is more prized than the paler wishy-washy colours. In Asia, Singapore, and countries such as Thailand, Nepal, Cambodia, like London shops and markets, you often see trinkets and Jewellery with stones. I like green jade, green, orange and yellow amber, and multicoloured opals.
    At a trip to Hay-on-Wye in Wales, I went into a jewellery shop which had second hand jewellery in the window including opals in silver. I bought a bracelet at what I thought was a good price. I asked for a receipt. When I received the receipt, I was disappointed to see that although the silver was listed as 925, not silver plate, I had just been sold synthetic opals.  
   Watch out for stalls, even those which have a proper shop elsewhere, if they don't want to give you a receipt. I carry my own receipt book. For insurance purposes, you need a receipt. To guard against loss and theft. Once I had my bag stolen in Spain. It was a leather bag and had nothing of great value, I thought. But the replacement cost of everything from a swimsuit at £40, to a lipstick at £10, a diary at £5, soon added up to well over £100.
    So, to avoid regrets and worries later, for peace of mind when buying jewellery with stones of jade, amber, or opal, check you are getting the real stone and not a coloured synthetic. Synthetics can be cheaper, and look very effective. You might prefer costume jewellery when travelling. So it's often just as good. But for a special gift, or if you are buying as an investment, just ask the seller causally,      
    Which pieces are synthetic with silver plate and which are real stones and 925 silver or sterling silver. I usually ask about the real silver or the quality of gold and silver first, then about the gemstones. I try to be friendly with the seller and explain what I want. It could be, 'I don't mind synthetics. I just want something as a souvenir, a cheap gift.' Or it could be, 'I want metal and stones of value for mother's birthday, but also just a synthetic for when I'm travelling'. If you are buying a proper stone for lots of money, the shop in Asia might give you a synthetic stone piece as a gift in addition.
    The seller wants a happy customer, a returning customer, and recommendations, and more business. Ask, chat, say what you want, ask what you are getting. Why not - keep everybody informed and happy.