Aug
2
We interrupt the normally-scheduled programming of this blog to bring you a special announcement:
If elected your president, I promise a chicken in every pot, a hybrid car in every garage and to continue blogging about the Spanish language here and posting regular stories at Cody’s Cuentos. Do I have your vote? 
Aug
1
I have no idea how long this has been available online but I just discovered it today. It’s a complete audio version of Don Quijote de la Mancha by Miguel de Cervantes. It’s a project of the Dept. of Education of Aragon, Spain.
You can download mp3s of all 126 chapters of El Quijote to your heart’s content, free of charge. If you want to read the text while you listen, every chapter of Don Quijote is here. Enjoy!
Jul
31
A recent El País article about the views of young Spaniards towards people of different ethnicities doesn’t bode well for the future of Spanish society, particularly since Spain’s immigrant population is at 10% and rising.
A survey of 23,100 secondary students conducted by Spain’s Ministry of Education shows a disturbingly high level of racial and religious intolerance and xenophobia among the next generation. In the survey, almost 66% of Spanish high schoolers said they’d have a problem studying with a Morrocan or a gypsy. More than half said that they would dislike having a Jew as a classmate. About 46% said that they were not at all willing to work with people from Latin America. The only foreigners the young people said they could see themselves dealing with were other Europeans and people from the U.S. (Note: This last point is comical and shows the depth of ignorance of the respondents considering that at least one-third of the U.S. population is classified as a racial minority, with many of them Hispanic immigrants from, guess where?, Latin America. )
For another, more personal perspective, read this piece Spanish-Argentine businessman Martin Varsavsky wrote about being jewish in Spain.
Jul
29
If there were a Spanish grammar “Hall of Fame”, the verb “dar” would deserve a special place. It’s only three letters long (d-a-r) but it is one of the most versatile and useful verbs in the entire language. The primary definition of dar is to give, but when paired with Spanish prepositions or other key words, the meaning of dar goes far beyond the simple acting of giving. There’s a mogollón of different idiomatic Spanish expressions that contain dar. Today let’s just focus on two specific phrases, both of which have meanings that may be initially confusing, especially if you try to translate them literally.
More…
Jul
28
“Sometimes I don’t know which is thicker…your skull or your accent.” - Rita Moreno in West Side Story
One of Broadway’s most well-known musicals is about to get a makeover, this time in Spanish. If you’ve never heard of West Side Story it’s basically a retelling of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet set in 1950’s New York City. In this day and age of so much creative recycling and remakes, it’s rather surprising that it took somebody this long to realize that redoing West Side Story in Spanish would be a great idea. The “somebody” in this case is Arthur Laurents, the man who who wrote the book for Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim’s musical.
In an element that its director, Arthur Laurents, said would heighten the passion and authenticity of the show, much of the dialogue — both spoken and sung — will be in Spanish.
“They will speak Spanish where they would naturally,” Mr. Laurents said in a telephone interview from his home in Quogue, N.Y., adding that supertitles would be used to aid the audience. “The scenes with the Spanish are wildly exciting because they are much less inhibited. I don’t think many eyes are going to stray to the translation.”
Laurents, who appears from his photo to be an extremely fit and spry 91-year-old, plans to direct the new version and has opened the casting call for Spanish-speaking Hispanic actors. The show, which will run for four weeks in Washington, D.C. in December, will make its Broadway debut in February/March 2009.
While the filmed version of the play from 1961 remains extremely popular, there are aspects of it that haven’t aged well. Some people find the portrayals of Puerto Ricans culturally insensitive and stereotypical (take your pick), with the following clip considered a prime example. But the dancing still looks great!
Jul
27
Looks like I’ll be focusing a bit on immigration this week here on the blog. Nothing too heavy and deep but guest bloggers Clarisa and Veronica over on the Spanish side of this blog have written some interesting pieces about issues related to immigration that I’ll be posting throughout the week. There’s also a short podcast with Mexican writer Juan Manuel Villalobos, who many of you previously met in episode 19, talking about his time in Madrid. And then there’s a piece of news about an upcoming revival of the Broadway musical “West Side Story,” a story about Hispanic immigrants trying to fit in and live the American Dream.
Jul
26
Once you get past the beginner’s stage and know the basic grammar and have a decent vocabulary, it can seem hard getting to the next level, particularly if you’re not fully immersed in a Spanish-speaking environment. But you can continue to improve and advance your Spanish if you’re willing to be a little creative and consistent in your efforts. Here are some ideas that may give you the little push you need right now:
Set a new goal
What is it that YOU would like to see improve about your Spanish? Is it your speaking? Vocabulary? Your ability to use a particular grammar tense? Is it listening comprehension? Pick one area that you would like to improve and then focus on how you can make that a reality. For example, if it is vocab, don’t just memorize new words in Spanish and match them to their English equivalents. (”Zanahoria means carrot.”) Encourage yourself to define those words IN Spanish. For example, “Zanahoria…la verdura que es el alimento favorito de Bugs Bunny.” Not only will this make your brain work harder, you’re more likely to remember the word because of the additional context and you’ll enjoy the added benefit of sneaking in more practice since you’ll be using more of your vocabulary in Spanish. This bit of advice leads into the next one…
Talk to yourself in Spanish throughout the day
May seem wacky but you already have an internal dialogue with yourself in English (or German or Dutch or Korean, lo que sea), just switch it to Spanish a few minutes each day. And while you’re at it, speak to your cat, dog or whatever pet you may have in Spanish. Talk about a captive audience! 
Jul
20
There’s a new Spanish learning web site up and running called Lingus.TV. It offers to teach you Spanish via online videos. But unlike other language learning web sites, Lingus.TV is, at least initially, taking a decidedly different tack to teaching Spanish. The focus is on entertaining its students/viewers, and to that end the first series of videos is an original sitcom called “5 y acción.” It’s G-rated frat boy humor, laugh track included. Kind of like a post-post-modern reworking of Benny Hill or American Pie in Spanish. 
The Spanish guys from Barcelona behind Lingus.TV seem to be having a good time providing this content. Hopefully, they’ve got more up their collective sleeve than just (wink-wink, nudge-nudge) double entendres.
Jul
17
Traveling to a Spanish-speaking country or living in one is an exciting, thrilling experience. But there is one thing that can kill the good times almost immediately…being on the receiving end of poor or downright awful customer service. Yeah, sure you know how to order tapas and vino in a restaurant like a local or reserve a hotel room in Spanish without any problems, but do you know how to complain in Spanish?
A couple of summers ago in Toledo, Spain I was ripped off by a bus driver. I gave him money that more than covered my fare and when I got my change back, I realized immediately it was wrong. I told him that he made a mistake, but he said that I was the one who was mistaken. He told me to move away but I refused as the exchange between us grew more heated. I held my ground but he refused to give me back my change. In retrospect it was stupid but I was really pissed that someone would be so blatant about ripping off a customer.
When I got off the bus, another passenger who got off at the same stop, started telling me what a jerk the bus driver was and that he, the passenger, had seen how much money I had given the bus driver and knew that the driver had cheated me. Thanks for nothing, was all I could think. It would’ve been nice to have had backup in the moment when it would’ve made a difference. Anyway, this fellow bus passenger told me that what I needed to do was get an Hoja de Reclamación. I had heard about them before but had never actually seen one.
Jul
16
Want to dramatically improve the way your Spanish sounds? Focus on pronouncing the Spanish vowels correctly. Yeah, I know what you’re thinking….“But what about the Spanish “R”? Isn’t that the Holy Grail of Spanish pronunciation?” Well, yes, of course, pronouncing the Spanish erre correctly is extremely important. However, there is another integral aspect of Spanish pronunciation that is frequently overlooked or neglected by native English speakers learning Spanish.
Because the vowels (a,e,i,o,u) are the same in English and Spanish, it would be easy to assume that the sounds are pretty much the same in both languages. But the reality is that Spanish has five vowel sounds only. Contrast that with English, which has a dozen different possible sounds for the same five letters. An English speaker learning Spanish may not be aware of the unnecessary variations in sound he or she is adding to his or her spoken Spanish by introducing some of these English vowel sounds.
After a long hiatus, the Spanish Pronunciation 101 podcasts with Spanish instructor Martín Ventola are back. Today’s episode focuses on Spanish vowels with an extended practice section where you can listen and repeat the words and phrases Martín is saying.
If you’re truly interested in working on this aspect of your Spanish pronunciation, record yourself saying the words and phrases from the second-half of this podcast and then listen closely to how you sound. Pay close attention to the little details, like the way you say short and simple words like no and nada in Spanish. Native English speakers, particularly those with a standard American English pronunciation, tend to elongate the vowel sounds in those words, giving a distinctly non-Spanish sound. If you listen to the podcast, you’ll get more insight into this.
Trust me, you can significantly improve the quality of your spoken Spanish just by improving the way you pronounce the vowels. Give it a try and then expect to be complimented on your Spanish pronunciation in the future!