Flag of Spain
I started translating sentences I was thinking.
I thought, what is this? This is my diary.
But the Spanish translation was que esto
este es mi diario
Why was este use in one place, este in another.
Este is like the. it comes before a noun. esto is alone.
Just remember este es, the letter e appears three times.
But what about esta!
¿Dónde está mi diario?
Notice the accent on the letter a.
And the accent on the o in where. |The accents for emphasis. Think of panic. WHERE IS my diary?
Duolingo includes tips. You can then check AI, Quora, Wikipedia and Youtube.
Useful Websites
Most adult English speakers already know these words. It is amusing to note how many words you already know of another language. I teach English, so for the benefit of children and people whose first language is not English, such as Chinese speakers, I have added some handy translations.
casa - house
macho - strong man, strong not just physically but verbally
poncho - cape without arms
sombrero - hat with a big brim worn in hot countries such as Mexico and Spain
villa - large house, often with grounds, elegant and grand
Rarer but well known words
albino
armada
armadillo
mosquito
Wine Words In Spanish
From wine, my husband knows
vino for wine,
blanco for white,
tinto for red like tinted (rosso is Italian).
Useful Websites on Spanish
https://springlanguages.com/learn-spanish/spanish-words-used-in-english
Please share links to your favourite posts.
Spanish - English
ayer - yesterday (notice the ye in both languages)
colegas - colleagues
el documento - the document
documentos - documents
en - on
importante - important
informacion - information accent on the o
internet - the internet
una noticia - some news not one news
mala - bad
mala noticia - bad news - not notice#
oficina - office
una parte - one part
proyecto - project
tu - you, like thou
Challenging words
el archivo - the file, not the archive
Please bookmark and share links to your favourite posts.
accesible - accessible
acciones - actions
el bautismo - baptism
calma - calm
la ceremonia cristiana - Christian ceremony
el comentario - comment
contacto - contact
danza ritual - ritual dance (the adjective goes after the noun in Spanish)
la diferencia - the difference
documento - document
educativo - educative/educational
efectiva - effective
emergencia - emergency
en caso de - in case of
expertos - experts
final - final
fronteras - frontiers
un grupo - a group
inmediata - immediate
individuo - individual
internet - internet
kit - kit
local - local
loteria - lottery
mapas - maps
moderno - modern
minuto - minute
objetivo - objective
necesario - necessary
persona - person
plataforma - platform
primero - first
probable - probable
profesional - professional
profunda - profound
regularmente - regularly
rito - rite
(el - the, masculine)_ritual - ritual
rutas - routes
rutina - routine
salvar - to save
servicios - services
situaciones - situations
(el) tiempo - (the) time
tren - train
turista - tourist
universales - universal
verifica - verify
la vida - life
videos - videos
Spanish - English
alcohol - alcohol
comenza - commence or start
contento - contented / happy
correcta - correct
Costa - coast
ecuatorial - equitorial
especial - special
desastre - disaster
dia - day
difficil (accent on the second letter i for emphasis) - difficult
El - the
él - he - add an accent in Spanish, but remove the letter t in English, and you turn the into heen - inen mis manos - in my hands (manos as in manual labor or manually)ensalada - saladexcelente - excellentFeliz - happy - like felicitations, the name Felicity
Feliz Navidad - Happy Christmas
Francisco - Francis
Hablantes - speaking
Hispano - Spanish / hispanic
horas - hours
informacion (accent on the second o tells you to emphasize that syllable) - information
internet - internet
libros - books (I think of library books)
Los - the (plural)
manana - tomorrow, morning
a la media noche - at midnight
mi - my
muchos - many (like much)
Navidad - nativity
no - not
paquete - packet/package
Paises - countries (like the French word for country, le pay)
Puerto - port
Republica - Republic
Rica / Rico - rich (feminine/masculine)
Salvador = savour
San - saint
la secretaria - the secretary
supermercado - supermarket
y - and
20 words and phrases.
Read the Spanish-English three times. Then see if you remember the English-Spanish.
English - Spanish
Find a way to remember each word
I muddled up hair and brush even when both words were in Spanish on the screen.
Then I made up my memory aid. Both words start with c - which adds to the confusion. They both look so similar.
One word has a p and the other has a b. One word has the second letter the vowel a, the other e. A brush pulls on your hair. Double ll.
Hair is under a cap and beautiful. Turn the p upside down like an upside down cap.
The order of vowels. Think of ae io u.
cabello is a then e.
Cepill is e then i then o.
Hair brush, the word starting with a, like hair, ike the first letter in hair, which is first of the pair.
The brush is seen in the pillow. cepillo.
English - Spanish
brush - cepillo
hair - cabello
Spanish - English
ahora - now (nOw is the HOuR)
alto - high (like altitude)
animales - animals
ayer - yesterday (AYe - scottish for yes, YEsteRday)
carne - meat (like carnivore)
Dormitorio - bedroom
los dientes - teeth (like dentist and dental work and dentistry)
me - me
naranja - orange, add the n in front, an orange used to be a norange in English
viento - wind (like ventilation)
invierno - winter , like the French for winter, hiver, change v to b and you hibernate, to get through the winter by sleeping in a duvet (spelled with a v)
English Spanish
animals - animales
bedroom - dormitorio
high - alto
me -me
meat - carne
now - ahora
orange - naranja
teeth - los dientes
wind - viento
winter - invierno
yesterday - ayer
Please share links to your favourite posts.
Spanish Word Meanings
Spanish is easy. Many words have Latin roots, like English.
Spanish - English
1 Buena - good
2 cerro - hill/mountain
3 con - with
4 cristo - Christ
5 de - of (the same word as in French)
6 del - of the
7 desde / desde de - for, from, since
8 en - in
9 estatua - statue
10 iglesia - church
11 mapa - map
12 Olimpico - Olympic
13 nocturna - nocturnal/at night
14 rey - king
15 santa - saint
16 teatro - theatre
17 torre - tower
18 universidad - university
19 valle - valley
20 ventura - fortune
21 vista - view
English - Spanish
Christ - Cristo
church - iglesia
good - buena
hill/mountain - cerro
in - en
king - rey
map - mapa
nacturnal/at night - nocturna
of - de
of the - del
Olympic - Olimpico
saint - santa (as in Santa Claus which means Saint Charles)
statue - estatua
theatre - teatro
tower - torre
university - universidad
valley - valle
view - vista
with - con
English - Spanish
Which languages should you learn and why? Where are you likely to travel on holiday or business in the next five years? If you have no concrete plans, which languages are closest to your language? Since you are reading this in English, I shall relate languages to English, but also look at groups of languages, so that if you have learned or plan to learn another, you can add an extra language more easily.
Spanish
I remember speaking to a friend, Peter, who was planning to buy a property in Spain and move there for part or all of the year. He had started learning Spanish at a local evening class. He met a girl at the Spanish evening class - and married her.
My parents also bought a property in Spain so they could spend winter there. I did not make any conscious effort to learn Spanish, which was a pity. But when driving around I noticed the words villa and casa and banco and decided to list the number of Spanish words I already knew and recognized. I thought there would be 5 to 10 words. I listed the words as we passed signs. To my amazement, in only a weekend I had a list of around thirty words.
Much later, when Duolingo came along, and I could learn for free, I started learning Spanish in a system which taught whole sentences and basic grammar as well as wider vocabulary.
French
I grew up in London, England where I went to a girls' grammar school, and I wanted to learn Spanish and German at school. Unfortunately, the timetable was arranged so that my class learned Latin and French. My parents were happy that I was learning French. France was a nearby country. Postwar, WW2, my parents thought it was better to travel to France than to Germany, so recently at war with us (not once but twice in their lifetimes). French was the language of menus in restaurants, more useful. They didn't know, or didn't say, but German was more challenging grammatically.
When I was doing O level, my parents sent me on the summer holiday to a Frnech course in France. (I met a Swedish boy.) Later I went on holiday touring Greece with a French group. I made lists of French words in a small vocabulary notebook. I liked mackerel and discovered that the French word was similar, maquereau. That was easy. I didn't learn all the names of the other fish.
On holiday, a boy sitting beside me asked if I like fish. I replied, in French, I like mackerel.
He gasped in astonishment at what he assumed was my extensive vocabulary, and told the others, 'I asked her if she liked fish and she replied she liked mackerel!'
Useful Websites