Bottled water in Spanish Speaking Spain and the Canary Islands

 

Spanish - English

agua -water

antes - before

botella - bottle

consumir - consume (literally to consume

Espana (note the mark above the n meaning pronunciation is ny) - Spain

preferemente - preferably

Money exchange teaches you the word change in four languages

 

Spanish - English

cambio - change

English - Italian

currency - valuta

change - cambio

1 FRENCH

English - French

change - change

exchange - échange

2 GERMAN

English - German

change / exchange - wechsel (note when typing that ch is followed by the letter s)

Spanish Words To Recall & Test Each Other Over Dinner

 

At mealtimes, after dinner at home, you can test yourselves and each other or simple Spanish words.

You can remind yourself. Get fluent. Teach the family. Teach the children. Fill in waiting time.

Spanish - English words for mealtimes

plato - plate

sopa - soup

Cuchillo - cutter or knife

sal - salt

pimiento - pepper

carne - meat for carnivores

agua - water

vino - wine

mesa - table

silla - chair /seat / armchair

por favor - please / do me a favour

gracias - thank you, I'm grateful

deliciosa - delicious

muy - very

perfecto - perfect

otro - another

lampa - lamp

foto - photo (una foto - a photo)

English - Spanish easy words

another - otro

easy - facil

for - por

lamp - lampa

pepper - pimiento

perfect - perfecto

photo  - foto

please / do me a favour - por favour

salt - sal

thank you very much - muchas gracias

thanks - gracias

table - mesa

very - muy

water - agua

wine - vino

Useful Websites

I have several more posts on Spanish. Please share links with your friends and family, fellow students and colleagues.

What about Spanish speaking Mexico, the Caribbean islands, Central America and South America?

Many Spanish speaking places in the Americas, in addition to those who speak Spanish as a first or second language in the USA.

duolingo.com

Teaches south American Spanish. I find this easier because c is pronounced like s, as in the English word police which is policia in South American Spanish, or hispanic, but like poly-Thea in southern Spanish in Europe where the Brits go for sunny, summer holidays and winter warmth.

wikivoyage phrasebook Spanish

https://en.wikivoyage.org/wiki/Spanish_phrasebook

Gives you both Spanish spoken in Spain the variations in several Spanish speaking Suth American countries.

Spanish Place Names Translated (Part 2)

Flag of the USA

 The name Spain is derived from the Ancient Roman name for the area, Hispania. That's why people from the region are still called hispanic.

I wondered why technical articles referred to ancient Roman, when we normally just speak about the Romans. Were they a subsection of Romans, the earliest ones? Then I realised that recent, modern, and current inhabitants of Rome are called Romans. Rome is still there, still called Rome. So it just means the Roman Empire?

Checking Spelling

I thought better check on this. When I was a sub-editor I learned that you need to check on everything, even if you think it is obvious and well-known. Spellings, vary from the UK to the USA. 

Checking Capital Cities

Capital cities are not necessarily the largest cities or the ones with the biggest population. New York is not the capital of America. The capital is Washington DC. Capitals move. The same applies to the capital cities of US states. Also watch out for the capitals of Australia, Indonesia, Poland, and Russia. 

Capitals get moved, because of weather, sinking cities, to be more central, or to please populations who want the capital nearer where they live, especially with rival groups, to depopulate a crowded place or to populate an empty area and provide more work and space. So, the names and locations of capital cities, and smaller cities, will change.

Spanish Place Names in Spain and the USA

Spanish names have stayed and become so familiar that if you don't speak Spanish, you forget the origin. Some Spanish place names are well-known and obvious if you speak some Spanish, or after you have heard about them. 

The Spanish origin names can be grouped into various categories. Some are named after saints or people. Others are named after geographical features.

I have arranged them alphabetically, with the components separated.

Spanish - English Place Names

angeles - angels, as in the Californian city Los Angeles

el - the (add an accent on the letter e to make the word he) as in El Paso

el paso - the pass

grande - not grand ie important but large

los - the (plural, like these and those) as in Los Angeles

Los Angeles - the angels

paso - pass or place where you pass over a mountain or through a border

rio - river

rio grande - big river, or river which is long and wide. The order of the name reminds you that in Spanish the adjective comes after the noun. 

sacramento - sacrament

San Francisco - Saint Francis

Useful Websites About Capital Cities and place names

This post is being compiled. Come back later for more.

Language misunderstandings

 Duolingo tells me that my friends will 'defraudara' me. Defraud me? Cheat me? That can't be right.

I looked it up with a little help from handy AI. Defrauda means will disappoint.

I wonder what else I am misunderstanding?

I half remember that there are lists of false friends in Wikivoyage. Spanish and Italian and Portuguese have false friends - words which sound similar in two languages but have different meanings. Often they are cognates Let's look at them again.

Useful Websites 

 

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)

 

Spanish and Italian, which is which: e and y and io sono and yo soy

 Spanish

Spanish has the letter y for and. I am is yo soy. The letter y appears in both words.

Italian

The word for I starts with the letter i like the word Italian. io sono. Io sono di Italia. I am Italy (from Italy). The letter i after d, di, in Italian, which starts with the letter I and has the letter I twice.

Useful Websites

duolingo

duolingo.com

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Words which are the same in Spanish and Italian - and almost the same as English

 

English - Spanish - Italian

art - arte - arte

bank - Spanish el banco - Italian la banca

book - libro - libro (memory aid: library book)

centre (center in the usa) - (el) centro in Spanish - (il) centro in Italian

coast - costa (as in Costa Brava) - costa

if - si (Spanish, without an accent)

minute - minuto - minuto

music - musica - musica (in Spanish la musica is music but el musico is a musician)

no - no - no

note - nota - nota

one - uno - uno

problem - problema - problema

serious (adjective) - serio/seria - serio/seria

shy - timido/timida - timido/timida

stop - stop - stop (road traffic sign)

theatre - teatro - teatro

valley - valle - valle

The same in Spanish and Italian

song - canto - canto (like the English word cantor meaning singer)

Useful Websites On Translating Spanish And Italian

AI / Google search

translate Google

Lingo

https://lingo-apps.com/same-words-spanish-italian/

chat gbt

https://chatgpt.com/translate

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Spanish and Italian - which is which?

 Many words are almost the same in English, Spanish and Italian. This makes it easy to translate back into English, but harder to remember the foreign words. In Wikipedia you can find lists of words. You can also look at Wikipedia in another language and note mentally or write or type a copy of words which are the same as English.

English - Spanish - Italian (reminders)

and - y - e (The Spanish is y, like the y sound in mañana)

cost - costo - AI found me this from Collins dictionary 

"cost" is costo or coste in Spanish, and costo in Italian. Both languages use these terms to represent expense or price. Common related phrases include "¿Cuánto cuesta?" (Spanish) and "Quanto costa?" (Italian) for "How much does it cost? 

One thing I kept muddling was which word ended in o and which in a in quanto costa. Then I remembered that they are different, different endings. oh no what a cost ah. quanto costa.

explore - explora

shop - |Spanish tienda (where you tender money to buy) - Italian negozio (where you negotiate or bargain)

market in English is mercado in Spanish, mercato in Italian.

Yes - si - yes in both Italian and Spanish. But having an accent on the i makes a difference, meaning YES! Without the accent, in Spanish si means if. 

supermarket in English is supermercado in Spanish, supermercato in Italian

Useful Websites For Translations to and from Italian and Spanish

duolingo

duolingo.com

translation

google

facebook

wikipedia

Wikipedia en español

Wikipedia in italiano

https://italian.joyoflanguages.com/podcast/Si-in-Italian

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Spanish and Italian - 23 words which are the same - and often the same as English

 I learned Italian one year, Spanish the next. I am now keeping up my Italian using Duolingo, but get confused. When reading either, I find it easy to translate back into English. But going the other way, from English, how do I remember which is which? I made a list in an A5 size notebook. 

At the top of each page I listed words which are the same in all three languages. I then looked them up in google and AI.

The technical term is perfect cognates, words which have the same spelling and meaning. Here they are in alphabetical order. You can also find lists in Wikipedia

Words which are the same in English Spanish and Italian

English - Spanish - Italian

agenda - agenda - agenda

arena - arena - arena

banana - banana - banana

bar - bar - bar

blog - blog - blog

diva - diva - diva

gas - gas - gas

hotel - hotel - hotel

idea - idea - idea

Internet - internet - internet

judo - judo - judo

karaoke - karaoke - karaoke

ketchup - ketchup - ketchup

no - no - no

opera - opera - opera

or - o - o

patio - patio - patio

piano - piano - piano

pizza - pizza - pizza

puzzle - puzzle - puzzle

radio - radio - radio

solo - solo - solo

stop - stop - stop

taxi - taxi - taxi

video - video - video

yes - si  - si

Useful Search Words

cognates, loan words

Useful Resources on Spanish and Italian

Duolingo

Wikivoyage phrasebooks: Italian; Spanish

Wikipedia in Spanish

Wikipedia in Italian

Wikipedia articles on loanwords Spanish, Italian.

Earworms Rapid Italian from Berlitz Vol 1 and 2 CD pack on ebay

Linguaphone Spanish

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Delights Of Sweet Whites, Italian Wine tasting, matching and comparing, Prosecco, Champagne, More

 

Italian Zonin1821 History

I went to the Zonin1821 portfolio tasting 2026 event. Zonin1821 is an Italian company, in the wine business, founded by the Zonin family in 1821, long before I was born. They started in the Veneto area, famous for the port of Venice, and Prosecco wine, and the Zonin bottle label is associated with this region.

They set up Zonin UK in 1998. How come I had never heard of them? This event aimed to put that right and it did. 

They now have wines from Europe, France, Spain and Italy, and the Lebanon,  South Africa, Chile and Argentina, and going south, from South Africa and New Zealand.

At a walk around tasting, I started with my favourite, Prosecco. From Italy. I compared a couple of them.

Then I went on to Asti, from Italy.

A couple of sweet Moscatos, muscats, sweet, of course.

Then a couple of Champagnes, from France, of course, to compare with Prosecco.

Wine Tasting

The walk around wine tasting of their wines had the usual arrangement of a good event, spittoons scattered about, because you could not drink many wines without ending up dancing on the table, falling asleep, or, as the old joke goes, under the table or under the host.

Some people like to taste wines without food, the better to isolate and concentrate on the aroma and savour the flavour of the wine. Others say, to be healthy, sober and sane, they prefer to taste wine with matching food. For them, a treat was to come. A chance to sit down, contemplate the colour of the wine in the glass, sip the wine and take tiny bites of flavoursome food with each wine.

The Zonin1821 Pairing Atelier: An Interactive Tasting Experience

A rare novelty, a sit down event, a masterclass, not just the usual sipping of half a dozen or more wines, whilst listening to an expert and watching slides, but this time tasting seven wines with assorted small plates of  food, savoury - and sweet. 

We took the glass of each wine in turn, nibbling something from each plate of food, deciding which food went best with the wine. 

The fanned pear is on the left. The glasses are numbered on the paper sheet below. But we changed the order, putting the sweet wine last. We had letters, for the food? But sometimes one wine went with more than one food.

Practical Problems - Cutlery

At first I did not know how to divide up the food using spoons and a pastry fork. But the meat proved to be soft so you could tear it apart with fingers or the fork and spoon.

Practical Problems - Losing Your Catalogue

I had already lost my programme which had my marks out of 7 of all the wines I had liked at the walk around tasting. When you put down your programme book, beside a dozen others, to taste the wine, then look for your programme, where is yours?

Luckily I had taken photos of my favourite wines, so the bottle labels were my memory aids.

Next time I go to a wine tasting or event, I shall take a sticker with my name and phone number to put on my programme. That way I can see at a glance that a programme on the table is mine, before I leave. If I drop it, the finder can call me to let me know.

Note Taking Problems

Next, where should I make notes about food pairing? 

The slide show, early on, included a slide with a list of the foods, and a list of the wines. Very good.

I reckoned it would be easier and quicker when making notes for members of the audience to have the slide copied onto a handout. The food on the left of your tasting page. The wines on the right. Then draw a line between the wine and the food it matched. 

Or a list of all the matches. Circle your favourite. 

Or a tick box for each pairing. Give it marks out of 7. From 1 for not good to 7 for heavenly.

My effort to write down the name of the wine, three to six words, then the names of the food, each of which had three ingredients, meant I needed to see the slide with the names of food, and missed commentary whilst I was trying to list the names of the food and wines. 

I spoke to Federica afterwards, and she agreed that each time they held the event they could incorporate changes and improvements which would make it better and better, even better.

Solution - A Food and Wine Pairing Sheet

Meanwhile, I am thinking about printing off my own pairing sheets. I would carry them around on my red clipboard.

Fabulous Food  - And Wine Matching

The food was fabulous. My favourite was the fanned pear, with stilton cheese in a creamy mousse. The name of the chef was not mentioned. The chef or supplier deserves a mention.

Which came first, food or drink, when planning the pairing? I presumed the wine producers and promoters would have picked seven wines to promote and asked the chef to do a pairing. At very least they might have asked for food to match in colour, for the red wine,  the red meat, for white wines, white savouries, and a sweet dessert. 

In a restaurant the sommelier might be shown the dish of the day, or dishes of the day. The chef created or selected recipes using what he has found, fresh, seasonal and reasonably priced in the market. The sommelier then has to match up wines to the food. 

Many restaurant diners would pick the food first, then ask the sommelier for a wine to match.

At home you might have bought a new wine from the Zonin list, then wondered, what food can I cook to go with this?

Buying Zonin Wines On the Web

After I got home I searched on the internet for Zonin wines. Up popped their wines on Amazon. Quite reasonably priced. 

I also found their website. The group is very successful, an umbrella group, connected with wines all over Italy and other places.  In addition to the bottles with their own label, their portfolio includes wines with other labels.

What if you or one of your group cannot drink wine. In addition to those abstaining for religious reasons, people could be driving, taking pills, and you could have youngsters or cautious drinkers. I liked Zonin's refreshing Limoneto Spritz, sparkling wine with lemon juice. You can buy it from Amazon in a 75cl bottle, or in a collection of cans 25cl.

Low and No Alcohol

Whilst their entire collection was new to me, they were excited about what is new for them. They have kept pace with the trend towards low alcohol wines, and non alcohol wines, and wine not only in bottles, small bottles, but also in cans.

Training Sommeliers

They are training sommeliers, and their own staff worldwide, as well as wine writers, wine educators and influencers on pairing their wines with food. I tried six wines, whites, a rose, and reds, with six different savoury and sweet dishes.  

Denni di Rosa, left. Federica Zanghirella, Vice President of the UK Sommelier Association, centre. Christopher Burr MW, right.

Federica Zanghirella, Vice President of the UK Sommelier Association, left. Christopher Burr MW right.

Three Wise Wine Experts

Instruction and enlightenment came from three delightful personalities.

Federica Zanghirella Vice President of the UK Sommelier Association. Glamorous and efficient, explaining how we were to save the delicious food to have some with each wine. Reminding us how in educational sessions we were sometimes given salty and sweet morsel to demonstrate how wine tastes different with different foods.

Christopher Burr MW. A Master of Wine always has worldwide knowledge. A walking encyclopaedia of wine. 

Denni di Rosa BA, knowledgeable on the Italian region, his homeland, Zonin's global ambassador, was an impressive presence in stature and knowledge. He explained each wine in detail.

They all emphasized that matching the wine with food, and picking our favourite pairing, comparing our choices with those of the producers and experts and the majority opinion, was not a test, but should be fun.

Matching Wine With Food

We all wrote down which wine we thought suited which food, the best match, not only on colour, red wine with red meat, white wine with white meat or fish, sweet wine with dessert, but the wines might complement or contrast in flavour. Though the recommendations are a guidelines, a consensus of popular opinion, the fun of wine tasting and wine pairing is finding what you like, for a one off enjoyable surprise, but ideally something to add to your internal recipe book and shopping list.

I am a vintage customer, stuck in the Sixties, liking sweet wines, sparkling, white and rose. So my favourite pairing was the pear dessert with the sweet wine, Castello di Albola, Vin Santo del Chianti. From Tuscany. The wine variety was Trebbiano Toscano, Malvasia del Chianti. Size 50 c.

Here is Denni di Rosa. Proudly holding the wine I praised as my favourite.

My favourite wine paired with the pear dessert was from label Castello di Albola, Vin Santo Chinati Classico DOCG, varietal Trebbiano Toscano Malvasia del Chianti, 50 cl, costing more than £20. From Tuscany in Italy. On Amazon you can buy red or white wines with the same characteristic grand house on the label.

Useful Websites On Zonin Wine

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Castello-Albola-Santo-Chianti-DOCG/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=zonin

https://www.bottledandboxed.com/product/6697_zonin-prosecco-brut-millesimato-doc-75cl

https://www.zonin1821.com/en/

zonin.co.uk

Sommelier Association

https://www.uksommelierassociation.com/

Wiki on wines - Vinopedia

https://vinopedia.org/wiki/Indication_G%C3%A9ographique_Prot%C3%A9g%C3%A9e_(IGP)

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Simple Spanish words

Flag of Spain

Many Spanish words sound like and look like simplified English.

Spanish - English

alto/alta/altos - tall male/tall female/tall people (like the English word altitude)

chicas - girls (like the slang word, chicks)

dificil - difficult

elegante - elegant

es - is

estudiantes -  students

clase - class

marzo - March ( 

mes - month

mi - my

negro - black (the eg in negro is pronounced like egg)

oficina - office

pasaportes - passports

persona - person (feminine)

precios - prices

tu - you (singular) The Spanish is the same as the French, and starts with a ti, similar to thee and thou

English - Spanish

black - negro

chicks/girls - chicas

class - clase

elegant - elegante

is - es

March - marzo (The name of the third month starts with the same three letters in both Spanish and English. In Spanish you don't need to bother with a capital letter at the start. So easy.

month - mes

my - mi

 office - oficina

passports - pasaportes

person - persona (feminine)

prices - precios

students - studiantes

tall - alto/alta/altos

Useful Websites For Learning & Translating Spanish

duolingo.com

translate google

wikitravel phrase book Spanish

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Lomito Argentinian Style Steak Restaurant, Northwood

 

Lomito is Spanish for sirloin steak, occasionally a steak sandwich. Who has a steak sandwich? Not usual in England. Only here. That is the whole point. This restaurant is Argentinian style. 

We knew it would be a big meal so we went without a starter, especially as I had already eyed the desserts.

Round Rolls

Up came small warm round rolls with crispy outsides. And oil. If I had known that they served herb butter with the steaks, I would have asked for butter with the bread starter.

Drinks

I drank a glass of Prosecco. Standard fluted glass. 

The two men had glasses of red. The other lady, looking after her sleeping daughter, opted for one apple juice. 

Four styles, cuts, of steak. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Steak Variety

Steak is one of the dishes this restaurant feaatures. Two of our group ordered the steak for two persons deal, and received four types of steak. We started with the fillet and then tried the other three types. The fillet was definitely different. The other three, well, pretty similar, no preference.  

Spatchcock Chicken

Spatchcock chicken at Lomito restaurant. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

I had the spatchcock chicken. That is split and spread on the plate in an x shape. 

One of our group of four adults opted for the vegetarian pasta, because she has salmon so much at home and in restaurants. 

Pasta at Lomito Restaurant. Photo by Angela Lamsbury.

The flavour was not remarkable and next time she would opt for the salmon.

What about potatoes? The steak dishes come with a choice of potatoes. So I bagged a couple of chips. 

Chips at Lomito restaurant. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

My meal came with salad on the side, a mound of greens with small tomatoes. 

at Lomito restaurant. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright

Plus a tiny, tasty flower.

at Lomito restaurant. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright

Desserts

at Lomito restaurant. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright

I opted for the trio of pannacotta. All creamy. Not what I was expecting. Creamy, with different coloured toppings, a bit like cheesecake or mousse in a glass.

A nice touch was real frit on top. Well presented.

A good choice for sharing between three. Too much for one. I would not order that again. Unless sharing or taking some home.

Tiramisu In A Wafer

at Lomito restaurant. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright

 The tiramisu was unusual. Not the usual sponge biscuits, but a large wafer. for an edible bowl. Definitely different. Not my taste, but the tiramisu fan liked it. 

at Lomito restaurant. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright

Decor

The decor is interesting. Cows or bulls and ethically dressed gaucho figures, the horsemen who are beloved symbols of Argentina and South America - with a guitar, all very jolly and atmospheric.

Seating and Booking

We managed to get the last table, booking on the day. The frontage of the restaurant looks a modest size, with a doorway between two glass windows. Inside there's an open kitchen area on your right, tables on your left, a staircase in the middle down to more tables in a basement, more tables at the side and back, and another room off the back which might suit a large group or birthday party.

Toilets

The toilets were on the ground floor at the back. The handicapped toilet was on the right inside the door to the washbasins shared by the ladies and gents. The handicapped area as usual had its own washbasin which I liked, having manoevred myself inside with my walking frame.

at Lomito restaurant. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright

The fancy gilded double toilet roll holder was a nice glamorous touch. 

We were too full for coffee. 

Take Away & Leftovers

The other couple took home a portion of tiramisu for a late night snack, and because the four year old slept through the entire meal in her push chair, having had an exciting but exhusitng day at Wobrn Safari park (see my previous post.

Regarding my leftovers, not much. Just a tiny amount of salad. The brown box had a slot lid which came apart in my shoulder bag and left a mess, so I would take care to place it in a plastic bag on another occasion.

On a return visit, I would opt to try the sticky toffee pudding instead. (As a dessert a holic, for a fine restaurant, my top choice would be Mill Hill's restaurant with apple strudel, or a take away strudel from B & K in Hatch End.)

But for delightful decor, something different on the menu, great steaks, and smiling service, we were happy with Lomito.

Where Is It?

Northwood is an upmarket area on the Uxbridge Road, in north west London.

Driving west towards Heathrow from Edgware, Hatch End, Pinner, when you reach the main high street you have Northwood station and Waitrose on your left, Lomito at the far end. 

Parking

On Saturday night in August 2025 I was relieved to see that parking ws free in the high street outside the restaurant after 6.30 pm,

Lastly, remind us about Argentina. Don't cry for me Argentina. Its the southern tip and upwards of South America. Second largest south American country after Brazil. 

Useful Websites

https://www.lomitorestaurants.com/

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New Spanish Words - Nuevas palabras en español and Mesa Verde National Park in the USA

 

New Spanish Words - Nuevas palabras en español

This is a map of Spain. But I am learning Spanish on Duolingo which uses the Spanish of the Americas. That's a lot of countries. Most of South America except Brazil which speaks Portuguese, which is similar to Spanish.  

Spanish - English

los platos - the plates (Los is plural, masculine plural, as in the US city Los Angeles, whose name means the angels, male angels.)

lavar - to wash  (You can see the root word, as in the English word lavatory0

lavabo - wash basin

toalla - towel

las naranjas - the oranges (but los naranjos, the orange trees)

la carne - the meat

la compra - the groceries

la fruta - the fruit

papas - potatoes

la sal - the salt

la botella - the bottle (in English double t, in Spanish double l)

necesitas - you need  (add s for second person singular, like Latin Amo, amas, amat meaning I love you love, he, she or it loves)

el refrigerador - refrigerator (the Spanish word has a hard g as in the English word big, not a j sound)

la nevera - fridge

What's the differnce. refrigerador, like refrigerator is more formal. nevera can also apply to cooler.

bolsas - bags (both words have the letters B initial and later the letter a)

la mesa - the table

Mesa Verde - green table, the adjective after the noun in Spanish. Mesa Verde is a National Park in Colorado, USA.

servicios - toilets

English - Spanish

wash basin - lavabo (the same word in four other languages, Italian, French, Turkish, and Serbo-Croatian)

towel - toalla

wash basin - lavabo

bebidas frescas- fresh drinks

Mesa Verde National Park

You have to pay a visitor fee to enter the National park but you can buy a permit which lets you visit several areas all over the USA.

Features of the area include the earliest dwellings, pits on the flat-topped mountins. Later they moved down onto the sides of the cliffs, and onto the flat land below. Visually an interesting features if the keyshape doors. If you ever thought that doorways were all oblong, or arched, or with pointed tops (gothic), here's a new idea to add.

Mesa Verde, Colorado, USA. Picture from Wikipedia.

servicios - toilets in Spain.

Mesa Verde Websites

https://www.visitmesaverde.com/plan/getting-here/

Useful Websites For Learning Spanish

duolingo.com

spanishdictionary.com

translate google

https://www.linguno.com/wordComparison/esp/frigorifico-nevera-refrigerador-heladera/

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Daily dose of Spanish - My words of the week

Spanish - English

fat - gordo

fruta - fruit

hoy - today (both words contain the two letters oy)

el melon - melon

pintura - painting

tomate - tomato

Saber - to know (similar to the french savoir faire, meaning to know what to do

 Mexclamos - we mix - Change mez to mix. XyZ ZxY.  ei ie. Think of the os ending like us/we. 

English - Spanish

fruit - fruta\gordo - fat

(to) know - saber

melon - el melon

(we) mix - mexclamos

painting - pintura

today - hoy

tomato - tomate

Reporting Problems

I had a problem this week. 

I reported it to the Help Centre Feedback. You can send them a screenshot of the page with a problem.

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

Daily Dose Of Spanish - just five minutes

I start every day with five minutes of this year's language. It's like taking a pill, a pill for the mind. It's a daily dose of travel, and preparation for travel.

A few of handy words, phrases, sentences

English - Spanish

just five minutes - Solo cinco minutos

I want - quiero (first person ends in o like the Latin, amo, amas, amat, I love, you love, he/she loves) 

I like - me gusta 

I need - necesito (single s) 

breakfast, lunch, dinner, a snack, a refrigerator - Desayuno, almuerzo, cena, café, un refrigerio

Un refrigerador

I have - tengo

six o'clock - la seis (literally the six)

I have lost - he perdido

where is - dónde está

I want to buy - comprar

what time is it - qué hora es

Spanish - English

dónde está - where is

qué hora es - what time is it

 Spanish - English

agua - water

cámara - camera

el curso - the course (don't curse the course)

es - is

fiestas - parties

frio - cold (like fridge)

hora - time

importante - important

lengua - language

(un) minuto - (a) minute

(auna) pausa - a quick break, brief stop, a pause

persona - person

vino - wine

English - Spanish

is - es

language - lengua

minute - minuto

parties - fiestas

please - por favor

quick - rapido

time - hora (similar to hour)

water - agua (not aqua but agua)

wine - vino

Useful Websites

duolingo.com

wikivoyage phrase book Spanish

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The Red Rooster - Mexican Spanish

 

Angela Lansbury wearing a Red Rooster cap. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

I love this red cap. It goes with all my red clothes.

I remember the words of the song, 'Where did you get that hat?'  Rooster Rojo, the name embroidered on my red cap, is a Mexican brand name. Rooster Rojo means red rooster in Spanish. Rojo meas red. Rooster, the same as English. The adjective goes after the noun it describes.

The rooster is a well known symbol of Mexico. A rooster is an adult male chicken, in the UK called a cock. Red rooster is nicely alliterative in English, as is Rooster Rojo in Spanish.

The brand is owned by Amber Beverage Group (ABG) and distributed in the UK by Ocado.

Useful Websites

More about the Red Rooster Beverage

https://roosterrojo.com/

Learn Spanish (Brazilian Spanish)

Duolingo.com

Next year's BCB beverage trade show at Tobacco Dock 29 and 30 June 2026 and events in other countries

https://www.barconventlondon.com/en-gb.html

To buy Rooster Rojo tequila

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s?k=rooster+rojo+tequila

https://www.masterofmalt.com/tequila/rooster-rojo/rooster-rojo-blanco-tequila

Starting Spanish

Italian flag

 I switched from learning Spanish on Duolingo to learning Italian for a year for a trip to Italy which was cancelled. Now I have just finished learning the Italian from the Duolingo course and I have gone back to Spanish.

This time I am more methodical. A few days ago I wanted to say goodnight to my husband in Italian and could not rmember the Italian for good night. He was astonished and said, "After a year of Italian, you still can't say good night!" 

I wrote down the Italian for good night on a piece of paper and put it by his bed on the bedside talbe (which Americans call a night stand). I wrote it again for myself, to go on my bedside table. 

When I switched to Spanish, I wrote the Italian for good night, and good morning.

Italian - English

ciao - hello/goodbye

buon giorno - good morning (literally good day)

buona notte - good night

Spanish - English

hola (silent h)  - hello/goodbye

buenas noches - good night

buenos dias - good day/morning

I think of Spain, Espana, with  the letter s. Add s for plurals, like Los Angeles, the city, which means the angels. 

Dia is day and dias is days. Day has the letter A second in Spanish.

Now, as soon as I think of good night or good morning in English, either the Italian or Spanish for good night or good day will pop into my head. How do I remember the difference is spelling of the word good for night and day, and which is Spanish and which is Italian.

I thought I'd check out the Portugese. Very close to Spanish. In spelling and pronounciation.

Handy in both Europe, in Portugal, and in South America in Brazil

Portuguese - English

olá - hello

Your next steps

Useful Websites Languages For Travellers

Duolingo.com

wikitravel phrasebook Italian 

wikitravel phrasebook Spanish 

wikitravel phrasebook Portuguese

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Hot To Learn Italian Quickly, Free, Reguarly

 I am learning Italian on Duolingo. I do it on my laptop at home. I do it on my mobile phone on the train and while waiting at stations. 

I am now in the Obsidian league. I am in the top five of 30 local learners. The Duolingo system tells you how you rate in a set of 30 people. The top five are promoted to the next league.

It is an incentive to keep doing another exercise when you see you need only a dozen points to overtake the person above you in the league.

My husband is travelling to Italy on separate trips at different times of  year. He also wants to learn Italian. 

So, at lunch time, I read to him from my ooozu card. It is credit card size. It is small enough to go in the pocket of a jacket, or a mobile phone.

Side one starts with easy words. I read the English and he says the Italian.

I also have the trilingual English Spanish Italian book.

If I wear teaching English to somebody who spoke Spanish or Italian, I could do the reverse, using the same three sources. 

Useful Websites

amazon.com

duolingo.com

lulu.com

ooozu.com

You might also be interested in one or more of my 20 books which you can read about and order through amazon.com and lulu.com

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Almond Cakes Around Europe - England, France, Spain & Portugal

Spanish Almond Tart

 In Spain we had almond cake for evening dinner dessert, at the Parador de Fuent De in the Picos de Europa (European Peaks) in the north of Spain.  I loved the almond filling. The same item appeared again at breakfast.

French Almond Tart

Just across the border is France. The French call their marzipan tart frangipane.

Another Spanish Almond Tart

We travelled west through northern Spain to Santiago de Compostelo, the city whose cathedral is the end of a hiking pilgrimage. The city's classic dish is the Tarta De Santiago.

We crossed the border to Spain, off to Oporto and the port wine region of the Douro.

Portuguese Almond Tart (Tarte de amendoa)

As we travelled onwards, west into Portugal I had a pleasant surprise. My favourite almond tart appeared again.

English Almond Tarts

Back in London, England, I noticed Bakewell tart or almond tart in Tesco Express. We once stopped in Bakewell to try tart from a shop claiming to be the original site of the recipe. But their tart seemed to me no better nor different than others I had tried. I was quite happy with locally bought Bakewell tart down south in London.

Bakewell tart picture by Brynn in Wikipedia under Bakewell Tart. Notice the red fruit jam (Americans say jelly) on the pastry base of the tart. Flaked almonds and icing sugar (Americans say powdered sugar) on the top of the tart.

Costa's Almonds

Across the road, in Costa in Hatch End, I was able to indulge myself in part of a slice of almond cake, shared with my husband. Costa is Italian. 

Costa Exterior with pavement seating for summer. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright. 

Costa interior with indoor seating in the light by the window. Photo by Angela Lansbury. Copyright.

Almond bake on display (lower center) at Costa in Hatch End, London. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

It is very fattening. All that almond cake in Spain had fattened me up. After all that cake and hotel and restaurant meals in Spain and Portugal I needed to go on a diet. But, who can resist cake. 

I ate a third.

Almond tart, divided, in Costa. Photo by Angela Lansbury.

Tesco Almond Cake

Tesco in London also had croissants, hot every morning, with almond fillings. (We also saw these in Singapore last year, 2023). I looked up the calorie count for almond filled croissants and was horrified.

Today I went online looking for recipes and found a few. Almond cake or rather tart, seems more easy to make than cheesecake.

You have a shortcrust pastry base. You can buy this from the supermarkets in rolls unbaked and roll it out. Then three equal amounts, 180 grams, of ground almonds which American call almond flour), granulated sugar, and butter. Add three eggs. 

Either mix the eggs and sugar, then the almonds, or mix the dry sugar and almonds, then add the eggs.

You may have to pre-cook the base so it doesn't go soggy

How high and long do you cook it?  170 degrees for 45 minutes.

Optional extras are lemon juice and/or cinnamon.

On top you can put almond flakes (also called sliced almonds), or confectioners' sugar (icing sugar(, or raspberries. If you think fruit is healthier than sugar this would be a good idea. Adding flour is optional, and some recipes without it or tars without it are promoted as gluten free. Almond essence is added by some books to enhance the almond flavour.

Another variation is individual cupcakes with white icing on top and a cherry in the middle, recently revived from an old recipe book promoted as Gloucester tarts which were given away free at the city's museums as a promotion. The distinctive ingredients were ground rice and raspberry jam.

Gloucester tart from Wikipedia.

Gloucester is a cathedral city in southwest England on the way to Wales, near Monmouth. 

I must admit I was familiar with this kind of cake or tart. I remember clearly trying both this one which was cheaper and an almond tart I decided that the almonds were lost under the sugar icing, which seemed to me a way of giving you a layer of sugar without almonds, which looked pretty. An economy for mass production. But for pure almond taste, I preferred an almond cake.

I am now thinking of making an almond tart at home, with and without the almond essence. I shall read the label to check if it is really intensified flavour from real or roasted almonds, or a chemical. But since I am already over-indulging in the delights of a tart made by mixing sugar with almonds, admittedly with added egg. maybe I should be less prim and proper and just enjoy.

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Useful Websites

The Shop and Cafe in Bakewell, Derbyshire, Peak District, England

https://www.bakewelltarts.co.uk/

English Almond Tart Recipe - Waitrose supermarket video on making Bakewell Tart

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2R8V_yooAEc

Spanish Almond Tart Recipe

https://www.carolinescooking.com/tarta-de-santiago/

Portuguese Almond Tart Recipe Video

https://honestcooking.com/tarte-de-amendoa-portuguese-almond-tart-recipe/

Italian Almond Tart Sbrisolona

https://www.bing.com/search?q=ialian+almond+tart&pc=GD03&form=GDAVG1&ptag=7301&showconv=1

French Frangipane Almond Tart

https://thecafesucrefarine.com/ridiculously-easy-french-almond-frangipane-tart/

See my next post on Italian almond cake.

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