English/Spanish Exchange http://www.es-xchange.com Co-authored by native Spanish and English speakers Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:57:19 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0 es-xchange-bloghttp://feedburner.google.comSubscribe with My Yahoo!Subscribe with NewsGatorSubscribe with My AOLSubscribe with BloglinesSubscribe with NetvibesSubscribe with GoogleSubscribe with PageflakesWelcome to the English/Spanish Exchange Blog's Feed. Suscribe through any of the following services or have the updated emailed directly to you! Feel free to email us anytime at info@es-xchange.com with your comments, questions and ideas. MyIntercambio http://www.es-xchange.com/2010/04/07/myintercambio/ http://www.es-xchange.com/2010/04/07/myintercambio/#comments Wed, 07 Apr 2010 15:56:24 +0000 Karin Sequén http://www.es-xchange.com/?p=217

“Breaking Language Barriers” Video Contest for English Speakers

 
Do you have a funny story about learning or speaking Spanish? MyIntercambio wants to hear it!

Whether you’ve repeatedly confused your Spanish-speaking friends by asking them where to buy portavoces (spokespersons) when you really meant to say altavoces (speakers), or exclaimed how that movie you just watched was excitante (sexually stimulating) when in fact you meant emocionante (exciting), then you have a story to tell us.

We’re giving away super packs from Notes in Spanish to three people who submit a short video telling us their anecdote in Spanish. Notes in Spanish’s audio podcasts with accompanying worksheets bring you authentic, real Spanish conversations about real-life topics, making you totally confident with your Spanish.

Don’t worry if you think your Spanish isn’t good enough. All Spanish levels are welcome. There will be one winner for each level of proficiency (beginner, intermediate and advanced) so everyone has a chance of winning.

What’s more, your video will be voted on by a community of people learning Spanish just like you! The finalists will then be judged on originality, authenticity and creativity by a panel of experts.

We want to see and hear you! For more details on the video contest , go to MyIntercambio.

Contest starts April 12, 2010 and ends May 12, 2010.

About MyIntercambio

MyIntercambio is a social network that connects native English and Spanish speakers. Our goal is to create a community of real people that have real conversations, both online and in the real world.

Learn more about what you can do on MyIntercambio or why we created the site.

“Rompiendo las barreras del idioma” Concurso de Vídeo para hablantes de español.

 
¿Te ha ocurrido alguna historia divertida mientras aprendías o practicabas inglés? MyIntercambio quiere que se la cuentes!

Tanto si alguna vez has confundido kitchen (cocina) con chicken (pollo) o has asustado a tus amigos de habla inglesa diciéndoles que estas constipated (estreñido) cuando querías decir constipado (congested), tienes una historia que contarnos.

Regalaremos un año de suscripción a podcastsinenglish.com a 3 personas de las que envíen un pequeño video contándonos la anécdota EN INGLÉS. Esta suscripción te dará acceso a 180 archivos de audio y a cientos de ejercicios que te permitirán mejorar tu inglés durante todo un año!

No te preocupes si crees que tu nivel de inglés no es muy bueno. Todos sois bienvenidos. Habrá un ganador por cada nivel de inglés (principiante, intermedio y avanzado) así que todo el mundo tiene oportunidad de ganar.

De hecho, tu video será votado por una comunidad de gente que también está aprendiendo inglés. Los finalistas serán evaluados posteriormente por un jurado de expertos que tendrán en cuenta su originalidad, creatividad y verosimilitud.

Queremos saber de ti! Para más detalles del consurso puedes ir a MyIntercambio.

El concurso empieza el 5 de abril y termina el 5 de mayo de 2010.

Sobre MyIntercambio

MyIntercambio es una red social que conecta hablantes nativos de español e inglés. Nuestro objetivo es crear una comunidad de gente real que pueda tener conversaciones reales, tanto online como presencialmente.

Conoce más sobre lo que puedes hacer en MyIntercambio o por qué hemos creado este sitio.

]]> http://www.es-xchange.com/2010/04/07/myintercambio/feed/ 0 World Digital Library http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/19/world-digital-library/ http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/19/world-digital-library/#comments Sun, 19 Apr 2009 18:33:33 +0000 Graham A Stephen http://www.es-xchange.com/?p=196 http://project.wdl.org/project/english/index.html

On 21 April, UNESCO, the Library of Congress, and 32 partner institutions will launch the World Digital Library. This multi-lingual site will provide free access to a wealth of cultural materials, such as books, manuscripts, maps, drawings, photographs, recordings and films, from libraries and archives from across the globe.

The collections will be searchable and browsable through the medium of the following languages: Arabic, Chinese, English, French, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.

Copyright © Graham A Stephen, 2009
]]> http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/19/world-digital-library/feed/ 1 University of Texas Liberal Arts web sites http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/15/university-of-texas-liberal-arts-web-sites/ http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/15/university-of-texas-liberal-arts-web-sites/#comments Wed, 15 Apr 2009 20:02:29 +0000 Graham A Stephen http://www.es-xchange.com/?p=194 The University of Texas has developed a number of Liberal Arts web sites of interest to those keen on Hispanic culture and the Spanish language.

Spanish Proficiency Exercises
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spe/index.html

This site hosts an excellent collection of short video interviews with a variety of native Spanish speakers from Latin America and Spain. There are a total of 85 tasks divided into Beginning, Intermediate (A & B), Advanced (A & B) and Superior levels. In each task there are half a dozen QuickTime video clips that you can watch online, with or without transcripts in Spanish or English visible. Alternatively, you can download the clips in m4v format to view on an iPod. The page for each task also provides access to short notes on related vocabulary, phrases and grammar.

Spanish Civilization
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spn328/

This is a fascinating cultural compendium containing the following categories: Arquitectura, Pintura, Mapas, Música, and Antigüedad. In the Pintura section, for example, there are then separate pages for nine different artists, including Velázquez, Goya and Picsasso. A selection of works is given for each, and details of the work are provided in a question-and-popup-answer format. Goya’s El dos de mayo de 1808, for instance, has the following Q & A:

Q: ¿Qué representa este cuadro? ¿Qué características de la pintura romántica se pueden ver en él?

A: El cuadro, pintado por comisión de Fernando VII después de la Guerra de Independencia, en 1814, muestra la resistencia del pueblo madrileño contra las tropas francesas que habían ocupado la ciudad. También es conocido como “La carga de los mamelucos”. Es un buen ejemplo de pintura romántica porque muestra mucha acción violenta, emociones fuertes y personajes exóticos (como los mamelucos, soldados egipcios del ejército francés, con sus uniformes orientales), así como por su patriotismo y glorificación del pueblo español en su lucha por la independencia.

Cantar de mio Cid
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/cid/

This interactive Flash website provides a number of different ways of experiencing the epic poem. You can, for example, see images of the individual pages of the fourteenth century manuscript whilst listening to it being read in Old Spanish (all 5 hours 9 minutes and 28 seconds) and reading along at the same time. The transcriptions are shown in both ‘paleographic’ and ‘normative’ form. The former is taken directly from the manuscript and the latter serves as a link between the original form and modern editions of the poem. There is also an English translation visible at the same time.

Spanish Grammar Exercises
http://www.laits.utexas.edu/spex/siteindex.php

Aimed primarily at University of Texas first-year Spanish students, this site provides 22 sets of interactive, fill-in-the-blank exercises.

LANIC – The Latin American Network Information Center
http://lanic.utexas.edu/indexesp.html

This portal site is available in English, Portuguese and Spanish and has pointers to a wealth of information on a wide variety of topics related to Latin America. The subject categories covered include: Economy, Education, Geography & Environment, Government, Humanities, Internet & Computing, Libraries & Reference, Media & Communication, Recreation, Science, Social Sciences, and Society & Culture.

Copyright © Graham A Stephen, 2009
]]> http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/15/university-of-texas-liberal-arts-web-sites/feed/ 3 Tecla http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/07/tecla/ http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/07/tecla/#comments Tue, 07 Apr 2009 20:05:36 +0000 Graham A Stephen http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/07/tecla/ The Consejería de Educación of the Spanish Embassy in the UK publishes an electronic magazine called Tecla aimed at teachers and students of the language. This comes out once a month during academic term time and is available at three different levels: Basic, Intermediate and Advanced. Each part is available as a four-page PDF and contains an article followed by associated exercises. The articles themselves cover a wide variety of topics in culture and current affairs. The March edition, for example, has articles on Youth Orchestras, International Women’s Day, and some Spanish and Hispanoamerican inventions.

http://www.mepsyd.es/exterior/uk/es/tecla/tecla.shtml

Copyright © Graham A Stephen, 2009
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You can browse their list of available videos for Modern Foreign Languages and then watch the streaming videos online without having to log in (UK only).

The following Spanish series are available:

Copyright © Graham A Stephen, 2009
]]> http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/05/teachers-tv/feed/ 3 Spanish phonetics – visualisation http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/05/spanish-phonetics-visualisation/ http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/05/spanish-phonetics-visualisation/#comments Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:50:44 +0000 Graham A Stephen http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/05/spanish-phonetics-visualisation/ The University of Iowa provides a really excellent online phonetics tool:
http://www.uiowa.edu/~acadtech/phonetics/spanish/frameset.html

All the sounds of the Spanish language are illustrated with animations showing the mechanics of the production of the sound, together with step-by-step descriptions.

There are also video clips of a Spanish speaker saying each sound (in isolation and also in various example words).

Copyright © Graham A Stephen, 2009
]]> http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/05/spanish-phonetics-visualisation/feed/ 1 Free Spanish units from the Open University – OpenLearn http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/05/free-spanish-units-from-the-open-university-openlearn/ http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/05/free-spanish-units-from-the-open-university-openlearn/#comments Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:44:49 +0000 Graham A Stephen http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/05/free-spanish-units-from-the-open-university-openlearn/ The Open University has available in the OpenLearn LearningSpace site a few units from some of its Spanish courses.

The units available are:

Copyright © Graham A Stephen, 2009
]]> http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/05/free-spanish-units-from-the-open-university-openlearn/feed/ 0 “Cool Spanish” (BBC Languages) http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/05/cool-spanish-bbc-languages/ http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/05/cool-spanish-bbc-languages/#comments Sun, 05 Apr 2009 14:23:55 +0000 Graham A Stephen http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/05/cool-spanish-bbc-languages/ The BBC Languages web site has a section on slang expressions in Spanish:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish/cool/

This is divided into 16 thematic sections on topics such as Food, Friends, Money, Swearwords, etc.

You can listen on the site to the phrases one at a time and read an accompanying explanation. You can also download the phrases in each section as an MP3 file.

Copyright © Graham A Stephen, 2009
]]> http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/04/05/cool-spanish-bbc-languages/feed/ 1 Librería de Traducciones http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/01/29/libreria-de-traducciones/ http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/01/29/libreria-de-traducciones/#comments Fri, 30 Jan 2009 00:10:01 +0000 Karin Sequén http://www.es-xchange.com/?p=187 Como algunos de ustedes sabrán, hace un poco más de un año trasladamos nuestro blog de Blogspot a WordPress. WordPress es una excelente herramienta para blogs -la mejor según la opinión de muchísima gente- por la variedad de extensiones (plugins) que pueden instalarse para enriquecer la funcionalidad del mismo.

Sin embargo, la mayor parte de estas extensiones están únicamente en inglés. Así que, considerando que este es un blog bilingüe y como contribución a todos aquellos hispanohablantes que utilizan WordPress, hemos preparado una serie de traducciones de una gran cantidad de las extensiones o plugins más populares de esta plataforma.

Para descargarlos, encuentre el listado completo aquí:
http://www.es-xchange.com/translations/

Actualizado al 27/Marzo/2009

]]> http://www.es-xchange.com/2009/01/29/libreria-de-traducciones/feed/ 0 Spanish accents audio library update http://www.es-xchange.com/2008/10/13/spanish-accents-audio-library-update/ http://www.es-xchange.com/2008/10/13/spanish-accents-audio-library-update/#comments Mon, 13 Oct 2008 19:15:04 +0000 Graham A Stephen http://www.es-xchange.com/?p=183 The previous article on differences in Spanish accents
has recently been updated. The associated audio library now contains a total of 66 voice recordings from 49 cities in 12 different countries —
Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Peru, Spain, Uruguay and Venezuela.

Copyright © Graham A Stephen, 2008
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