About Spanish Language

RR Sound Can Be Challenging

2010-02-09T14:19:17Z

Since it's quite unlike anything we have in English, the trilled rr of Spanish can be one of the most difficult sounds of Spanish to learn. To get you a better idea of the sound to aim for, we've added records of some rr words pronounced by native speakers in our lesson on pronouncing the rr sound. You can also check our for advice on learning the rr sound from Spanish students and other visitors to this site.

RR Sound Can Be Challenging originally appeared on About.com Spanish Language on Tuesday, February 9th, 2010 at 14:19:17.

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Venir Means "To Come" and More

2010-02-08T14:11:41Z

Like many everyday verbs, venir has quite a few meanings. They include "to arrive," to include," "to serve" and "to continue." Fortunately, most of the time, it can be translated as "to come." Also, like many other everyday verbs, venir comes with an irregular conjugation, but once you learn it you'll also know the conjugation for the entire venir family of verbs.

Venir Means "To Come" and More originally appeared on About.com Spanish Language on Monday, February 8th, 2010 at 14:11:41.

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Meet the Vivir Family of Verbs

2010-02-07T09:04:24Z

Learning prefixes can be a fun way to increase your vocabulary, but the meanings they give to words aren't always predictable. You might correctly guess, for example, that since mal- usually means "undesirable" and vivir means "to live," that malvivir means to leave in an undesirable way.

But can you guess what sobrevivir means, or pervivir? If not, be sure to check out our new lesson on verbs derived from vivir.

Meet the Vivir Family of Verbs originally appeared on About.com Spanish Language on Sunday, February 7th, 2010 at 09:04:24.

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Spending Time With Gastar

2010-02-05T14:06:03Z

The Spanish verb gastar carries with it the idea of something being consumed or used up — so if you're talking about money you might translate is as "to spend," and if you're talking about gasoline you might even use the verb "to burn." Gastar is a good example of a word whose best translation depends on the context.

Spending Time With Gastar originally appeared on About.com Spanish Language on Friday, February 5th, 2010 at 14:06:03.

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Extreme Cases

2010-02-04T05:02:33Z

"Best" and "brightest," which are mejor and más listo in Spanish, are examples of superlatives. Superlatives are used to indicate that something has a quality that is the most extreme.

Extreme Cases originally appeared on About.com Spanish Language on Thursday, February 4th, 2010 at 05:02:33.

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Another Punctuation Mark: the Colon

2010-02-03T13:14:38Z

As in English, the colon of Spanish is used to indicate that what follows it is related to what precedes it. Our newest punctuation lesson shows examples of its usage and lists two ways of using the colon where it usually isn't used in English.

Another Punctuation Mark: the Colon originally appeared on About.com Spanish Language on Wednesday, February 3rd, 2010 at 13:14:38.

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Get Your Pronunciation Down to a T

2010-02-02T13:05:53Z

To the casual listener, the "t" of English and the t of Spanish sound alike. But as our newest lesson in our series on pronunciation explains, the Spanish t is a bit softer because the tongue isn't in the same place as it is when the English version is pronounced.

Get Your Pronunciation Down to a T originally appeared on About.com Spanish Language on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 13:05:53.

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Two Spanish-Language Films Get Oscar Nods

2010-02-02T09:43:29Z

Two Latin American films this morning were nominated for an Oscar as best foreign-language film.

The Peruvian nominee, "The Milk of Sorrow," was released in Spanish as "La teta asustada" (one possible translation is "the frightened nipple") and tells the story of Andean women who were raped by paramilitary and other forces and received a disease that could be passed on to their children through breast milk. The film has had no wide release and does not appear to have an official website. The movie was filmed in Spanish and Quechua, an indigenous language of Peru.

The Argentine nominee, "El secreto de sus ojos" (meaning "the secret of their eyes") is a crime thriller that was a hit in Argentina and Spain. It has yet to go into wide release in the United States. You can learn more about the film at its official site.

Watch for reviews of these films on About.com's world and independent film site.

Two Spanish-Language Films Get Oscar Nods originally appeared on About.com Spanish Language on Tuesday, February 2nd, 2010 at 09:43:29.

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Getting Lost in Spanish

2010-02-01T15:50:15Z

If you're like many readers of this site, there's a good chance you're looking forward to the final season of Lost, the sci-fi TV show that has redefined serial dramas, which begins its final season this week in the U.S., Canada and elsewhere. Did you know that you could also watch the show if you were in a Spanish-speaking country? It usually goes according to its English name, Lost, or the Spanish equivalent, Perdidos, from the verb perder.

For a look at how Spanish speakers experience the show, check out these official network sites:

AXN network, Argentina and other countries
Fox, Spain
Cuatro, Spain

If you haven't seen your favorite characters talk in Spanish, be sure to look around the above sites for some video clips. Read more...

Getting Lost in Spanish originally appeared on About.com Spanish Language on Monday, February 1st, 2010 at 15:50:15.

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The Versatility of Ir

2010-01-31T03:26:37Z

Ir is not only the shortest verb in Spanish, it's also one with quite a few meanings. In our lesson on ir, you can learn various short phrases with ir that expand its meanings. One you should learn right away, if you haven't done so already, is that "ir a" can be "to be going to" and is one type of future tense. Other phrases with ir are less common but also useful.

The Versatility of Ir originally appeared on About.com Spanish Language on Sunday, January 31st, 2010 at 03:26:37.

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