by Andrew | Sep 12, 2017 | Spanish
A recent conversation with a subscriber to my email list, Michael Rosenthal, led to him sending me a document that I think the rest of you will find useful. It’s a list of what Anthony Lauder calls “conversational connectors”. Anthony runs the site... Read more
by Andrew | Jun 13, 2017 | Learn Spanish for Real: Spanish Slang, Colloquialisms, & Cursewords, Spanish
1. En pelotas This literally means “in balls” (hence the photo) per the modern definition of “pelota”, but that’s not what it refers to at all (it’s not using the modern definition of “pelota”). Contrary to what many... Read more
by Andrew | Oct 11, 2016 | Learn Spanish for Real: Spanish Slang, Colloquialisms, & Cursewords
Awkward title, but accurately descriptive. We’re going to talk about the ways you can say essentially the same thing in Spanish: “That rings a bell” or “That sounds/looks familiar”. This is going to revolve around two verbs:... Read more
by Andrew | Sep 18, 2016 | Learn Spanish for Real: Spanish Slang, Colloquialisms, & Cursewords, Spanish
I remember talking with a language exchange partner years ago and I wanted to say that something was, as we colloquially say in English, a “pain in the neck”, so I made the mistake most inexperienced language learners make in such situations and just... Read more
by Andrew | Sep 1, 2016 | Learn Spanish for Real: Spanish Slang, Colloquialisms, & Cursewords, Learn Spanish from Spain, Spain, Spanish
It’s two-for-one day here on How to Learn Spanish! We’re going to cover two phrases in one Learn Spanish for Real post, primarily because they both mean the same thing: something is really far away. For the curious, this is from the Sochi Winter Olympics,... Read more
by Andrew | Aug 31, 2016 | Learn Spanish for Real: Spanish Slang, Colloquialisms, & Cursewords, Learn Spanish from Spain, Spanish
Literally, it means “this is an armed robbery”, or more colloquially, “this is a stick-up”. An “atraco” is a robbery or hold-up, “mano” as you likely know means “hand” (but note that it’s feminine, so... Read more
by Andrew | Jul 6, 2015 | Learn Spanish for Real: Spanish Slang, Colloquialisms, & Cursewords, Learn Spanish from Spain
Real quick I just thought I’d share with you an interesting new expression I learned today from one of my Spanish tutors, Silvia (she’s very good, check her out if you’re in the market!), when I realized it would make a great 3rd installment in our... Read more