Vacation Spanish

Arizona, Boca Raton, Alcatraz, El Camino Real, El Dorado, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Tierra del Fuego, Baja, Los Angeles, Sacramento, Ventura, Las Vegas, Mesa Verde, Montana, Florida, Nevada, Puerto Rico, San Antonio, (José, Francisco, etc.), Mesa Verde, Buena Vista, and Sierra Madres. Texas Cities: Amarillo, Del Rio, El Campo, El Paso, Port Lavaca, Victoria, Cuero, San […]

barrio (neighborhood), bronco, cabellero (gentleman), dama (lady), casa(ita) (house/little house), coyote, cantina, hacienda (ranch), chicano(a), corral, gorila (gorilla), incomunicado (incommunicado), junta (meeting), contra (against), loco(a) (crazy), machete, machismo (male chauvinism), macho (male, tough), matador (killer, bullfighter), toro (bull), nada (nothing), número uno (number one), padre (father), madre (mother), peso, político (political, politician), pronto (soon), pueblo […]

arriba (up), ándale (let’s go) adelante (go ahead), Casablanca, Feliz Navidad (Merry Christmas), Qué será, será. (Whatever will be will be.), Rio Bravo, una paloma blanca (a white dove), Vaya con Dios. (God be with you.), amigo (friend), ¿Qué pasa? (What’s up?), gringo (Yankee), hombre (man), compadre (friend), Hasta la vista. (See you later.), La […]

Facial expressions and hand gestures are extremely important when speaking Spanish. Words that absolutely require appropriate hand gestures include: un poco or un poquito (a little), un momento or un momentito (one moment), vete (get lost), ándale (let’s go), ven acá (come here), no gracias (no thank you), por favor (please) and lo siento (I’m […]

Español (Spanish), Castellano (Castilian), armadillo, perro (dog), llama, burro , chicle (chewing gum), cha, cha, cha, chico(a) (boy/girl), chiquito(a) (little), muchacho(a) (boy/girl), niño(a) (boy/girl), mamá (mom), papá (dad), Nicaragua, Guatemala, Panamá, Cubano (Cuban), Ricky Ricardo, tango, salsa picante (hot sauce), margarita, guacamole, tortillas, fajitas, Corona, Dos Equis (XX), zorro (fox), plaza, chupacabras, excelente, fantástico, fabuloso, […]

Natural Accents If a word ends in a vowel, or the consonants “n” or “s,” the natural accent or stress of that word falls on the next-to-last syllable. For example: pi-can-te, accent on can mi-nu-to, accent on nu mu-chas, accent on mu ha-blan, accent on ha If a word ends in any other consonant other […]

Spanish has all the same letters as in the English alphabet. However, it adds four more: ch (che), ll (ayyeah), ñ (enyeah) and rr (erre with a trill!). Vowels are pronounced a (ah), e (ay), i (ee), o (oh) and u (oo).

Most Americans are not aware that the Spanish-speaking television network, Univision, is the number one rated cable television network in the U.S. Antonio Banderas of Spain is now one of America’s most popular actors. Jennifer López and Selma Hayek, well-known Hispanic actresses, now frequent the covers of People Magazine and the tabloids. Pedro Almodovar is […]

The English language is a hybrid of the Germanic and Romance families of languages. English originated as a Germanic language. Other members of the Germanic family include German, Dutch, Danish, Norwegian and Swedish. Unlike the other languages, of this group, English went through a great transformation in 1066 when the French Normans invaded Great Britain […]

Spanish is a member of the Latin or Romance family of languages that also includes French, Italian, Portuguese, Romanian and Catalán (Barcelona). After the Roman Empire collapsed and the Roman Legions began to disperse, Latin dialects developed in the vast region from Gaul (modern-day France) to Romania. Spanish was one of these local dialects. It […]