Daily dose of Spanish words

Hola, todos! (Hi, everyone!)

Problem
How do you tell Spanish from Italian when they sound similar?

Answer
Don't worry about it. Just listen to the sounds on Duolingo and repeat them and recognize them.

When you get to the country, listening is easy. You will hear the words and repeat them correctly in the right language.

Both countries roll the letter r. But Italians more so.

Spanish words are sometimes shorter and simpler.

Both languages, like English, emphasize the first syllable of the word. But Italian more so.

Compare the words in both languages to see the differences, which is longer. Spanish has fewer double letter than English or Italian. For example, the Spanish for ball is bola. Spanish my is mi, whilst the Italian is mio.

(However, the Italian for 'is' is e, whilst the Spanish is es.)

Story
My mother and father learned Italian. Later they bought a small flat in Spain in a block in Marbella. My mother used to laugh that she sometimes said an Italian word when she was trying to think of the Spanish word. However, she understood Spaniards speaking Spanish and made herself understood much better than if she had spoken only English.

Spanish - English
(la) bola - the ball
hermana - sister
hola - hi
la maleta - (the) suitcase
(una) moneda - (a) coin (Moneda sounds and looks like the word money)
(la) moto - the motorcycle (In Spanish the motorcycle is feminine, like when sailors call ships she)
(los) niños - (the) children
teléfono celular - mobile phone
todos - everyone
(el) tren - (the) train


English - Spanish
(the) ball - (la) bolla
(the) children - (los) niños
(a) coin - (una) moneda
everyone - todos (like the word total)
hi - hola
mobile phone - teléfono celular
the motorcycle - the motorcycle
(my) sister - (mi) hermana
the suitcase - (la) maleta
(the) train - (el) train

Tips
www.duolingo.com

Author,
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker. Please share links to your favourite posts.