Last updated on
Monday, April 19, 2010 11:25 AM EDT
Interesting Hispanics: Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo is a Spanish opera singer who, for some reason, is a very important person to Mexicans. Maybe because he grew up in Mexico City, or because his wife, children, and many of his grandchildren are Mexican. He just underwent a somewhat serious surgery here in New York, and he spent several days recovering at the Domingo family home in Acapulco, Mexico.
She was recently named one of Time Magazine's "Top 100 People Who Shape our World", and was included as one of the 20 people to watch by Newsweek magazine in its "Who's Next in 2007" feature. She was also named "Innovator of the Year" by U.S. News & World Report in 2000.
Another interesting fact about Dr. Volkow, is that she is the great-granddaughter of Leon Trotsky, the Russian Revolution leader who lived in Mexico City with his wife and grandson, at Frida Kahlo and Diego Rivera's home.
On this History Channel video, at 4:40 and on, you can see Nora's father, Leon Trotsky's grandson, in their former house, which is now a museum.
You know you have to stay near the border, correct? The border with Belize I mean. Go to Cancún. This is Coco Bongo, one of the best and largest clubs in the world. It hosts 1,800 on an average night, but up to 3,000 during high season. The only other clubs like this one are in Cancún, Playa del Carmen, Acapulco, and Ibiza, in Spain. There is nothing like it in New York.
Description by video owner: This is the hottest night club in the world you not only have 1000's of people with a open bar wrist band but for the first 4 hours your are there you have a Vegas like show and its better then Vegas. I highly reccomend that you go there and have as much fun as you can!!!
This Danish Coco Bongo song is their anthem
Cancún is safe, clean, and there is great weather and places to party. From there you can go to Chichen Itza, the Xel Ha and Xcaret eco parks (do a search on YouTube), Merida, Playa del Carmen, Cozumel, etc. Stay away from the cities along the border, travel by plane, pay a little more, and you'll be safe. Exercise caution and be aware that there aren't as many "Wet Floor/Piso Mojado" or "Under Construction" or "Watch Your Step" signs as in NY. If you snorkel/scuba dive, it's unlikely, but make sure there aren't any jet skis/motor boats above when you return to the surface, always ask the instructor/staff.
About Coco Bongo: For safety reasons, everyone is frisked upon entering, which I think is great. It's the same as here in New York. If you have some money/valuables hidden on you, make sure you are aware of where they are before and after they search you. If a fancy dressed lady offers you a tequila shot pouring a tequila bottle high above your mouth, I think that would be an exception to the open bar, because it's more like a show or entertainment thing; if you don't want to pay $5 extra just say no. Ask around about tipping. I gave a tip in pesos, and the bartender returned it to me ??!!??!!. I don't know if he didn't like the amount, or he didn't like that it was not in dollars, or he was not allowed to accept tips.
No, we didn't have reggaeton. For example, at least in Mexico City, we used to listen to this kind of pop music. This band is called Hombres G, from Spain. This song was played over and over on many radio stations and TV.
Tengo una chica
que sabe amar.
Ella no es como las demás. ---ser, personality or physical description
Es pequeñita --- pequeño, diminutive of endearment. Ser, personality description.
y le ha quedado una evaluación,
y ella solita --- solo, diminutive of endearment
me ha robado el corazón.
Tengo una chica
que sabe estar.
Ella me espera sin protestar.
Es calladita --- callado, diminutive of endearment. Ser, personality description.
y sólo aprueba la religión,
pero esta chica
me ha robado el corazón.
Mirando al cielo cada noche
busco una estrella para ti.
No tengas miedo esta noche, --- tú negative command
mira esa estrella, --- tú affirmative command
es para ti. --- para, aimed at you, intended for you
Tengo dos piernas
para poder andar, --- para + infinitive, in order to. Andar = to walk in Spain, caminar = to talk in Latin America
tengo dos ojos
para mirar, --- para, in order to
tengo dos brazos
para abrazarte una vez más. --- para, in order to
Tengo una chica,
una chica nada más.
Tengo dos amigos
a derecha y a izquierda,
tengo enemigos que hace tiempo --- hacer + [time], [time] + ago. Some time ago.
mandé a la mierda. --- curse
Tengo un millón de cosas
que enseñarte, ya verás.
Tengo una chica,
una chica nada más.
Mirando al cielo cada noche
busco una estrella para ti.
No tengas miedo esta noche,
mira esa estrella,
es para ti.
Mirando al cielo cada noche
busco una estrella para ti.
No tengas miedo esta noche,
mira esa estrella,
es para ti.
10 expressions that are not so easy to figure out (1)
Here are 10 common random idioms you may have trouble with if you hear them for the first time:
Expression
Approximate literal translation (what you might think you actually heard)
Explanation
cada quien
each who
this really means each person. Cada quien paga lo suyo. Each person pays for him/herself; for his/her own stuff.
cerrar algo con broche de oro
to close something with a golden brooch.
this is usually said at the end of a show or event, and it means the perfect end, the grand finale, usually something spectacular.
el desenlace fatal
fatal ending, fatal outcome
Death. Se espera un deselace fatal. We are waiting for the inevitable to happen. We fear the worst.
en buen plan
in a good plan
willingly, in a good attitude, not jokingly but seriously and with a good intention. Se lo dije en buen plan para ayudarlo. I told him that with a good intention to help him.
está bueno(a)
it is good
when you hear this expression referring to a person in Latin America, it means that the person is sexy.
gato hidráulico
hydraulic cat
that's how we call a car jack. Tenemos que cambiar la llanta pero no tenemos el gato. We have to replace the tire, but we have no cat (jack).
hacer gala de
to do gala of. to make gala of.
to show off, to display. Usually in a possitive manner. El politico hizo gala de su talento para tocar el piano. The politician displayed his talent to play the piano.
se comió al caballo. se comió a la reina.
He ate the horse up. He ate the queen up.
If you hear something like this, then you have to think of chess (el ajedréz). El caballo is the knight. La reina is the queen. He took the horse. He took the queen.
sentido contrario
contrary sense
the real meaning of this, is the opposite direction, or the wrong way. Estás manejando (conduciendo) en sentido contrario. You are driving in the wrong way.
ser un bicho raro
to be a strange bug
to be a strange or unusual person, almost like a weirdo, but it doesn't necessarily carry the bad connotation. It could be a nerd, or a quiet person for example, or a one-of-a-kind person.
These expressions apply to most Spanish speaking countries.
Carlos Slim thinks the family has to be close together, so until not too long ago, he had one room for his three boys, and another one for his three girls.
This is where the richest person in the world lives in Mexico City. His conversation is very casual, cool, open, and at times shy. He has a Mexico City accent, which is basically the same accent when he speaks English. I mean, even when he speaks English, I can tell he is from Mexico City. The interviewer talks to him using usted, but he replies with the familiar tú. The interviewer asks him what does he do when he dates women, and he jokingly replies, "next question ... (pauses, smiles) ....there are many children (laughs)" (his grandchildren, who appear walking around throughout the interview). Like most Mexicans, when he refers to his mother, he says mi mamá, my mom, instead of madre, mother. His house is like any normal house, except for the paintings on the walls, which are real Renoirs, Grecos, etc. Any three or four of those paintings together are probably worth more than his 40 year old house.
After a few days, I've seen many reactions on news sites from people from other countries. I will give my point of view, as a Mexican, to some of the most common opinions.
Mexico is a poor country, so...how come? It is true that many -mostly indigenous- people in Mexico are poor for U.S. and European standards, which is not good, but Mexico is the economy number 12th or 13th in the world (2010). This list is from 2008. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_GDP_%28nominal%29. But more specifically, Carlos Slim is from Mexico City, which is the 8th wealthiest city in the world, behind 1) Tokyo, 2) New York, 3) Los Angeles, 4) Chicago, 5) London, 6) Paris, 7) Osaka, 8) Mexico City, and ahead of 9) Philadelphia, 10) Sao Paulo, and the rest of the cities in the world like Berlin, Boston, Moscow, Washington, Madrid, Rome, Beijing, Hong Kong, etc. etc. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_cities_by_GDP. India, Brazil, and China, for example, have poor citizens too, and each of them has many more billionaires than Mexico.
Carlos Slim's recovery is strongly linked to Brazil: Brazil wasn't affected by this recession as much as the U.S. and Mexico. Brazil's main business partner is China, not the U.S., and a big part of Carlos Slim's businesses are done in Brazil. This might help explain why Mr. Slim recovered in 2009, despite of the Mexican economic crisis.
It is very common that people who have been studying Spanish for several years, still stumble when they have to read aloud a word containing an H. They keep trying to pronounce the H, they pause and think about it for a second, then they go back, and then, hopefully, they'll pronounce it correctly (that means, not pronouncing the letter H, just like in French, or like in the words honor or hour in English).
For some reason, some H words cause more trouble than others. Just ignore the H when saying them.
alcohol (m.) , alcohólico
/alkól/ or /alko-ól/
alcohol. From Arabic. Unconsciously, students tend to pronounce it like in English. Their mouth muscles betray them.
almohada (f.)
sounds like /almoada/ or /almuada/
bed pillow. From Arabic.
hospital (m.)
sounds like /ospital/
you might go first for the English pronunciation, hesitation may ensue.
hotel (m.)
Sounds like /otel/
hotel, you may go for the English pronunciation first, so you may hesitate.
huele
sounds like /uele/ or /wele/
it smells (from oler)
hueso (m.)
sounds like /ueso/ or /weso/
bone
huevo (m.)
sounds like /webo/
egg
hache (f.)
/ache/
The name of the letter H
húmedo
/úmedo/
humid. Students usually pronounce it correctly the first time they see it, until they realize it means humid, thereafter their brains get their wires crossed, and they start pronouncing it like in English. Like /jiúmedo/ (wrong, wrong)
rehusar
/reusar/
to refuse
zanahoria (f.)
/sanaória/
carrot. From Arabic and Greek.
Don't get frustrated with the letter H ! You can ignore it in spoken form, but you cannot get rid of it in written form!
There you go !!
The name of the letter aitch in Spanish is hache (f.)
You should notice that many English words contain a silent H, just like in Spanish and French. Herb, heir, hour, vehicle (in some areas), honor, honored, etc.
Images by Gonzalo Rocha. 20100302 Last edited: 20100322 (spanishNY.com) top
CNN México
About a week ago, CNN launched a new Spanish language site called CNN México. It's one of their only four editions, the others are the U.S., the International (English), and the Arabic language ones.
Listen to the audio several times. Try to understand it on your own. Then you can follow the video (audio) along with the transcription below to fill in the blanks, the accent is 95% clear (95% because at times is a little fast), so I anticipate that if you don't understand something, it's because you don't know the word:
Hola. Yo soy Gabriela Frías y te invito a conocer una gran manera de estar en línea con México y el mundo. A partir de hoy los mexicanos, y desde luego todos los que hablamos español, podemos tener acceso a las noticias del momento de una forma mucho más novedosa, profunda, amplia e interesante. Acompáñame en esta nueva experiencia virtual. Con una barra de navegación clara y sencilla, y gran riqueza virsual, CNN (ce-ene-ene) México punto com facilita la búsqueda de tus noticias. Su diseño moderno te permite descubrir fácilmente tus temas. Síguenos: el mundo, la nación, los deportes, la tecnología, la salud, la economía y el entretenimiento. Personaliza tu página con lo que más te interesa. Conoce el fascinante mundo digital, con comentarios ágiles y versátiles, y sigue las crónicas más buscadas. Asómbrate con las imágenes de En Primer Plano. Profundiza, descubre. Sé tú mismo el reportero, cuenta tu historia, sube tus videos y fotografías a iReport. Forma parte de la red CNN. Interactúa, contesta las encuestas, vota, siente el pulso, opina, únete a las redes sociales, síguenos en Twitter. No te detengas a simplemente leer las noticias, míralas: te ofrecemos la selección de videos noticiosos más grande del país. Pero si no tienes tiempo de navegar por el sitio, ve a CNN México recomienda; nuestro equipo de periodistas ha seleccionado para ti las fotos y videos del día. CNN México punto com tiene toda la cobertura de los sucesos de México y del mundo que buscas, con el respaldo de CNN y del grupo editorial Expansión. Visita CNN México punto com, navega por el sitio, siente el pulso de la nación, sube tus iReports. Sé parte de la historia presente y futura de nuestro México.
51-year-old Hubertus von Hohenlohe is competing in his fifth Olympics and is the oldest athlete at the Vancouver games. He will ski for Mexico in the slalom and giant slalom. (Feb. 21) .
They don't mention it in the news report, but also, one of his grandmothers was Mexican. By no means Ubertus is old, even if he is the oldest athlete in the winter Olympics, but here are many examples of words that mean old and their uses:
ancestral
ancestral
anciano
elderly person
you don't usually use this word for things
añejo
mature, aged
used for tequila, cheese, etc (año= year)
antaño
of yesteryear, in the old days
antes = before, in the past
antediluviano
antediluvian
anticuado
old-fashioned
antiguo
antique, old, ancient
not for people, only when it means long standing or former, as in un antiguo amigo, and old friend; or mi antiguo jefe, my former boss
centenario
centenary, centennial
used also for people (cien=one hundred)
chocho, chochito
old (and more meanings)
this is used for people who is old, and with not so good memory; it could be used playfully
decano
dean, senior member
for people
decrépito
decrepit
for people. derogatory
grande
older, adult, grown up (other meanings)
una persona ya muy grande, a very old person
mayor
older (other meanings)
for people. Persona mayor, older person
reliquia
relic
not for people
ruco, ruquito
old
MX, CA. For people. Playful.
tercera edad
golden years
for people (lit: the third age)
vejestorio
relic, piece of junk
derogatory when used for people
vejete
old man
for people but not so nice to say
veterano
veteran
vetusto
ancient
could be derogatory when used for people
viejito, viejita
little old man, little old lady
the diminutive supposes an endearment effect
viejo
old
this is the most general term that applies to almost any person, animal, situation, or object. If a wife says mi viejo, she really means her husband, regardless of his age, kind of my old lady, mi vieja
Many terms that are used for things or situations sound derogatory when used for people, so you need to be careful when choosing the word.
The gentleman in the father's role in this movie trailer, Greg, is my student. I have been tutoring him for 5 or 6 or more years. The young actor playing his son, Harry, is his son in real life.
Tuesday, February 23rd, 2010. Greg keeps telling me that he is not Harry's father in the movie. He plays the role of a corrupted movie director who is using Harry's character for his own benefit.
Gana is a noun that most students tend to confuse with a conjugated form of the verb ganar, to win, to earn, to gain; but gana is a femenine noun that is no kin of that verb, and could mean wish, desire, will. If we are talking about food, it could mean appetite. There are many expressions that contain this word; here are some of them:
¡ Qué ganas de + <infinitivo> !
I'm really looking forward to...!
¡ni ganas!
how boring!, I don't feel like doing it
hacer algo de buena gana
to do something willingly
hacer algo de mala gana
to do someting unwillingly, to do something in a bad mood
me dieron ganas (de), me entraron ganas (de)
to feel the urgency of, to crave (sudden impulse)
no aguanto las ganas (de), me muero de ganas (de)
I'm dying for, I really need to (I can't hold it)
no tener ganas (de)
not to feel like, not to have the wish of
porque no se me pega la gana, porque no se me pega la regalada gana, porque no me da la gana, porque no me viene en gana
(rude) because I don't want to (implying, "do you have any problem with it?") ***
porque se me pega la regalada gana, porque me da la gana, porque se me da la gana, porque me viene en gana
(this could be a rude expression) because I want to, just because I want to (it's like implying "do you have any problem with it?") ***
quedarse con la ganas (de)
to be deprived of something right when you just had taken it for granted (lit: to remain with the wish of doing something)
tener ganas (de)
to feel like doing something, to have the wish of, to have the desire of
*** See what I mean? (image found on the internet)
(It says, today there is no photo because I don't feel like doing anything)
Since almost a hundred years ago, this train traveled from San Diego to Arizona and beyond, but part of the journey required that the train cross to Mexico and ride a few miles in Baja California (Mexico) before crossing again to the U.S. on its way to Arizona.
This trip is recreated at this time of the year by the Pacific Southwest Railway Museum. This video was taken somewhere by the border between the U.S. and Mexico, I am not sure on which side of the border, but many people gather to see the train pass by. As you can see, the train's engine is flying both, the United States and the Mexican flags. 20100221. Based on the map below, the video was taken on the Mexican side about 4 miles south of the border.
This is the video caption from YouTube: Pacific Southwest Railway Museum Garcia Adventure 3/29/2008. Photo runby near Redondo. This is taken at the same grade crossing shown in the photo at the top of page 128 of "San Diego & Arizona - The Impossible Railroad" by Hanft. The foundation of the old wig-wag signal seen in the photograph is still at the crossing, but the signal itself is long gone. At this time none of the grade crossings in Mexico have ANY kind of active protection!
"..Built by the San Diego and Arizona Railway Company in 1906, the rail line was a dream project for noted San Diego sugar magnate, John D. Spreckels, and his brother Adolph. The brothers’ persistence during bouts with Mother Nature and a global war (World War I) paid off when the rail line was opened ten years later in October, 1916. From 1916 to the late 1950s, passengers used the cross-border train to connect to such far-flung destinations as Chicago. The train route was unique in that it was and is is the only known service in the world that had to use a second country because of the difficult terrain.."
On board of this train there are U.S. and Mexican Tourism Officials that answer the passenger's questions.
The trip covers most of the Mexican side route, but it's clearly avoiding the city of Tijuana. This trip's route runs between the two arrows, from Campo to Garcia and back. It covers all the interesting loops and most tunnels.
The two last images belong to El Cajon Yacht Club.
20100212 Last update: 20100221 (spanishNY.com) top
Zapote or Sapote
I couldn't believe the price of this fruit. Exotic fruit, ha ha ha ha. This is what you pay when you are forced to buy California produce. The sign reads: Organic exotic fruit. Product of U.S.A. Sweet black zapote (aka sapote) fruit. $4.99 EACH. These look really stunted. Notice also the cactus fruit, which in Mexico are very common and are called tunas.
Until recently, the same thing happened with avocados. Mexican avocados were prohibited in the continental U.S. because "they had diseases", that was the argument. Only people from Hawaii and Alaska were allowed to receive them, but as of this week, WholeFoods is selling them at 1 dollar each, which was unthinkable 5 years ago. Maybe it is just a Super Bowl thing. Maybe they'll allow Mexican zapotes soon.
These ones look quite hard and small, so they are shipping them long before they get ripe, if that ever happens. The pulp color might be in deed exotic, because it is black, but in Mexico you can buy black zapote popsicles almost at any family owned ice cream store. Popsicles in Mexico are called paleta de hielo (ice lollipop)
If the fruit is $4.99, how much would a zapote popsicle cost? $5 each? $10 each? Hmmm.
they sell avocado popsicles too, BTW
There are many kinds of zapote fruit, and most of them are native to Mexico, just like avocados. For more information about Mexican exotic fruit popsicles visit www.manhattan.com.mx, they are available at Costco and Walmart, at least in Mexico. I know, what a name for a popsicle brand.
I have had several students so far who refuse to study the subjunctive mood. They say they don't need it.
But I was just thinking. If they don't want to, the don't even need to learn how to conjugate verbs. No, there is no need for it. In many old Spanish speaking movies, neither Tarzan, nor the Apaches, nor the natives from the South Pacific Islands conjugate verbs. You don't believe it, right? Let's see:
Yo Tarzan. Tú Jane. Me Tarzan. You Jane. In this case Tarzan doesn't even use the verb to be, just like in Russian (there is no verb to be in Russian). So if you don't want to, you don't even need to study the terribly confusing ser and estar verbs. Yo dormir bien anoche. I slept well last night. Yo acompañar Jane a aldea. I'm going with Jane to the village. Yo nadar en lago mañana. I will swim in the lake tomorrow. ¿Por qué tú no decir nada? Why don't you say anything? Ella no querer comer. She doesn't want to eat. Tal vez llover esta noche. Maybe it will rain tonight. Vaqueros pensar atacarnos. The cowboys are planning to attack us. Si llover mañana, yo no salir de casa. If it rains tomorrow, I'm not leaving home. Vaqueros parecer cansados. The cowboys seem tired.
Do you see? They are right! They don't need to learn the subjunctive or any verb conjugation. Who knows, maybe they will get a job in one of these movies.
Actually, Johnny Weissmuller, the most famous Tarzan actor, very likely spoke Spanish well. One of his five wives was Mexican. He made Tarzan movies in Acapulco, Mexico, the place where he lived the later years of his life. He is even buried there. He was born in Romania, and his parents were German-Romanians, if they spoke a little Romanian at home, at least a little bit when he was a baby, that would be another reason to pick up Spanish quickly. Spanish is relatively easy to learn for Romanians and the other way around: Stiu puţin limba româna datorită să fie (eu sunt) un vorbitor nativ de limba spaniolă. (bine, bine...more or less... well, I just hope my Romanian isn't Tarzan Romanian!).
World pop culture, everywhere except in the United States!
A few weeks ago I was browsing YouTube with one of my students and we ran into a Heidi video. "Who is Heidi?", he asked me. "Don't you know?" This is a Japanese cartoon (anime) for children about a Swiss girl that was very popular in Mexico and the rest of Latin America (there are reruns still), Spain, Brazil and Portugal, Italy, China (Cantonese, Mandarin), Taiwan, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Japan, France, Holland, Canada, Greece, Iceland and the rest of Scandinavia (I saw this cartoon in Sweden once), India, South Africa, Albania, Turkey, The Phillipines, in all Arab countries, everywhere! Except in the United States! This cartoon is in YouTube in many languages except English! When I told my American student, "oh, look!, Heidi, do you remember Heidi?" He was like, "what?". I said, "Heidi, the cartoon." Incredible, despite Heidi's big hype and merchandise around the world in the 80's and 90's, he had never seen her image before! He had no idea what I was talking about!! (I recommend that you not watch all these videos at once, or you will have nightmares in multiple languages with this song).
Just check this:
Heidi in Spanish, this video has 3,600,000++ views. For a non-English video that's a lot. There are two versions of Heidi in Spanish, the Mexican and the Spanish. When singing this song, the accent is so close that I have no idea which one is this. Lyrics correction: porqué should be por qué.
A note from wikipedia: The only incarnation of the Heidi series to reach the United States was an English dubbed version of the 1979 feature-length movie adaptation of the TV series, released on video in 1985. Most fans of the series in North America saw it first in other countries.
This is similar to the telenovelas, which are very popular in many countries around the world, this time including Rusia and Eastern Europe, but I've never seen one dubbed in English.
