"You can't always get what you want . ."

"But if you try sometimes . . you might find . . You get what you need"
Well, according to the Rolling Stones song, anyway.

Asking for what you want, or need, in Spanish, isn't always as straightforward as you might think.
One of the earliest verbs you probably learnt is 'querer'.
"I want" is simply "quiero" but, as mothers have long said, to demanding children " 'I want' never gets"
It's simply not a very polite way of asking for anything.
So, what other options do we have?

Well, in English, you might say "I need", so "necesito" is a good substitute, or "I'm looking for . .", which is "busco . ."
However, you will often hear "me gustaría . .", which is the Conditional form of "me gusta" (it pleases me = I like), and means "I would like . .", or "it would please me",
or "querría" (note the double 'r'), which is the conditional form of "querer", literally meaning "I would want", but taken as "I would like",
or even "quisiera . ." which is (don't freak out!) the subjunctive mood of the imperfect tense of the verb "querer", which in the vague nature of the subjunctive sort of means "I kind of might have wanted . .", but is used to mean "I would like". It sounds very complicated, but is actually used a lot.

Sometimes, you don't even have to ask for something. Just point out that it's not there, and let logic do the rest.
For example "falta un tenedor", means "a fork is lacking". It doesn't take a degree in rocket science for the waiter to figure out that "there's a fork missing" is a polite way of saying "I need another fork".
Actually, if you wanted to specify that it was YOUR fork that was missing, you could say "ME hace falta un tenedor". Literally "to me, makes lacking, a fork". Note that in this,and the previous example, it's the fork which does the lacking and the making, so conjugate accordingly.

And the final method of getting what you want, is to just ask the person to give it to you and, as with the previous methods, there are varying levels of politeness.
You might say to a waiter "traigame una cerveza" (traer- to bring) "bring me a beer" although, if you have any manners at all, I'm sure you'll add "por favor"
More politely, you could say "¿puedes traerme una cerveza?" which equates with "can you fetch me a beer?", but you'd be better off with "¿podrías traerme una cerveza?", which is the equivalent of saying "COULD you fetch me a beer?"

The same method can be applied to "dar" (to give) or "pasar" (to pass). "¿podrías pasarme el azúcar?", "could you pass me the sugar?"

Using "poder" in this manner is a great way of asking people to do things, without making it sound like an instruction, and can be used with many verbs, such as . . .
"¿podrías decirme . . ?" - 'could you tell me?'
"¿podrías ayudarme?" - 'could you help me?'
"¿podrías parar aquí?" - 'could you stop here?'

The only exception I've come across, where a direct order appears to be acceptable, was in a video on the BBC language learning website, where students are advised to use the imperative version of "poner"(to put), when selecting fruit in a market, for example "pongame cuatro manzanas", literally "put me four apples", presumably in a bag.
Cultural note here: in Spain it is considered rude to handle produce before buying it.

Well, I hope these tips help you to express your needs and wants in a more delicate and polite manner.
It can make all the difference.

¡Nos vemos!

Viva Il Divo

Once in a while, some genius comes along, and takes two of your favourite things, and combines them to produce something which is truly magnificent, like coconut ice-cream, or tequila-flavoured beer.
Well, this week it has happened again. I am currently listening, for about the twelfth time, to the latest CD by Il Divo, which unites a breathtaking musical talent, with the language of Spain.

For those of you unfortunate enough never to have encountered Il Divo, they are a group of four singers, three opera and one pop, hailing from as far afield as Switzerland, the US, France and, of course, Spain.
They are known world-wide as the masters of classic/pop crossover, mixing popular opera with reworkings of pop songs,translated or given new lyrics in Italian or Spanish.
The new album, Wicked Game, takes its title track from the 1989 song by Chris Izaak, rewritten in Italian as 'Melancolia' .
 The real bonus, for we Spanish fans, is that, along with five tracks in Italian and one in English, there are four tracks in Spanish.

Two are Il Divo versions of classic pop songs. Roy Orbison's  1960's ballad 'Crying' returns as 'Lllorando', and Shakespeare's Sister's 'Stay (with me)' becomes 'Ven a mi'.
The other two tracks are 'Falling slowly' (Te prometo) and 'Come what may' (Te amaré), which is one of several which showcases the blistering vocals of Carlos Marin at his best.

If you don't want tobuy the whole album, just click over to Amazon ( http://www.amazon.co.uk/Wicked-Game-Divo/dp/B005KDWUFA/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1323284599&sr=8-1  from the UK) and you can download individual tracks for 89p each.
You can listen to an extract from each song, but they really don't do them justice, as none of them feature the Guys at full volume, during one of their big finishes. There is a short video clip to view but, if you don't know Il Divo, you're better looking on YouTube to get an idea of what they can do.
There's a bonus, if you buy the physical CD, though, as the enclosed booklet has all the lyrics. Unfortunately this extra was slightly marred (at least in the version I have) as it was obviously typeset and proof read by non-Spanish speakers. All of the accents are missing, and there are two instances where the word 'hoy' has been printed as 'hot'!

Finally, before I head off to play Wicked Game for the 13th time, just a mention of one other of Il Divo's claims to fame . . they recorded the theme music to a Mexican soap opera called 'Sortilegio'.
You can find it at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5WXg9CGSoTY&feature=related and this version includes the lyrics.
¡Chévere!

Getting beyond 'bueno'

There's more to life than Black and White and, likewise, much more than Good and Bad, so why is it, whenever we come across something we like in Spanish, the only word that seems to come to mind is 'bueno'?

It's maddening, when you've just finished a meal in a restaurant in, say, Barcelona, the waiter comes over and asks if everything was OK, and you either mumble 'bueno' or fail back to English to express yourself.
So, while I'm not a great fan of word-lists, I think it's important to have a selection of adjectives to hand, which you can call on to push your descriptions and comments well beyond the trusty 'bueno'

Let's start with the basics
good=bueno/buena
better=mejor
the best= el/la mejor

now we begin to improve . .
nice or pleasant=agradable
superb=estupendo ó magnífico
excelent=excelente
fantastic=fantástico
exquisite=exquisito
inredible=increíble
amazing=asombroso
extraordinary=extraordinario
awesome=alucinante (literally, hallucinatory ;¬)

or, if it's not so good . .
satisfactory=satisfactorio
acceptable=aceptable

So, how about those food words?
tasty=sabroso, rico
delicious=delicioso, riquisimo
luscious=suculento
yummy/scrumptious=de rechupete
spicy/seasoned/hot=condimentado, sazonado, picante
appetising=apetitoso
sweet=dulce

If you're introduced to someone's kids, or shown a photo, it's nice to be able to pay compliments.
beautiful=hermosa, bella
pretty=linda, bonita
cute=precioso/preciosa
attractive=atractivo, guapo
likeable=simpático, majo,amable

Don't forget that most of these can be used with masculine or feminine endings, but I wouldn't call a six-foot body builder 'bonito', if I were you!

Finally, harking back to my previous post about using 'pasarlo' to describe the fun you're having, here are a few related adjectives.
exciting=emocionante, apasionante
entertaining=entretenido
funny=gracioso
enjoyable=divertido
emotional=emotivo.
impressive=impresionante

Of course, while I've roughly grouped the adjectives, a lot of them can be used to describe a variety of things, people, food, places etc. , just like we'd use excellent, nice, pleasant etc. in English.

Just one last thing NOT to say, when the waiter asks you how the food was, and that's 'muy bien'
Don't forget - 'bien' means 'WELL', not 'GOOD'
¡Hasta la próxima!

Tweet me

For those of you who found me via some other route, here's a great way to keep up to date with new postings. I always announce updates on Twitter, so all you need to do is click the new 'Follow me on Twitter' icon, to get a message, every time this blog is updated!

Sing a song of Spanish

I've recently discovered the music of a very talented Mexican singer, by the name of Julieta Venegas.
Apart from producing very catchy tunes like 'Eres para mi', 'Andar conmigo' and 'El presente', she also has very clear diction, and the lyrics of her songs are quite easy to follow.

While searching YouTube for videos of her music, I came across http://www.youtube.com/buenoentonces
which is a YouTube channel dedicated to helping promote the Spanish language by presenting videos featuring songs in Spanish with the lyrics displayed, Karaoke style, so you can follow along.

Beneath the Spanish lyric is an English translation, accompanied by annotations to help with understanding.
For instance, the Spanish might say 'Tengo', the English says 'I have', and the annotation says 'Tener +yo'
Parts of each phrase, e.g. verbs and nouns, are highlighted in different colours in both Spanish and English, to help you identify them.

The songs I have listened to (including Julieta's) have obviously been chosen because their lyrics are not too complicated for Learners.
So, if you want to have some fun, while learning some new vocabulary, check it out!
!Hasta la proxima! 

Water, water, everywhere . .

In a recent post, I covered the subject of feminine nouns which take a masculine article, simply because it sounds better.
Unfortunately, I missed THE most common noun,probably one of the first you will learn when starting to speak Spanish  . . EL agua!
Yes, water is feminine, but takes the masculine 'el', so 'cold water' is 'agua fria', but 'water' is 'el agua'
Apologies for the omission ;¬)

Learn Spanish, become a better person

I've recently started listening to the Notes in Spanish Intermediate podcasts, available via iTunes.
They're a few years old now, they make references to 2008, but well worth a listen for practice,and new vocabulary.
The podcasts are produced by Ben Curtis and Marina Diez. Marina is a native Spanish speaker, born in Madrid, while Ben hails from a village near Oxford, and has lived in Spain since 1998. The two work very well together. At the time of the recordings, Ben had about 9 years of studying Spanish, and had met Marina during intercambios.
What's encouraging, in a way, for learners, is that, even after all that time, he still made some of the same basic mistakes that you and I continue to make, after a much shorter period of study.

Common examples are
forgetting the gender of nouns
forgetting to make adjectives agree with the gender of nouns
using the preterite, instead of the imperfect, and vice-versa

Marina good-naturedly corrects most of his mistakes, which he gracefully accepts, after all no-one wants to teach their listeners bad habits.
Marina has a beautifully clear voice, contrasting with Ben's occasionally barbaric anglicisation of some vowels (I'm sure he's much better, a few years on)

I wholeheartedly  recommend these podcasts, which are pitched very accurately at Intermediate Level and cover a wide range of interesting subjects, from Spanish Cinema, music, the Mafia, and holidays to eating out and comparisons of country and city life.
Just as soon as I've finished listening to the series, I'm going to try out the Advanced podcasts.
Beginners need not feel left out, as there is a series of podcasts for you, too.

Finally, to the point of the title.
Ben's, and our, mistakes tend to be ignored by most Spaniards. They just seem to be so genuinely pleased that you have made the effort to learn their language that you will often be told ¡Hablas muy bien!, which is a tremendous boost,especially when you feel like you're struggling.
What the experience does tend to do, though, is to endow you with a little humility, when dealing with foreigners.
Your local Asian shopkeeper probably speaks three languages, at least two for the Cook in your local cantonese takeaway, and the waiters so many British tourists abuse on their holidays in the sun can probably get by in most of the West, and some of the East European languages, as well.
Learning to speak Spanish gives you an insight into the work they have had to put in, and some of the difficulties they will have faced, hopefully making you a little more patient, open-minded and tolerant of those around you.
(End of Sermon :¬)

¡Hasta luego!

The gender-bending eagle

According to one of my recent postings, nouns ending in 'A', apart from some exceptions, are feminine and, if you look up águila (eagle), in a Spanish-English dictionary, it will probably say 'NF' (noun, feminine)

So why, if you type 'eagle' into the dictionary at www.spanishdict.com , does it come back with 'EL águila'?
Stranger still, type in 'the eagles', and you will get 'LAS águilas'
Finally, just to completely confuse you, try 'the bald eagle' and you will get 'EL águila calvA' not 'calvO'

It all revolves around the fact that Spanish speakers don't like 'cacofonía', things which sound bad. So, while 'águila' IS indeed feminine, as is seen in the plural, and the agreement of adjectives, 'LA águila' sounds awful, and is awkward to say, so they just changed it!

That's not the only example, it also applies to 'EL hacha', a hatchet, or axe.

The same dislike of awkward sound combinations probably explains why the pronoun 'le' is changed to 'se' when it sits alongside the pronoun 'lo'
So,
I gave him a book = 'le dí un libro'
I brought it for him = 'lo traje para él'
BUT
I gave it to him = 'se lo dí' and NOT 'le lo dí'

But that's why we learn Spanish, rather than, say, German. It just SOUNDS better!

Are we there yet?

Here are a few little words which can cause some confusion, when you first come across them, especially in their negative forms.
Todavía, aún and ya.

First off, the easy bit. Todavía and aún are pretty much interchangeable.
Now the straightforward, positive, meanings.

ya = already or yet
ya hemos comido - we've already eaten
todavía = still
todavía vive con sus padres - he still lives with his parents

The negative versions are a little different, however.
ya no = no longer
ya no vive con sus padres - he no longer lives with his parents
todavía no = not yet
todavía no hemos comido - we haven't eaten yet.

You see, in the negative ya and todavía seem to swap places.
It takes a bit of getting used to, but it will be easier now you're aware of it.
Keep practising!

Guru? Maybe not.

Those of you who visit this Blog regularly ( and that's the odd thing about blogging . . you actually have NO idea if the same people ever come back, or what they think of your ramblings) may have noticed the new addition, below the Blog archive list.

Just before I began taking lessons with Ximena, in SecondLife, I signed up for an online course with Rocket Languages. As I had a limited amount of time available to use the PC, I didn't spend as much time on the course as I should, and concentrated instead on my virtual classwork.

Just recently, however, I've revisited the course and, while it's now much more basic than the level I'm currently studying, it includes some useful listening practise and some online tests, just to brush up on the basics. After all, I did pay for it, and it's a crime to waste my investment and, finally, I just took the Stage One exam.
I have now received, by email, a certificate ( I may even print it off) and have permission to use the logo you see on the page.

To be honest, completing Rocket Stage 1 definitely doesn't qualify me as a Guru but, if you're taking the Rocket course, and have worked down the seemingly never-ending list of multiple-choice questions, against the clock, you'll know that the occasional recognition of your hard work and achievement, by a third party, is a welcome boost.

The Future is now

The first option some courses will give you, for expressing the Future in Spanish, is to use the Present tense.
An example you will hear often is 'Nos vemos'
It translates literally as, 'we see ourselves', or 'we see each other', but is commonly used to mean 'we WILL see each other' or, put another way 'See you!'
Although that may sound 'foreign' to you, mixing tenses is not uncommon in English.

What if I told you that you may often use the Future tense to describe something that happened in the past?
No? look at this.
'Why didn't Pete come to my party?'
'He will have been working'
Now, unless I'm mistaken, 'He WILL' is the Future tense.
Funnily enough, this is actually one occasion where the exact same construction exists in Spanish.
'¿Porque no vino Pete a mi fiesta?'
'Habrá estado trabajando'

This isn't always the case. For example, there's a tense in English (even English teaching websites disagree on its name, so it may, or may not be called the Present or Future continuous) where we also use the Present tense to describe the future, but in a different way to the Spanish.
The construction 'what are we doing at the weekend?' is common enough in English, but does not exist in Spanish. In Spanish you would have to say 'what WILL WE DO at the weekend?' or 'what WILL WE BE DOING at the weekend?'
'¿que haremos el fin de semana?' or '¿que estaremos haciendo, el fin de semana?'
A little confusing, I know, but the point is to make you aware of some of the habits we practise in English, without thinking, and how some of them just don't translate into Spanish.
¡Hasta la proxima!

Is it a flying bird, or a bird, flying?

Remember how I previously mentioned going back over your early notes and tests, just to prove to yourself how far you've come?
Well, there's another reason to do it. You may just see, or hear, things you missed the first time around.
I've been listening to some of the 'advanced' lessons in the Pimsleur course and, just today, came across something which set me thinking (apart from recognising at least one use of the Subjunctive - which is not dealt with anywhere in the Pimsleur system)

The lesson uses the phrase 'él está parado, allí' (he's standing, over there) and 'su esposa, tambien, está parada, alli' (his wife is also standing over there) and, later in the lesson, a male characters says 'estoy hablando el libro' (I'm reading the book), which is repeated 'estoy hablando el libro', by a female character.

Spot the difference?

The man 'está paradO' and his wife 'está paradA', whereas both the male and female characters 'está leyendO' the book. Hmm. Something's not right.

Actually it's all correct. The difference is that 'parado/a' is an adjective, describing the state of the people, whereas, 'leyendo' is a 'Gerund', or 'present participle' describing what someone is doing, at that moment.

I've mentioned Gerunds in passing, when talking about verb conjugation apps for mobile phones, but didn't explain what they are.
Short version =  infinitive +ing.
Explanation for humans = it's the conjugation of a verb, ending in -ando, or -iendo, used in the formation of the progressive present tense, e.g. I am typ-ING = estoy tecl-ANDO.

The most difficult task, for a student of Spanish, is to decide which -ing they are using  in English, adjective or gerund.
I don't pretend to be an expert (in fact, instead of posting this, I should be doing my tarea [homework] for my next lesson, on Saturday) but I just thought it worth pointing out this interesting anomaly, and adding a link to a page which might just offer a little more guidance
http://spanish.about.com/od/verbs/a/english_ing.htm

Finally, the bird.
This is where translation sites disagree, but I reckon a bird flying is 'un ave volando' and a flying bird is 'un ave volador'

¡Nos vemos!

Are we having fun yet?

The simplest way to express enjoyment in Spanish might be to use the verb 'divertirse', but there are other options available, many of which employ the verb/noun combination 'pasarlo', with an adjective.
Sure, you can say 'me divertí', but won't it sound so much better to say 'lo pasé fenomenal!'
Now, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm guessing that the 'lo' refers to the time (el tiempo) I passed (yo pasé), and that it was phenomenal!

Other expressions using the same construction include . .
pasarlo bomba
pasarlo genial
pasarlo en grande
pasarlo de película (just like the movies ;¬)
pasarlo de miedo (honest!)
pasarlo de maravilla

Just to cover the technical side of things, while we're enjoying ourselves (lo pasamos genial), the verb 'pasar' should be conjugated to suit the person who is having the good time, and can be in various tenses.
Lo pasaré bomba - I will have a great time
Espero que lo pases genial - I hope (that) you have a good time.

For anyone wondering why that's 'pases', instead of 'pasas', welcome to the Subjunctive!
I've been working on it now for a couple of months. Don't let anyone ever tell you that it's easy. It's not, and an awful lot of mastering it involves learning things by heart (e.g. which verbs force you to use it)
Having said that, it's not impossible but I wasn't expecting, after 3 years of learning Spanish, to hit such a stumbling block.
Don't worry about it. By the time you get around to having to deal with it, you'll be far enough along with your Spanish that you won't be easily put off. Just get your head down and charge right in.
I'll probably write a posting on the Subjunctive, some time soon, once I'm a little more comfortable with it myself.
It helps to have a good teacher (Quick plug for mi profesora XimenaModotti Carami, in Secondlife - visit the schoolhouse at http://maps.secondlife.com/secondlife/Sede%20di%20Marte/214/71/39)

Finally, just a note that 'pasarlo' can also be used in a negative sense, so you can use 'pasarlo mal' if you didn't have such a good time. But hopefully not here.
¡Hasta pronto!

One that got away

Here's a curiousity, that had the promise of becoming a useful tool in my Spanish learning kit, but didn't quite make it.
It's a 3D environment, reminiscent of Secondlife, populated with 3D characters, who you engage in dialogues.
There are a couple of difficulty levels, and the program allegedly uses speech recognition to assess your proficiency.
The character voices are obviously computer-generated but, for the most part, fairly clear, although there were some sentences that got cut short  once or twice.
It's an interesting concept, that uses on screen text boxes to prompt you what to say next, with translation to English, and a phonetic guide to pronunciation, along with the text in Spanish.
There's an option to remove the phonetics, and the English, but it would have more useful to leave the English, and remove the Spanish, so you would have to translate for yourself.
You can also click on various object to discover their names in Spanish, and some background or cultural information in English (I have to admit, I did learn a couple of things)
The download is a 60-minute limited version, and the link to 'Buy now' doesn't work, so I guess it was never a commercial success, which is a shame, as it's very easy to get drawn in and find yourself reading the Spanish, without fear of embarrasment, as you're only talking to your PC.
You can download it at http://games.softpedia.com/get/Shareware-Games/3D-Language-Spain.shtml

Waiter, there's a dictionary in my newspaper. . .

I know, I've mentioned Spanish and Mexican newspapers before, but how about an online newspaper, with a dictionary which is only a double-click away.
Imagine how useful it would be, for anyone doing the Times crossword, or a Sun reader struggling with more than two syllables (sorry, Lads. Chanting 'In-ger-land' , at a footie match doesn't count as three!)

I often find, when I'm perusing the foreign press, over breakfast, thats it's just too much hassle to pick up a dictionary, or go to SpanishDict.com and type in a word I don't know, and will simply pass on to another article.
Until, that was, profesora Ximena (my teacher in SecondLife) asked me to prepare a presentation on an article from the Mexican paper La Jornada.(http://www.jornada.unam.mx/ ) and I made this discovery.

La Jornada has a simply brilliant app, built into the page, which allows you to just highlight a word (click and drag) then double-click to open up a dictionary definition in a pop-up window. Even better, if you don't understand the explanation (did I mention it was in Español?), you can highlight any word INSIDE the pop-up , and double-click again, for ITS definition! Brilliant! ¡Cojonudo!

Looks as if, thanks to 'Dixio technology', I'll be forsaking El Universal, in favour of La Jornada.
Oh, one other thing. If you just fancy a quick read, La Jornada has a regular column called 'Mar de Historias', written by Cristina Pacheco. They're short stories, not too taxing, and make a break from 'hard news' , or harder novels ;¬)

Enjoy.

Addendum:
Written the morning after.
Just noticed that the Dixio dictionary doesn't seem to be enabled on the Site's Homepage, but don't be put off, it appears to work on all the other pages I've tried.

Pussy Galore.In Spanish, of course.

If you listen to the 'News in slow Spanish' podcasts, you'll be familiar with the phrase 'Expresiones, la salsa del idioma', and it's true, Spanish has its fair share of colourful sayings.
I decided to do a little research, based on a few sayings I'd come across, referring to El Tigre's domestic cousin, the Cat, and found there were a good many more than I expected.
Here's a selection – there are more but, to be honest I didn't understand some of them! ;¬)

Aquí hay Gato encerrado
There's something fishy going on here. (There's a cat locked up here)

El hijo de la gata, ratones mata
Like father (mother), like son. (The son of the cat kills mice)

De noche, todos los gatos son pardos
All cats are grey in the dark (at night)

Cuando el gato sale, los ratones bailan
While the cat's away, the mice will play (dance)

Hasta los gatos quieren zapatos
Everybody's after something (even the cats want shoes)

La curiosidad mató al gato
Curiosity killed the cat

A gato satisfecho no le preocupa ratón
A satisifed cat doen't care about a mouse.(Interpret that however you like ;¬)

Con ladrones y gatos pocos tratos
Be careful who you do business with (certainly not thieves or cats!)

Al ratón que no sabe más que un agujero, el gato lo pilla presto.
Always have a plan 'B' (the cat will soon catch the mouse that only knows one hole)

Cara de beato, y uñas de gato
Every rose has its (her) thorn (a beautiful face but claws like a cat)

Casose con gata por amor a la plata, gastose la plata, quedose la gata
Marry in haste, repent at leisure (marry the cat, for love on a plate, enjoy the meal, but the cat remains)

Como me tratan de gato salvage, me pongo a robar gallinas
Treat me like a human being, and I'll act like one (treat me like a wild cat, and I'll steal your chickens)

Dar gato por lievre
To pull a fast one, con someone (to serve cat as hare)

Donde hay chorizos colgando, no faltan gatos husmeando.
The nearest I could get to this is the rather unsavoury 'they're like flies around sh*t'
(where sausages hang, cats will come sniffing)

El gato gruñón no caza raton
Softly, softly, catchee monkey (the grunting cat can't hunt mice)

Como los gatos siempre cae parado
He always lands on his feet (like a cat, he falls standing)

Hermanos (or reyes) y gatos, todos son ingratos
Brothers (or kings) and cats are all ungrateful

Más come en una semana un gato que cien ratones en todo un año
The cure is worse than the disease ( a cat eats more in a week than a hundred mice in a year)

No importa el color del gato, lo importante es que se coma a los ratones
Any port in a storm (it doesn't matter what colour the cat is, so long as it eats mice)

Pajaro que dice pio pio se le come el gato
If you stick your head up, someone will blow it off. Know when to keep quiet (the cat will eat the bird that tweets) Hmm, better lay off Twitter for a while.

Si no es gato, es gata, y si no, gatito.
Whichever way you look at it, it's still a cat!!


I've included English sayings with the same sentiment, where possible, otherwise the translation shows the meaning pretty well.
If you want to wallow in even more Spanish colloquialisms, on all types of subject, head on over to http://www.languagerealm.com/spanish/spanishproverbs.php and have a party.

Spanish Eyes (and Greek ones, too)

One of the things I like most about Spanish, and I have mentioned this before, is that each letter in the alphabet has only one pronunciation, making reading aloud, and learning new words by reading, so much easier than in English.
There are, however, a couple of letter which have very similar sounds, and, if you're trying to learn the Spanish alphabet, one of them has a peculiar name, which I used to find very easy to forget.
The letters are I and Y.
So, here's an explanation of why Y is called 'igriega' and why you're never going to forget it again.
In Maths, we use a lot of Greek letters as symbols, alpha, delta etc and, in the same way, what was originally a Greek letter was imported into the Spanish language.
Who knows why they decided that they needed two letters that both made the 'i' sound, but there had to be a way to distinguish one from the other.
If I tell you that another name for the humble letter 'I' is 'i latina' and that the Spanish (female) adjective for 'Greek' is 'Griega'. then you're never going to forget that 'Y' is just a Greek 'I', which makes it 'igriega'.

¡Saludos!

More free Spanish eBooks.

I'm really going to have to get myself an ebook reader.
There are just SO many books, just waiting to be read, and so little space left on my bookshelves.
Now the situation has been made worse, by my discovery of http://www.epubbud.com/.
Worse yet is the fact that you can type l:es into the search field on epub, and it returns titles for which the language tag is set to Spanish.(or you can just click here and save a little typing http://www.epubbud.com/search.php?q=l%3Aes :¬)
We're not just talking crusty old Classics here, either (not that there's anything wrong with don Quixote). Fancy Game of Thrones, Harry Potter, or the True Blood series?
All there, in Spanish, along with literally hundreds of others, free to download, at least until somebody hits them with a copyright suit, and closes them down.
So, be quick, get them while they're still available, and enjoy some modern novels,en Español.

Sky's the limit

Just a quickie, and I'm sorry, but this one is UK-specific.
In fact, it's even more specific than that.
Don't bother reading any further, unless you happen to have access to Sky Anytime+

Still reading?
Good news!
There are currently three Spanish films, all with English subtitles, available to download and view on Anytime+.
The first is 'Rec' (more info at http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1038988/ )
Then there's the imaginatively titled 'Rec2' (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1245112/ )
 I've actually seen Rec2. Best decribed as a cross between Cloverfield, Crazies and The Exorcist.
Finally there's a crime thriller called 'The secret in their eyes' (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1305806/)

I don't know what the 'shelf life' is on Anytime+, but I seem to recall 'El Mariachi' was available for quite a while.

Enjoy.

Free Spanish books on your Kindle

The Amazon Kindle is everywhere, either as a physical device, or as an App.
I currently have the Kindle reader installed on my Android phone, my iPod touch and, most recently on my Windows Netbook.

Finding books for it in Spanish can be a bit of a challenge, especially if you don't want to spend much (or anything ;¬)

Well, here's a tip.
Go to http://www.amazon.com/Advanced-Search-Books/b?ie=UTF8&node=241582011&ref_=sv_b_0
and you'll find yourself on the Amazon.com Advanced Search page.
I have to admit, I found this link on a Kindlereader.blogspot.com page from 2009. I haven't been able to find the page via any of the menus on the Amazon.co or Amazon.co.uk sites.

Once on the page, you have the option to search for books in your chosen language.
It's much easier than using the normal search and typing in Spanish or Español.
If you're in the States, that's all there is to it. For us in the UK, it's a little more difficult.
Unlike hard copy books, Amazon.com won't let you buy from the UK. I'm afraid the only option is to make a note of the book's name and search on Amazon.co.uk Kindle Store.

Important Note!!
When searching for a book in Spanish, on the UK site, be sure to order the results by 'Price- low to high' or you might end up paying for a book which is listed as free on Amazon.com.