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Friday, January 22, 2009 9:42 AM EDT
The oldest airlines in the world
Everybody seems to agree that KLM from Holland is the oldest airline in the world, but the catch is that they suspended operations during World War II. Both, Quantas from Australia and Avianca from Colombia claim to be the second oldest airline in the world. What is true is that Quantas is the first airline in the English speaking world, and Avianca the first airline in the Spanish speaking world. Mexicana claims to be the third oldest airline in the world, but obviously it's either the third or the fourth, though it's the oldest one in North America. It's interesting that two of the four oldest airlines in the world are from Spanish speaking countries.
You know him, the most famous Spanish writer. The author of Don Quixote. There is a document in custody of the Biblioteca Virtual Cervantes, that shows how Miguel de Cervantes' family ended up in Mexico. There are hundreds of Cervantes in Mexico, and by extension in the U.S. as well. I am one of them. The only problems are that this document is a manuscript, and it's written in French.
Miguel de Cervantes and William Shakespeare, the most famous English writer, could have died within less than 24 hours difference, or perhaps at the same time depending on their geographic location and time of the day. They died on April 22 and 23, 1616, respectively.
That's what many movie articles say, because Beverly Hills Chihuahua has been the number 1 in the box office for a couple of weeks already. I haven't watched it, but judging by the actors and the trailers I've seen, most of the movie takes place in Mexico, and there is plenty of Spanish in it.
In Mexico we have songs for all occasions. I already introduced you to Las Mañanitas, our birthday mariachi song. This is Las Golondrinas, The Swallows, a farewell mariachi song. Despite being a very nice song, it may cause an unexpected side effect if you have a Mexican near you: he or she might cry. For us, this nice song is also very sad. Since childhood we are already conditioned to crying when listening to this song that is plaid when somebody leaves for a long time, when something is over, when somebody dies, or at the end of a big event, like the Olympic Games or the Soccer World Cup.
This is a music only version I found in YouTube.
And this version was performed at the closure of a baseball stadium in Mexico City. The mariachi is called monumental because the band consists of 60 members. Half way through the video, they switch to a more joyful song -so that the audience can wipe their tears- called La Negra, The Black Lady. (I don't think this name intends to be racist, because otherwise, why would this be the name of one of the most beautiful, classic mariachi songs we have?)
We have expressions like Le tocaron las golondrinas, or tocarle las golondrinas a alguien, which literarily means they played the Golondrinas for him/her. It means that somebody was dumped or fired.
Así is a very useful Spanish word that does not exist in English. It means like this, this way, like that, and some other meanings when used together with gestures to indicate how to do something.
This word exists in all other Romance languages:
Así in Spanish, cosi in Italian, assim in Portuguese, ainsi in French, asa (pronounced /asha/) in Romanian.
In Spanish from Mexico and sometimes in Spain, borrego is a lamb, a sheep, a ram. In other countries they call this animal oveja or cordero, and even carnero.
These are two more borregos, Mr. Borrego Chevrolet, and Mr. Borrego Kia, the newest for 2009. Borrego is s becoming a popular name for cars.
Somebody asked me about the song in the Spanish version of the JCPenney commercial for the United States. The song's name is Espacio Sideral and it's performed by Jesse & Joy. She has a very clear voice, she pronounces all the letters S, so it's a good song for practicing.
The JCPenney commercial
The only information I have about the commercial is that the actors are from a model agency based in Mexico City. The name of the male model is José Restrepo. If somebody knows who is the girl please let us know. Update 20081024: One of the producers of the commercial contacted me, it was made by a New York agency called Vidal Partnership. The commercial was made entirely in Mexico City. I think the skating segment was made in the Villa Olímpica, in the south of Mexico City. The male actor is a Colombian living in Mexico, José Restrepo, and the girl and the rest of the talent are all from Mexico. The producer who contacted me is from Spain. It was a multinational work.
The Mexican band Jesse & Joy singing their song Espacio Sideral
Now, sideral is a word that comes from Latin and means something that is related to the stars. Espacio Sideral is one way to say Outer Space. Llevarte al espacio sideral could be something like taking you to the stars. La Vía Láctea is the Milky Way. For those interested, we can discuss the grammar in the lyrics in class.
Quisiera darte el mundo entero,
la luna, el cielo, el sol y el mar,
regalarte las estrellas
en una caja de cristal.
Llevarte al espacio sideral
y volar como lo hace Superman...
Quisiera ser un superheroe
y protegerte contra el mal
regalarte la Vía Láctea
en un plato de cereal
Llevarte al espacio sideral
y volar como lo hace Superman...
Me tienes tan debilitada,
todas mis fuerzas se me van si estás aquí,
y mis poderes no son nada,
me siento tan normal, tan frágil tan real.
Me elevas al espacio sideral,
tal como lo hace Superman...
Quisiera hacerte un gran poema,
usar el cielo de papel,
tomar las nubes como crema
y hornearte un super pastel.
Llevarte al espacio sideral
y volar como lo hace Superman...
Me tienes tan debilitada,
todas mis fuerzas se me van si estás aquí,
y mis poderes no son nada,
me siento tan normal, tan frágil tan real.
Me elevas al espacio sideral...
Me tienes tan enamorada,
todas mis fuerzas se me van si estás aquí,
y mis poderes no son nada,
me siento tan normal, tan frágil tan real.(x2)
Me elevas al espacio sideral,
tal como lo hace Superman...
A variation of the JCPenney commercial, with different scenes, but not so good audio. They added some computer effects.
As you can see, my whole day was like watching a horror movie from a front row seat being displayed in a huge IMAX screen, only that this time everything was real, even though everything seemed quite surreal, and the crying and screaming of all of us, the public and actors, were also real. I just happened to put my video and photo cameras in the kitchen the night before for some unknown reason, and grabbed them by instinct before going downstairs.
This sequence below is something I will never forget. It was recorded in my mind and I can replay it every time I want, because it was probably the most incredible thing I have ever seen in my life. I had seen these towers every single day for over 5 years from the window of the office where I worked. So seeing them disappear was recorded in a different part of the brain than most other memories, I'm sure. There must be a scientific explanation for this. I still see it like in slow motion, and I can still hear my coworkers crying and screaming, and many people just remained frozen in shock for several minutes. I remember I was just thinking on all the people that was inside the building.
This is also a surreal vision. The twin towers were not twins anymore, and the one that was left was going to be alone for an hour or so.
Nobody was saying anything, just looking in shock and disbelief.
It was night, and it was all dark. No lights at all in any building in Lower Manhattan..
That same night, there were boats going to the WTC every few minutes, I took one and went to the other side. No cameras were allowed. After a couple of hours we had to come back, because there were no people to rescue. Normal citizens, men and women, mixed with firemen crossing to the other side to try to help. I remember there were a lot of NJ girls with us, I think girl scouts or something. When we came back, no one was saying a word, we all were silent. It is something I remember as well. I remember also people clapping at us. We didn't do anything. It was all dark, very dark and smoky in Lower Manhattan.
This football player legally changed his name from Chad Johnson, to Chad Ocho Cinco, on August 29, 2008. He wanted to be named just like the number on the uniform he wore, but in Spanish. Perhaps this is the way some last names were created, or at least this is the way this particular Spanish last name was created.
I always wanted to make a list of words that roughly mean yes and no. Here is part of it.
YES: sí
absolutamente
afirmativo
claro
claro que sí
cómo no
de acuerdo
desde luego
desde luego que sí
por supuesto por supuesto que sí
NO: no
claro que no
desde luego que no
de ningún modo
de ninguna manera
de ninguna forma
negativo
nel (Mex., very informal)
no, qué va
ni madres (Mex., coarse language)
ni en tus sueños
para nada
qué va
Norte means north in Spanish, Sur is south, Este east, and Oeste west. All these Spanish words come from old English, so they are technically Spanglish. Notice that they must be capitalized. So, if these words are Spanglish, how did Spanish people referred to these four compass points many centuries ago?
Norte. The Spanish words that stem from Latin referring to this point are boreal (adjective) and septentrional (adjective). Sur. austral (adjective) and meridional (adjective). Este. Oriente and Levante. Oeste. Occidente and Poniente.
In Spanish, cardinal points are called puntos cardinales.
The word categoría means category, but it has an additional meaning in Spanish which is hard to figure out while reading a text. De categoría means high-end, first-rate, luxury. Un hotel de categoría could be a five-star hotel, also a hotel de cinco estrellas. Un restaurante de categoría is a top-notch restaurant.
Probably the longest running commercial in U.S. history
It's been non-stop in the air since the summer of 2006, and still running. It's been around for so long that when they finally take it away, we'll miss it. Two years of torture!
Un cuerno is a horn. Un cornudo is one who has horns, and a cuckold as well. Tener cuernos is to have horns, that is, to be a cuckold. There is an archaic word in English, cornute, which at some point also meant cuckold. Ponerle los cuernos a alguien, to put someone the horns, means to cheat on someone.
These are examples or cornudos
And this is a painting named El Gran Cornudo, The Great Cuckold.
This word also exists in Italian and perhaps in other Romance languages.
Main Entry:
cuck·old
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English cokewold
Date:
13th century : a man whose wife is unfaithful
— cuckold transitive verb
As you know, nouns in Spanish have a gender and are either masculine or feminine. What is interesting is that there is a short list of nouns that can be either masculine or feminine, and they keep the same meaning regardless of the article you use.
El sartén, la sartén. frying pan. El mar, la mar. sea, ocean. about 95% of the time people will use the masculine article in this case. El lente, la lente. lens. El canal, la canal. canal. El azúcar, la azúcar.sugar.
There might be some others, but these are the main ones.
In Spanish, tener cuidado means to be careful. So it might be interesting for you to know that we have expressions (commands) like no tenga cuidado (Ud.), no tengas cuidado (tú), meaning don't be careful, pierda cuidado (Ud.), pierde cuidado (tú), descuide (Ud.), descuida (tú). All these expressions are asking you not to be careful.
What they really mean is do not worry, I'll take care of it; don't worry, I'll do it for you.
Joe Tamargo sent me a copy of his book for a review. It's a nice book and I'll write about it as soon as I have some time. It doesn't contain exercises, it rather contains examples, and even a section about swearing phrases, which not many books contain. Meanwhile, you can contact him directly at tamargojoe AT aol.com. No, I don't get a penny from this.
Dear Roberto, Some of your readers might be interested in my book. I am sending you a copy, and if you like it and think it’s good, please post this email on your site. The book is called Really Learn Spanish, and it is intended for the millions of people who have taken Spanish courses in high school and college but find that they cannot really speak or understand it. I believe that most language textbooks give a disproportionate amount of time and space to talking about the exceptions rather than the rules. That is why I put in a section of 600 regular verbs with sample sentences. I have striven to make the examples as interesting as I could, on the theory that dramatic and/or emotionally charged sentences will be easier to remember. The long section on Spanish swearing is a case in point. There are literary excerpts from Abraham Lincoln, Julius Caesar, Homer, Arthur Conan Doyle, Lewis Carroll, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Blasco Ibañez, Cervantes, Bukowski and Heinlein, among others, presented in dual-language format with text and translation on facing pages. There is also a preface by Mark Twain. There are many jokes in the book, all of which I thought were funny. I got most of them from the Internet and translated them myself. There are also many of my own quips—such as do not say usted to an animal, because the animal might laugh at you; and that venga acá means come over here, and if you want to say go over there you can go over there and say venga acá; and that the cities along the coast of California were named by a Spanish sea captain who happened to be swearing by all the saints at the time. One reader told me he went through the entire book for the quips before settling down to read it. The humor is there to make the book seem less like the kind of dry textbook that my target audience had in school. I think my idea of having an example for everything (as opposed to how it is in most textbooks) is a good one. It provides repetition and drill. It’s a 6 X 9 trade paperback, 420 pages long and weighs about a pound and a half. It is for sale from me (tamargojoe at AOL.com) for twenty dollars, plus three dollars shipping and handling. Everyone who has bought a copy of the book loves it, and they say it’s very entertaining to read. Joe Tamargo
20080519. Last updated on 20080611 (spanishNY.com) top
No hay problema
In English, it's very common to answer "no problem" instead of "you are welcome" when somebody says thank you. In Spanish, you should not do that. If somebody says gracias to you, don't answer with no problemo (wrong), no problema (better), or no hay problema (correct, but not used as an answer to gracias.)
We say no hay problema as an answer to questions like, Is it OK if I'm 10 minutes late today?, No hay problema. Can I bother you? I need a hand with these boxes. Sí, no hay problema. Can we change the lesson to Tuesday? Sí, no hay problema.
If somebody says gracias to you, your possible answers are de nada, no hay de qué, por nada, es un placer (it's a pleasure), but no hay problema is not really an option. In Spanish it might sound like you were in deed a little annoyed, and helping wasn't a pleasure at all.
Two Grammy Award winners, Paul and David, invited me to collaborate with them in a new project. Since they have produced, directed, recorded, and mixed the Harry Potter and the Star Wars series audio books, for which they won a few Grammy's, I thought it was going to be a Spanish version of Harry Potter, but it wasn't. It was a much larger book: The New Testament of the Bible, in Spanish. I worked with them for 6 weeks in their studio in Times Square, from the talent's audition, to the recording process, and later the mixing process. This audio book is unique in many senses. First, it's 22 CDs long. Second, about 95% of the text in this program is accompanied by music and sound effects. There is no other audio book of this size which contains music and special sound effects nearly throughout the whole program, not even a Harry Potter audio book, not even in English. There is no English equivalent of this particular audio book yet. A work like this is unheard of. The text is read at a below than average pace, so it's extremely clear, the talent's diction is perfect. I have a big credit at the end of the 22nd CD of this program. Apparently, this audio book will participate in the Grammy Awards 2009. This program will be available to the public starting May 1st, 2008.
At first, I thought it was a big mistake. New Delta Airlines service to Central America including Liberia, which is a country in Africa. A friend of mine who knows Costa Rica pretty well told me there is in fact a town with a small airport in that country named Liberia.
A traffic circle, like the only one we have in Manhattan, which is Columbus Circle, is called glorieta in Spanish. In Mexico City there are dozens of these circles hosting statues of historic characters. I don't know about other cities in the U.S., but in New York they don't seem to be so popular.
Columbus circle, or Glorieta de Colón in Manhattan
Columbus Circle or Glorieta de Colón in Mexico City (since 1877)
The way Hispanic people see Columbus is very different to the way Americans think of him. We don't think of him as an Italian. In fact, Italy as a country didn't exist at Columbus times, and even half of the Italian peninsula was part of the Spanish empire. We think of him as a Spanish explorer, and we don't call him by its Latin name, Columbus, but rather by his Spanish name, Cristobal Colón.
