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Visitors since Nov 2003

Archive August 10, 2007 and before

¡No le hace! Another way to say it doesn't matter.	Yankees en españolYankees Spanish web site.
Don Ernesto Alonso Mr. Telenovela. The person who made telenovelas a popular genre worldwide.	The verb sometimes comes firstSpanish is a very flexible language compared to English, however, this is a complication to many English speaking students who are used to a fixed word order.
To take and to bring, llevar y traerThese verbs work differently in English and Spanish. The translation is not exact. Location matters.	New New York's Spanish bus sheltersNew York City's new bus shelters made by a Spanish company.
Automóviles The vocabulary related to cars changes drastically between Spanish speaking countries.	New York Latino Film Festival 2007 Bella. A movie starring Eduardo Verástegui premieres at this festival.
AnimalsAnimals have a biological gender, but regardless of it, their Spanish names could be masculine of feminine.	Vete pal ca... Contraction of the preposition para in conversational Spanish
Ochos Cardinal numbers don't need to agree in number with nouns.	Pepe, Beto, PanchoShort versions of many common Spanish names.
Belinda The story of a Spanish-French girl who became a young Mexican superstar. Immigration in Mexico. Mennonites.	DizqueAnother Spanish word used in conversations, popular in Mexico.
Golazo, azo, azo The ending -azo could mean a hit, or something magnificent.	La Doña, the saga continuesThe story of Mexican actress María Félix, and the auction of her estate in Christie's.
Café Tacuba in Central Park, Saturday, July 13, 2007 This popular Mexican band performs in Central Park..

Archive July 11, 2007 and before

Es necesario, es posible, es evidente Don't abuse these impersonal expressions.	MarcianitosLittle Martians. A nice video with a message. The message is in Spanish, but you don't need to read it to understand it.
Ar, er, ir words One of my students conjugated a personal woman's noun that ends in -ar, like a verb, because he insists it looks like a verb.	The New 7 Wonders of the WorldAn awesome, world-class event that New York TV networks didn't let us watch.
Frida Kahlo's 100 birthday A date I needed to remember. My parents' house in Mexico City is in Coyoacán.	Frida, the New York years This is a repost. I just wanted to keep this and the previous story together. I also added the Hampshire House story.
Don Carlos, the richest Spanish speaking person in the world. Take 3 On these ever changing richest people rankings, it seems that Don Carlos made it to the top for now, however, some in the U.S. media are not happy about him. Part of the reason is because he is a billionaire from another country. They call him names, they use derogatory Mexican stereotypes, and far fetched comparisons to offend him unknowingly (or perhaps knowingly) that they are also offending Mexican people in general. This situation affects Mexican Americans. Numbers in Spanish. Billionaires in Spanish.	Ir and venir, to go and to come These two verbs are used differently in English and in Spanish. While in Spanish two people speaking about the same destination have to switch verbs depending on their current location, in English speakers keep the same verb during a conversation.
To be supposed toThis expression works different in Spanish, although many Spanish speaking people in NY use an Spanglish equivalent of it. I prefer that you learn the correct one before you pick up the popular Spanglish version.	AccentsAn extremely famous and intelligent person with a very strong accent speaking in English. If you have an accent -like me- perhaps you can feel a little better.
To look forward to An English expression that is very difficult to translate.	CachondoA word that could be sometimes translated as sexy, but sometimes it has no exact translation, It's just a mood. How this concept is used in Código Postal, a soap opera. Luis miguel. Carlos Ponce.
What race is your dog? Is your dog black or white? If your dog is a Chihuahua, would it be a Hispanic dog? Or an Akita would be an Asian dog? Find out.	Putamadral Incredible that this word made it all the way to the Royal Academy of Spanish Language's dictionary, but the word motivacional didn't.

Archive June 11, 2007 and before

Shakira, Zocalo square, Mexico City Her concert in Mexico that gathered 210,000 people in May 2007.	A la calleLa calle means street, but we have many expressions that use this noun.
America in Spanish and English America in Spanish and English are two different concepts.	Naranja and orange One exampe of two cognates that don't look like twins.
Why are Spanish names so long? I'm trying to explain why, unlike English, the right-most last name in Spanish is not the most significant one for filing purposes. I'm also showing a genealogy example.	Dates as street names in Hispanic countries. An exotic tradition we have of naming city streets and squares after important dates.
Color coffee Color names are not always the same in all Spanish speaking countries.	Nacer, to come to life A verb that encapsulates one single idea in Spanish, but in English it has to be translated into different verbs, depending on each particular situation.
InvitarKnowing the meaning of this verb can avoid some misunderstandings when talking to Spanish people.	FocaThe Canadian fishermen tradition of killing baby seals that only they understand.
Monte de Piedad An institution that has been around for quite some time.	Alcatraz An island, a bird, and an Ethiopian flower.
Luz, more than light Luz in Spanish doesn't only mean light.	Sample names of proper nouns in Spanish Why we say La Cruz Roja for the Red Cross, La Segunda Guerra Mundial for the Second World War, or Cristóbal Colón for Christopher Columbus.
Mañanita, TardecitaHow the diminutive changes the meaning of words related to the time of the day, and other examples.	.

Archive April 11, 2007 and before

Don Carlos, the richest Spanish speaking person (takes 1 and 2) About Carlos Slim Helú, and how some journalists are unhappy about him. Probably to them it only makes sense that a Mexican cleans the bathrooms, but they don't stand the idea that he owns the whole building. Something in their stereotypes of Hispanic people isn't working as expected. That's reflected in their articles.	MensaSorry but mensa in Spanish means stupid, idiot, moron, retarded. This word really looks ironic as the name of an organization that claims that their members are smarter than 98% of the mankind. My point is that the founders (at least the founders) would have failed a foreign language exam.
CajetaA typical Mexican sweet and how it is different from the South American version of it, Dulce de Leche, and what's the sexual meaning of its name in Argentina but nowhere else.	A lo mejor Again, what text books often forget. You need to know this for conversational Spanish.
Pan's Labyrinth Trailer of the movie that represented Mexico in the BAFTAs, and obtained several Academy Awards for Mexico and Spain in 2007.	Bárbaro A famous horse and its Spanish name that has many contradicting meanings.
Frida Kahlo, the New York years A story about Frida Kahlo when she lived in New York.	Calzones in NY and in Hispanic countries Check it out to see what Spanish people picture when we hear the word calzones.
ABBA in Spanish An ABBA video in Spanish. One of my English speaking students was able to understand the Spanish version of this song, but not the English one.	Bigot and moustaches How these ideas are related.
A news story from El Universal A top-notch Mexican newspaper that is not hiring top-notch journalists.	Seguir doesn't always mean to follow I don't like this verb. It's a troublemaker. Students always get confused by sticking only to one of its meanings.
Indirect objects for inanimate objects How we use the indirect objects (dative) for inanimate objects in conversational Spanish.	Arabic words in Spanish There are hundreds, and many of them passed on to Italian, French, and English. I pasted a link to an interesting document somebody recommended me, I hope the link is still active.
Fulano, Zutano, Mengano y PerenganoTom, Dick and Harry, or Mr. So and so in Spanish, and a tequila with that name.

Archive October 14, 2006 and before

Re, rete, requete Ways to express bigger, larger, or more in Spanish, that are not indicated in text books.	AffectionA word that means affection but also disease.
Life at the Border What some people living at the Mexican border do at lunch time.	GuanajuatoA New York Times article about this Mexican student's destination.
White and Black Some expressions that are similar in both languages, except that they are reversed.	El Hombre Araña A frequently updated list of nouns modifying nouns in Spanish, just like Hombre Araña or Spiderman.
Latin Grammy 2006 Ad for the event.	El Cumpleaños A frequently updated list of compound nouns in Spanish; they are masculine for the most part, and end in S without being necessarily plural.
September 11, 2001 My September 11 video. I was right there. I lived right there. Many of my neighbors I worked out with every afternoon vanished. The only video known from this angle.	Telling the time in Spanish We use different expressions to tell the time in different Spanish speaking countries. Don't trust Spanish text books 100%.
Cola and queue The way we say a line of people in Spanish, a tail, a butt, and Coca Cola.	Lecheros and lecherous Two words that look almost the same but are not congnates and have VERY different meanings.
9 Months at Sea A story of 3 fishermen who were adrift for 9 months surviving on rain and raw fish. They left Mexico and turned up near Australia 9 months later.	BombaThis is for policemen and airport officials. This Spanish word doesn't always refers to an explosive device.
New York Latino Film Festival 2006Ad for the event

Archive July 13, 2006 and before

RBD 2 A follow up New York Times article about the Mexican telenovela band, RBD plus a couple of their videos.	RBD 1A New York Times article about the Mexican band RBD.
Ze, ziAvoid these syllables in Spanish verbs and numbers.	Expandir/Expander and cernir/cernerSome verbs have two endings, some others don't.
Not all nouns ending in "a" in Spanish are femenine A list of masculine nouns ending in "a."	de lo más... Another expression to say extremely in Spanish.
El Toro A new roller coaster.	Si ves algo, di algo A New York's subway expression.
La Copa del Mundo 2006 About the soccer world cup 2006 edition.	The Channel of the StainWhy this is the name of the English Channel in Spanish.
A menudo, seguido What some text books claim we use, and what we really use.	Different ways to say room in Spanish What word should we use for room in Spanish.
Abuelos, bisabuelos, taratabuelos Words to call your ancestors in Spanish.	Montaña Rusa Origin of the Spanish word for roller coasters.
Finito This is not a Spanish expression, however, many people use it thinking they are speaking Spanish.

Archive March 31, 2006 and before

Trámites How to say paperwork and bureaucracy in Spanish. Red tape.	U.S. DollarThe Spanish and Mexican origin of the U.S. currency and its symbol $.
Calidad and Cualidad In Spanish we have two concepts for quality.	Conmigo and contigo Irregularities of the preposition con
El agua and las aguas List of feminine Spanish words that use a masculine article.	Auxilio, socorro 911 in Spanish.
Stock Exchange and La Bolsa Why the word for Stock Exchange in most European languages is related to a bag (except in English.)	Alto, pare Different ways to say STOP in Spanish.
Nutria Why the same name for an animal, nutria, represents two different animals in English and Spanish.	Pan, bread Countable and non countable nouns in English and Spanish.
Sarna Very funny name for an anti-itch lotion brand. See why.	Andar and caminar Why many beginner Spanish students say andar for to walk, while practically all Latin American countries use the verb caminar.
Battery and drum sets Batería in Spanish is a drum set, a battery, and much more.	BicicletaDifferent ways to say to ride a bicycle in Spanish, and how a Spanish language teacher in NY yelled at me because she knew only one of them.
Calzado Footware in Spanish. Zapata is a last name, not a shoe.

Archive November 16, 2005 and before

Coche Vs carro Different ways to say car in Spanish, and the connection between Mexico and Hungary and Queen Victoria.	Decimal point or decimal commaDifferences in math notation between Spain, South America; and Mexico, the U.S., and the Caribbean..
Days of the weekTheir name origin.	Cepillarse and Lavarse los dientes What expression do we really use at home?
United States in Spanish Different abbreviations used in different countries.	Cuanto más, entre más Different ways to say the more...the more. in Spain the like only one of them.
La internet or el internet What should be the gender for this word in Spanish?	Jacket in Spanish I still have to explain why not to use the word chaqueta in Mexico to refer to this piece of clothing. Similar situation to cajeta in Argentina.
Hay, habemos When thousands of people use words that officialy don't exist.	México or MéjicoThe habit of some non-Mexicans of writing Méjico, and how it annoys Mexicans.
Demographics of the U.S. Hispanic population Department of State graphics.	Ordinal numbers in Spanish Ordinal number in Spanish are much more complex than in English.
Months in Spanish Origin of their names, and how some months were bumped over to give space to new months that were inserted in the middle.	Semana The word for week in Spanish has a number 7 in it.
Misuri and Quentoqui Spain's tradition of translating foreign geographical names, which for Latin American people is often inconvenient.

Archive July 16, 2005 and before

Mamá Vs. madre Differences when using mom and mother in Latin America and Spain	To stick one's foot in itPierna, leg in Spanish, is used only humans and for food, but not for live animals and furniture.
Por la mañana Vs. En la mañana Some examples of differences between prepositions in Spain and Mexico.	Rentar Vs. Alquilar One word comes from Latin, but the other one from Arabic.
Pronunciation -or not- of the S sound in different Hispanic countries Several dialects of Spanish don't always pronounce the /S/ sound.	Satisfacer Example of conjugation problems with irregular verbs.
Sexo Sexo doesn't only mean sex in Spanish. You see this word even on your passport.	SOS Vos sos. SOS and sos, the conjugation of ser in some countries, especially in Argentina.
Terror Vs Horror These Spanish words are not exactly the same as in English.	SuitcaseMany different ways to say this word in Spanish, and how an Italian word gave origin to two different names for the same object in Mexico.

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