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Trámites : Red tape, steps, procedures, paperwork

In many cases, trámites is a list of steps, usually paperwork, required to obtain a document issued by the government, or the steps to enroll in a university. The corresponding verb is tramitar. Examples of sentences using these words are tramitar el pasaporte (to start the proceedings to obtain a passport), tramitar el acta de nacimiento (to process a birth certificate, in Spain they say partida de nacimiento), tramitar el título profesional (to process a university diploma), tramitar un permiso (to start the paperwork to obtain some permit). We also use the verb sacar meaning, in this context, to obtain a document: sacar el pasaporte, sacar un permiso. The word trámite comes from the Latin word trames, meaning road. Trámite is each one of a number of steps required to obtain a document or something similar which lies at the end of a long and strenuous road.  Tramo, which stems from the same Latin word, means a continuous distance between two points, a stretch, usually on a road, but it can also be used figuratively. A word that is usually associated to trámites is burocracia. Trámite burocrático, or rather its plural form, trámites burocráticos, is a common expression of complaint or frustration uttered while processing something at a government's office, for example. Trámites en línea just means that you can do your paperwork or on-line.

(these images are from various Latin American and Spanish government websites) 20060331 (spanishNY.com) top

Dollar : 8 piece coin : moneda de 8 reales : dólar

This Mexican-minted, Spanish silver coin....

.....was known as dollar, was used in the Thirteen Colonies, and was the first official currency of the United States which remained a legal tender until 1857.

      In Bohemia, then part of the Spanish Empire, there used to be a rich silver mine in a valley called Sankt Joachimsthal (meaning Saint Joachim's Valley). Coins minted using the silver from that mine were named Joachimsthaler (meaning more or less native of Joachim's valley). The name was later shortened to Thaler and Taler (meaning native of the valley), and was the original Germanic word for dollar. Several European countries created coins, similar in composition and weight to the Thaler, that were called dollars in their respective languages. In English, the word dollar was used specifically to refer to this Spanish coin that became the main currency in the world, and thanks to Thomas Jefferson and the Continental Congress, it also became the first official currency of the United States.  This coin's original Spanish denomination was moneda de ocho reales, but it was also known as peso.

 Now, please observe this image for a few seconds. Does it look familiar?

This is the right pillar on the coin. Now you should be able to grasp where both, the dollar and the peso symbol, $,  originated.

As you can see on the coins depicted above, since 1535, the majority of the original dollars carry the Mexico City mint's signature (left).  Modern Mexican coins struck in the oldest mint in the Americas are still branded with it.  Dollars were also produced in Potosí, Guadalajara, Lima, and Zacatecas.

Image credit: Casa de Moneda de México.
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Calidad and Cualidad : Quality

The two Spanish words, calidad and cualidad, both translate to mean quality in English but convey two different concepts.  The word calidad conveys the overall quality of a person or object, and cualidad shows the worth of the individual parts of a particular object or person.  A cualidad could be a characteristic, usually a desirable and significant one, that distinguishes an object or person from another.  A good cualidad could be a virtue. In order to be of a high calidad, there should a number of good individual cualidades within the person or object.  A wine, for instance, may have many fine cualidades, so the overall wine itself may be of a top calidad.  One great cualidad of Japanese cars is the high gas mileage they get.  A not so good cualidad of American cars may be the relatively low number of miles per gallon of gas they may get.  The overall calidad of both Japanese and American cars can only be determined by comparing the many and varied cualidades of the cars each country produces. Hardly does a lifetime-guaranteed Chinese umbrella have any good cualidades, so, overall, they are very poor calidad items. Being inexpensive and being available at any corner might be their only two good cualidades.


(Image credit: jessespector dot com. From JesseSpector's funny article about Rainy Day Umbrellas)
During a job interview in Spanish you might be asked to mention some of your cualidades, which in this case mean your personality traits.
Thanks to Greg Zittel for his ideas on making these two concepts clearer. 20060220 (spanishNY.com) top

Conmigo, contigo, consigo but con él, con usted, con nosotros, etc. : with me, with you

Why the preposition con forms a single word in conmigo (with me), contigo (with you -tú-), and consigo (with him/her/it self)?
Conmigo evolved from Latin mecum; contigo from Latin tecum; consigo comes from secum.
The Spanish preposition "con" is a grandchild of the Latin postposition "-cum." (meaning "with".) With the passing of the centuries, mecum changed to mego, tecum changed to tego, and secum changed to sego. From Vulgar Latin to old Spanish people lost track of what "-go" represented, so they added "con" as a preposition. Technically the "con" and "go" are redundant elements, both evolving from Latin's "-cum" and meaning "with."
mecum -> mego -> conmego -> conmigo  (historically: conMIcon, withMEwith.)
tecum -> tego -> contego -> contigo (withYOUwith.)
secum -> sego -> consego -> consigo (withxxSELFwith.)
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El agua, las aguas

Why does the FEMININE word agua (water) take the articles el or un in the singular, but in the plural -or when an adjective is used before the noun- it takes feminine articles?
i.e. El agua fría. La fría agua. Las aguas del río.
Most feminine words beginning with a stressed "a" sound (including "ha") take the masculine article. As an example, it avoids elagua sounding like laagua. This phenomenon evolved from the Latin demonstrative pronoun "Illa", that changed to "ela", and ultimately to "ela" and "el" before feminine nouns beginning with "a" (or "ha"). Illa aqua, ela aqua, ela agua, el agua. In the plural, the s of las or unas breaks the cacophony*.
Here is a list containing most words obeying this rule:
El acta, las actas (report, certificate)
El afta, las aftas (blister, cold sore)
El ágata, las ágatas (agate) 
El agua, las aguas (water, current)
El águila, las águilas (eagle)
El ala, las alas (wing)
El alba, las albas (dawn; rare in plural)
El alca, las alcas (an arctic species of bird)
El alga, las algas (seaweed)
El álgebra, las álgebras (algebra; rare in plural)
El alma, las almas (soul)
El alta, las altas (to be released from a hospital, enrolment)
El alza, las alzas (rise, increase)
El ama, las amas (mistress, housewife)
El anca, las ancas (rear legs of some animals)
El ancla, las anclas (anchor)
El ánfora, las ánforas (amphora)
El ánima, las ánimas (soul)   
El ansa, las ansas (alternate old spelling of "asa")                             
El ansia, las ansias (anxiety, longing, to look forward to)    
El anta, las antas (some architectural decoration)
El ara, las aras (altar, honor)
El arca, las arcas (chest, safe, ark)
El arda, Las ardas (archaic term for "ardilla", squirrel)
El área, las áreas (area)
El arma, las armas (arm, weapon)
El árnica, las árnicas (some kind of plant)
El arpa, las arpas (harp)
El asa, las asas (bag handle, mug handle)
El ascua, las ascuas (ember)
El asma, las asmas  (asthma; rare in plural)
El aspa, las aspas (blender blade, propellers, mill arm)
El asta, las astas (pole, mast, horn)
El aula, las aulas (classroom)
El ave, las aves (birds as opposed to mammals, reptiles, etc.)
With "h":
El haba, las habas (broad bean)
El habla, las hablas (speech; rare in plural)
El hacha, las hachas (axe)
El hada, las hadas (fairy)
El halda, las haldas (packing device)
El hambre, las hambres (hunger; rare in plural)
El hampa, las hampas (underworld, crime; rare in plural)
El harca, las harcas (some military term original from Morocco used in Spain)
El harda, las hardas (alternate spelling of "farda", a sac. Also, archaic term for arda, ardilla; squirel)
El harpa, el harpa (alternate spelling of "arpa") 
Exceptions:
La arte, el arte, los artes, las artes (art; both genders)
Letters are feminine for the most part
La A, las As (the Spanish name of the letter "a", las aes, is the plural form according to the RAE))
La alfa, las alfas (the Greek letter alpha)
La hache, las haches (the Spanish name of the letter “h”)
El álef, La álef, Los álefs, las álefs (both genders. Hebrew's aleph)
Various nouns, some coming from adjectives, describing female people or animals
La árabe, las árabes (a female Arab person)
La árbitra, las árbitras (a female referee)
La aria, las arias (feminine for Aryan)
La asna, las asnas (female donkey. Some scholars prefer "El asno hembra" (female donkey), but it's way too formal)
La ánade, las ánades (female variety of duck)
La áspid (female asp)
Notice that compounds do not necessarily follow the rule because the stress falls on a different syllable:
El aguardiente, la aguamala
As of yet, not many scholars agree on what to do in cases like these; I would go for the feminine article:
El hábil hada or La hábil hada.
Un ágil águila or Una ágil águila
When the word is inflected, the stress moves to a different syllable so the masculine article is no longer necessary:
La agüita, la anclota, la alita, la aguilota
*Cacophony: Harsh or discordant sound of words or phrases. Cacofonía. Disonancia.
In this table I used the definite article, but you can use the indefinite article as well, i.e. un, unas. Entries in bold font are used more frequently. The noun agua has become the model word to explain this phenomenon.
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Emergency help : auxilio, socorro

There are a couple of words in Spanish that you might need should you find yourself in -or around- an extreme situation of distress. These words are auxilio and socorro.  It is somehow customary that both words are used in an alternating way, i.e. "...   ¡auxilio!   ¡socorro!   ¡auxilio!  ¡socorro!  ...."  The effect of these words go beyond the usual help; by shouting them, you might cause someone to call 911. Therefore, it is very important that you know when to use them. When you request help that does not require the paramedics, the police, or the fire department, you should simply use the verb ayudar (to help). Auxilio comes from the Latin word auxilium, which means help. Socorro comes from the Latin succurrere, to run for help, which contains the term currere, to run. This word is related to the Spanish words correr (to run), carro (car), and correo (postal service or courier).  Ayudar originates from the Latin adiutare. SOS is not related to socorro, but their meanings are pretty similar. On the other hand, May Day, from the French m'aider, is in deed related to ayudar. It is important that you know the correct pronunciation of auxilio and socorro. 20060201 (spanishNY.com) top

Stock Exchange : La Bolsa

Stock Exchange in Spanish is bolsa, in French is bourse, in Dutch is beurs, in German Börse, in Italian borsa, and so on. So, why is this word similar in most languages except in English? 
Bolsa and its sister words come from the last name of Jacob Van der Buerse, whose coat of arms was three bags or purses arranged vertically.  It is said that this family's residence in Bruges, Belgium, was a meeting place for traders in the 1400's. The first formal Stock Exchange was created in nearby Antwerp*, Belgium, ca. 1531, when this region was part of the Spanish Empire. Incidentally, buerse and burse come from the Latin word bursa -meaning bag or purse- which in turn originated from the Greek word byrsa. The word bolsa in Spanish means also bag and purse.  England did not adopt this term, but the word burse exists in this language to refer to other European Stock Exchanges. As miscellaneous curious, a few possible literal translations of the term Bolsa de Valores are Bag of Values, Purse of Valuables, Purse of Securities, etc; and why not, The New York Stock Exchange -La Bolsa de Nueva York- could have been called The Purse of New York.   *Note: Antwerp and Belgium in Spanish are called Amberes and Bélgica, respectively. (spanishNY.com) top

Stop, pare, alto : Stop

In Mexico we use alto for the stop traffic sign. Meanwhile, in Spain, people say la señal de stop, meaning stop signal, or simply el stop, pronouncing it /estop/. Some other countries use pare.  Alto was already present in Spanish in 1726, but there are reasons to believe that it probably entered the language in the 16th century. Alto came as a German military command meaning to hold, to stop. Notice that Germany was part of the Spanish Empire in 1500's and 1600's. Halt is also present in English (ca.1622) also as halt, in French, halte, and in Italian, alto. It exists in several more languages as well.  Pare is the formal imperative of the Spanish verb parar, to stop. Do not confuse alto, the command, with alto, the adjective meaning tall. Alto, the adjective, comes from the Latin word altus, akin to altitude. Same look, different origin.
Image credit www.fmcsa.dot.gov (spanishNY.com)
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Nutria : otter

Why is a nutria in English different than a nutria in Spanish?
The following is an example of a typical problem encountered by translators when dictionaries are not accurate.  This case is about two totally unrelated animals, that for some reason ended up under the same entry in various English/Spanish dictionaries, creating confusion. Up to a certain point, this is just like problems caused by false cognates.
Is this animal

the same as this animal?

For some English/Spanish dictionaries, it is the case.

      The first animal, Mustelidae Lutrinae, is called otter in English and nutria in most Spanish speaking countries. The second animal, Myocastor Coypus, is called coypu or coipú in most Spanish speaking countries, except in Argentina, where, according to the RAE, it is called nutria:  This is the reason why it is mistakenly called nutria in English. Apparently, the confusion began with the importation of coipús from South America. Coipús were introduced into the U.S. under the misleading name of nutrias. As a result, some dictionaries wrongly translate nutria in English (actually a coipú) as nutria in Spanish (actually an otter). Different animal, same word. Modern dictionaries already solved this problem, but some others translate nutria in Spanish as both, nutria and otter in English, adding to the confusion.
      The word nutria comes from the Latin words nutria and lutra, meaning otter. An otter is called lontra and loutre in other romance languages. Unfortunately, the naming mistake of nutria in English has already propagated to other languages, like Italian and Japanese.
      An otter is related to polecats, weasels, minks, among others. A nutria in English -and reportedly in Argentina-, is called coipú (coypú, coipo) in other Spanish speaking countries, and it's related to beavers and other rodents. Just look at his teeth! (Photo credits: otter.org, sivae.it)  
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Pan : Bread

In Spanish we can count bread, that is, it's correct to say 1 bread, 2 breads, 3 breads, and so on. At an East Harlem Spanish bakery in New York, some Hispanic people order bread in English this way, "I want 2 chocolate breads and one strawberry marmalade bread please." (a literal translation of, "quiero dos panes de chocolate y un pan de mermelada de fresa por favor".)  What is funny and interesting is that now even some Americans who order bread at that bakery say it in the same way. From the Spanish speaking person's point of view, a danish is a bread, a muffin is another bread, a roll is a bread; a baguette, a bagel, and a pretzel are 3 breads. Pan is bread in general, but also pan is a single loaf of bread. Panes are loaves of bread or different varieties of bread. Panadería is a bakery. Pastel -from French and Latin, and related to pastry and pasta- is a cake in Mexico and Spain. In Cuba they say "cake" but they don't pronounce the last /k/ sound. In parts of Central America they say queque, a word that comes from English. Most other places say torta, similar to the German word Torte*, English torte, and Italian torta, all these from Latin. Torta in Mexico is a sandwich on a roll.  Pan is also bread in Japanese and Korean, but this word arrived in Asia through Portuguese explorers.
    In Spanish we can also count furniture, candy, advice, gossip, news, lightning, thunder, lettuce, and many other objects and ideas that are not countable in English.
 (thx Russellos) (spanishNY.com)

*Note: German nouns need to be capitalized.
(images: tacospepitobakery.com) top

NEW Scabies Sensitive Anti-Itch skin Lotion.

Would you buy an Anti-Itch Lotion called Scabies® or  Mange ® ?

That is exactly what Sarna® means in Spanish and Portuguese. Scabies and mange are a couple of contagious human and animal skin diseases.   I doubt Spanish speaking people would buy this product.  (image credit: www.axiomvetlab.com)
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Andar, caminar : to walk

Andar is used in Spain for to walk, but In many Latin American countries we use caminar instead. In these countries andar carries the meaning of to move, to go, to go around, to be located; it doesn't matter if it is by foot, in car, on bicycle. From caminar comes caminata, i.e. caminata espacial, spacewalk. The Mexican Spanish ándale, means c'mon!, start!, begin!, let's move on!, that's right!, go!, and perhaps some other meanings, but it does not quite mean walk!(spanishNY.com) top

Tocar la batería : to play the drums

What's the relationship between a drum set and a battery?

One of the meanings of the English verb to batter, and the Spanish verb batir, is to beat.  Law enforcement officers call battery the act of beating someone, similar to an assault. To batter, to beat, actually to play the drums in Spanish is tocar la batería. Batería is a drum set. Now, battery -in both languages- is also a set of similar, arranged objects, designed to perform the same function. One example of this in Spanish is batería de cocina, a kitchen set of pots and pans. This is the reason why a set of drums is called batería, because it is a set of similar objects -drums- designed to perform the same function. For these two reasons, a drum set in English could have been called battery, similar to Spanish, but it is not. Both, batería and battery come from French batterie, from old French's battre, to beat, and this from Latin's battuere. A single drum is tambor, similar to tambourine (from Arabic and Persian). Electric battery is a set of electric cells connected together, but nowadays a single electric cell is called a battery.
(image credit: drumcentral.com)(spanishNY.com) top

Bicicleta : Bicycle

A few years ago, during a class at a café in NYC with a student of mine (T.G.), we were talking about how to say "to ride a bicycle" in Spanish. A lady who was listening became very upset, she was sitting at the next table to us and interrupted our conversation. She said, "You are wrong, we don't say andar en bicicleta, we say correr bicicleta. I am a certified Spanish teacher by the State of New York." I thanked her for her contribution (I didn't even know "correr bicicleta" existed.) Once I got home, I did a little research and obtained the following breakdown based on a few Yahoo and Google searches. This is an updated version of the search results:

Unfortunately, I didn't see the lady again to show her these results.
Moral of the story: If you are going to get certified for teaching Spanish, get certified in a Spanish speaking country, not in New York!  
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Calzado : footwear. Zapatos : shoes

If you see the word "calzado" think of footwear. "Calzado deportivo" are sneakers, tennis shoes. In a department store you will probably see "Departamento de Calzado" instead of "zapatería" (shoe store.) Calzado is more formal and broad in meaning than zapato. The corresponding verb is "calzar" (to wear shoes, to provide footwear.) Zapato is a masculine noun but, for some reason, it is common for students to change the gender to "las zapatas." Careful with this mistake.
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