Spain 2008 News Review - Most Visited Pages
By h.b. - Dec 31, 2008 - 7:49 PM A news story from 2007 has consistently led our most popular list this year - We wonder why! TOP TEN NEWS PAGES ON TYPICALLY SPANISH IN 2008 1. P.P. COUNCILLOR POSES NUDE FOR ...
Learning Useful Spanish Phrases Properly
Common Spanish phrases found in Spanish phrase books can be useful and many people buy them before embarking on vacation to Mexico or Spain. However, many times, a number of Spanish learners discover that phrase books lock you into a fixed way of saying something, and life is far from being like that.
Being able to say, “Can you tell me if this is the 10.15 or the 10.30 train leaving for Barcelona?” is all very well. But when you are in Bolivia and it’s a bus leaving at midnight you are hoping to catch to some small village you can’t even pronounce, it isn’t very helpful. You need to learn more than just easy Spanish words, or at least you need to be able to adapt the Spanish phrases you know.
It is good to start by learning the useful Spanish phrases. Learn how to greet people by saying “good day” (buenas días), “good afternoon” (buenas tardes), and “good evening” (buenas noches). You can always just say “hola” (hello) if you’re not sure which phrase to use.
You can naturally progress from there to a relatively more complicated greeting: “¿Cómo estás?” This means, “how are you?” However, that’s a little bit formal and stilted. Usually, most people just say, “que tal?” If someone says that to you, answer them, “bien, ¿y tu?” (I’m well, and you?). They will be impressed with your command of Spanish, believe me!
In keeping with the popular Spanish phrase books, you need to also learn how to ask for something when you are in a Spanish café or restaurant. As in most English speaking countries, Spanish speaking people have several courses for their meals. The first is the, “primero plato,” the second is the “segundo plato,” and the third is the “tercero plato.”
You may wish to have a glass of water (un vaso de agua) with your meal, or a coffee (un café). If you want your coffee to have milk, then it should be, “un café con leche.” A glass of red wine (un vaso de vino tinto), or white wine (un vaso de vino blanco) may also go down well. Maybe you want a whole bottle of wine (una botella de vino). And now you can ask for one that’s either red or white too.
You may have noticed that in all those Spanish words I didn’t say “please” in any instance. Because we do it to be polite in English, we assume that everyone else does it too. In fact, we generally can’t comprehend why anyone would want to be so rude as to not use “please” when asking for a favor.
It simply is not a Spanish custom. On the contarary, they regard it as rude if you do say, “please” for every single thing. For example, if you were to say to a Spanish barman, “un vaso de vino tinto, pro favor,” he would very likely get a little offended.
Visualize a man who has been standing at the bar in an English speaking country waiting for a long time to get served. Finally, he speaks to the barman with a loud voice, “a glass of red wine, PLEASE.” The “please” at the end is said in a rather sarcastic way, and that’s pretty much how it feels to a native Spanish speaker when you add “please” in Spanish. Don’t do it and you’ll keep yourslef out of needless trouble.
Tags: common spanish phrases, easy spanish words, useful spanish phrases
Lots of jobs on offer at Gigle
The positions vary from SOC designer, through embedded firmware engineer to physical design team leader.
December 30, 2008
Europe’s rail system moving full steam ahead
High-speed rail is moving ahead at high speed in Europe. Railroads there keep adding new high-speed lines and increasing service, while here in the United States, we keep fretting about the need for better ...
December 29, 2008
The Vineyard - A History Of This Grape Cultivating Area
Grapes are grown in vineyards. There are many different purposes for the vineyard, both for making wines and other uses. Anyone interested in grapes and wine-making processes should know a little bit about vineyards, such as their history, which dates back as least as far as Greek civilization. It is also important to learn what can harm the vines so that those problems can be minimized.
The first known usage of grapes was by the Greeks and Phocaeans. The Phocaeans brought many different things to Europe, including the vineyard. The areas of Europe that were most receptive to the vines were France, Spain, Italy and Portugal because they had the best climate for growing grapes. Now these countries are known as the wine country. Other areas of the world had a harder time accepting the grapes because of the phylloxera bug. However, later on phylloxera resistant vines were discovered. The surrounding area of a vineyard is its terroir. This defines the growing conditions of each vineyard, such as slope, drainage, terrain and sun exposure. The best conditions for big tasty grapes include lots of sun, proper drainage of the fields and proper pruning of the branches. In recent years, the demand for grapes has become so large that more and more countries are growing them, even if they have never grown grapes before. This drives the price of wines down a little, but good wine is always expensive.
There are certain pests and plant diseases that can affect the vineyard. One of the most well-known and devastating pests was the phylloxera insect. This bug ate the roots of the grape plants and destroyed the plants from below. This bug nearly wiped out the entire vineyard population of Europe. Then it was carried over here somehow, some people think through transportation of vines to and from Europe and North America. Nowadays, nearly every vineyard has to have phylloxera resistant vines or they will not survive. North America was the saving factor for the wine industry, as it was the only place that had the phylloxera resistant strains of grapes. Some other plagues to the vineyards are: little-leaf, rabbits, nematodes, gophers, the grape-berry moth, which makes the grapes change color too quickly, climbing cutworms, black rot, crown rot and mildew. As you can see, tending vineyards is not easy with all these problems that must be faced. Of course, on top of that, pruning and tending must be done to the vines themselves to ensure they produce good grapes and less leaves.
Operating the vineyard is difficult. There are so many different problems that vineyards must face throughout a growing season and over the years. With all these problems, it is no wonder that good wines and grapes are so expensive. Even so, it is hard to beat a tasty wine after a long day.
Are you a fan of great wines but do not know the way to assess the wine for its value? Do not be discouraged. There are resources out in in retail stores and on the internet that can instruct how to measure the value of wines and even show you how to make your own wines. You can even purchase books that educate you on the techniques to cultivate and grow your very own grapes! Think of how pleasantly surprised your friends and family will be when you present them with a present of wines from your own garden. If you want to know more, click here: Making Peach Wine also Making Grape Homemade Wine as well as Recipe For Making Grape Wine
December 28, 2008
Tour of Spain and Portugal leaves visitor steeped in old and new
The Boeing 767 aircraft was filling to capacity for the overnight flight from Philadelphia to Lisbon, Portugal.
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