RBD in the New York Times again (their follow up to last week's article.)

Click on the picture to see this article.

(photo: Rahav Segev for The New York Times)
RBD, a group that grew out of a Mexican soap opera, at Madison Square Garden. From left, Alfonso Herrera, Maite Perroni, Anahí Puente, Christopher Uckermann, Christián Chávez and Dulce María Espinoza.

These are a some of their videos from around the world on YouTube. They are some of the biggest ambassadors of the Spanish language globally.

RBD in downtown Mexico City, nearly a million people fit on the square and nearby avenues and streets...

  

RBD in Hollywood

   

RBD in Japan

RBD in Romanian television

According to my little Romanian (a Romance language, like Spanish): Marea Premiera = Grand Premiere. Luni cinci iunie /lun chinch yunie/= Monday, June 5th. Sase si jumatate seara /shase shi shumatate ssseara/= Six and half evening. Numai Acasa. Numai, /numa/, is like nomás, meaning "only" in Spanish. Only in Acasa. Acasa, a TV network whose name means in house or at home.

Video: TV transmission of RBD's concert in Bucuresti. When Romanians speak or sing in Spanish on this video, they do it with a great pronunciation. Not all of them understand Spanish, and they are joking about "nu înteleg," I don't understand," or "nu stiu," I don't know, "Ce zice?, ce zice?", what is she saying, what is she saying?. They say "o seara foarte frumoasa," a very beautiful evening. Towards the end of the video they sing in Spanish, and no one could tell they are not native Spanish speakers. Their Spanish pronunciation is just perfect. They end the show with "PA PA" (Bye bye), Multumim RBD, /multsumim RBD/, we thank you RBD, they say.

RBD in Slovenia

RBD in Brazil, Rio de Janeiro, Maracana, the largest stadium in the world

RBD in Poland in Polish

At the end of the dialog Dulce says a word that I think only Mexicans can understand, so I will try to explain it. In Mexico City there is an expression of disbelief, surprise, or anger: "híjole", "híjoles", "hijos", but what she ends up saying is the typical short version "chijos","shijos", or "shijj" that somebody says when is upset. It comes from the word hijo (son in Spanish). Probably, in this case it could be translated as "Jeezzz", the short version of the same type of expression "Jesus" in English.

RBD, something from Turkey

RBD, something from Israel. They are actually saying that they are expecting RBD in that country.

RBD in Barcelona, Spain. There is a big difference compared to concerts (of any artist) taking place in the U.S., where we are prohibited to take pictures. As you can see, the public are free to take all the photos they want in Spain. Some 100 pictures a second, perhaps.

True. I forgot Serbia. Here is something about RBD from Serbia.

OK, Greece

Puerto Rico

Too many videos will slowdown the page. It's already overloaded.

And there isn't enough space for all Latin America (except Argentina, where they have their own local version, Rebelde Version 1.0. Mexico's is Version 2.0. Incredibly, the Mexican version is about to come out on Argentine TV).

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RBD

I was surprised to see an article about this Spanish soap opera and pop band in the New York Times. In fact, one of my students asked me about this group, and Greg, another student, later told me it might be interesting for this website. I am not an expert about the band, but here is the link to the NYT article. They are performing this weekend at the Madison Square Garden.

We Are a Band, and We Play One on TV
Image credit: New York Times.

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Ze, zi

The syllables ze and zi are usually not accepted in Spanish. In verb conjugations, you must change ze to ce and zi to ci (example, almorzar but almuerce, never almuerze, to eat lunch). However, there are a few exceptions to this rule, but they are nouns, not verbs. The nouns enzima (enzyme), zinc, zenit or cenit or cénit, (cenit or zenith), zeta (the letter z), and zepelín are some of the very few examples. Most of these words are not of Latin origin.

This is also true for numbers. 10 is diez. 6 is seis. But 16 is dieciséis. Dieziséis would be incorrect.
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Expandir Vs. expander, cernir Vs. cerner

The Spanish verb expandir, to expand, is sometimes misspelled as expander, which officially doesn't exist. Yet, it is used by many people:
From Google (Spanish language pages only)
   Results 1 - 10 of about 524,000 Spanish pages for "para expandir"  (correct)
   Results 1 - 10 of about   13,200 Spanish pages for "para expander" (incorrect)
Very few verbs do have two endings. One example is cerner, which can be spelled also as cernir. Cernir means to sift, but sometimes it also means to hover or to loom. In Latin, cernere means to separate.
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Not all nouns ending in a are feminine

       item still under construction
There are many examples of common nouns that end in a and are masculine. You need to take this into account when making them agree with articles and adjectives. Note that many of these words are of Greek origin, some of which are rather technical.
muchos días maravillosos, (never muchas días maravillosas), many wonderful days
Un programa exitoso (never una programa exitosa), a successful program
Un problema extraordinario (never una problema extraordinaria), an extraordinary problem
Un poema magnífico, a magnificent poem
Un mapa extenso (never una mapa extensa), a large map
los planetas lejanos, far planets
el cometa, comet
el gran dilema, the big dilemma
el fonema, phoneme
el aroma, aroma
el panorama, panorama
el sistema, system
el morfema, morfeme (and many other linguistic terms ending in -ma)
un tema divertido, a funny subject (theme)
el enfisema, emphysema
el clima caluroso, hot weather
el edema, edema
el eczema, eczema (and many other health related terms ending in -ema, -oma)
el crucigrama, crossword puzzle
el organigrama, organization chart, flow chart
el fonograma, phonogram
el telegrama, telegram (and most words ending in -rama)
Many nouns ending in -ista and referring to males are masculine. When they refer to females they take the corresponding feminine articles and adjectives, but the noun ending remains -ista. Note that many of these nouns correspond to the suffix -ist in English.
el taxista, taxi driver (la taxista would the female taxi driver).
el analista, analyst
el comunista, communist
el laborista, Labor Party member
el anarquista, anarchist
el alquimista, alchemist
el columnista, columnist (journalism)
un deportista, a sports person, athlete
un conferencista, a lecturer
el periodista, journalist
el cronista, feature writer
el novelista, novelist
el cuentista, fiction writer
el rescatista, rescuer  (a common word used in many countries but neglected by the RAE)
el socorrista, rescuer
el alpinista, mountain climber
el bañista, bather, swimmer
el recepcionista, receptionist
el dentista, dentist
el inversionista, investor
el paracaidista, paratrooper
el concertista, music performer
el anestesista, anesthetist
el especialista, specialist
el tenista, tennis player
el velocista, runner, sprinter
el ajedrecista, chess player
el golfista, golf player
el basquetbolista, basketball player
el clavadista, diver
el beisbolista, baseball player
el contrabandista, smuggler
el extremista, extremist
el racista, racist
el narcisista, narcissist
el antagonista, antagonist
el oficinista, office clerk
el manicurista, manicurist (note that this word is related to la mano, hand)
el pedicurista, pedicurist (note that this word is related to el pie, foot)
el machista, male chauvinist
el maquillista, make up specialist
el estilista, hairdresser
el especialista, specialist
el adventista, Adventist
el artista, artist
el retratista, portrait artist
el caricaturista, cartoonist
el turista, tourist
el arreglista, music composer, arranger
el pianista, pianist
el baterista, drummer
el trompetista, trumpeter
el organista, organist
el violinista, violinist
el acordionista, accordionist
el guitarrista, guitarist
el malabarista, juggler
el maquinista, a person working on a train locomotive
el transportista, a person working in transportation
Watch out: Not all -ist English nouns have -ista Spanish counterparts: anthropologist, el antropólogo (not antropologista).
Here are some more nouns
el policía, policeman (la policía, police department or police woman)
el guardia, guard
el atleta, athlete
el espía, spy
el poeta famoso, a famous poet
el cura, priest
el sofá, sofa
el tequila, tequila
el vigía, watchman
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de lo más <adjective> = extremadamente <adjective>, sumamente <adjective>

We recently had a reading that included a sentence like ella está de lo más feliz. Here are some examples of possible interpretations:
Sonia está de lo más feliz = Sonia está extremadamente feliz, Sonia is extremely happy
El juego fue de lo más emocionante = El juego fue sumamente emocionante
El desierto de Arizona es de lo más caluroso = El desierto de Arizona es extremadamente caluroso
El viaje estuvo de lo más divertido = El viaje estuvo sumamente divertido
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El Toro

A few weeks ago I talked about La Montaña Rusa, Russian Mountain, or roller coaster in Spanish. Now I revisit the topic as Six Flags Great Adventure, in New Jersey, just opened a new Montaña Rusa called El Toro, the Bull, which will be located at the new themed section called Plaza del Carnaval, Carnival Square, which also features La Cocina, the kitchen, a Mexican Restaurant. El Toro is one of the tallest and fastest wooden roller coasters in the world.

(El Toro picture by Six Flags) 20060617 (spanishNY.com) top

SI VES ALGO, DI ALGO

Who in New York City doesn't know what SI VES ALGO, DI ALGO means? It's all over the place. I would say some 90% of the MetroCards carry this Spanish legend these days. Actually, I was lucky to find one in English.

SI VES ALGO, DI ALGO is the familiar (tú) translation for IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING.


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La Copa del Mundo Alemania 2006 : The World Cup Germany 2006

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world (that is, in every corner of the world except in the United States). La Copa del Mundo is on the front page of every foreign newspaper, and on U.S. Spanish language newspapers as well, and it'll remain there on and off for a whole month. We don't call it soccer, but futbol -or fútbol in South America-. This year, 6 Spanish speaking countries are participating: Argentina, Costa Rica, Ecuador, España, México, and Paraguay. Here is a good site -in Spanish- where you can check the latest updates: Copa del Mundo. Univisión.

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The Channel of the Stain

The English Channel's name in Spanish -El Canal de la Mancha- literarily translates as The Channel of the Stain. This is historically an unfortunate translation mistake from its French name - Canal de la Manche, which in French means Channel of the Sleeve, yes, as in a shirt. Probably the channel's shape resembled a sleeve to the French. The correct Spanish translation would have been Canal de la Manga. Some people like to think the channel is named after a region in Spain called La Mancha, but this it not the case. By the way, the noun manga in Spanish -which in general means sleeve- has nothing to do with Japanese comic books.  20060606 (spanishNY.com)
 
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A menudo, seguido

Most Spanish textbooks use the phrase a menudo to convey the adverb frequently.  Nevertheless,  there are other ways to convey the same idea: seguido, frecuentemente, con frecuencia. In Mexico, for example, seguido and frecuentemente are more popular ways to say frequently or often than a menudo. In some Caribbean countries menudo means change (coins). In Mexico it's a kind of meal. Menudo comes from the Latin minutus, meaning small, thin. 
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What word should I use for "room" in Spanish?

There are many nouns to refer to the room where you sleep. The most general of them is cuarto. If you are watching a soap opera you might hear dormitorio. If you are at a hotel you'll probably hear habitación. In some countries the words recámara, pieza, or alcoba are also used. In Mexico all of them are used in different situations. Let's do a little non-scientific research using Google in order to see which of these words are the most common ones. We'll search for I was in my room. Notice how these nouns have different genders, even if they refer to the same object:

Sentence                                 # of matches
estaba en mi (el) cuarto           899
estaba en mi (la) habitación     667
estaba en mi (la) pieza            130
estaba en mi (el) dormitorio     66
estaba en mi (la) recámara       31 
estaba en mi (la) alcoba           12

As you can see, cuarto and habitación are the words that are really worth memorizing.

Habitación is more related to habitat than to habit. Dormitorio is more like a bedroom, and it's related to the verb dormir, to sleep, and to the noun dorm. Recámara is related to chamber, and in Mexico camarera is a chamber maid, although in South America camarera has nearly lost its original meaning and it now refers to a restaurant waitress. Alcoba is the Arabic origin version for room, and it's related to alcove. In some hotels they use the word suite for a room.
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Abuelos, bisabuelos, tatarabuelos

Abuelos means grandparents, bisabuelos "second grand-parents" or great-grandparents, and tatarabuelos "third grand-parents" or great-great-grandparents. The corresponding terms for their children are nietos (grandchildren), bisnietos or biznietos (great-grandchildren), and tataranietos (great-great-grandchildren). There is still more: trastatarabuelos are great-great-great-grandparents, and choznos are great-great-great-grandchildren.  If you think these words are useless, check out this picture of an Argentine family. It shows all the generations together with the trastatarabuela (sitting) and her chozno (the baby) being held by his mother (the tataranieta). They all live in the same house.

En Luján viven juntos la trastatarabuela y su chozno
Una familia con seis generaciones vivas

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Montaña Rusa : Roller Coaster

The first roller coaster in the Spanish Speaking world -Mexico City, 1964-  was named Montaña Rusa (Russian Mountain). Thereafter, Montaña Rusa has become the generic name for this type of ride in the Spanish language. 20060519 (spanishNY.com)
 
(Photo: Mexico City Tourism Office) top

Finito : not Spanish

It's not uncommon to hear some English speaking people say finito! when they finish doing something in a Spanish language context. The thing is, finito -with this meaning- is not a Spanish word, it is the past participle of the the Italian verb finire. Finito in Spanish is an adjective that is used mainly in mathematics referring to a finite equation or to something that ends i.e. not infinite. It has the same meaning as finite in English. When you finish doing something, you never say it's finite! in English, correct? The same applies to Spanish; we don't say está finito. On the other hand, French people do say C'est fini.  Both, finito and finite, come from the Latin word finitus, which is also a past participle with a meaning closer to that of the Italian finito. In Spanish you would use terminado, finalizado, or acabado, which are past participles that convey the idea of finished. Finito in Spanish could be also the diminutive of the adjective fino, fine in English.
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