Spanish words - how to remember them

 Duolingo teaches Spanish as spoken in South America, but the Spanish of Mexico and Spain is very similar.

Let's look at some easy to recognize and remember words. I am learning on Duolingo. I have paid to get the version without advertising. I am learning for an hour or so every day, so it's worthwhile to be comfortable.

Spanish - English words

A

adios - goodbye.  archivo - file (in folders or archives). atletas - athletes.

B

barco - boat (embark on a boat)

C 

capital - capital. carro - car (remember to add o, not a but o, oh no, not my car). confortable - comfortable (change the m to n in Spanish)

Casada - married (a couple living in a casa or house together, casada con, married to/with)

D

 dias - days. diente - tooth (like the English word dentist, or dental floss, or dental work). dificil - difficult. durante - during.

E

 escuela - school. estadio - stadium.  excepto - except

F 

fotos - photos. fresco - fresh

frio - cold (like freezing)

G

 grupo - group

H

 helicoptero - helicopter. historia - history. hobby - hobby. hola - hello. horas - hours/time

I

 idea - idea invitadas - guests. invited people

J 

jirafa - giraffe. junio - June.

K 

(for borrowed words from other languages)

Karaoke - karaoke

kilo - kilo

kiwi - kiwi

L

 lago - lake. libro - book (think of library book)

M

 maestro - teacher. minutos - minutes. mojadas - wet (think of moist)

N

necessito - I need (think of it is necessary)

O

 opera - opera

P

 pasaporte - passport. pescado - fish (like pisces, the fish star sign in the zodiac). Plumas - feathers/plumes.

Q

quieto - still or calm

R

radio - radio.

rapido - fast.

reserva - reservation

rio - river.

roca - rock.

S

 sol - sun, like Costa del Sol, sunny south coast of Spain, soleado - sunny. |See the words beginning with e.)

T 

taxi - taxi. turista - tourist

U 

util - useful (like wartime WW2 utility furniture)

V 

vacio/vacias - empty (adjective similar to vacant, matching masculine or feminine and plural endings of nouns) . ventana - window (like the English words vent, ventilate)

visitar - to visit

W

 (for words borrowed from other languages)

web

whisky

X

 (For words borrowed from other languages) 

xilofono, accent on the first letter o to show the syllable to emphasize)

Y

 ya - already yo - I

Z

zona - zone. zoo - zoo.

Useful Websites on Spanish Letters and pronunciation

https://blog.duolingo.com/spanish-alphabet-pronunciation

https://quillbot.com/blog/word-finder/spanish-words-that-start-with-g/

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Strange things about Madeira, Volcanoes, Water, Waterfalls, the wet Westerlies, the world's islands and wet places

Problem
Where? Most people don't know of Madeira but don't where Madeira is. I had been there before but had forgotten the location. It's the fate of many islands, such as Singapore and Malta.

Black Volcanic Ash
The island is made of black volcanic ash. It was formed from a volcanic eruption. So were many islands. Think of: Hawaii.

Indonesia's Eruptions
Everybody has heard of Krakatowa. It was well documented by survivors.
Another of the Indonesians' islands was a greater disaster for local people and the whole world.  On Sumbawa an eruptions created the year of endless night, which reached as far as England and Europe in the early 1800s.

Red Earth
So the volanic eruptions leave black ash and black beaches. But Madeira also has red earth. Like Singapore and parts of Africa and Devon in England. I know. I spent a lot of time wiping Madeira's red dust from my shoes off the sills of the hire car. Then more time wiping the 'red' - or rather orange, stain off my white and turquoise trainers.

The World's Wet and Windy Places
Wet areas of Madeira and Singapore are on one side of the island. The winds blow one way because of the rotation of the earth. As the earth spins the air moves past. The air drops water vapour on the mountain tops so you get streams and waterfalls running down towards the sea at sea level.

The West and the West and the Westerlies
The west of Singapore, around places called Bukit, which is Malay for hill, gets more rainfall, more than the drier East near Changi airport.

Madeira Levadas - Water Channels
On Madeira the farmers built levadas or draining channels or waterways taking water to their land. The rainfall means green grass, bushes, trees.

Tropical Weather and Plants
Heat means tropical colourful flowers, and palm trees.

Madeira is south of England, hotter. Heat and wet means tropical plants, bananas, coconuts from coconut palms, cane for sugar and rum.


Useful Websites
lastminute.com
opodo.co.uk flight comparison website
tripadvisor.co.uk
tripadvisor.com
visitmadeira.com
Wikipedia.org Madeira
Wikitravel.org Madeira
Wikivoyage.org Madiera

Author
Angela Lansbury, travel writer and photographer, author and speaker.