It's got to the stage where I need to get to grips with gender....
Because it matters! And there are quite a few Spanish nouns which are exceptions to the -o male and -a female rules, plus there are still more which don't end -a or -o and which don't fit all the other arbitrary and very forgettable other rules which all the grammar books list.
So what do you do ?
As a neat sort of coincidence, there was a fascinating program on R4 this morning about word games, and one of the games was to try putting "Mr." or "Mrs" in front of all your nouns.
It proved remarkably tricky for an English speaker... because it's not at all obvious which it should be for most nouns.
However, as Mr. Fry ( for it was he) pointed out, to speakers of gender-nouned languages this thought is absolutely natural, and gives each noun an extra quality, or shade of meaning, almost in the same way that some people assign colours to nouns.
They went on to discuss how this might/does affect, for example, poetry where ( for example) Baudelaire is known to have used the gender-properties of the nouns he used to emphasise the meaning/symbolism in his poetry.
I have often wondered how native speakers of such languages manage to learn and remember the gender of obscure nouns that they rarely use. Some books tell us that native speakers develop a "feel" for the correct gender.
Personally I doubt this....but in another bizarre coincidence , in that same programme they played another game which touched on this idea of innate "feel."
They called it " Cheese or Font." Players were given a word and had to decide whether it was a cheese or a font! It was not a test of their knowledge... they were meant to do this by "feeling" which was right for a cheese-name, and which was right for a "font-name."
For example, one of the words was "dauphin". After a fair bit of thinking, one decided it was a cheese, the other decided it was a font... in fact this one was both.
[I've just found out that you can play this game online.. just type Cheese or Font into google! ]
It would be interesting to try this on native speakers where they had to decide on the gender of the obscure noun to see how well they did.
There were plenty of other interesting ideas in that program which I will bring up sooner or later.
Anyway, one way of remembering the gender for any noun is to make a mental picture of the noun with either a man or a woman.
An example would be thimble,,,, el dedal in Spanish...but inconvenently masculine so the the obvious woman-thimble link is no good.
You could simply remember that it comes from el dedo = finger.
Or, for example, you could picture Wayne Rooney running round the pitch almost totally covered with a giant thimble. Or Jeremy Clarkson having trouble changing gear because all ten fingers have thimbles on them...
Let's try another... how about the mink... el visón.. again masculine. Imagine something really incongruous like Vin Diesel strolling down the road wearing a mink coat.
How about el afán ... ambition/effort... this type is trickier because this is not an actual object... it's again masculine so you can picture thet survivalist Ray Mears making an immense effort to build a fan to keep cool in the desert!
You desperately need to remember that a Partridge... la perdiz... is feminine! Well, you could simply think of a woman seaching for her lost Partridge( to lose = perder) all over the place...
Or think of all the women in the Partridge Family ( remember them). That'll do!
You get the general idea I'm sure. Remember to make your images strange, weird, rude,scary or whatever so they sink in.
Well, it's music time, and I thought we could have a look at more by that nice Zahara who was with Santi Balmas ....this is she playing live... a lovely, intimate version of En la Habitación... a feminine noun there, obeying the -iôn usually feminine rule!
There's lots of versions of this lovely quiet song to watch...
That is just beautiful! Great audience too.
Thanks to the musicstar site for these words..
Video y Letra de la Cancion En La Habitación – Zahara
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… -------------- Fuente: MusicstarX.Net
I can't forget that ridiculous image of Wayne bloody Rooney covered with a giant thimble! Good!
I thoroughly recommend childrens' books as a way into learning any language. Unfortunately this is the ONLY one I've got in Spanish. It's quite a good story though.
They have loads of advantages to the beginner... they are great fun, they are full of drawings to help you, they are bright and interesting and full of incident, and much of the language is useful stuff in simple sentences.
The trouble is, I got quite a way into Spanish before I got any stuff like this... I jumped straight in after a few months into further-on things like Winny de Puh and suchlike. Also, you don't tend to come across little children's books like this in English charity shops! French... yes, I've got quite a few... Latin, yes... Beatricus Potter etc... Welsh... got plenty in Wales!!... but not Spanish.
PLUS... they're v. expensive, on a pence-per-page basis... on Amazon.
What I would recommend to any real beginners out there, is... if you are going to Spain or Latin America, get some while you are out there..... OR if you know anyone who is going there, get them to get you some.
Anyway, there's another one in this series...
Time for music I think... this is Niños Mutantes with an outdoor acoustic version of Las Noches de Insomnio
and here's the official video for it...
and here are the words from the alternativevolume site... thanks.
Las noches de insomnio Las tardes de hastío No estoy para bromas
Y no tengo prisa Estoy tan vacío Solo necesito aire Para respirar
Recuerdo aquel día Recuerdo aquel sitio Las cosas que dije Todo
No se si eran ciertas Lo cierto es que al frío Nos hizo apretarnos Tanto
Tú siempre decías Que no era bastante Porque lo querías todo
Yo era más débil Y no lo entendía Y puso distancia Entre tú y yo
Que parecía que nuestra carne se fundiría en una materia de células vivas y células muertas en un solo cuerpo
All my regular readers will know how important music is to me... in every post I try to put in some interesting Spanish music. It's a lovely way to reinforce your language skills, pronunciation, vocabulary...everything, including your confidence.... more especially if you make an effort to learn the words and even to sing along. Great in the car!
When I started this blog it spurred me on to find some decent Spanish music... all I knew up to then was Shakira... and though it took a while and a lot of youtubing etc, I actually have found some brilliant stuff. I'm really pleased!
So, in this Christmas edition I want to pick out the outstanding music I have unearthed in a kind of festive fifty sort of way, but not actually 50 if you see what I mean.
But first, a special award for the weirdest video I found.... another chance now to watch Cola Jet Set in action... there's loads of fun to be had here, notably the drummer, the constatn clips of 'phones in case you weren't quite sure... the list goes on. it's just bloody ODD...
Before I go on to the main Top Ten,two more awards... I have a special award for BEST NEWCOMER... and you can probably guess it is going to be that Estrella Morente... here's a different thing of hers...tangos... she's back in that little family gathering (??) where they all just happen to be shit-hot flamenco guitarists and singers...
and this next one gets the award for the HAPPIEST VIDEO... even though the wprds are not entirely happy!... it's Nena Daconte and Ay! Amor...
RIGHT... now on to the main TOP TEN.. I suppose I should do them in reverse order to increase the tension, so at No. 10 it's Facto Delafe and El Indio.
How did he do that??
Right... No 9 goes to a left-field contender, Mala Rodriguez, and I could have chosen any of a number of great performances, but I picked Por la Noche...
At No. 8 I've picked one of the early discoveries I made, Como Yo Te Amo by Niños Mutantes... great video, great song...
Coming in at No 7 is a fine ,live, Vetusta Morla song, A Tientas. They were one of the first bands I found and liked... more from them later...
Just perfect!
Slipping into No 6 is a beautiful NenaDaconte song for which, up to now, I have not been able to show the full proper video.But, I think I have got it now... El Aleph...
A pretty perfect pop song there... gorgeous.
Into the top 5 now, and at No. 5 itself we have Santi Balmas and the wonderful Kim Fanlo with a touching acoustic performance of Domingo Astromantico...
and here's a sneaky extra, the same song done beautifully by Alize and zigoreto, apparently in a little office somewhere.
A song is anything that can walk by itself..
OK then, No. 4 is Love of Lesbian with the quiet, beautiful Universos Infinitos..
And at the all-important No. 3 spot, I have picked the clever, witty, acrobatic and moving Facto Delafe with Mar el poder del mar..
Smart cycling Facto me old mate. At No. 2 it will be the lovely Nena Daconte, the accomplished Joan Tena and the brilliant Cuando Mueren las malditas golondrinas... how I love this...
BUT at the coveted No. 1 spot I have chosen the song that made me realise that there was some incredible Spanish music out there if only I could find it. From Vetusta Morla, the remarkable Al Respirar....
Amazing song, beautiful video, passionate singing... what more can you ask for.
So, there is my Top Ten for the year ...what will next year bring? More brilliant ideas for learning Spanish, more odd sidelines about all things Spanish, more Spanish music.... keep tuning in.
A great way to boost your Spanish and your vocabulary and grammar is to think up song titles and album titles and try to put them into Spanish. It's got lots of plus points.... you can do it anywhere as you have a healthy stock of titles up there in storage.... you can make them as easy or as hard as you like.... you can do it while you are driving, or in a meeting, or watching paint dry, and it's a nice, self-contained small but interesting "capsule-task."
By the way, album titles in general seem to be a bit more enigmatic and considerably harder to translate well.
Here's a few suggestions, categorised and sorted especially for you...and reading my selection, you will realise how truly ancient I am...
[A] Ought to be dead easy...just one word really..
Toad Relish Happy Moonlight Wow Ironic
[B] Still one word, but rather more thought needed...
Little Shoes Available space The Sensual World Sweet thing The littlest birds Soft as chalk Big Yellow taxi Parallel Lines Blue Horse The ninth wave Southern Man Another day Another Green World Stupid girl Deeper understanding Big stripey lie 99 Red Balloons Shooting Star
[D] noun lists ?
Something/Anything Cram, crab, cockle, cowry Peach plum pear Atom Heart Mother Rubberband Girl Love and Theft
[E] Possession and other uses of "of"
Candy's room The Song of Solomon Angels of the silences Constellation of the heart Most of the time Shake your hips Me and my woman Summer Days Don't push your foot on the heartbrake King of Pain Moments of pleasure Heart of Gold
[F] Verbs..
You learn I was hoping Cry a while Hanginaround Anna Begins Maybe I'm amazed There goes a tenner Racing in the street Rust never sleeps Squeezing out sparks Running up that hill Girls just wanna have fun
[G] Imperatives
Let it loose Stop breaking down Ring them bells Eat the music Walk this way Kick out the jams Paint it black
[H] Trickier stuff
The Milk-eyed Mender An end has a start Nevermind Underture Here Come the warm jets In a beautiful rambling mess Accidentally in love Darkness on the edge of town It's alright ma, I'm only bleeding Safe as Milk Trout Mask replica Feeling all the Saturday
Well... that'll do for a start... try it. You can also do book titles, Films, Band names ( often tricky)... anyway, have a go next time you are stuck in the snow.
As you know, I was mighty impressed with Estrella Morente (Enrique Morente's daughter) last time, and here's another song by her in a more formal setting... with ace guitarist Juan Habichuela... anybody who plays the guitar will realise what an amazing player he is... especially the way he makes it look so effortless. He's the bloke in last time's video sitting in the middle looking like a Ronnie Corbett-style retired bank clerk, knocking out those incredible flamenco riffs. Estupendo!
In his fascinating book " The New Spaniards" John Hooper writes... " the flamenco tradition offers one of those links with the world of a younger mankind in which Spain is so rich, for it is capable of generating that feeling of ecstacy whose inculcation is thought to have been the object of all early music. A flamenco singer ought not to perform until he or she has drifted into something approaching a trance - a state of suppressed emotion in which the need for expression gradually becomes so strong that it can no longer be contained."
You can see this ecstatic element in these Estrella Morente performances... and here she is performing " Soleá"
Yep... I'm thoroughly bowled over by that! ... and here are the words....from the lyricsmania site....
Lyrics to La Noche (Solea) : Estrella Morente Por que te llamas Aurora Que me acuesto a la raya del día Si te llamaras Custodia a la iglesia no saldría Si te llamaras Custodia a la iglesia no saldría
Te compro más camisas Te compro más camisas Y porque yo no he visto altares 'pa' que otro diga misa Ni te miro ni te hablo ni te compro más camisas
La noche del barro cayó la noche del barro cayó
la noche del barro cayó la noche del barro y en vez de salí desnuda salió 'vestia' de blanco y en vez de salí desnuda salió 'vestia' de gracia
(Gracias a Carmen por esta letra) Por que te llamas Aurora Que me acuesto a la raya del día Si te llamaras Custodia a la iglesia no saldría Si te llamaras Custodia a la iglesia no saldría
Te compro más camisas Te compro más camisas Y porque yo no he visto altares 'pa' que otro diga misa Ni te miro ni te hablo ni te compro más camisas
La noche del barro cayó la noche del barro cayó
la noche del barro cayó la noche del barro y en vez de salí desnuda salió 'vestia' de blanco y en vez de salí desnuda salió 'vestia' de gracia
A liitle while ago I finished a thoroughly enjoyable book... Los Cretinos ( originally The Twits by Roald Dahl.) I'm sure I talked about it at the time.
Anyway, looking through it again today my bookmark dropped out... I use these to make a note of words I have looked up or need to track down etc...I do this with all the stuff I read.
All the things on the list mostly go into my "proper" Spanish notebook... so it has the advantage that I write them down twice and generally say them twice as well. Usually I will also try to think of some smart way of remembering them as well... as I have demonstrated in previous articles.
Anyhow, to show you what I do, and to give you some idea of what level I am at and the sort of things I have to look up, here is what was on the bookmark... well, most of it...
restregar.... to rub la manga.... sleeve apeticible.. desirable, tasty revolver.... to turn upside down mohoso.... mouldy cochino..... filthy maloliente.... evil-smelling espantosa fealdad.... horrible, unsightly vistazo.... a sight apoderar.... to empower, to take possession of a medida que.... in proportion to.... envejecer.... to grow old empieza a notarse en su cara ... it starts to show on her face que apenas puedes soportar el mirala... you can hardly stand to look at her tales que ... such as puedes apostar tu vida... you can bet your life tramando o algo .... plotting something volcar.... to overturn/upset/capsize/pour out,over la almohada ... pillow/cushion las sabanas... the sheets encoger... to shrink
You can see it was a good book... lots of insults, arguments, daft behaviour etc.You will also see that only sometimes did I do the right thing and write a sentence or phrase... mostly it's just the word. My excuse is... it's only a little bit of paper.
I also write copiously on the pages as well... I see nothing wrong with it... and I also really like it when I buy an old book and find what other people have written in it.... sometimes many many years ago.
You won't get that with the Kindle I can tell you!
By the way, the Spanish word for a footnote is also the word for a wedge. It makes sense! In one of my very early articles I mentioned that I had found, in a junk shop as usual, an odd CD by Enrique Moreno... him at the top there... called Omega, and I posted a couple of videos of the songs on there. Very emotional stuff, including translations of Leonard Cohen (First we take Manhattan) and poems by Lorca....
Well, Morena has died, on my birthday in fact, Dec 13th. There was a big obituary in the Independent on Friday. I had no idea how famous he was, and how he had pioneered, very controversially, the blending of Flamenco with other forms.. pop music, dance etc. Omega was his big breakthrough which launched his successful career.
So.... here's another of his songs... which I think typifies his approach. Flamenco is not something I know how to appreciate... I need a video called " A beginner's guide to what Flamenco is all about."
And as an added bonus, this is Estrella Morente...actually, this is pretty amazing, and could well be the first video on that video I was suggesting... bloody impressive!!... take a look...
When I was 22222 days old I got a present from my daughter... a brilliant book about old Natural History books... and their illustrations...
She got it really because of all the Latin in it... as most old books like this were written all or partly in Latin. However, I was amazed to find that the very first botanical specimens to be described from the Americas was written by a Spaniard, one Nicolas Monardes, in a book publsihed in Seville in 1569.
A little later, another expedition set off to New Mexico ( called New Spain then) led by Francisco Hernandez ( 1514- 15870 who was the physician to Philip 11 of Spain. His discoveries ( in 16 volumes) were kept in the Escorial in Madrid, and later edited by one Nardo Antonio de Recchi...and his manuscript got to America where it was translated into Spanish ( having been originally in Latin) by Father Francisco Ximenez at the convent of Santo Domingo, and published in Merxico City in 1615 .
There were various later expeditions and works, much of the results being held in store in Madrid's botanical gardens... apparently they are still there!
In 1954 (!!!) some of these discoveries were published as the first of 51 (!!!) volumes under the splendiferous title " Flora de la Real Expeditiôn Botánica del Nuevo Reino de Granada."
Here is a picture of José Celestino Mutis, the man who organised and financed this expedition, admiring one of the multitude of specimens ...
So there you are. Spain leads the world in botanical exploration.I just thought you would like to know.
More useful knowledge coming up, in our latest bit of MAFALDA..
In Mafalda's world there are always little crazes of the sort children have. In this one it is Yo-yos.
At last Mafalda herself cracks and buys one from the ultra-capitalist kid, Manolito.At least, that's what we think.
Mafalda turns up and shows her new Yo-yo to Felipe, Yo-yo expert!
Mirá, Felipe.. al final, yo también me compré un yo-yo. Querés probarlo ?
Felipe...... A ver ??
Felipe takes the yoy-yo, and at the first spin it smashes in tiny pieces.
Mafalda shouts (laughing) ... CAÍSTE ! CAÍSTE !! as Felipe looks downcast.
Felipe then finds the vendor, Manolito, grasps him by the lapels and shouts...
Así que fuiste vos el que le vendio un alfajor a Mafalda?
Now I didn't get this at all until I found out what "alfajor" meant... though it means something rather different in Spain and S\A. Mafalda is S/A. sso it is rather like our Wagon Wheels. ... here is one...
so you can see how it would look like a Yo-yo to poor old Felipe.
Right... that's enough of facts..what about music.
Well, it's La Ley and an unplgged version of El Duelo..
I know I've been away for ages.... apart from anything else. my monitor, which had been getting darker and darker by the day, eventually collapsed, plunging everything into blackness! But now I have another monitor, small, ancient, cheap but it works... rather like me.
So what, Spanishwise, have I been up to... well, reading books as usual at criminally slow speeds... and I've also got going again with Welsh... though that is one hell of a task because it is, grammatically, the opposite of Spanish to some extent... i.e. complex, irrational, awkward ... and with a totally alien vocabulary, unlike Spanish which , being Latin/Romance-based, is a doddle.
I have been dipping into a book I picked up in a charity shop.... Arrancame la Vida by Angeles Mastretta. I couldn't find a picture of the cover but i did find a few reviews of it...
Review 1… Arracancame la Vida' shows Angeles Mastretta at her best, growing as one of the more talented writers in Latin-America. Only someone like her -a strange mix of a provincial burgeois background and a passion for literature- can take us so vividly to the humid corridors of Teziutlán, the intricacies of passion and the Puebla of the 40's. For those reading Spanish, check her beautiful stories in NEXOS, a monthly magazine available on the Internet. Fine book.
Review 2… Very good book. Although some other people that have reviewed this book might not have noticed it, this is actually the story of part of the life of Maximino Avila Camacho, governor of the state of Puebla during the forties and called Andrés Ascencio in the story. Other important people mantioned are: Mexican tycoon Emilio Azcárraga Milmo (Milito), owner of Televisa (Mexico's biggest TV company), and Manuel Avila Camacho, Maximino's brother who was president of Mexico during the mid/late 40's. I know all this because I come from Puebla, just like the author of the book. I even know some of her relatives!
Review 3….This book gives the reader an insight into what it's like to be a woman from the heart, the mind and the belly. Just as it makes you laugh on one page and cry on another, it will also make you so angry you'll stay up at night... angry at her, angry at her husband and angry at yourself because you find something likeable in the horrible husband of this likeable woman. I loved it!
oh... I've found a picture of the cover after all...
and... I didn't know this till just now... there is a film of it too... here is a clip...this sort of thing doesn't happen much in the UK I can tell you...!!
One feature... my copy has beautiful, almost Art-Deco illustrations which enhance it a lot.
The other book I've been reading a bit is the 3rd Harry Potter book.. Harry Potter y el prisonero de Azkaban. I've found the Harry Potter books to be very good for beginners... the French versions are pleasant, easy reading for "improvers" like me, the Latin versions are a welcome change from Pliny and Livy I can assure you...and the Spanish versions are fine. Good, undemanding bedtime reading, or to keep in the car for when you have to wait 20 mins for the Librarian to come out of Sainsbury's.
One of the real pleasures of Spanish is the excellent and varied music. Here again is the excellent but perhaps not too varied but always inventive Facto Delafeand El Indio... a rather puzzling video this!!
and here's the words....
Del alba, el rosa De dracula, lo rojo Domingo la bici, domingo reposo Del viento la brisa, tu cara tu sonrisa Despierto tras la siesta, tenederé la ropa
La ropa se seca, regare las plantas Cortare las hojas, o las dejaré largas Legañas en los ojos, lentejas en remojo Me miras el trasero (mmmm), y lo meneo
Julio en la onda, cinco de la tarde leche con galletas y yo dentro del pijama empieza la jornada ¿que tal el partido? Mi equipo ya a marcado, casi siempre gana
Bajo la manta mi niña acurrucada, el sofa es como una balsa, el salon en la penumbra, alquilamos una peli y acabamos en la cama
Jugando a vaqueros y haciendo un poco el indio pito pito gorgorito, que me voy, que ya me he ido que ya he vuelto, que si que si que si, que a tu lado como un crio
Que a tu lado lo rizo, a tu lado la crema, a tu lado lo subo, lo elevo, lo asciendo, lo vuelo y lo planeo peinando las nubes (si) pintando el cielo
Hecho lo hecho y dicho lo dicho, preparare la cena, porque estaba escrito porque estaba escrito, porque estaba escrito verdurita buena, si!!
En un dos por tres o en un tres por cuatro, tu cara tu retrato, en mi corazon. guardado entre sedas, como las estrellas, brillo! A tu son
Dale gas es natural, es bueno y si es bueno, es natural que si es natural y es bueno y si es bueno, yo juego, dale gas (bis)
It's amazing how often you hear Spanish being spoken on the media.. often, unfortunately, because of disasters or problems of various sorts.
This morning I was idly listening to Crossing Continents on Radio 4 when an item came up from Costa Rica... it was all about the terrible death toll on the roads and what is being done about it ( all words no action basically ).
Quite often we got local people and officials talking Spanish... as usual, however, getting faded out within seconds for the translator to kick in.
One man whose daughter had been killed by a drunk-driver was lamenting that there were words for widow [ viudo/a] and orphan [ huérfano/a] in Spanish, but no word for a father who had lost his daughter.
Later on an official was suggesting that " Los accidentes no existen"
Actually, I was quite encouraged to see that I could understand a good deal of what was said.
On the plus side, Costa Rica has successfully had a seatbelt campaign called "Por Amor" the theme being, put your seat belt on simply for love.. of yourself, your family, your life. There are loads of Spanish songs called Por Amor, and I was going to put one on here, but they are all crap!
They made special mention of the " Caldera bypass" which is beset by subsidence. Caldera = a cauldron in Spanish, and a "Caldera " in geology is a collapsed volcano.... so it finishes up like a big hollow shape... or cauldron. Here's one....
When this same official was asked if anything was being done about the problem, his "snappy answer" started off "Totalmente, cierto" before the Spanish faded away.
Anyhow... other ways to remember what words mean. There's always loads of pesky words you look up again and again because you just can't keep them in the increasingly clogged-up memory. One way is to link the word with a memorable image of some kind.. the sillier/ruder/mad the better...nk of
hallar .... well, it means " to find" So, think of hundreds of people searching a house for a valuable object, and you come in and find it straight way in the hall.
chubasco is a "heavy shower... so imagine being in a heavy shower when a chub lands on your head.Draw a picture! Here's someone with a Chub... the same thing has probably happened to him...
red = a net or network... imagine a dirty great red spider in the middle of a big web/net.... again, do a little drawing. let your mind linger on the image as you colour it in like in infant school. But... you learned a hell of a lot of language in infant school!
tenedor = a fork. Imagine each of your fingers turning into little forks at the tips... how convenient! Wave your fingers around and pretend they are little forks.
A key thing about all this is that you remember things much better the MORE SENSES YOU USE... so draw a picture,colour it in, sing a song ( 10 little forks all sitting in a row..), speak the words out loud, write them down... and make the image memorable by making it really strange\silly\outlandish\rude\funny.
OK then.. here's Nena Daconte with "No sé cómo decirle"... this is not the best version on the net but the other, better ones are not snatchable at the moment... you can find them easily enough. Lovely song though. There's a words video after it..which is a good job becasue on this video you only get 59 seconds-worth!
This one shows a very blurry Nena Daconte singing the song beautifully, but it's rather ruined by some nit in the audience singing along very very badly!!
What a title, you are all thinking. But what the hell has it got to do with learning Spanish?
Here we go then.
Moa Toe ... or Goat Poem if you prefer... is a neat way to remember Present Indicative regular verb endings...
-AR verbs have 1st person singular -o , and 3rd person singular -a [mOA] -ER/-IR have 1st person singular -o and 3rd person singular -e [tOE]
Abba's mama mía gives you the IMPERFECT regular 1st ps and 3rd ps endings
It was written by Abba and for -AR verbs both 1st and 3rd ps end -aba
mía shows that for -ER/-IR verbs the 1st ps and 3rd ps ending is -ía
Hello idiot ... or even better, hélló ídiót gives you the 1ps/3ps regular Preterite endings...
-AR verbs... 1st p.s. ends in -é 2nd p.s. ends in -ó
-AR/-IR verbs... 1st p.s. ends in -í and 3rd p.s. ends in -ió
If you don't like them... make up your own!
Right... here's some music... I feel I need to say that this band is normally referred to as DLD on the net......
This video seems to have some reverse-motion segments.
If you want to see an untterly unbelievable pop video with quite remarkable reversing ( plus an amazing song as well) look at this German song by tp German band Wir Sind Helden ... nur ein Wort.
And if you don't want to, that is fine too ...
Are there any Spanish-music videos like this... it's astonishing!
Last time I was writing about ways to remember what words mean.. and how Spanish words can often be linked to Latin/French?English words that have only changed a bit, or hardly at all.
Here's a few more examples from La Carta Esférica which I have come across..
trazar... to plot/draw .... we get the word trace from this.
muelle ( adjective) = easy, comfortable , soft.... and this comes from the latin mollis = soft and that is linked to the name Molly, and the Molly-houses which in prudish Victorian times were meeting-places for "effeminate" men. In the book, however, one of its other meanings is the true one, a quay. it can also mean a spring.
un ballenero = a whaling-ship ( this is a very nautical novel.. and you will know the baleen whale... how easy is that?
So here's another little idea. Quite a few Spanish words beginning with h have resulted from a slight change..they originally started with f ... and there are traces of this in English. Here's some examples... with a dead easy one first...
halcón was originally falcon... and it does indeed mean a hawk. Bingo!
haba is a changed version of faba = the latin for a bean.
hambre is really fambre= famished = hungry.
hondo comes from the root fond = french and latin for deep... and it means deep/ profound.
hervor comes from fervor/fervour and it means boiling.
herrero .... ferro = iron and it means a blacksmith, who works with iron.
hebra is linked to febra/fibre in English.. it means a strand.
hace /hecho has come via facio in Latin. Painters used to put "fecit" on their paintings, plus their name, to show who "did" it. It was this word that made me realise all this h/f business and got me thinking about it... I was chuffed to find out it was a proper respectable thing! Just for the record, some painters would put "pinxit" meaning painted instead. Look out for these on paintings.
horca comes from forca...a fork ( and a gallows too)
harina is linked to farina = flour and therefore dust.
Neat isn't it?
More ideas on word-remembering next time, probably, unless I am swept away by some other stuff.
I hope you all liked that music I showed you last time, by Facto Delafé y las Flores Azules.Well I did... so much so that here's another of their songs, La Fuerza.
It starts off with another bloody bicycle! It's so assured and perfectly realised, lovely clear Spanish too... marvellous in the true sense of the word.
Here's some words...
Letra
Hoy llego con la fuerza de muchas manos juntas, de un lunes en el parque de poderosas musas, como una flecha en llamas, un beso, una llamada, hoy uno lo que toco, hoy tocaré tu alma.
Yo no soy arquitecto, no eres tú perfecto, diséñame un buen templo que yo le pongo el resto, esta gente de bien está buscando techo donde invertir su tiempo, donde mover el cuerpo.
Las noches de febrero siempre fueron frías para este copiloto experto en caídas. Ahora estoy preparado, estamos aquí juntos, nosotros somos jóvenes nosotros, únicos, como el amanecer. Es todo una ilusión, es la tierra que gira, ¿te suena la canción?
Pues esto es lo que importa, es vivir cada minuto, sentir el universo, es esa tu misión, ser un don.
Atrévete mi niño, el tiempo no se para, mañana será pronto, consulta con la almohada, los sueños no se han roto, lo veo en tu mirada, tomatelo con calma.
Las obras en palacio siempre van despacio, requieren perspectiva paciencia e ilusión. A veces algo falla, a veces el motor, es cuando tú te encallas si pierdes la razón.
Está saliendo el sol, parece el paraíso, dame un abrazo, amor. Hoy tengo compromisos con Jaume y su sonrisa, Tira y su sonrisa, Elena y su sonrisa, Farda y su sonrisa, mamá y su sonrisa, Factu y su sonrisa, Kiara y su sonrisa, Jordi y su sonrisa, con mis queridos Mishima, Ramir, papá, Yenna, Mapi, Tate Tati.
Bueno, tenemos una cosa en común y es que nosotros sí amamos la sorpresa, no importará el formato, excusas por paisajes, son cómplices abstractos. Hoy prendo esta llama, resbalo por tus cascos, no sé por cuanto tiempo, si sé que soy de agrado, también yo soy devoto de esta sensación. Este mi homenaje, esta mi aportación, que chico compre discos, historias de sucesos, hoy plancho ya los míos, no muero en el intento, y lo intento porque siento que cuento con expertos capaces de cagarla y reírse en el intento.
No nos menospreciemos, no nos menospreciemos, no nos menospreciemos, no nos menospreciemos.
Y lo intento porque siento que cuento con expertos capaces de cagarla y reírse en el intento.
No nos menospreciemos, no nos menospreciemos, no nos menospreciemos, no nos menospreciemos, no nos menospreciemos.
Observemos la noche. Es casi perfecta, con la estrella Polar visible en su lugar exacto, cinco veces a la derecha de la línea formada por Merak y Dubhé.La Polar va a seguir en el mismo sitio durante los próximos veinte mil años; y cualquier navegante que la contemple sentirá consuelo al verla allá arriba, porque es bueno que algo siga inmutable en alguna parte mientras la gente precise trazar rumbos sobre una carta náutica o sobre el difuso paisaje de una vida.
That's how Pérez-Reverte kicks off LaCarta Esférica ... a novel I got some time ago but actually have only just started to read.
What an imposing way to begin.... I had to look up rumbos because it hadn't stuck in my memory from the previous times I had looked it up....
This time I twigged that it probably was linked to "rhumb" as in "rhumb line"... a line or direction marked on a map. So I looked up it in Chambers to see where rhumb line came from, and indeed it was the Spanish/Latin rumbo!! I will never forget it now ... [a] because I have spent time thinking about it and [b] because I have made a link with a word I know.
A lot of other words can be linked up with English/Spanish/Latin words to help you remember them. Try it and see!
Next time I will perhaps look at other ways to remember words etc.
But for now, here's a rather lovely song and video by the wonderfully named Facto Delafé y Las Flores Azules .. it's called Mar el Poder del Mar
Isn't that a fine thing?? Here's the words... lacking accents, I notice, and I haven't checked them properly yet...
Mar El Poder Del Mar
Lyrics to Mar El Poder Del Mar : Dices que vengo, que voy Que siento, que escucho, que pertenezco Que sirvo para mucho Que me estremezco Que mi mirada es limpia, suave brisa Que sientes el deseo de tenerme cerca Que te distancias, por miedo a perderme Que el barrio es mas hermoso desde que apareci Que soy la flor, que alumbra el jardin El viento que se lleva a la senora luna para que luzca el sol Mi amor Hoy solo quiero decir Siento lo mismo por ti El mismo sentimiento por ti
Que si Que si Que bien Que me encanta escucharte Adoro sentirte verte moverte Y sorprenderte de pronto haciendote cosquillas en las rodillas Que si Que si Que bien Que me encanta escucharte Adoro sentirte El barrio es mas hermoso desde que apareciste Que hoy luce el sol en mi corazon Mi nina mi amor mi rayo de luz El camino que lleva a tu casa es mi alegria La primavera ha llegado a la ciudad Y no sabes lo bien que me sienta, mama Los dias tranquilos, transcurren serenos Tus pasos los mios, peinando el sendero Quien dijo que los muertos no iban a resucitar? Hoy llego mas puro que el agua mineral Tu cara, tu casa tu ojos sonriendo en mi cara La brisa, la manana, el sol por la ventana La calma, caricias, tu respiracion Resuenan campanas desde el comedor Las nubes, en el cielo, y pasa un avion dibuja una linea blanca, algodon tu almohada, tus ojos, tu mirada Estoy en tu casa, ador tu casa Pas un avion, traza una linea ahora de plata De plata, la medlla de subcampeon Hoy gana, tus ganas, ganamos los dos Estonosepara [ Mar El Poder Del Mar Lyrics on http://www.lyricsmania.com/ ]
Friday, November 5, 2010
Translating "for" into Spanish can be a bit of a pain.. as no doubt you have found.
I suppose this is a lot to do with the ways we use "for" in English.... just look at this lot of " for" sentences I came up with in just a few minutes of concentrated thought ....
[a] What is this thing for ? [b] I'm all for it. [c] For 3 weeks he lived in a special hutch. [d] For once, just shut up and listen to me. [e] A dog is for life, not just for Christmas. [f] This gold-plated lawn-mower is for you. [g] I'm ready for anything with this new thermal vest. [h] Come on then, are you for or against trousers for horses? [i] What's the Spanish word for " gazumped ?" [j] I've never played chess for England, unfortunately. [k] You get 8 for £5. [l] Once they all got drunk it turned into a free-for-all in there. [m] There's flooding for 200 metres down that road. [n] For all his good intentions, he only lasted 3 days without a cigarette. [o] The shop's very quiet for a Saturday. [p] You're not going out dressed like that for a start !
I'm sure there are plenty of other troublesome possibilities.
So what can you do about all this ?
FIRST.... learn some rules that cover most of the possibilities.......here's a few to give you the idea....
PARA generally refers to some future destination or purpose, whereas POR usually harks back to a cause, reason or motive.
Think of the final A in parA standing for "advance" and the final R in poR standing for "reverse" to help you remember this.
[This overall rule doesn't always work though.]
...... Use POR if it's " for" really meaning because of" or "by means of" or "I'm for something"
.. make a list of rules like this nicked from a wide variety of sources... you will generally find that some books have different/better ways of putting things.
SECOND.... skim through dual-language books looking for por/para/for etc usage and see if you can work out why they've used what they have used.
THIRD... Collect "for" sentences in your Spanish notebook from your reading/hearing. For each one, think up a few new sentences using the same idea.
You should do this sort of thing with any grammar points you feel you are struggling with.... subjunctives, estar/ser, the 300 meanings of 'echar", past participles... anything.
Well that's enough boring old grammar... let's have some music...
This is the improbably named Satin Dolls and No Estás
and here's what I hope are the accurate words...
Ya no…quiero decir adiós, Donde ah quedado tu voz… Me ah dejado sin tu respiración… Y ya no puedo sentirte… Te fuiste sin decir adiós.. Y tu recuerdo quedo… Fuiste sin pedir permiso… Creo que sigues a mi lado… (coro)(x2)
Ya no… vere tu sonrisa De que sere sin ganas de vivir… Ya no… vere tu sonrisa Sacaron de mi vida…uhuh… Sacaron de mi vida…uhuh…
Just a quick item today... I'm working.(!?) I've just found a nice CNN Spanish news site... it's in the sidebar. It has up-to-date Spanish-language articles and videos. You can also click on Latin america on the toolbar at the top to get similar stuff from Mexico, Argentina etc.
When you think about it, there has been loads of Spanish on the news lately, especially with the mine rescue saga... but there's been lots of other news broadcasts with Spanish being spoken in the background.
Here's the sort of thing you could be watching on CNN...
Here's another.. a trifle noisy at the start...
Well, gotta go and work... here's that Joan Tena with Beth Rodergas... I'm not sure what the song is called.... I'll find out!
This is a boring meeting... which will be relevant I assure you...
Stuck in a boring meeting? Sat in a coffee shop with no book to read? Walking to work ?
Practise your Spanish skills by trying to translate what is going on around you into Spanish...what could be more fun? Translate....
overheard conversations the trite crap on the powerpoint presentation all the scenery around you the road signs and other notices.
Actually this is very hard work..... you will be amazed at all the words you don't know and all the things you don't know how to say. well, most of you anyway, and me very much included.
If you want to make life a bit simpler, watch tiny kid's TV and try to translate that into Spanish.... you can even record it and take your time! Hector's house, Tobermory, The Flumps... the possibilities are almost endless.
NEWS... in ther early hours of Sunday 7th Film 4 is showing ther spanish language film Déficit. to be honest, most reviewers say this is a bloody awful film... so bad that it is worth seeing for that alone.
But... some people liked it... here are a couple of good reviews..
Good Review 1....
Where García Bernal was still wet behind the ears when first working with some of Mexico's top directorial talent; here, he has created a strong and involving piece himself., 2 September 2010 7/10 Author: johnnyboyz (j_l_h_m@yahoo.co.uk) from Hampshire, England
In Déficit, predominant Mexican actor Gael García Bernal directs a relatively bold; rather disturbing and ultimately despairing look at youth. Here is a film set in its own closed off world of hedonism, drug use and burning antagonism ready to explode; a world we are gradually invited to believe was brought about illegitimately by the adult owners whom are away; a world we begin outside of but are eerily brought into through the main gates whilst systematically welcomed by a drawing of a huge phallus. The Eden that has been created here is being misused; the apples on the trees are ripening and various characters are ominously eyeing up the juiciness of the supposed fruit. Where once the man was at the forefront of whatever Mexican New Wave you wish to state arose at the beginning of the 2000s, the star of such films as Love's a Bitch and And Your Mother Too, is now at the forefront of his own piece as a director and lead actor. If Déficit is the result of said New Wave, a creation of a text by those either working on or inspired by the films of said period, then it can only really be a good thing.
It is indeed García Bernal's character Cristobal around whom we predominantly follow, a young man; a popular man and into all those things a young, popular man shouldn't be. He is hosting a lavish get together with his sister; her friends and his at the large house his parents own in a secluded part of Mexico up in the hills, naturally, while they're both away. On the back-burner is an impeding acceptance into a top university; the legal problems his parents are facing as they remain away from the property, communication of which is punctuated by nervous phone calls from the mother, and Cristobal's lost girlfriend whom is on her way but keeps ringing for directions at certain times. The scene is set, and very early on, after most of the friends have arrived and a degree of hostility with his sister is established, one of the guests tries to pick up a vase which belongs to the household to which Cristobal will beg the offender not to interfere. That sense of something very delicate, which will take a long time to mend, being casually smashed to pieces by way of an accident or otherwise becomes prominent; that sense of impending doom and consequent clean up operation at which Cristobal will most probably have to take responsibility, becomes prominent. The characters are on a constant knife edge in what they do and how they act; surely it's just a matter of time before tempers fray and something regretful happens.
The film makes a point to make a chief study out of a character named Adnan, a live in gardener-come-worker for Cristobal's household. Adnan is a part of a seemingly normalised, even perfect, family unit in that he is with his mother; father and little sister. Unlike those they work for, the parents of this unit work with morals and operate within the fields of good, clean and honest hard work and whom keep a stern eye on their young; something in binary opposition to Cristobal's whom are away fighting legal issues for apparent corruption and whose actions of such will lead to everything that transpires to their own young during the night of the get-together. In Adnan, the spying of a young Argentinian girl named Dolores (Cipriota) who has been invited to the party kicks off a more direct, more physical conflict with Cristobal when it transpires he has an eye for her as well; Cristobal's own dispiriting tactics seeing him seemingly providing his girlfriend Mafer with false directions so as to be able to buy time and get closer to Dolores. The proximity of these people, their actions and people like Dolores is having a dangerous, negative affect on those seemingly 'uncorrupt' in and around the area.
The manner in which Cristobal and Adnan share a gaze for Dolores links these two people of wildly differing 'sorts' in ways that was previously a far cry from happening, Adnan's arc evolving, negatively, as the attraction to Dolores and apparent allurement towards the sorts of activity playing out on the grounds grows, eventually leading to what happens during the film's climax. The film avoids being barely anything more than a mere author's fantasy, painting a crass and alienating image of both genders on screen whilst systematically demonising the actions of either gender gradually and methodically rather provide us with a false epiphany tacked on at the end. This is not an hour and a half or so of gratuity and stupefying attitudes towards the opposite sex before a little five minute 'bit' at the end telling us that "all of the above is really bad, and ought not be done."
Where, usually American based and orientated, films with similar traits paint sympathetic portraits of central males chasing women, whom the text usually renders no more than a prize, despite them being pig-headed, moronic and ultimately female hating; Déficit alienates us from most of the male characters and their actions, instead using the character of Adnan for the aforementioned purposes. The women are granted an equally negative representation and are far from the passive, flat footed, prize-angelic archetypes the film could have rendered them with García Bernal going some way to have us dislike everybody rather than take sides in a plight of either misogyinic or misandric sorts. Ultimately and most importantly, there is a tinge of regret when certain characters realise they should've spent what was essentially a 'last supper' scenario with their friends a little more constructively, given the events that transpire which have future off screen ramifications, than what they did. Déficit is a nicely constructed but quite terrifying dramatisation of this; one García Bernal pulls off. Was the above review useful to you?
Good Review 2
0 out of 1 people found the following review useful: My kind of movie :), 10 May 2009 9/10 Author: emilia_isabelle from United States
I think Gael did a great job. I was surprised by how good the story was, even though it didn't have a conventional "feel" with a defined beginning, middle, and end, it kept me interested throughout. I think since I am from Mexico I was able to get all the subtleties, too. I was expecting something very raw, like some movies he's done before, or maybe something that was shocking just for the sake of being shocking, but this was just refreshing, interesting, contemporary and thought-provoking. I'm still thinking about the whole class issue and how some things seem unavoidable depending on where you grew up... Thank you Gael!!! Was the above review useful to you?
4 out of 47 people found the following review useful: a critical view of Mexico social interactions, 7 June 2008 8/10 Author: csainz from Mexico
I found this movie stimulating. It is true that the themes that the movie touches are touched lightly but enough you make them evident, Gael made an accurate portrait of Mexican upper class. I also believe he made the decision not to make things obvious, and I found that decision to be correct, it would make the film feel artificial for Mexican viewers, and I believe the movie is targeted precisely for Mexican viewers. The movie doesn't explain things to you with apples, and that's where its beauty is. The lack of interest of the upper class towards anything other than its own lives is patent from the very start of the film, we see the main character go thru what seems to be a local group of protesters without ever wondering why are they there... they're just an obstruction on his way. The everyday interactions with the lower class is depicted with delicacy and accuracy. There are some goofs in the film, but over all, a very interesting film. Mexico needs this kind of films that are critical to the status quo, that invite to reflection, instead of the inertial film making that leads towards telenovelas kind of stories. I would love to see more filming of this kind being done in Mexico. It is unnecessary to say that many people will come to see this film because of Gael, and that is a good thing because many of those would not have seen it otherwise, even if the message is not obvious the denunciation is there. Was the above review useful to you?
Well, I'm going to record it, if I remember.
And as for music here is Alaska y Dinamara ... a rather weird little song which might be called abracadabra or maybe La Bola de Crystal... here we go then...
and the words...
Fíjate en el sol que brilla encima de la camilla sin pilas ni enchufes a la red, puedes ver como en videocassette. Esta bola adivina pone música divina y sin plato ni amplificador suena igual que en la televisión. Zoom, zoom..., culombio, culombio zoom, zoom..., y me pego un voltio, apréndete estas palabras son el nuevo abracadabra zoom, zoom..., faradio, faradio zoom, zoom..., y me importa un vatio que tiene esta bola que a todo el mundo le mola. Te sientas enfrente ves como el cine todo lo controla, es un alucine es como un ordenador personal es la Bola de Cristal. Sintoniza los canales foráneos y nacionales >>>>
con sistema Secam o Pal se ve todo como muy real. Retransmite sus inventos diferidos o en directo cine, musicales y ajedrez o parchis relevos 3 x 100. Zoom, zoom..., culombio, culombio zoom, zoom..., y me pego un voltio apréndete estas palabras son el nuevo abracadabra. Zoom, zoom..., faradio, faradio zoom, zoom..., y me importa un vatio que tiene esta bola que a todo el mundo le mola. Te sientas enfrente ves como el cine todo lo controla, es un alucine es como un ordenador personal es la Bola de Cristal. Te sientas enfrente ves como el cine todo lo controla, es un alucine es como un ordenador personal es la Bola de Cristal.
Apart from the sheer nuts and bolts of learning Spanish, you might be interested in "reading around" the subject... maybe reading accounts by people who have travelled\worked in Spanish-speaking countries.... or perhaps reading about spanish literature\films\music\art ... or simply reading novels\detective stories\historical novels featuring Spain\Spanish-speaking people.
One of the pleasant things about learning Latin is the sheer abundance of stuff like that... and sometimes it is a pleasant change from the hard graft of trying to translate Virgil or Horace. There are loads of novels about ancient Rome, detective stories featuring Roman detectives ( obviously)( I recommend Lindsey Davies and her detective, Falco) , loads of writing about Latin texts, plenty of books about Roman Gods, accounts of travel through modern Greece and Rome with a historical slant... etc... you get the idea.
When I got interested in Welsh I was fascinated and encouraged by a brilliant book called Travels in an Old Tongue ( Pamela Petro). This is an account of a woman's travels all over the world speaking Welsh to Welsh people in China, Japan, Patagonia, the USA.... great stuff... and much easier than reading Welsh I can assure you.
SO...... what is there like this , but about Spanish? Well, I haven't actually got much of this sort of thing, but there are certainly plenty of books available about spanish culture, literature and films. I've put a selection of them up as photo's... most of these books are very highly rated.
Many of them are pretty expensive too... so I suggest you get them from your library... order them if necessary. This means you get to read them ,PLUS you are showing that there is a demand for Spanish books. I get Spanish stuff out when I go to the library, even if it is just to stop them saying there is no demand. Do it!!
NOW... can any of you out there recommend other books like these ?
I have also found that there is an increasing tendency for Oxfam bookshops not to display foreign-language stuff like they used to. Some keep them in the storeroom ( ask) but some just don't keep them at all. Complain!
Talking of doing it, here's something you might want to watch\tape.... at 4 a.m. in the early hours of Tue 2nd , "Talk Spanish"is on the TV ( BBC2 ) + Eurografters (Spain) straight afterwards. Well worth having. Early the next morning ( 4am on Wednesday 2nd) they are showing Mi Vida Loca which is also well worth recording.
Here's Zoe with a rather dramatic, intense song, Luna. There's loads of versions of this on the net, with or without words, live versions etc......
And here is a video of the words....
and, unusually, a video with the words in both Spanish and English...
now, to wind today's post up, here's a quote for you...
las personas son como polillas, buscan la luz para terminar girando alrededor de una bombella...
