Tuesday, August 31, 2010

MI HABITACION (3)


¡Hola mis queridos y queridas estudiantes de Español! I did not post a lesson yesterday, for which I am very sorry, but I had a very important exam to prepare for yesterday, and I took it today, don’t know the results yet, so please, keep your fingers crossed! We are back on track today and we shall continue from where we finished.
la alfombra – a carpet
   El suelo estaba cubierto con una alfombra muy espesa. – The floor was covered with a very dense carpet.
el tapiz – a wall carpet
   En la pared estaba colgado un tapiz antiguo. – There was an old wall carpet hanging on the wall.
el tapizado – tapestry
la cortina – a curtain
   correr (descorrer) la cortina – to close (close) the curtain
   cortinaje – a set of curtains
   En la habitación había mucho cortinaje. – There were many curtain in the room.
la lámpara – a lamp
   lámpara de noche – a night lamp
   lámpara de mesa – a table lamp
   lámpara de pared – bracket, sconce, wing-bar
   lámpara de pie – stand lamp
encender (apagar) – la lámapara – to turn on (off) a lamp
la bombilla – a light bulb
el piano – a piano
   piano de cola – a grand piano
la pintura – a painting
   synonym: el cuadro
el retrato – a portrait
la radio – radio
el teléfono – a telephone
   teléfono móvil (celular) – a cell phone
   teléfono portátil (radioteléfono) – a portable phone
   synonym: teléfono inalámbrico (wireless)
televisor – a TV
   televisor en color – a color TV
   televisor en blanco y negro – a black and white TV
   televisor con 20 pulgadas (de diagonal) – a TV with a 20-inch diagonal
el florero – a vase
el cenicero – an ash-tray
Well, I think that should be enough for today. Continue working on your vocabulary. Good luck!
Lots of love, lots of respect,
Igor

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Varieties of Spanish Pronunciation

Hey guys and girls, muchachos y muchachas! Today is again more of a general knowledge entry. This time it is dedicated to Spanish pronunciation and its varieties. We will be back to Habitaciones tomorrow.

Varieties of Spanish Pronunciation

Source: Wikipedia

The Spanish letters s, c (before e and i), z and x

Within Spain, one can more or less tell the difference between Andalusian (southern Spain) dialects and the Castilian dialects further north. The main differences are that some Andalusian dialects use seseo (pronouncing 'z', 'ce' and 'ci' with an 's' sound), while Castilian Spanish does not. Also, it is much more common in Andalusian dialects to not pronounce 's' before consonants ('casta' = 'cahta' where the 'h' represents either a slightly elongated 'a' or an aspirated 'h'), nor final 's' ('los niños' = 'loh niño').
This is important because most of first settlers in the Americas were Andalusian and by taking these dialects with them, the differences in pronunciation between peninsular Spanish (Spain) and the Americas evolved. Seseo is typical of Latin American Spanish and parts of Andalusia while ceceo (pronouncing 'z', 'ce' and 'ci' with a 'th' sound as pronounced in the English word 'thin') is the only variety found in Central and Northern Spain. This means that some words like 'casa' (house) and 'caza' (hunting), or 'coser' (sew) and 'cocer' (boil) are pronounced the same in Latin American Spanish.
For a more technically oriented and detailed discussion of this subject, please see this Wikipedia article.
Another important difference is the pronunciation of the letter 's'. In Northern and Central Spain - and some parts of Colombia - the 's' sound is almost like the English 'sh' of the word 'short'. In the rest of the Spanish-speaking world it is an 's' sound which is formed with the tongue on the palate just behind the teeth or on the backside of the teeth themselves.
In the words with 'x' (like 'excelente'), in Spain the 'x' is usually pronounced as an 's' ('esselente' or 'esthelente') while in most of Latin America it is pronounced similar to English 'ks' ('ekselente').

Spanish 'y' and 'll'

Peninsular Spanish differentiates (in most areas) between 'y' and 'll'. 'Ll' can be pronounced in Spain as English 'j' ('calle' = 'caje' in Andalusia and Extremadura), as English 'y' ('calle' = 'caye' in Andalusia) or as 'ly' ('calle' = 'calye') in the rest of Spain. The 'y' sound in these areas tends to be similar to an English 'y', although the mouth is tensed a bit more and the sound is more pronounced.
These three variants of 'll' exist in one form or another in Latin America. The 'ly' sound has been lost except in areas where the indigenous languages (like Quechua) had this sound in their own language. The 'j' sound is predominant in the Río de la Plata area (Argentina and Uruguay) and has even evolved to a new sound, a very strong 'sh' ('calle' = 'cashe'). In most of the rest of Latin America, the predominant sound is like English 'y' and there is no difference between the pronunciation of 'll' and 'y'.

Sets of variants (cited directly from Wikipedia):

In a broad sense, the Latin American Spanish could be grouped in five sets of variants, according to the pronunciation. The first group, the Caribbean is spoken in Cuba, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panamá, the Colombian Caribbean, and the Caribbean parts of Venezuela and Mexico. The second one is the South American Pacific, which comprises Perú, Chile and Guayaquil, Ecuador. The third is the Central American (just Honduras, Nicaragua, and El Salvador). The fourth is the Argentinian-Uruguayan-Paraguayan, which probably includes the Santa Cruz de Bolivia variant. The fifth, which probably is not a group, but a cluster of places that resisted changes in the pronunciation of the s sound in the end of a syllable, has been called the Highland Latin American Spanish, and is spoken in México, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Andean Colombia, Andean Venezuela, Quito, and Bolivia (except in Santa Cruz).

And a video on pronunciation. Some may find it very instructive.


Lots of love, lots of respect,

Igor 

Saturday, August 28, 2010

MI HABITACION (2)

Hey, there, present and future Spanish speakers! I am so sorry I didn't put up a post yesterday, but I was having some Internet issues and was cut off from the world for almost two days. Anyways, I am back and actually I do not think you all needed me. I am sure you were working hard on the improvement of your Spanish skills, right?! 

Today we are finally going to continue our “living space” topic, or to put it simple Habitación. To make the long story short, let's do it:


ventana – window

   Mis ventanas dan a la calle. – My windows face the street.

el elféitar – a window sill

la cama – a bed

   cama simple – a regular bed

   cama doble (doble cama) – a queen-size bed

   cama-camera (in Latin America) – a king-size bed

   poner la cama – to make bed

   arreglar la cama – basically the same as above

el sofa (el diván) – a sofa

el sillón – an arm-chair (soft)

   sillón plegable – a fold arm-chair

   sillón de mimbre – a woven chair

butaca – an arm-chair (with wooden arms)

mecedora – a rocking chair

silla – a chair

   silla plegable – a fold chair

el taburete – a stool

cómoda – a chest of drawers

   el cajón (in Latin America - gaveta) de la cómoda – a drawer of the chest of drawers

cajón superior (inferior) de la mesa – upper (lower) drawer

la mesa – a table

   mesa cuadrada (redonda) – a square (round) table

   mesa plegable – a card table (a fold table)

   poner la mesa – to lay the table

   quitar la mesa – to clear the table

   sentarse a la mesa – to sit at the table

   levantarse de la mesa – to get up from the table

la mesita de noche – a bed-side table

   mesita de tocador – a bathroom table

   el jabón de tocador – a toilet soap

el escritorio – a desk

el armario – cupboard, case, box, cabinet

   armario ropero – (el guardarropas) – a wardrobe, a closet

   armario emportado – a built-in wardrobe

   armarios de cosina – kitchen cabinets

   synonym: alacenas – the hang-on cabinets

librería – a book case

el estante – a shelf

estantería – many shelves

los muebles – furniture

   el mueble – a piece of furniture

   muebles se estilo renacentista – furniture in the style of Renaissance

mobiliario – the location/type of furniture in a room

   mobiliario antiguo

   mobiliario moderno

el espejo – a mirror

 After some more entries of new vocabulary we are going to practice it with dialogues and stories. Meanwhile, please, work on this!

The other day  I ran into this song. It is, btw is also related to our topic. Nice song and VERY nice voice. Love it!

Lyrics first. BUT do not try to understand EVERY single word of phrases (I mean you can if you want to), but try to feel it and to enjoy it!

En La Habitación

Fumo sola en la terraza del hotel
recuerdo el humo
y la cerveza en tus manos.

Anoche las niñas paseaban sus zapatos
y no teníamos nada que perder.
No teníamos nada...

En este cuarto hay demasiado por hacer
y no tengo a nadie con quien echar un rato.
Todos queríamos ser extraordinarios
Podrías hacer algo por volver
podrías hacer algo...

El tiempo en esta habitación me sabe a vino
dedico demasiado a imaginar que estas conmigo
apuro la copa de un trago
dejo el cuerpo en el pasillo
Hoy todo lo demás es lo de menos
Hoy todo lo demás...

Yo confiaba que subieras a mi habitación
y no que te marcharas como hiciste
Las escaleras son interminables
si no hay quien te espere después
si no hay quien te espere...

No hay manera de que vuelve ese miércoles
tengo la sal entre los ojos mojados
Quiero que sepas que eres el culpable
de que hoy me sienta extrañamente bien
de que hoy me sienta extraña...

El tiempo en esta habitación me sabe a vino
dedico demasiado a imaginar que estas conmigo
apuro la copa de un trago
dejo el cuerpo en el pasillo
Hoy todo lo demás es lo de menos
Hoy todo lo demás...
 
 

Lots of love, lots of respect,

Igor

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Spanish Accents

Hola amigitos y amigitas. Today is another "theory" class. I remember we started working on apartments and we will continue working on it this weekend. For now, let's do some grammar! Today, we are looking at accents in Spanish.


Putting Accents on Spanish Words

This is a short, practical guide to putting accents on Spanish words. It may not cover every accented word in the Spanish language - there are good grammar books which discuss all of the peculiarities and exotic incidences - but rather will help you put accents on the words as you do your normal writing, whether it be for school, business or your private life. Here are the basics, which can be summed up in three rules and one concept:

Important Basic Concept

The basis for the written accent is where the SPOKEN accent falls.

First Rule

If the word ends in a vowel, an 'n' or an 's', and the spoken accent falls on thenext to last syllable, then the word does NOT have a written accent. This applies to the vast majority of Spanish words. Examples
libro - libros / patata - patatas / hablo - hablas - hablamos - hablan

Second Rule

If the word does NOT end in a vowel, an 'n' or an 's', and the spoken accent falls on the last syllable, the word does NOT have a written accent. Examples:
All Infinitives: hablar, comer, vivir, esperar, comprar, pedir, etc. azul, intensidad, mayor, universidad, farol, cristal, robot, convoy, pared, amor

Third Rule

Everything that doesn't fit into the two rules above gets a written accent where the spoken accent falls. Examples:
1. Ends in a vowel, 'n' or 's' and the spoken accent does NOT fall on the next to last syllable:
habló, hablarás, hablarán, mirón, catalán, Canadá, dígamelo, química, nación, estación, órdenes
2. Does not end in a vowel, 'n' or 's' and the spoken accent does NOT fall on the last syllable:
fácil, álbum, difícil, síntesis, fútbol, lápiz, cáncer, inútil, azúcar

One Other Situation

What is described above is related to pronunciation and writing. Once you become familiar with these concepts, you can actually put accents on Spanish words as you write, just as you dot your i's or cross your t's when you write English. But there is one other situation where the words get a written accent in Spanish: two words written the having the same letters but with different meanings. Here's a list of the most common ones:
de = of / from    = from verb 'dar'
el = the   él = he
que = that   ¿qué? = what? (all interrogatives have accents)
mas = but   más = more
se = reflexive pronoun    = I know
si = if    = yes
solo = alone   sólo = only
te = to you    = tea
tu = your    = you

Have a good day folks! Hope this clarifies things for you all!
Lots of love, lots of respect,
Igor