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.

Stevenage Museum is free and shows an old kitchen, motorbike and cinema

Stevenage Museum is free and easy to find, on a huge motorway though road, underneath an ultra-modern church, with a striking freestanding column with a spiral staircase visible up the middle and a cross on top, next to a Holiday Inn Hotel.

The only money to pay is for parking, any donation you make, or buying souvenirs. We parked in the car park opposite which has a machine which takes money and gives change.

Photo courtesy of Trevor Sharot, showing the entrance to Stevenage Museum.

Embroidery and history? That idea has been around since 1066 and the battle of Hastings. The current exhibition at Stevenage museum is on embroidery and you can see several unusual items inspired by Stevenage history, such as a large wall embroidery of a map. Another item was a mirror with a frame of embroidery with sayings inspired by an old letter.

But I was soon into the main museum which has displays showing outdoors and indoor life through the ages. You start with a giant time frieze above eye level showing evolution from cave life era through to modern times.

I enjoyed sitting on an old cinema seat watching a video display about cinema and cinemas seats through the ages. Then in a mock up of a kitchen I looked at the old square sink, the shopping list. What did they buy and not buy?

Exhibits are designed to appeal to all ages and interests. I was intrigued by the birds and animals. Others were looking at the Vincent motorcycle and its log book from 1937, a machine built at the local motorcycle factory.

Children could use worksheets and colouring pencils and quizzes. Older people would love the stories of popular music through the ages.

If you reach the end before your companions there's a sofa for a snooze, a coffee machine where you can buy coffee, or browse the display of things to buy, books, postcards, a few items of jewellery, lots of toys and games for the young and young at heart.

We spent about an hour but only read about half the display boards. We intend to go back.

Last entry on a Saturday was 4.30. We stayed until about 4.50, then drove off to old Stevenage and had coffee in a Costa.

General Museum Information
http://www.stevenage.gov.uk/about-stevenage/museum/

You can read reviews on TripAdvisor.
http://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/Attraction_Review-g190726-d4481165-Reviews-Stevenage_Museum-Stevenage_Hertfordshire_England.html

For pictures see:
https://www.google.co.uk/maps/uv?hl=en&pb=!1s0x487631d101ce78e1:0x954a4850a334b399!2m5!2m2!1i80!2i80!3m1!2i100!3m1!7e1!4shttp://www.panoramio.com/photo/10393913!5sstevenage+museum+-+Google+Search&sa=X&ved=0CIgBEKIqMA5qFQoTCLfGjqrUj8YCFYNbFAodbG0ATQ

Stevenage Museum, St George's Way, Stevenage SG1 1XX.
Tel: +44 1438 218881.