de Juan José Millás ( “Cuerpo y prótesis”)

Un chico y una chica muy jóvenes, de instituto, discutían acaloradamente en el metro. Me acerqué disimuladamente a ellos en el momento en el que la chica decía:

-¿Y por qué las mujeres tenemos que tomar somníferos en lugar de somníferas? Lo lógico es que hubiera somníferos para hombres y somníferas para mujeres.

-Eso es lo mismo que decir que los hombres deberíamos tomar aspirinos en lugar de aspirinas. Pues mira, yo me he pasado la vida tomando aspirinas y soy tan hombre como el que más.

-Ya está. Si no te sale el macho no te quedas contento. Naturalmente que los hombres deberíais tomar aspirinos. Yo, si algún día tengo hijos, les daré aspirinos, del mismo modo que a las hijas les administraré antibióticas cuando les haga falta.

-Y los chicos se sentarán en sillos en vez de en sillas, me imagino.

-Pues sí, se sentarán en sillos y dormirán en camos y comerán el sopo, no la sopa, con cucharos. Las cucharas son para las mujeres.

-Tú estás loca. Vete al psiquiatra.

-Y tú al psiquiatro.

El tren se detuvo, se bajaron y yo continué perplejo cinco estaciones más pensando que la chica llevaba razón. ¿Cómo era posible que una lengua tan sexuada como la nuestra cometiera unos fallos, o quizá unas fallas, de ese calibre? Todo el mundo, muy pendiente de que los niños no jueguan con muñecas ni las niñas con tanques, y sin embargo se obliga a las mujeres a viajar en el metro (en lugar de en la metra) y a los hombres a subir al tranvía (en lugar de al tranvío).

Angustiado por esta imperfección que acababa de descubrir en mi lengua materna (perdón, en mi lenguo materno), miré alrededor y vi a una chica leyendo un libro, lo que me pareció una perversión (debería leer una libra) y a un hombre rascándose la rodilla, cuando lo suyo es que se rascara el rodillo y así sucesivamente.

Llegué a casa (a caso en realidad) y le dije a mi mujer que todo estaba patas arriba. Cuando le expliqué por qué me miró de un modo raro y me pidió que hiciera unas tortillas para la cena.

-Unos tortillos, si no te importa  -le respondí-, puesto que me voy a ocupar yo del asunto. Si quieres tortillas, las tendrás que hacer tú misma.

Por la noche, la oí hablar con su madre por teléfono (por teléfona, para decirlo con propiedad), y tuve la impresión de que me criticaba. Al día siguiente, se fue de casa, dejándome una nota en la que me pedía que no intentara localizarla. Le daba miedo (<<o mieda, por emplear tu lenguaje>>) vivir conmigo. La echo de menos, pero no podría estar con alguien que se expresara tan mal como ella. Así es la vida, o el vido, qué le vamos a hacer.

—————————————————

Glossary:

“instituto” means “high school” in this context.

Somnífero means sleeping pill.

Si no te sale el macho no te quedas contento (Essentially, “You’re not happy if you can’t be the tough, manly guy.) The verb “quedarse” is being used here with the same meaning as the verb “estar.”

llevar razón = tener razón = to be right

This week’s podcast is a very amusing take about this particular aspect of the Spanish language. Written by Juan José Millás, the story is part of “Cuerpo y prótesis,” a wonderful collection of essays and short stories about the superficiality and banality of modern life.  The witty, humorous tone of many of Millás’ essays reminds me a lot of the writing style of American writer David Sedaris.  Millás has a writing style that is  sophisticated yet totally accessible.

Unfortunately, this particular book of Millás is not sold outside of Spain. I looked for it on Amazon with no luck. In any case, here’s a link to it to purchase it from Spain.

I recently stumbled across an interesting piece about “language barrier love” by dating coach Jag Carrao. In the article Carrao outlines the pros and cons of being in a relationship where the two people don’t speak the same language. On the face of it, it would seem like a recipe for disaster but Carrao says there are many advantages to having this type of communication gap.

Among them are:

• No man-terrifying “relationship talks.”
• Fewer heated debates (about politics and religion)
• Less ambiguity about date logistics (aware of the language barrier, he nails down date/time/place to avoid any misunderstanding).
• Exotic charm of endearments uttered in a foreign tongue.
• And most importantly: less conversation, more kissing.

Read the complete article here.

I agree with Carrao’s opinion that when there is physical chemistry or a spark of mutual interest/curiosity the language barrier can kind of cut through the crap that often exists in dating someone who speaks your native language. But I think a language barrier also causes many people to revert to the conventional male/female roles, with the man taking the lead and doing the pursuing of the female, as opposed to the other way around.

Having a language barrier may initially be a fun adventure, but it can mask some serious issues that may come back to haunt the couple down the line. In the initial stages of dating, people are generally on their best behavior. Throw in a language barrier and little things you would’ve easily noticed early on in another relationship with a person who speaks your language, may wind up going unnoticed or swept under the rug. For example, views about women, family, money, etc. Of course a lot of these bigger misunderstandings stem from sociocultural differences, not just the differences in language, but the language barrier may initially cover up these issues.

Have you ever been in relationship where there was a language barrier? How did it turn out? If the relationship lasted, did you and your boyfriend/girlfriend/husband/wife eventually learn the other person’s language and then eventually communicate primarily in one language? Or do you communicate in a hybrid language combining your two native languages?

This expression, (along with “¿comprende?”)  is one that is used frequently and perhaps compulsively by students of Spanish everywhere. In English, the question “Do you understand?” is commonly used to confirm that that the other person is listening and has, indeed, understood what you have said. Normally no pasa nada when someone asks this question in English, unless the tone of the speaker’s voice is aggressive, brusque or condescending.

But in Spanish using this muletilla (verbal crutch), regardless of tone of voice, rankles many native Spanish speakers because of what they think it implies.

“Es como llamarte bruta en tu cara”, (”It’s like calling you ignorant to your face”) says BBC Mundo reader Sonia Janet from  Venezuela.

I used to say “¿me entiendes?” in the same manner I used the expression in English until finally one of my Spanish friends corrected me and told me that it was very annoying. At first I was shocked because no one had ever mentioned it to me before. But then I was grateful that he had mentioned it.

I asked him what a better alternative was and he told me ¿me explico?, (which literally means “Am I explaining myself?”), sounded more polite.  Essentially, it makes the same query as ¿me entiendes? in terms of requesting confirmation of comprehension, but it shifts the responsibility away from the listener and places it squarely on your shoulders to explain yourself better.

However, there is no pleasing everyone.

Another BBC Mundo reader from Tijuana, Mexico writes that ¿me explico? irritates her too. “¡Caray! Es que no soy tonta, ni sorda, ni hablo un dialecto marciano”.

OK, OK, tranquila, chiquilla. 

You can read the BBC Mundo story and reader comments here. It is a fun bit of insight into the way native Spanish speakers view some very common phrases in their language.

Photo from iStockPhoto.com

A good example of this is the expression “It’s Greek to me,” a very common English expression to say that something is confusing or unintelligible. William Shakespeare is credited with popularizing the phrase when he put it in the mouth of a character in his famous play about Julius Caesar. (”…but those that understood him smiled at one another and shook their heads; but, for my own part, it was Greek to me.“)

When I first started to learn Spanish I assumed that Spanish speakers would use the same expression because the Greek language has nothing in common with Spanish. Well, I was wrong. In Spanish, the equivalent expression is está en chino (”It’s in Chinese”) or me suena a chino (”It sounds like Chinese to me.”)

It’s not surprising that similar expressions exist in other languages. However, it turns out that the language some other languages use as an example of something strange, odd or unintelligible is….SPANISH!! Can you believe it?!

Blogger Erik Rasmussen turned me on to this subject by forwarding to me a link to the chart below. It shows, in graphic form, what linguists call “the directed graph of stereotypical incomprehensibility” and it’s like a modern-day Tower of Babel.

There are different theories on why Spanish got labeled this way. Some speculate that it is rooted in Spain’s history of conquering different lands. Perhaps native peoples coming into contact with the Spanish viewed los españoles as very odd and incomprehensible and the stereotype stuck. For example, centuries ago King Carlos V of Spain was also emperor of Germany and Austria and his royal court ceremonies were viewed by the locals as strange and unfamiliar.

Fast forward five centuries and there still remains this legacy in some European languages of considering Spanish to be synonymous with something that is confusing, unintelligible or downright fishy.

Here are some examples:
CZECH: To je pro mne španelska vesnice (Literally: “It’s a Spanish village to me.” But the meaning is that something is incomprehensible or confusing.)

GERMAN: Das kommt mir Spanisch vor (”That looks like Spanish to me.”)

ICELANDIC: Þetta kemur mér spánskt fyrir sjónir (”This looks Spanish to me.”)

SLOVENIAN: To mi je španska vas (”To me, it is a Spanish village.”)

SLOVAK: Matematika je pre mňa španielska dedina (Literally, “For me, math is a Spanish village.” In other words, I’m very bad at math, I don’t understand math.)

But it turns out that the language that is most frequently cited as a synonym of something impossible to understand isn’t Spanish, but Chinese.

And what do the Chinese say? According to Arnold Rosenberg, who wrote a paper on the topic 30 years ago, “having seen so many turn to Chinese as the symbol of unintelligibility, one must wonder where the Chinese turn. To Heaven! The Chinese analog of our long-studied expression is (roughly translated) – “It’s heavenly script to me.”

Special thanks to Maria Shipley for helping me with this post.

We are currently in the middle of Hispanic Heritage Month, which runs from September 15 to October 15  in the U.S. The dates were selected to include the Independence Day celebrations of Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Mexico, and Chile, as well as to incorporate Día de la Raza—a holiday celebrated in Mexico on October 12 observing the colonization, exploration, and multicultural heritage of the Americas.

In honor of the occasion, this week’s podcast is a compilation of audio excerpts from two American storytellers, Olga Loya and Antonio Sacre, about the ups-and-downs they faced in developing a strong bi-cultural identity in the U.S.  Their stories are part of the  RaceBridges for Schools project, an interesting program designed to help high school and middle school teachers lead class discussions on issues related to race, ethnicity and cultural identity. The collection of materials offered on their site is high quality and you can’t beat the price – free!

Included in this podcast are “Spanish is dangerous” and “But You Don’t Look Mexican!” by Olga Loya and “Dreaming of Cuba: Stories That Bind” by Antonio Sacre. Olga is Mexican American and Antonio is Cuban American but they share the common experience of trying to develop a bicultural identity in an environment that hasn’t always been open to the idea.

Visit the Race Bridges for Schools web site for transcripts, audio files and teachers’ lessons plans.

Bablingua

BrainPop Español

La Casa Rojas magazine

Learning and Teaching Scotland

Pancho & Pita

Spanglish Lex List

Click on “MORE” to get a more detailed description about each site.

BABLINGUA

Spanish Level: Elementary, Intermediate, Advanced

Appropriate for: Middle-school and high school Spanish teachers

Bablingua is a Spanish-language instructional video company with three categories of products: Videos, Icebreakers (very short videos that range in length anywhere from 1 minute to 8 minutes in length), and Vocabulary Cards. Included in the purchased video packages are activities teachers can use with students to build background knowledge before the class watches the videos. There are also Spanish subtitles available. Here is an entertaining video Bablingua did recently about the body language of Spaniards.

Find more videos like this on Classroom 2.0

What stands out: You can select videos based on both topics and grammar points presented.  The overall presentation is excellent, the videos are short, to the point and well produced.

Price: Varies, from as little as $3 for an “icebreaker” video activity up to $45 for a DVD + book package

BrainPOP Español

Spanish level: Intermediate, Advanced

Appropriate for:  Children who are native Spanish speakers in third grade and higher or highly motivated pre-teens learning Spanish

BrainPOP Español is the Spanish version of an educational English web site that teaches children about math, science, art and history through the animated adventures of Moby the robot and Tim, his human friend. It’s clear that the Spanish site is designed for native Spanish speakers so the rate of speech is fast and the vocabulary is not targeted at children just learning the language. That said,  the animation and overall production of the content is impressive. BrainPOP Español offers fascinating material for young students in a format that is entertaining and unique.

Price: Varies, depending on your country and whether the purchase is for individual use or for a school.

La Casa Rojas

Spanish level: Advanced

Appropriate for: High school, university, continuing education

La Casa Rojas is a bi-monthly online magazine that takes you to all corners of the Spanish-speaking world. There is an astonishing variety of articles and topics from daily life to food to history and politics. Recent topics have included a Spanish teacher’s perspective on teaching, an essay about the Colombian Tarzan and a first-person account of walking El Camino de Santiago. Each article is written by a person, usually a native Spanish speaker, living in that country.

What stands out: The majority of the articles are read by their authors giving you a variety of speakers and accents from across Latin America and Spain.

Price: $14.99 quarterly for individuals. Different pricing for schools. Consult web site for details.

Learning and Teaching Scotland

Spanish level: Upper intermediate, Advanced

Appropriate for: High school, university, continuing education

This web site has an excellent collection of videos of young Latino immigrants talking about their life in America. Each one is very short (four minutes or less) and includes English subtitles.

Price: Free

What stands out: The authenticity of the speakers. The young people featured in the videos are very personable and the videos are just the right length to introduce a topic for a classroom discussion.  Click on the box below for video of Ricardo Avalos from Hayword, California talking about what it’s like to be gay, Latino and an immigrant in the U.S. (May take several seconds for the video to load. Video is roughly 3 minutes.)

Pancho & Pita

Spanish level: Beginner

Appropriate for: Very young children

Pancho & Pita are two adorable little trolls who enjoy reading, playing and exploring the world around them with their bilingual pet named Flan. The trio take children on a series of  interactive computer adventures where they learn how to count, recognize colors and shapes and pick up other basic developmental skills in a fun and entertaining framework. The entire interactive game is available in both Spanish and English, so parents who aren’t bilingual can still feel comfortable using the material with their children. There is only one adventure currently available, “¿Dónde están los pollitos?”, but more Pancho & Pita adventures are in the works.

What stands out: The voices are so adorable, the animation is very colorful and the pacing of the game is such that children can go at their own pace. Also, there is plenty of repetition of key words and phrases in both Spanish and English.

Price: $9.95

The Spanglish Lex List

Spanish level: Upper intermediate, Advanced

Appropriate for: University-level students, continuing education

The Spanglish Lex List is the brainchild of Matthew Bennett, a Spanish-English translator in Spain. It consists of a free weekly three-page worksheet that Matthew promises can help you improve your professional Spanish.

What stands out: Matthew takes complex and controversial topics in the news and boils them down to the essentials. The worksheets reduce a teacher’s prep time for a class discussion and students get exposed to an extremely high level of business Spanish.

Here’s how he describes it:

Here are random examples of some exact quotes, (typos included), that I found in online Spanish forums:

“…es mi 3 dia y ya tube una experiencia fea con un irlandes borracho…” [The word "tube" is not Spanish. The speaker meant "tuve," which is "I had."]

“Tubo problemas con este pais por asuntos de la pesca….” [TUBO means "tube" in Spanish. The speaker meant "tuvo," the third-person singular past tense of the verb TENER.)

"Hola, luego de bajar el video de youtube con safari quiero gravarlo en un dvd para ver en cualquier reproductor de dvd, como hago?" [GRAVAR means "to tax." The correct verb is GRABAR, which means to record.).

In English, there are plenty of homophones. If you're a native English speaker, you probably don't even think twice about them when you use and write them. (knew/new, meat/meet, one/won, stair/stare, etc.)

But what about Spanish homophones? How many do you know?

Here's a list of Spanish homophones containing the letters B or V. It's not complete but it gives you an idea of the variety that exists. Remember that the pronunciation of these words are the same but their spellings and meanings are different.

• acerbo: scathing, as in a scathing review (una crítica acerba)
• acervo: heritage, as in cultural heritage (el acervo cultural)
• baca: luggage rack
• vaca: cow
• bacía: a type of container
• vacía: empty
• balido: the bleat of a sheep (baaaa)
• valido: valid
• barón: baron (as in a title of nobility)
• varón: male
• bello: beautiful
• vello: soft, short hair or down (from an animal) or fuzz (on a plant or fruit.)
• beta: Beta. Second letter of the Greek alphabet. In English you see it used in Greek fraternity names ["Kappa Beta Psi, Phi Beta Kappa] or in English words and phrases like “Beta-blockers” or the “beta version” of a software.
• veta: streak or vein that one sees in cuts of wood or meat. (La veta del jamón, la veta de la madera.)
• bienes: possessions, properties
• vienes: form of the verb VENIR
• botar: to bounce, to throw out, to launch
• votar: to vote
• grabar: to record, to engrave
• gravar: to tax
• rebelar(se): to rebel, to revolt
• revelar: to reveal, to develop
• sabia: Feminine form of adjective “sabio” which means wise, learned, sensible
• savia: sap from a tree or a plant

And just for kicks, here’s an online quiz called “Super Saber” where you can test your knowledge of palabras homófonas in a fun way.

Spanish Sentence Database: Ramses Oudt from Spanish-Only has launched a beta site of a Spanish-English sentence database. An excellent way to build one’s vocabulary when learning a new language is to read. And reading new words in sentences, in context, is a great way to cement that knowledge in your memory. Says Ramses:

“Back in 2007, when I started to get serious about learning Spanish there was one major problem to really progress; a sentence database. That’s why I’ve come up with the idea of compiling a big Spanish-English database with only the things you need: bilingual sentences.

Sure, you can get Spanish-English sentences from any place, but not in one place which grows day after day.”

His database, which is still in beta mode, currently has a little over 1,500 sentences but Ramses ultimately expects to grow that number to 10,000. You can read more about it here.

And as a nice accompaniment to Ramses’ database, check out Forvo, an online Spanish pronunciation site. Thousands of Spanish words have been recorded by native Spanish speakers so you can check the pronunciation. But keep it simple. There are currently roughly only 17,000 pronunciations and a random check that I did of their database found, not surprisingly, that many of the words offered are basic, everyday words. But it’s still a tool that can be very useful, especially for the Spanish language learner who doesn’t have frequent contact with native Spanish speakers. By the way, want to know the top 3 most requested pronunciations in their database? They are: mierda, Che Guevera and te quiero.

Karen Bryant at Teaching and Learning Spanish has put together a list of free iPhone Spanish learning apps. These are different from the ones I published on this blog back in July. Some are from companies/organizations that you probably already know but there are some language learning apps that are less obvious that Karen points out.

Do you still get tripped up by where to put the accent marks when you write in Spanish? Reglas para los acentos ortográficos by Prof. Rubén Delgado is an excellent comprehensive cheat sheet, in Spanish. And if you don’t know how to make Spanish tildes and signos de pronunciación like the upside down exclamation point (¡) and question mark (¿) on your computer keyboard, bookmark this page which has instructions for both Mac and Windows users.

And last, but not least, Sand Dune Publishing has released a new line of keepsake journals in Spanish called Entre Tú y Yo: Algunas preguntas que te he querido hacer. Inside each journal are fun, non-sappy, sometimes humorous questions. There are many ways people can use these keepsake journals. Parents can use them to record their own thoughts for their children. Language teachers can incorporate the questions into classroom/homework assignments. Also, I could even imagine the journal being used as an icebreaker in a bi-cultural family as a way to get in the good graces of la suegra.

By Erik Rasmussen

Recently my blogrollmate, Sharon, pointed me to this fascinating article, which you should read all the way through, entitled How Does Language Shape The Way We Think?. It highlights something I’ve noticed in my lingual trek into Spanish: that to properly speak another language, you must change the way you see the world. Because of the organic way that languages have formed, the constructs of various languages inherently contain extra information that is missing from other languages, information that is not thought about by non-speakers. It’s mastering these new understanding of the world around you that are the hardest part of learning another language.

The obvious verbal example in going from English to Spanish is that, in Spanish, there are two different forms of the verb “to be”. Which you use depends on how permanent the state of being is. The phrases “I am tall” and “I am hungry” use the same verb in English, but not in Spanish. This dichotomy is very tricky for English speakers learning Spanish.

Conversely one of the hardest parts of speaking English for native Spanish speakers is how English pronouns must agree with the gender of the subject. “Bob fell and broke his arm.” In Spanish that possessive pronoun is ambiguous, like “its”, because it’s obvious who the arm belonged to. To speak proper English, your brain has to be aware of and providing this extra bit of information. This is very tricky for Spanish speakers.

It’s Not Your Fault

One of my favorite idiosyncrasies of Spanish grammar is how often it sounds like the speaker is not in control of the situation, or not at fault.

Estaba fregando los platos y se me ha roto un plato.

This translates, maintaining the Spanish grammar, to something like: “I was washing the dishes and a plate broke to/for me.” You don’t say, “I broke a plate,” you were just there when the plate got broken. Not only that, but the plate broke itself specifically for you!

Se me cayó la cámara

This is how you say that you dropped something. It translates back to, “The camera fell to/for me.” There’s no verb for “to drop”, in Spanish. You say that the object fell, but that it happened to you.

Se han perdido las llaves

“The keys have lost themselves.” I didn’t lose the keys. They did it to themselves.

La planta que me diste se me ha muerto.

“The plant you gave me has died on me.” I didn’t kill it! And it didn’t just die, it died for me.

And the last one is my favorite…

No me gustas.

“I don’t like you.” One of the first phrases you learn in first-year Spanish is to express your preferences, your likes and dislikes. “Me gusta correr,” if you like to run. “No me gustan las patatas,” if you don’t like potatoes. Notice that the verb conjugation changed there because “potatoes” is plural. This throws students off because they still think of themselves as the subject of the sentence doing the liking, but it’s the other way around. The verb gustar translates closest to “to please”. Instead of thinking “I like to run”, to speak Spanish, you have to rephrase it to, “Running pleases me.” There simply isn’t a verb in Spanish for “liking” something. In Spanish, you are not in charge of what you like or dislike. I like this, this pleases me a lot. I want to like you, but you just don’t please me. It’s not my fault!

See what I mean about how you must change how you see the world to learn a foreign language?

This entry was written by Erik Rasmussen, an American living in Cantabría, Spain. It was originally published on his personal web site, “Erik’s Blog.”   What is your opinion of how language changes the way you think? In what ways have you had to rewire your brain to fully understand some aspects of Spanish? Tell us in the comments section below or click over to Erik’s blog here.

Photo: “She did it!”, used under license from iStockPhoto.com

Apple’s iPhone is one of the hottest gadgets around. Thanks to the iPhone’s popularity, a cottage industry of software, (computer applications called “apps”, for short), has sprung up. These apps allow people to do all sorts of things from the inane (”Hold on!”) to the sane (”Weather Channel”) to the profane (”iGirl – She Obeys”).

Because anyone with an idea and some programming skill can submit an app to Apple, creating a winning app is like the new American Dream. There is currently a digital gold rush as enterprising individuals flood the market with their apps, hoping for a piece of the action. Their intense interest is fueled by “rags-to-riches” stories starring unemployed programmers or teenage geeks who develop apps that quickly generate hundreds of thousands of dollars for their creators. Today there over 35,000 iPhone apps available.

Below is a guest post from Sarah Russel about five Spanish-learning applications for Apple’s iPhone and iPod Touch. While many iPhone apps are free, some charge a fee. Whether or not a particular app is right for you obviously will depend on your current level of Spanish and what you want out of a language learning tool. Expand your vocabulary? Review grammar? Work on verb conjugations? You get the idea.

Unfortunately, I don’t have an iPhone or iPod Touch, so I personally cannot vouch for any of these since I have not tried or used any of the apps that Sarah mentions below. I know that I may be running a risk by featuring an article on something that I personally haven’t tried, but maybe this is be a good opportunity for all of us to share what we know. If any of you reading this entry are iPhone/iPod Touch owners and can recommend some worthwhile Spanish-language learning apps, please tell us below in the comments section.

Thanks!

- Eleena

5 iPhone Apps to Help You Learn Spanish

By Sarah Russel

Apple’s iPhone isn’t just any old cellular phone. You can not only make calls, send texts, store your music and play games but actually learn a language as well. With the ability to take your language learning tools with you anywhere there’s no excuse why you can’t expand your mind, communicate your needs and share your language skills no matter where you are. Here are 5 apps to get you started.

1. iSpeakSpanish: Beginners will appreciate this useful mobile tool. Users can copy and paste text from anything and get an instant translation. Of course, the app is much more than that. It also has a voice capability that will read the text aloud, letting you learn how to correctly pronounce a variety of words and phrases.
2. 24/7 Tutor Spanish 101: Through this application you’ll be able to practice your language skills through puzzle games, writing exercises, flash cards and quizzes. The application will help you learn the vocab to successfully deal with family, travel, home, colors, numbers and more.
3. AccelaStudy Spanish: This application aims to make learning a language fun and successful. Along with the basics, users get high quality audio, flashcards and quizzes and study sets. You can create a study plan to ensure you stay on track with your learning.
4. MyWords Spanish: Through this study program you’ll be able to pick up new vocab in both written and spoken forms. You’ll only learn ten words a day so you won’t be overwhelmed by a crazy amount of vocabulary, and you’ll stand a better chance of remembering what you learn.
5. Spanish Verb Conjugation Trainer: In learning any language many students struggle with learning how to properly conjugate verbs, especially those that are irregular. This tool can make it easy to look up and understand how any verb in the Spanish language is conjugated in the past, present, future, imperfect and more.

Sarah Russel runs an Online College Degrees web site. She’s also written about 50 iPhone apps for learning foreign languages. You can reach her at: SarahRussel1234@gmail.com

1). Salma Hayek talking about Colombia’s land mine problem.

Yes, she’s a Hollywood starlet, and yes, she’s breathtakingly beautiful…and yet Salma Hayek always comes across in her public persona as an extremely down-to-earth, genuinely nice lady. In this video clip, Salma talks about the problem with land mines in Colombia. Originally from Mexico, Salma speaks in Spanish in this video. It’s great hearing her speak in her native language while informing us about an important issue.

2). Walk like an Egyptian? How about gesticulate like a Spaniard? 

The British newspaper “The Guardian” has put out an illustrated guide on Spanish hand gestures. The Guardian implies that using these gestures will make the user seem more authentically Spanish. Hmmm, I think the jury might be out on that one! At least it is good for a laugh.

3). The Boston Globe has compiled a collection of stunning photographs from 2009’s San Fermín festival in Pamplona, Spain. The running of the bulls this year was particularly gruesome and dangerous with one fatality and several serious injuries. Some of the photos are quite graphic but the majority of them are almost cinematic in quality, capturing all the intensity and drama of the event.

4). The Pew Hispanic Center is a treasure trove of hard data about the Latino population in the U.S. Among their reports are: “Mexican Immigrants in the U.S., 2008,” “Who is Hispanic?” and “Between Here and There: How Attached are Latino Immigrants to their Native Country?”

But how to get the items through customs?

In the past, it used to be easy. These days, with tightened airline security measures and weight restrictions related to luggage, there’s less space and more incentive to bring back nothing.

Here are two web sites that will whet your appetite and help you avoid having to deal with pesky U.S. customs.: La Tienda and Amigo Foods.

La Tienda, a Virginia-based company, specializes in food and wine from Spain. It tends to be on the gourmet, upscale side of the gastronomic scale.

Amigo Foods, which describes itself as an “online Latino grocery store,” has a broad selection of products from the Caribbean, Mexico, Central and South America as well as from Spain. A few items, [for example, Spanish blood pudding sausages (morcilla)], are made in the U.S., but the overwhelming majority of the products are imported directly from their countries of origin.

Even if you’re not in the mood to buy any food, it’s still fun to scroll through the pages of these sites. The Amigo Foods website could be especially useful to teachers who need info and photos of items for their classes about food and beverages in different Spanish-speaking countries.

This podcast is a reading, in Spanish, of the first chapter of the novella “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” written by Francis Scott Fitzgerald. If you saw the Oscar-nominated movie by the same title, you already know what the story is about…a man who ages in reverse.

Want the text in Spanish? Become a friend of Voices en Español on Facebook. I have posted the Spanish transcript there.

If you’d like to read the entire story in Spanish, you can buy the book at Amazon.com.

But did you know that there are several Spanish words that can be written with or without accent marks and their meanings don’t change? Best of all, both spellings are accepted by the Real Academia Española. In the past I’ve been puzzled when I’ve seen some words in Spanish, like atmósfera and período, spelled with and without accents. Knowing how important the accent mark is, I wasn’t sure if these were typos or accepted forms.

So, after doing a little research, I’ve complied a list of 24 of these words. [Click MORE to go directly to the list.] For each word, the one that is listed first is the version preferred by the RAE. However, both versions are accepted, so as long as you know how to spell the word correctly in Spanish, you don’t have to stress yourself trying to remember exactly where the accent mark goes if you can’t remember where to place the emphasis.

acné o acne: acne

afrodisíaco o afrodisiaco: aphrodisiac

amoníaco o amoniaco: ammonia

atmósfera o atmosfera: atmosphere

austriaco, ca o austríaco, ca.: Austrian

balaustre o balaústre: railing, guard rail (“Cada una de las columnas pequeñas que con los barandales forman las barandillas o antepechos de balcones, azoteas, corredores y escaleras.”)

bimano, na o bímano, na: Having two hands, i.e. a human being.

chófer o chofer: chauffeur, driver

cardíaco o cardiaco: cardiac, having to do with the heart

cóctel o coctel: cocktail

dinamo o dínamo: dynamo

elixir o elíxir: elixir

etíope o etiope: Ethiopian

fríjol o frijol: bean

médula o medula: marrow, as in bone marrow

meteoro o metéoro: meteor

olimpiada u olimpíada: Olympiad, Olympics

omóplato u omoplato: shoulder blade

pabilo o pábilo: A candle wick as well as the burned part of the wick.

pelícano o pelicano: pelican

pensil o pénsil: hanging, dangling

pentagrama o pentágrama: Pentagram, a five-sided geometric figure

período o periodo: period

varices o várices: Varicose veins

Spain essentially shuts down for the summer, particularly in the month of August, when virtually every Spaniard worth his chorizo, takes the month off and either heads to the beach or to the mountains. In recent years, before the global economy tanked, it was common for young Spaniards to travel abroad, many of them using their vacation time to study or practice English in the U.K., Ireland, Malta or the U.S.

But this year, with unemployment levels running high and money tight, many Spaniards are either canceling their vacations entirely or planning to take short trips close to home. Several Madrid businesses have already announced that they intend to stay open during the month of August in order to keep their operations afloat and make up for the reduction of revenue that they’ve experienced already this year. La Cámara de Comercio, Madrid’s equivalent of a Better Business Bureau, predicts that customers will see way fewer “Cerrado por vacaciones” signs in shop windows and estimates that less than 5% of  businesses will close for the summer.

Fortunately for those who decide to stay close to home, there are plenty of things to see and do and many of it free or discounted. Here’s the type of commercial Spanish tourism offices are running to entice Spaniards to vacation close to home:

Here is a random round-up of touristy events:

MADRID: Annie Leibovitz: Vida de una fotógrafa, 1990-2005

An exhibit of roughly 200 photos from this internationally-known American photographer on loan from the Brooklyn Museum in New York. Leibovitz is famous for her photos of celebrities. She was the last photographer to take pictures of John Lennon before he was killed and her iconic photo of a naked, pregnant Demi Moore for the cover of Vanity Fair still makes an impression 18 years later.  The Leibovitz photos will be on display in Madrid until September and is just one of several photo exhibitions currently going on as part of the Photo España 2009 event.

PAÍS VASCO: Las ballenas de Santurtzi

Whale watching trips in July, August and September on the “Pride of Bilbao” ferry from the port of Santurzi (near Bilbao) to Portsmouth, U.K.

NAVARRA: The 1st International Hemingway Doubles and Impersonator Contest

Writer Ernest Hemingway had a lifelong fascination with Spain and it’s mainly because of him why so many people outside of Spain are familiar with the San Fermin festival (the running of the bulls) in Pamplona. To mark the 50th anniversary of Hemingway’s last visit to the festival, the tourism bureau of Navarra is holding a Hemingway lookalike contest. The deadline to enter the contest has already passed but the finalists will be presented to the public in a kind of mini “beauty” pageant and then the winner will be selected on July 4, the day before this year’s San Fermín festival begins.

Also in Navarra…..tourists who stay at stay at least 2 nights at participating hotels in the region will receive up to four free tickets for different local attractions. Click here for more info.

ZARAGOZA: Los Festivales del Ebro

A series of 300 different events and activities during the months of June and July, including a concert by Madonna on July 25.

Do you think most of the phrases you share with us are common to Latin American countries or primarily to Spain? Would it be safe to say that all your material is known in Spain and a portion is also used in Latin America?

Excellent question and I’m glad you’ve raised the issue. Generally I try to stick to common words or phrases that are used universally, are widely known or will be easily understood by native Spanish speakers everywhere. But because I live in Spain and I have been exposed to more Castilian Spanish than Latin American Spanish, you can assume that the phrases you find on this blog would most definitely be used in Spain. Occasionally I may throw in a phrase or two of slang, but if I do I will clearly state that. However, I generally tend to stay away from blogging about slang phrases. Here’s why:

A). It’s highly regional in nature. Some popular slang expressions in el Distrito Federal in Mexico may draw blank stares if used on the streets of Madrid.

B). It is frequently dependent on age, gender or social class. By that I mean it’s a way of speaking between people who belong to the same group. If the person using a particular vernacular doesn’t belong to the group, he (or she) can actually be setting himself (herself) up for embarrassment.

A middle-aged American businessman going around Spain saying “me mola un huevo” (which loosely translated in English means “It’s freaking awesome!”) may think he’s fitting in with the locals. However such an expression coming out of a 50-year-old’s mouth may unintentionally generate snickers of derision instead of nods of admiration, even though the phrase is being used correctly. The reason? The speaker is not a 15-year-old Spanish teenager.

Consider the reaction you have in English when you hear a middle-aged suburbanite using slang that is specific to young girls or rappers. It sounds odd.

I’ve fallen into this trap myself. I once thought it would be OK for me to go around using the terms “macho” or “tronco” when referring to guys until a Spanish friend told me to stop. I thought it was OK to use these words because I had heard people (usually men) using those words to refer to other men. To my Spanish friend it sounded weird for a woman, especially a non-Spanish woman, to use those terms.

Anyway, getting back to your original question, yes, the bulk of the idiomatic expressions you find on this blog are phrases definitely used in Spain. Many of them are also used or, at the very least, understood in Latin America.

However, reader beware.

If you see a particular phrase that you’d like to use in Mexico or Argentina or Puerto Rico, etc., but you’re not sure it will fly, visit the Spanish-English forum at Word Reference.com to get an accurate reality check from native speakers living in those countries. Also, if you have a language intercambio (a conversation exchange with a native Spanish speaker), talking about idiomatic expressions is a fun way to learn more about their culture and clear up these kinds of doubts.

In the future, whenever possible, I will try to make distinctions and provide some alternative phrases used in different countries, especially if I know that the phrase used in Spain might be misunderstood or draw a blank in Latin America. For example, I did this recently on my Twitter page where I gave two different phrases (one used in Mexico, the other in Spain) to refer to wearing out the dance floor.

However, I can’t make any firm promises about how often I will be able to do this since there may be variations of an expression within a region (Cuban vs. Dominican Spanish, for example) not to mention within a country (Mexico City vs. Mexico). I’d rather provide you guys with streamlined content that has been curated in some way, (i.e. edited and boiled down to the essentials), instead of flooding the zone and swamping you with an encyclopedic entry.

Got a question? Drop me a line via the Contact page or leave your question in the comments section. ¡Gracias!

(By the way, notice how the English phrase “black & white” gets reversed in Spanish to “blanco y negro.” For example: black and white movies = películas en blanco y negro)

Here are some common Spanish expressions using blanco or negro.

ESTAR SIN BLANCA: To be broke, to have no money.

DAR EN EL BLANCO: To hit the mark, to hit the target.

EN BLANCO: Blank, as in, “La página estaba en blanco.” “The page was blank.”

Which leads to…. ESTAR EN BLANCO (to draw a blank, to have no idea) which is essentially the same as QUEDARSE EN BLANCO (to have one’s mind go blank).

PASAR LA NOCHE EN BLANCO: to suffer a sleepless night, to be unable to fall asleep

ESTAR NEGRO: To be very angry or to be extremely tanned, depending on the context.

VERLO TODO MUY NEGRO: To be pessimistic about something

PASARLAS NEGRAS: To have a hard time. Andrés las pasó negras cuando perdió su trabajo.

TENER LA NEGRA/TRAER LA NEGRA: To be unlucky, to bring bad luck. (Ese tio me trae la negra. That dude brings me bad luck.)

OK, the first time I heard this expression I was like ¿Qué qué? because my American mind jumped to the erroneous conclusion that it had something to do with race and implying that black people brought bad luck or something. Fortunately, I was mistaken. Turns out “la negra” refers to playing cards or fortune telling cards. The card containing the Ace of Spades historically was considered a bad omen.

Enjoyed this post? Check out Color Coded, Part 1: Verde. Also, get more insights into Spanish verb phrases at Twitter.com/ReVerbSpanish.

Mr. Taylor, Part 2
By Augusto Monterroso

Contados meses más tarde, en el país de Mr. Taylor las cabezas alcanzaron aquella popularidad que todos recordamos. Al principio eran privilegio de las familias más pudientes; pero la democracia es la democracia y, nadie lo va a negar, en cuestión de semanas pudieron adquirirlas hasta los mismos maestros de escuela.

Un hogar sin su correspondiente cabeza teníase por un hogar fracasado. Pronto vinieron los coleccionistas y, con ellos, las contradicciones: poseer diecisiete cabezas llegó a ser considerado de mal gusto; pero era distinguido tener once. Se vulgarizaron tanto que los verdaderos elegantes fueron perdiendo interés y ya sólo por excepción adquirían alguna, si presentaba cualquier particularidad que la salvara de lo vulgar. Una, muy rara, con bigotes prusianos, que perteneciera en vida a un general bastante condecorado, fue obsequiada al Instituto Danfeller, el que a su vez donó, como de rayo, tres y medio millones de dólares para impulsar el desenvolvimiento de aquella manifestación cultural, tan excitante, de los pueblos hispanoamericanos.

Mientras tanto, la tribu había progresado en tal forma que ya contaba con una veredita alrededor del Palacio Legislativo. Por esa alegre veredita paseaban los domingos y el Día de la Independencia los miembros del Congreso, carraspeando, luciendo sus plumas, muy serios, riéndose, en las bicicletas que les había obsequiado la Compañía.

Pero, ¿qué quieren? No todos los tiempos son buenos. Cuando menos lo esperaban se presentó la primera escasez de cabezas.

Entonces comenzó lo más alegre de la fiesta.

Las meras defunciones resultaron ya insuficientes. El Ministro de Salud Pública se sintió sincero, y una noche caliginosa, con la luz apagada, después de acariciarle un ratito el pecho como por no dejar, le confesó a su mujer que se consideraba incapaz de elevar la mortalidad a un nivel grato a los intereses de la Compañía, a lo que ella le contestó que no se preocupara, que ya vería cómo todo iba a salir bien, y que mejor se durmieran.

Para compensar esa deficiencia administrativa fue indispensable tomar medidas heroicas y se estableció la pena de muerte en forma rigurosa.

Los juristas se consultaron unos a otros y elevaron a la categoría de delito, penado con la horca o el fusilamiento, según su gravedad, hasta la falta más nimia.

Incluso las simples equivocaciones pasaron a ser hechos delictuosos. Ejemplo: si en una conversación banal, alguien, por puro descuido, decía “Hace mucho calor”, y posteriormente podía comprobársele, termómetro en mano, que en realidad el calor no era para tanto, se le cobraba un pequeño impuesto y era pasado ahí mismo por las armas, correspondiendo la cabeza a la Compañía y, justo es decirlo, el tronco y las extremidades a los dolientes.

La legislación sobre las enfermedades ganó inmediata resonancia y fue muy comentada por el Cuerpo Diplomático y por las Cancillerías de potencias amigas.

De acuerdo con esa memorable legislación, a los enfermos graves se les concedían veinticuatro horas para poner en orden sus papeles y morirse; pero si en este tiempo tenían suerte y lograban contagiar a la familia, obtenían tantos plazos de un mes como parientes fueran contaminados. Las víctimas de enfermedades leves y los simplemente indispuestos merecían el desprecio de la patria y, en la calle, cualquiera podía escupirle el rostro. Por primera vez en la historia fue reconocida la importancia de los médicos (hubo varios candidatos al premio Nóbel) que no curaban a nadie. Fallecer se convirtió en ejemplo del más exaltado patriotismo, no sólo en el orden nacional, sino en el más glorioso, en el continental.

Con el empuje que alcanzaron otras industrias subsidiarias (la de ataúdes, en primer término, que floreció con la asistencia técnica de la Compañía) el país entró, como se dice, en un periodo de gran auge económico. Este impulso fue particularmente comprobable en una nueva veredita florida, por la que paseaban, envueltas en la melancolía de las doradas tardes de otoño, las señoras de los diputados, cuyas lindas cabecitas decían que sí, que sí, que todo estaba bien, cuando algún periodista solícito, desde el otro lado, las saludaba sonriente sacándose el sombrero.

Al margen recordaré que uno de estos periodistas, quien en cierta ocasión emitió un lluvioso estornudo que no pudo justificar, fue acusado de extremista y llevado al paredón de fusilamiento. Sólo después de su abnegado fin los académicos de la lengua reconocieron que ese periodista era una de las más grandes cabezas del país; pero una vez reducida quedó tan bien que ni siquiera se notaba la diferencia.

¿Y Mr. Taylor? Para ese tiempo ya había sido designado consejero particular del Presidente Constitucional. Ahora, y como ejemplo de lo que puede el esfuerzo individual, contaba los miles por miles; mas esto no le quitaba el sueño porque había leído en el último tomo de las Obras completas de William G. Knight que ser millonario no deshonra si no se desprecia a los pobres.

Creo que con ésta será la segunda vez que diga que no todos los tiempos son buenos. Dada la prosperidad del negocio llegó un momento en que del vecindario sólo iban quedando ya las autoridades y sus señoras y los periodistas y sus señoras. Sin mucho esfuerzo, el cerebro de Mr. Taylor discurrió que el único remedio posible era fomentar la guerra con las tribus vecinas. ¿Por qué no? El progreso.

Con la ayuda de unos cañoncitos, la primera tribu fue limpiamente descabezada en escasos tres meses. Mr. Taylor saboreó la gloria de extender sus dominios. Luego vino la segunda; después la tercera y la cuarta y la quinta. El progreso se extendió con tanta rapidez que llegó la hora en que, por más esfuerzos que realizaron los técnicos, no fue posible encontrar tribus vecinas a quienes hacer la guerra.

Fue el principio del fin.

Las vereditas empezaron a languidecer. Sólo de vez en cuando se veía transitar por ellas a alguna señora, a algún poeta laureado con su libro bajo el brazo. La maleza, de nuevo, se apoderó de las dos, haciendo difícil y espinoso el delicado paso de las damas. Con las cabezas, escasearon las bicicletas y casi desaparecieron del todo los alegres saludos optimistas.

El fabricante de ataúdes estaba más triste y fúnebre que nunca. Y todos sentían como si acabaran de recordar de un grato sueño, de ese sueño formidable en que tú te encuentras una bolsa repleta de monedas de oro y la pones debajo de la almohada y sigues durmiendo y al día siguiente muy temprano, al despertar, la buscas y te hallas con el vacío.

Sin embargo, penosamente, el negocio seguía sosteniéndose. Pero ya se dormía con dificultad, por el temor a amanecer exportado.

En la patria de Mr. Taylor, por supuesto, la demanda era cada vez mayor. Diariamente aparecían nuevos inventos, pero en el fondo nadie creía en ellos y todos exigían las cabecitas hispanoamericanas.

Fue para la última crisis. Mr. Rolston, desesperado, pedía y pedía más cabezas. A pesar de que las acciones de la Compañía sufrieron un brusco descenso, Mr. Rolston estaba convencido de que su sobrino haría algo que lo sacara de aquella situación.

Los embarques, antes diarios, disminuyeron a uno por mes, ya con cualquier cosa, con cabezas de niño, de señoras, de diputados.

De repente cesaron del todo.

Un viernes áspero y gris, de vuelta de la Bolsa, aturdido aún por la gritería y por el lamentable espectáculo de pánico que daban sus amigos, Mr. Rolston se decidió a saltar por la ventana (en vez de usar el revólver, cuyo ruido lo hubiera llenado de terror) cuando al abrir un paquete del correo se encontró con la cabecita de Mr. Taylor, que le sonreía desde lejos, desde el fiero Amazonas, con una sonrisa falsa de niño que parecía decir: “Perdón, perdón, no lo vuelvo a hacer.”

Welcome to La Casa Rojas, a brand new online magazine created by Joan Rojas. If the last name is familiar, it’s because Joan is the wife and business partner of Luis Rojas of Rojas Spanish.

Joan has undertaken an incredible task. She’s assembled a group of approximately 20 writers and bloggers from disparate backgrounds from across Latin America and Spain to write about the culture, food, history, politics and daily life in their respective countries, and all of it in Spanish. Luis also will provide insights into linguistic aspects of the Spanish language.

La Cosa Rojas launched earlier today and is already filled with content from contributors from Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Cuba, Mexico, Spain and Uruguay, the U.S., with more content on its way from Peru. Also, for some articles, the authors will read their stories, so an audio recording will eventually accompany several of the articles. Yours truly will also be a regular contributor with at least one piece, possibly two, a month. Here’s my first submission: La cocina innovadora de España

The magazine will be visible to the public for the next few days. On June 15 it converts to a membership site, but a three-month subscription is only $15.

Drop by La Casa Rojas muy pronto. Su casa es tu casa.

Just select the newspaper(s) you wish to receive and then either click on the subscribe via RSS or via the iTunes button. That’s it. There’s no fee for this service and each morning a copy of that day’s newspaper will be delivered to you electronically in a PDF-file. It can’t get any easier than that.

P.S. If you are unfamiliar with RSS feeds, click here to get more info about what it is and how to use it. In a nutshell, RSS is an excellent way to receive updates about new blog entries on your favorite web sites without having to give out your email address. I recommend Google Reader but there are plenty of other feed readers you can use. Also, you can subscribe to the newspaper feeds via iTunes and the PDF will download automatically to the podcast section of your iTunes account daily.

Mister Taylor by Augusto Monterroso is a brillant satire about U.S. imperalism in Latin America. It’s been described as a modern fable but its key points are grounded in history. I don’t think I’ve ever read a piece that so cleverly addresses U.S. influence in Latin America and criticizes it at the same time in such a humorous manner.

“Mister Taylor” is a story about Mr. Percy Taylor of Boston, Mass. who winds up living in some unnamed South American country in the 1940s. He’s financially broke and doing nothing, until one day during a walk in the jungle he bumps into one of the natives who offers to sell him a shrunken head.

“Buy head? Money, money.”

That chance meeting leads to an unexpected business opportunity that affects, (or should I say infects), the society of the Latin American country where Mr. Taylor lives.

Believe or not but there was a time when collecting shrunken heads from South America was all the rage in Western countries. I did a little digging around and came across a story published in 1921 in National Geographic about the Jivaro Indians in Ecuador. They were a ferocious people, famous for their bellicose nature and for being the only known South American tribe that successfully defied being conquered by the Spanish conquistadors AND being taken over by the Incas. Their reputation for shrinking the heads of their enemies as trophies became their calling card and probably one of their best weapons to ward off invaders. The National Geographic article, published 88 years ago, is fascinating. Here’s an excerpt about the souvenir trade of shrunken heads:

Because of the interest aroused in the outside world by tales concerning these head-hunters, there has been in the past a lively trade in human heads. The Jivaros, learning that there was a demand which could be capitalized into muskets, quickly gave a ready response; so that it became necessary for the Ecuadorean Government strictly to forbid the traffic in these objects.

Tales are told of the results of this practice which are not without a certain grim irony. There is a story, for example, of a red-headed white man who went into the interior on a trip of exploration charged with the commission of bringing out a dried and shrunken head. It was months after he had departed that a shrunken-head came out, by devious channels, from the Oriente, but the head had red hair. Perhaps a red-haired head brought the price of 2 muskets; who could tell?

Hmmm, could that have been the original Mr. Taylor, perhaps?

In any case, the National Geographic article goes on to say that the Jivaro Indians, despite their fearsome reputation, were quite nice to their researchers.  “Contrary to our expectations, after hearing stories of the Jivaro (and to the average Ecuadorean the word Jivaro is synonymous with violent death and all manner of disagreeable things), we found then a good-natured people and very friendly to us.”

Listen to Part 1 of Mister Taylor and visit Head-Hunter.com (how appropriate!) to read more about the Jivaro people. I’ll post part 2 of the story later next week.

Photo: Jivaro Shrunken Head by Ed Schipul

-Menos rara, aunque sin duda más ejemplar -dijo entonces el otro-, es la historia de Mr. Percy Taylor, cazador de cabezas en la selva amazónica.

Se sabe que en 1937 salió de Boston, Massachusetts, en donde había pulido su espíritu hasta el extremo de no tener un centavo. En 1944 aparece por primera vez en América del Sur, en la región del Amazonas, conviviendo con los indígenas de una tribu cuyo nombre no hace falta recordar.

Por sus ojeras y su aspecto famélico pronto llegó a ser conocido allí como “el gringo pobre”, y los niños de la escuela hasta lo señalaban con el dedo y le tiraban piedras cuando pasaba con su barba brillante bajo el dorado sol tropical. Pero esto no afligía la humilde condición de Mr. Taylor porque había leído en el primer tomo de las Obras Completas de William G. Knight que si no se siente envidia de los ricos la pobreza no deshonra.

En pocas semanas los naturales se acostumbraron a él y a su ropa extravagante. Además, como tenía los ojos azules y un vago acento extranjero, el Presidente y el Ministro de Relaciones Exteriores lo trataban con singular respeto, temerosos de provocar incidentes internacionales.

Tan pobre y mísero estaba, que cierto día se internó en la selva en busca de hierbas para alimentarse. Había caminado cosa de varios metros sin atreverse a volver el rostro, cuando por pura casualidad vio a través de la maleza dos ojos indígenas que lo observaban decididamente. Un largo estremecimiento recorrió la sensitiva espalda de Mr. Taylor. Pero Mr. Taylor, intrépido, arrostró el peligro y siguió su camino silbando como si nada hubiera pasado.

De un salto (que no hay para qué llamar felino) el nativo se le puso enfrente y exclamó:

-Buy head? Money, money.

A pesar de que el inglés no podía ser peor, Mr. Taylor, algo indispuesto, sacó en claro que el indígena le ofrecía en venta una cabeza de hombre, curiosamente reducida, que traía en la mano.

Es innecesario decir que Mr. Taylor no estaba en capacidad de comprarla; pero como aparentó no comprender, el indio se sintió terriblemente disminuido por no hablar bien el inglés, y se la regaló pidiéndole disculpas.

Grande fue el regocijo con que Mr. Taylor regresó a su choza. Esa noche, acostado boca arriba sobre la precaria estera de palma que le servía de lecho, interrumpido tan solo por el zumbar de las moscas acaloradas que revoloteaban en torno haciéndose obscenamente el amor, Mr. Taylor contempló con deleite durante un buen rato su curiosa adquisición. El mayor goce estético lo extraía de contar, uno por uno, los pelos de la barba y el bigote, y de ver de frente el par de ojillos entre irónicos que parecían sonreírle agradecidos por aquella deferencia.

Hombre de vasta cultura, Mr. Taylor solía entregarse a la contemplación; pero esta vez en seguida se aburrió de sus reflexiones filosóficas y dispuso obsequiar la cabeza a un tío suyo, Mr. Rolston, residente en Nueva York, quien desde la más tierna infancia había revelado una fuerte inclinación por las manifestaciones culturales de los pueblos hispanoamericanos.

Pocos días después el tío de Mr. Taylor le pidió -previa indagación sobre el estado de su importante salud- que por favor lo complaciera con cinco más. Mr. Taylor accedió gustoso al capricho de Mr. Rolston y -no se sabe de qué modo- a vuelta de correo “tenía mucho agrado en satisfacer sus deseos”. Muy reconocido, Mr. Rolston le solicitó otras diez. Mr. Taylor se sintió “halagadísimo de poder servirlo”. Pero cuando pasado un mes aquél le rogó el envío de veinte, Mr. Taylor, hombre rudo y barbado pero de refinada sensibilidad artística, tuvo el presentimiento de que el hermano de su madre estaba haciendo negocio con ellas.

Bueno, si lo quieren saber, así era. Con toda franqueza, Mr. Rolston se lo dio a entender en una inspirada carta cuyos términos resueltamente comerciales hicieron vibrar como nunca las cuerdas del sensible espíritu de Mr. Taylor.

De inmediato concertaron una sociedad en la que Mr. Taylor se comprometía a obtener y remitir cabezas humanas reducidas en escala industrial, en tanto que Mr. Rolston las vendería lo mejor que pudiera en su país.

Los primeros días hubo algunas molestas dificultades con ciertos tipos del lugar. Pero Mr. Taylor, que en Boston había logrado las mejores notas con un ensayo sobre Joseph Henry Silliman, se reveló como político y obtuvo de las autoridades no sólo el permiso necesario para exportar, sino, además, una concesión exclusiva por noventa y nueve años. Escaso trabajo le costó convencer al guerrero Ejecutivo y a los brujos Legislativos de que aquel paso patriótico enriquecería en corto tiempo a la comunidad, y de que luego estarían todos los sedientos aborígenes en posibilidad de beber (cada vez que hicieran una pausa en la recolección de cabezas) de beber un refresco bien frío, cuya fórmula mágica él mismo proporcionaría.

Cuando los miembros de la Cámara, después de un breve pero luminoso esfuerzo intelectual, se dieron cuenta de tales ventajas, sintieron hervir su amor a la patria y en tres días promulgaron un decreto exigiendo al pueblo que acelerara la producción de cabezas reducidas.

Click here for Part 2

Madrid Confessions by Ben Curtis is an audio memoir about the evolution of a British expat’s life in Spain’s capital city. Ben, along with his Spanish wife Marina Diez, have a large and devoted following for their Notes in Spanish podcasts. In the Madrid Confessions, Ben satisfies his fans’ curiosity about aspects of his private life and reveals how a series of serendipitous events led him to launch, and now run, a successful internet business. This English-language audio book is approximately 2.5 hours long and costs 17 euros ($24).

Novel of Life: Madrid, Spain by Lethe Bashar presents the viewpoint of an American college student on a study abroad program. Bashar is actually the pen name of Chris Al-Aswad and the book is a novelistic treatment of his time in Spain.

He moves into an apartment with a sixty-five year old Senora. Within two weeks, he undergoes an extreme form of culture shock. Between quitting classes, falling in love with his Senora’s maid (and his psychiatrist), smoking hashish, and meeting a group of native Spaniards, an innocent study abroad program turns to living dangerously.

Chris describes his book as “autobiographical fiction” as most, but not all, of his protagonist’s experiences happened to him during his year in Spain. Bashar’s Novel of Life remains a work in progress since it is not yet finished, but the Madrid chapters are readable online and there is also an accompanying podcast. Click here for a Q&A with Chris about the book.

What should I call you? By your pen name “Lethe Bashar” or by your real name or can I use both?

You can call me by real name:  Chris Al-Aswad.  I use a pen name, which is also the main character of my novel, Lethe Bashar.

Your Madrid novel is autobiographical. Why did you decide to go with a novel treatment instead of a memoir?

I call the genre “autobiographical fiction”.  It is more or less a memoir with poetic license. I’m also a personal essayist and so I work within the memoir form a lot.  My blog of personal essays is The Blog of Innocence.

I choose the novel form so that I may explore the creative boundaries of writing about my life.  Spain is one of three novels that cover my adolescence.  The whole narrative is an epic retelling of adolescence in different locations, and at different time periods.

Yes.  This is a story I have been working on for over ten years, believe it or not.  I continually deepen the characters and go deeper with the story itself.  The only explanation for this is a meticulous love of the craft of fiction.

I would say about 70% of the story actually happened.  But whenever we try to parse reality from fiction, memory from lived experience, we run into major problems.  No representation, including a memoir, will be “the truth.”  Once words are formed about an experience of the past, fiction gets created no matter what.

The Novel of Life is far from finished.  But I approach this work not as a professional novelist but as an amateur and a hobbyist.  I leave it alone for weeks or months and then return to it and work diligently for awhile before I put it down again.

The Madrid section of the novel has one more part yet to be written.  Then the story will resume back on another blog called Lethe in Vegas, which is about what happens after Spain.

This is my first novel.  If there is enough interest, and if I am pleased with the final work, I may publish it.  Most likely, the graphic editions of the work will be published sooner.  An Argentinean illustrator is currently working on the Las Vegas story here.

I was 19 years old when I studied at the International Institute in Madrid in 1999. But I dropped out of school and joined a band of friendly Spaniards. I left my Senora’s house and moved into a pensione, where I wrote fiction and partied a lot. I was living in la Plaza del Sol for approximately one year.

I lived in Chicago for several years.  I was born and raised in Illinois, suburbs of Chicago.  I graduated from DePaul University.  Now I live in Central Illinois.

My favorite chapter is probably “Hashish”; but I don’t know if you want to include that one. I also should tell you that I do a podcast for every chapter on this site.

From what I’ve seen in the pilot episodes, the videos focus on undiscovered talent, unknown artists and off-beat cultural events unlikely to attract a lot of notice from the mainstream Spanish media. On its home page, LostIn.TV says that its mission is to tell people about “todo aquello que no puedes perderte en tu ciudad.”

Below is the pilot episode for Lost in Barcelona. I watched the videos for the other cities but the one for Barcelona is the best, in my opinion. Antonia Folguera, the presenter, projects the right attitude (young, fashionable and intelligent) and comes across as more polished than the presenters for the other cities. But that’s a minor quibble since overall the Lost In.tv project looks very promising.

El Instituto Cervantes is a non-profit organization created by the Spanish government to teach the Spanish language and raise awareness about Spanish culture around the world. And Starbucks, of course, needs no introduction as it is the world’s dominant coffee house chain.

The fact that the Instituto Cervantes got this contract is quite a coup, considering the size of the Starbucks operation in the U.S. The classes will take place online through the Instituto Cervantes’ Aula Virtual de Español (el AVE, for short, just like the acronym for Spain’s high-speed train), and the instructors will be from the University of Washington’s Spanish language department in Seattle. At this point it’s unclear exactly how many Starbucks employees will enroll and whether this education benefit is specifically for them to use Spanish on the job.

When I used to live in New York City I took three different courses at the Instituto Cervantes in Manhattan and the instructors were really top-notch. I think that Starbucks employees who take advantage of this company perk are going to be very satisfied, if they stick with the course. Their progress will be monitored quaterly, and at the end of 12 months they can take the DELE exam (Diploma de Español como Lengua Extranjera), which is a nice piece of paper to have for anyone wishing to have proof of their level of Spanish.

And who knows? Maybe in a few months the Starbucks baristas will be taking your order in Spanish, instead of English.

That’s why this video clip is so funny to me. Cristina Kirchner, the current president of Argentina, has some snarky words for Obama. In a recent political speech, she sarcastically wondered aloud if Obama had been reading up on General Juan Perón, (dictator and husband of Evita). Kirchner also claimed that Obama was copying her (and her husband’s) economic model. (Her husband, Néstor Carlos Kirchner, was president of Argentina from 2003 until 2007 when Cristina was voted to succeed him in the position.)

Her comment about political plagiarism is laughable. That would be like me adopting an orphan from Africa and then holding a press conference to yell “copy cat!” the next time Madonna or Angelina Jolie decide to do the same. (Peruvian journalist Jaime Bayly, who appears in the following video, thinks la Sra. Kirchner is a little wacko too.)

Does Cristina Kirchner really believe that Obama even thinks about Argentina? In fact, it’s doubtful that he even knows who she is, as evidenced by the following video. Maybe her recent comments are a way to get back at Obama for this public snub or perhaps it’s just to prop herself up and recast herself as a strong leader by making some tenuous association between herself and Barry? Either way, it’s pretty amusing.

To listen to Part 1 of this conversation please visit Luis’ web site, Rojas Spanish Podcast. Be sure to check out his cultural video language-learning program and online Spanish-language community while you’re there.

I guest blogged this week over at Notes from Spain about Pan de Vino, a bread made out of wine. Sounds almost biblical, don’t you think? Anyway it’s being developed by a Spanish winery and a single slice of the purple-hued bread supposedly will have all of the benefits of two copas de vino without any of the side effects. I’ll drink to that.    [Click here to see a photo of it.]

Neat twist on the traditional travel guide: Ruba.com. Regular folks, like you and I, upload our favorite travel photos, creating a visual travel guide which is then put on display online. Each photo has a brief, one paragraph description of the location. It’s a lot like Flickr, but with a travel focus and it’s a nice way to explore your next vacation destination without leaving home. There are already several of these Ruba travel guides for different parts of Spain, such as Asturias, Costa del Sol, the Canary Islands, etc. Below is one entitled “Moorish Architecture in Spain: 800 Years of Domination.” (Click on the box below to see the photos.)

A quirky movie called “The Limits of Control” arrives in movie theaters this weekend. I read the New York Times review and still don’t understand what the heck this movie is about. It was filmed entirely in Spain, so it might be fun to try to spot the landmarks or figure out where exactly various scenes were filmed. The movie was directed by Jim Jarmusch and stars indie film favorites Bill Murray, Tilda Swinton, Gael García Bernal and John Hurt, so if you’re into art house movies, this might be your kind of entertainment.

The following video clip is an odd scene between the lead character, -who doesn’t have a name but is called “Lone Man” in the film credits-, and the always reliably bizarre Tilda Swinton. Her “Usted no habla español, ¿verdad?” made me chuckle, for some reason.

A different clip of the Lone Man with another character is more promising. Although we’re watching the clip out of context, it seems to make more sense as a stand-alone scene and it has got a bit of humor, thanks to the always reliably amusing Bill Murray.

ReVerb Spanish is not a rigid grammar study course. It is more like a supplement to whatever you’re currently doing with your Spanish. It’s not going to teach you Spanish grammar or go into a lot of depth with lengthy explanations. There are already a ton of web sites out there brimming with Spanish grammar explanations. What is harder to find, at least compiled and cataloged in one location, are easy-to-understand insights into Spanish verbs.

To that end, my objective is to keep things very simple and to act as your guide, pointing out nuances and variations of Spanish verbs that have similar meanings. For example, the Spanish verbs salir, irse, marcharse and largarse all generally mean the same thing: to leave. However, there is an underlying meaning with a couple of these verbs that causes native Spanish speakers to use them differently to convey specific meanings. Meanwhile the typical Spanish-English dictionary won’t bother to tell you the subtext. It can’t because that would require a lot of space, in some cases, to explain these nuances fully.

In this podcast you’ll get an introduction to the ReVerb Spanish podcast and the type of content I’ll be posting over there. Get immediate updates to the blog and podcast by subscribing either via RSS, by email, or through iTunes. I also put together a 6-page “Action Guide” with advice on ways to conquer Spanish verbs. You’ll get that automatically when you sign up for the ReVerb Spanish email list. Just enter your name and email in the little pop-up box that slides into view when you land on the web site.

This podcast is an introduction to my latest web project: ReVerb Spanish. If I do it right, it is going to help you review, relearn and remember the different meanings and conjugations of Spanish verbs. This podcast contains 3 separate ReVerb Spanish episodes in one sitting. It includes the general introduction, a segment about Conocer vs. Saber and then an audio verb drill of the verb SER.

Also, as a bonus, I’ve thrown in a micro relato by Julio Cortázar. Below is the text of that story. What more could you ask for? Enjoy!

Haga como si estuviera en casa: Un micro-relato de Julio Cortázar

Una esperanza se hizo una casa y le puso una baldosa que decía: “Bienvenidos los que llegan a este hogar”. Un fama se hizo una casa y no le puso mayormente baldosas. Un cronopio se hizo una casa y siguiendo la costumbre puso en el porche diversas baldosas que compró o hizo fabricar. Las baldosas estaban colocadas de manera que se las pudiera leer en orden. La primera decía: “Bienvenidos los que llegan a este hogar”. La segunda decía: “La casa es chica, pero el corazón es grande”. La tercera decía: “La presencia del huésped es suave como el césped”. La cuarta decía: “Somos pobres de verdad, pero no de voluntad”. La quinta decía: “Este cartel anula todos los anteriores. Rajá, perro”.

Last September, when I initially met Luis, I asked him to record the intro to the short story reading “Cine Prado“, which he gladly did. At the time the U.S. presidential campaign was still in full swing and Luis said he thought it would be nice to do a joint podcast about Barack Obama and his educational policies. I thought we should wait to see who won the election first, but Luis was pretty confident that Obama was going to win.

In any case, we did wait until after the election to record this conversation. Since Luis and I both have podcasts, we decided to split the interview into two parts. In Part 1 he talks about his professional background, how he came to be a U.S. citizen and the growing interest Americans have to learn Spanish. This part is available for download here on his blog. Next week I’ll post the second part of the interview here at “Voices en Español.”

In addition to the podcast, Luis and his wife Joan offer an instructional video program called “Viajando en español con Luis y Joan.” These premium videos feature Luis and Joan in various Spanish-speaking countries where they interview the locals and offer cultural and language insights. Joan also has a blog where she writes from first-hand experience about the joys and challenges of learning Spanish. Additionally, Luis is also planning to offer Spanish language classes via Skype, so even if you don’t live in St. Paul, there will soon be a way to have Luis as your personal Spanish teacher.

Piracy on the high seas has been all over the news this month. What had been simmering on the U.S. news media back burner last year finally boiled over earlier this month when a group of Somalian pirates hijacked an American cargo ship and then demanded a $2 million ransom for the ship’s captain. For a few days there the tension and anxiety were extremely high as everyone wondered who would blink first: Pres. Obama or a group of Somalian teenagers wielding assault rifles. Fortunately, for the U.S., it ended like a Hollywood action movie, but the ordeal continues for numerous other hostages being held for ransom on other ships. Who’s going to rescue them?

I first heard of the growing problem of Somalian piracy last fall. My initial reaction was to make a dumb wisecrack about Johnny Depp and the Pirates of the Caribbean movies but these Somalian pirates are no joke.

This week’s podcast is about the piracy problem. We recorded the episode before the news broke about the American cargo ship and the rescue of its captain, so you won’t hear any mention of that news story in this podcast. But there are still plenty of interesting stats and historical context provided which explain what forces created the Somalian pirates and why they do what they do.

¡Piratas! transcript: Spanish text with English translation of key words and phrases used in the conversation. $2.50 Click on “Buy Now” button to purchase and download.

Photo of pirate by Giorgio Fochesato, used under license from iStockPhoto.com

• Why are young Somalian men turning to piracy?
• How much money does a Somalian pirate make?
• What exactly does a pirate spend his cut of the ransom money on?

Get the answers to these questions and more in this podcast.

(P.S. Based on the accent and a very obvious clue given in the podcast, can you guess where my friend Eugenio is from?)

¡Piratas! transcript: Spanish text with English translation of key words and phrases used in the conversation. $2.50 Click “Buy Now” button to purchase and download.

Romance Sonambulo

Verde que te quiero verde.
Verde viento. Verdes ramas.
El barco sobre la mar
y el caballo en la montaña.
Con la sombra en la cintura
ella sueña en su baranda,
verde carne, pelo verde,
con ojos de fría plata.
Verde que te quiero verde.
Bajo la luna gitana,
las cosas la están mirando
y ella no puede mirarlas.

Verde que te quiero verde.
Grandes estrellas de escarcha
vienen con el pez de sombra
que abre el camino del alba.
La higuera frota su viento
con la lija de sus ramas,
y el monte, gato garduño,
eriza sus pitas agrias.
¿Pero quién vendra? ¿Y por dónde…?
Ella sigue en su baranda,
Verde came, pelo verde,
soñando en la mar amarga.

–Compadre, quiero cambiar
mi caballo por su casa,
mi montura por su espejo,
mi cuchillo per su manta.
Compadre, vengo sangrando,
desde los puertos de Cabra.
–Si yo pudiera, mocito,
este trato se cerraba.
Pero yo ya no soy yo,
ni mi casa es ya mi casa.
–Compadre, quiero morir
decentemente en mi cama.
De acero, si puede ser,
con las sábanas de holanda.
¿No ves la herida que tengo
desde el pecho a la garganta?
–Trescientas rosas morenas
lleva tu pechera blanca.
Tu sangre rezuma y huele
alrededor de tu faja.
Pero yo ya no soy yo,
ni mi casa es ya mi casa.

–Dejadme subir al menos
hasta las altas barandas;
¡dejadme subir!, dejadme,
hasta las verdes barandas.
Barandales de la luna
por donde retumba el agua.

Ya suben los dos compadres
hacia las altas barandas.
Dejando un rastro de sangre.
Dejando un rastro de lágrimas.
Temblaban en los tejados
farolillos de hojalata.
Mil panderos de cristal
herían la madrugada.

Verde que te quiero verde,
verde viento, verdes ramas.
Los dos compadres subieron.
El largo viento dejaba
en la boca un raro gusto
de hiel, de menta y de albahaca.
¡Compadre! ¿Donde está, díme?
¿Donde está tu niña amarga?
¡Cuántas veces te esperó!
¡Cuántas veces te esperara,
cara fresca, negro pelo,
en esta verde baranda!

Sobre el rostro del aljibe
se mecía la gitana.
Verde carne, pelo verde,
con ojos de fría plata.
Un carámbano de luna
la sostiene sobre el agua.
La noche se puso íntima
como una pequeña plaza.
Guardias civiles borrachos
en la puerta golpeaban.
Verde que te qinero verde.
Verde viento. Verdes ramas.
El barco sobre la mar.
Y el caballo en la montaña.

“It’s not easy being green.” - Kermit the Frog

In English green is a color that generally has positive connotations. In Anglo culture green is generally associated with money or with nature. The same is true in Spanish culture. However, in Spanish verde is a color that frequently has negative or less than positive associations. If any of you reading this know the reason why the color verde leads such a hard knock life in Spanish, please share it with us below in the comments section. In the meantime consider some of the idiomatic Spanish expressions that use verde.

un chiste verde: a dirty joke

un verde canalla: a dirty, rotten scoundrel

un viejo verde: a dirty old man, a pervert

una película o un libro con escenas verdes: a racy (i.e. erotic) movie or book

un perro verde: a weirdo

estar verde: to be green in the literal sense (unripe) and figurative sense (inexperienced).

estar verde de envidia: to be green with envy. I’ve seen this phrase in Spanish but think it would be more common to use the adjective muerto instead of verde in that phrase. Estar muerto de envidia.

poner verde a alguien: to tell somebody off or to talk negatively about somebody behind their back.

a buenas horas mangas verdes: This is an idiomatic expression that is difficult to come up with an exact equivalent in English. Closest I can think of is “too little, too late.” General idea of the Spanish expression is to show exasperation when something happens too late to be of any use.

For example, Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy have a long-term relationship. Piggy wants to get married and gives Kermit an ultimatum – “Marry me or else.” Kermit doesn’t believe his porcine pareja will really leave him, so he does nothing until Piggy moves out. Devastated, Kermit finally buys Piggy a ring and proposes. But Piggy is unmoved and says “a buenas horas mangas verdes,” which essentially means “nice gesture, but it’s meaningless at this point because it has come too late.”

This Spanish expression reportedly dates back to the 15th-century and the Reyes Católicos and a special military unit they had to respond to emergencies. The sleeves of the uniform of this military corps were green. However, the group developed a reputation for always arriving late and being generally unreliable, never around when the people really needed them in an emergency. Thus the expression a buenas horas mangas verdes was born.

In present-day Spain, the Guardia Civil wears green uniforms but I don’t know whether or not this law enforcement agency shares the same reputation for unreliablity and lack of punctuality as its 15th-century predecessor.

Photos from the “Kermit Series” by Andy

(Special thanks to Andy for giving me permission to reprint his delightful Kermit photos on this blog. Photos cannot be copied or reproduced without his permission.)

What this means for those people exactly is, yes, you are on my email list, but no, I do not officially have your permission to send you emails.

Because spam is such a huge problem on the Internet, automated services that send out blog updates and e-newsletters will not send emails to people unless they “double opt-in”. That means that you must take an extra step and specifically give your permission saying that yes, you do want to receive emails from me.

Here’s how the process works:

1). You sign up for my email list by entering your email address in a form on my blog.

2). You get a confirmation email from either Feedburner or AWeber, the automated services that I use to send out updates. You must open this email, click on the link inside that email which confirms your permission.

Where a lot of people are getting tripped up is at Step 2. If your email account is configured to automatically delete or filter incoming email from unknown sources, it’s a pretty sure bet that this confirmation email that was sent to you was deleted by your email service.

Since you never saw the email, you never knew that you needed to open it and click on the link inside. And since you never responded, my email services have taken that lack of response to mean “No, I’m not interested in getting updates by email from Voices en Español, so don’t send me anything.” In the meantime, some of you who did go to the trouble of signing up, must be wondering, “gosh, I gave Eleena my email address but she doesn’t write, she doesn’t call, nothing. She just went poof!”

While your email hasn’t been deleted from my list, I’m not allowed to use it to communicate with you because my email services won’t allow me to until you confirm your permission. Can you see how complicated this gets?

So, for those of you who have subscribed to my email list but have never received a single email from me, please check your junk mail filter and add the following URLs to the “Safe” list inside your email account. They are:

feedburner.com, aweber.com and voicesenespanol[AT]gmail.com (But use the @ symbol. I had to type my email address like this to prevent it from getting picked up by spammers.)

What’s the difference between the emails sent by Feedburner and AWeber? Feedburner sends you an email containing the latest and complete blog posts as soon as they are published. It’s actually pretty cool since it contains the graphics, photos, audio, whatever is attached to the blog entry. It’s a great way to have the blog’s contents delivered directly to your inbox so you don’t have to personally visit the actual web site to read or access the content. AWeber sends you an email approximately six times a year with announcements or special offers only available to people on my list. You can be on either list or both. Your choice.

Feedburner:
Subscribe to Voices en Español » Full Content by Email

AWeber: Look for “Newsletter Signup” in the right-hand column of the home page of this blog.

And for those of you who aren’t on the list but would like to be, you can enroll as well following the steps outlined above.

Thanks!

Prof. John Varriano, whose research is what prompted me to do this podcast, is an art history professor at Mt. Holyoke College in South Hadley, Mass.

Want to learn more about Leonardo da Vinci, the original Renaissance Man? The Museum of Science in Boston, Mass. has an excellent web site that covers Leonardo the Scientist, Leonardo the Inventor and Leonardo the Artist.

Music in this episode: “Morir non puo il mio cuore” and “Cantiem lieti cantiamo” sung by The Hilliard Ensemble

The transcript of this episode, “La Última Cena”,  is six-pages long. It contains the complete Spanish dialogue of the conversation plus the recipe with cooking instructions.

$2.50

1. Leña al mono que es de goma = Wood to the monkey, it’s made of rubber

This Spanish phrase literally means to take a piece of wood and beat the crap out of a stuffed-animal monkey because it’s made out of rubber. It is an idiomatic expression used to cheer somebody on, to get them fired up.  Very loosely translated it would be something along the lines of  “Go for it! Crank it up! Kick some ass!” Unfortunately, there is no colorful equivalent in English. Could it be the PETA effect? Beating a monkey, even a rubber one, is definitely not PC.

2.  Pongo un circo y me crecen los enanos = I start a circus and the dwarfs grow up [height-wise] on me.

This is the Spanish way of saying “When it rains, it pours.”

Just think about it…what’s the worst thing that could happen to you if you opened a circus? The little people in your workforce experiencing a tremendous growth spurt! No government bailout is going to help you overcome that problem!

3. Lo pasamos como enanos = We had fun like midgets

The Spanish seem to have a thing for midgets. (Exhibit A: Las Meninas by Velázquez). Well, little people are used once again, this time to illustrate having fun. Lo pasamos como enanos means “We had a smashing good time” or “We enjoyed ourselves immensely.”

4. Nunca digas ‘de esta agua no beberé’….y que ‘este cura no es mi padre.’ = Never say “Of this water, I will not drink” and that “this priest isn’t my biological father.”

An extremely wordy way of saying “Never say never” in Spanish. But what a subversive expression it is en castellano.

5. pegársele las sábanas a alguien = The bedsheets stick to someone

A phrase that means “to oversleep” in Spanish. “Llegué tarde al trabajo porque se me pegaron las sábanas.” (Literally: “I arrived late to work because the sheets on the bed got stuck on me.” English meaning: “I arrived late because I overslept.”)

6. ponerse las botas = to put on one’s boots

This idiomatic expression means to stuff oneself with food. For example, “Me pongo las botas en la cena del día de Acción de Gracias.” (I stuff myself with food on Thanksgiving. I eat ’til I burst on Thanksgiving.)

What does putting on boots have to do with overeating? Ni idea.

7. pensar en la inmortalidad del cangrejo = to think about the immortality of the crab

This expression has been around for many, many years and is a humorous way to refer to daydreaming.

Do you have any personal favorite Spanish sayings that sound funny when translated literally to English or to your native language? Share them with us in the comments section below!

Photo: Confused Organutan, under license from iStockPhoto.com. Crab comic from Wikipedia.

This year is the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth and the 150th anniversary of the publication of his landmark work “On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection,” which set the scientific world on fire for its theory of evolution. This week’s podcast is a brief historical look at the impact Darwin’s theories had on the intellectual community in Spain during the 19th-century.

Painting: “Monkey before skeleton” by Gabriel Cornelius Ritter von Max

If you look closely at the bottle’s label you can see the funny inscription ["Es el mejor. La ciencia lo dijo y yo no miento"] on the monkey’s parchment. The monkey man is obviously a simian version of Charles Darwin. ¡Qué bueno!

In Part 1 of this article, I talked about the benefits of doing language exchanges in a group setting. In this entry I’m going to give you some pointers on how to get the maximum out of these encounters. First things first:

What’s your primary motivation?
Be aware of your reasons for going. Are you serious about practicing Spanish? Or are you really just looking for people to hang out with? Only curious to see who shows up? Or is it a combination of all those things?

If you want to avoid speaking English or interacting with English-speakers be aware that there’s no escaping it. Since English is the “international language,” it is almost a given that the majority of people in attendance, no matter where they’re from, will speak some English. Also, many native English-speakers do attend, and often end up speaking together. My advice would be to go and to seek out the people that are also serious  about language-practice, and if you are going with friends, that they be similarly motivated to do so.

How can you tell if someone is serious about language practice? Well, they won’t be doing shots or knocking back drink after drink. In some settings, you may notice that they have a pen and paper or a small notebook on hand, and they will definitely be alert and focused on what other people are saying.

Don’t be afraid to approach someone and ask if they are there for the intercambio and if they want to practice. Of course “everyone is there for the  intercambio,” but when you ask this question it makes it clear that you are there specifically for the speaking practice. That doesn’t mean that you can’t enjoy yourself or make friends, but if practicing Spanish is your primary objective, make that your priority.

Spend an equal amount time practicing both languages. It’s obviously the best way to be fair to each person or group of people. It is also OK to change conversation partners throughout the event to get a better mix of speaking (and listening) at different paces, hearing a variety of accents and interacting with a cross-section of people. There’s no rule that says you have to talk to the same person all evening.

Come prepared with a few unusual questions and some interesting and fun general statements you can make about yourself in the foreign language you wish to practice. At the beginning it is primarily small talk, but make sure that your conversations aren’t always limited to the same old topics (name, nationality, what are you doing in Spain, where do you live, where do you go out, etc). Although I have become an expert at rattling off this boilerplate information with uncanny precision, it’s a bit dull repeating yourself.

Ask a variety of questions – perhaps something cultural [Which city would make a better day trip? Toledo or Segovia?], or something a bit more personal [What's the biggest tip you've ever left a waiter?] , or even something totally left-field [Jamón Serrano or jamón íberico?] – just to keep things interesting.

But whatever you do, stay away from politics or religion. At least in that first conversation.

And now a word to the wise, especially to the ladies. “Will you be my English teacher?” is a popular and rather tired pick-up line at these group events. Although many people (i.e. men) sincerely do want to practice the language, there are some who view the group intercambios as a dating pool and their real intentions are to find their next date, girlfriend or future wife. Obviously, if you hit it off with a guy and want to take things to the next level, that’s your business. But realize that some of the attention you get as a chica at these events might be coming from (male) attendees who have other ideas in mind. Just be aware of that dynamic so that your signals don’t get crossed.

Of course, if you want to keep things strictly platonic, the group intercambios are a great place to go to make new acquaintances, especially if you don’t care where your friends are from or what their native language is.  People of all nationalities and ages are present, with the largest representation being, of course, Spaniards, and then people from the U.S., U.K. or Australia.

It’s extremely easy to sit down with a group of people you’ve never met, start talking, and end the evening with a bunch of new phone numbers as well as plans for the weekend. After all, for the majority of people in attendance, the primary reason they’re there is to make friends, so the atmosphere is open and welcoming.  Don’t hesitate to smile and strike up a conversation, and don’t be too worried if you are a wallflower because someone will probably approach you.

Whatever it is that gives you an interest  in attending a group intercambio, be clear on your objectives (solely language practice/find party friends/meet soulmate) and respectful of other people’s priorities and their varying degrees of interest in language practice.  With this information in mind, all of your goals can  be met during a language exchange (except, perhaps, the soulmate one).

What’s been your experience with group intercambios? In the final analysis, what was the greatest benefit you got out of it?

This is a guest post from Becca Moy, an English teacher who has been living in Madrid for a little over a year.  She calls Connecticut and California “home(s)”.  She spends far too much time on the Metro (Madrid’s subway) but enjoys the free newspaper and the always pleasant live music.  She is obsessed with Spain, just like yours truly, and thinks that’s pretty obvious to anyone who has met her over the last several years. This is Part 1 of a two-part entry.

In Madrid, I wouldn’t qualify myself as the type of person that has smooth first encounters. By “first encounters” I’m including everything from meeting people, finding my way to a new location without getting lost, figuring out things at the bank/post office/doctor, and renting a car, etc.

Perhaps this is due to my nature as a person that doesn’t spend much time anticipating what I might need to say or do, and just “giving it a go.” Perhaps it is because I have long forgotten the categorized lists of vocabulary within the structured chapters of my high school and college Spanish books (i.e. “Going to the grocery store!” “Juan visits the post office!”). Perhaps it is simply because I live and work in a foreign country.

Either way, after quite a bit of serendipitous learning (trial and error—mostly error) and repeat “encounters” I have become much more versed at normally simple things that had suddenly been made almost impossible in a different language. The ultimate “first encounter” scenario, however, take place in the almighty group “intercambios” that are held throughout the city. I categorize them as such because meeting people is the main activity within them, but also because I think it is important to set the tone for your first visit, especially if you are like me and go into many things less prepared than you thought you were. Thus, I will use my special talent at learning from my mistakes to give you advice about what makes a “bad”, “good”, or “excellent” intercambio—the quality of my own experiences going in that exact order, like most other things.

These “cultural exchanges” are held with the premise that people from all over the world can go, socialize, and practice a variety of languages. They are interesting on several levels, but mostly because people aren’t accustomed to doing anything similar back in their home countries. Usually held in the more tourist-heavy areas of the city, some more popular intercambios are organized in well-known Irish bars. They are easily located, especially for those university students that spend more time than is probably advisable wandering (or stumbling) around these areas. There are also trips, cultural events, parties and even dinners that are organized apart from the main weekly event. For those that attend these meetings regularly, groups of long-lasting friendships are often created…long-lasting at least throughout the duration of their stay in the city/country.

Here are Becca’s picks for popular group intercambio locations in Madrid:

Beer Station - Thursdays starting at 10pm, cuesta de Santo Domingo 22 (Metro Santo Domingo/Callao)
O’Neils Irish Pub -Tuesdays from 10:00 pm, c/Principe, 12 (Metro: Sevilla, Sol)
Cafe Madrid – Thursdays, 9:30 pm to 2 am, c/ Escalinata    (Metro: Opera)
Star Studio – Fridays, 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. c/ Salud 9 (Plaza del Carmen) (Metro: Sol, Gran Via)

Outside of Madrid, check MeetUp.com to see if there are any Spanish conversation groups that meet in your community.

Becca will be back later this week with advice on how to get the most out of these public meetings. In the meantime, follow Becca on Twitter.

Photo: “Friends” used under license from iStockPhoto.com

Realizó sus primeros viajes a España atraído por la figura del Cid Campeador. Huntington hizo una edición en inglés del famoso Poema del Cid. También, a Huntington le fascinaba la arqueología. De hecho el sueño de Huntington era hacerse un verdadero arqueólogo. En 1898 tuvo su oportunidad de cumplir su sueño. En aquel año Huntington emprendió un viaje a España dirigiéndose a Sevilla, a la búsqueda de libros y también para sumergirse en la cultura. Cerca de Sevilla están las ruinas de la ciudad romana de Itálica, considerada secularmente como Sevilla la Vieja y durante su estancia en España, Huntington conoció al arqueólogo francés Arthur Engel, quien le ofreció la posibilidad de continuar sus excavaciones en un terreno que tenía arrendado y que se disponía a abandonar.

Sin vacilar, Huntington se hizo cargo del arriendo del terreno y comenzó así a excavar en Itálica, a las afueras de la ciudad romana, en una zona de necrópolis. Pudo así palpar de primera mano los vestigios y las huellas de los habitantes de la antigua e ilustre ciudad romana de Hispania fundada por Pubio Cornelio Escupión el Africano. La excavación, iniciada en febrero de 1898, hubo de ser bruscamente interrumpida en abril por el estallido de la Guerra de Cuba, pero la experiencia había sido, en opinión de Huntington, formidable.

Huntington, un gran bibliófilo, se dedicó por entero al conocimiento de la cultura hispana y a crear un museo para su estudio y difusión.

En *1908, diez años después de su primera experiencia en Itálica, Huntington fundó la Sociedad Hispánica de América (Hispanic Society of America) que hoy en día es uno de los museos más importantes de la cultura española fuera de España. Ubicada en la ciudad de Nueva York, la Sociedad Hispánica tiene una biblioteca con una gran colección de más de 250.000 libros que tienen que ver con España, Portugal y sus colonias. De esta cifra, 15.000 de estos fueron imprimidos antes del s. XVII. La biblioteca también contiene varios de las escritos de Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, una de los escritoras más importantes en la historia de la lengua española.

Ahora, en 2009, por primera vez en España, se muestra la colección arqueológica del señor Huntington. Hasta el 30 de abril de 2009, se puede ver la colección en el Museo Arqueológico Regional de Madrid. Luego, entre mayo y julio, se puede verla en Sevilla en el Centro Cultural de la Fundación Cajasol.

(*Correction: Huntington founded the Hispanic Society of America in 1904 and opened the museum in 1908.)

Huntington’s interest in Spain and the Spanish language was so intense that he eventually founded the Hispanic Society of America, a library and a museum in New York City to house his collection of books, art and archaeological artifacts. Now, for the first time, el tesoro of Archer Milton Huntington is coming to Spain for a temporary exhibit in Madrid and in Sevilla this spring. Listen to this week’s podcast to hear more about el talentoso Sr. Huntington.

Photo: Huntington following the route of El Cid in 1892. From the Hispanic Society of America.

Hay un poco de contaminación en San Francisco, pero en comparición con Los Angeles, hay poca. (San Francisco has some pollution but compared to Los Angeles, there’s little [pollution].)

Tengo un poco de dinero, si quieres te puedo prestar. (I have a little money. If you want, I can lend you some.)

Lo siento, pero tengo poco dinero, así que no te puedo prestar. (I’m sorry but I have very little money, so I can’t lend you any.)

The examples mentioned above have to do with poco/un poco plus nouns. When poco and un poco are paired with adjectives, their meanings diverge once again.

If you want to describe something as “un-” or “not” in Spanish, “poco” is your word.

Poco + adjectivo = Un (or Not) + adjective

poco agradable: unpleasant

poco amigable: unfriendly

poco atractivo: unattractive, not attractive

poco saludable: unhealthy, not healthy

poco inteligente: unintelligent, not intelligent

However un poco + adjective gets translated as “kind of”  or “somewhat” in English.

El menú del día de ese restaurante es un poco caro. Cuesta 15 euros. The menu of the day at that restaurant is somewhat expensive. It costs 15 euros.

La tienda está un poco lejos de aquí. No se puede llegar fácilmente a pie. (The store is kind of far from here.  It’s not within easy walking distance.)

Javier Bardem es un poco feo en la película “No es país para viejos”. ( Javier Bardem is kind of ugly in the movie “No Country for Old Men,”.)

This New York Times travel sttory hits all the predictable spots the tourist guides always mention, (Prado Museum, Parque Retiro, Plaza Mayor, a flamenco club, etc.) but this time the Times did turn me on to a few places in Madrid that I was unaware of, such as Matadero Madrid. So I give their article a thumbs up, although the couple of mentions of shopping at trendy boutiques and eating overpriced dinners at haute cuisine restaurants just seemed so 2006. Crisis, ¿qué crisis?

NYTimes photos of a “Weekend in Madrid”