We all mistakes. We definitely all make mistakes when learning a foreign language. (Heck, we even make mistakes in our own language!

The post 10 Language Mistakes Guiris Make in Spanish appeared first on ymuchomas.com

Mario loves to point out when this happens to me in English.) These mistakes aren’t anything to be ashamed of; indeed, they are natural and fun ways to learn—if you have the right attitude! When I first got to Spain, I made a ton of mistakes. I swear, every other word that came out of my mouth was wrong! I’ve come a long way since I wrote on my Facebook wall that I was incapable of speaking Spanish properly.

Guiris make a lot of mistakes in Spanish. (I’m including myself among them!) This list is far from comprehensive; it’s just what first came to my mind. What sort of things do guiris like myself do wrong?

We …

1. … conjugate verbs incorrectly.

This is the simplest mistake (if a mistake can be called simple) to make in Spanish. Spanish has six different conjugations and approximately a kazillion tenses. Some verbs like, andar and conducir still trip me up in the preterite if I’m speaking fast and not thinking!

2. … confuse the feminine and the masculine.

Words in Spanish can (and do) change meaning based on gender! There’s a difference between:

• El capital (money) and la capital (the capital city)
• El cura (the priest) and la cura (the cure)
• El corte (the cut, blade) and la corte (court of law)
• El papa (the pope) and la papa (potato, in some parts of Spain and Latin America)
• El tema (the theme) and la tema (obsession)
• El final (end) and la final (championship game in a tournament)

3. … use possessive adjectives too frequently.

Children don’t say “I washed my hands in Spanish,” they say, “I washed myself the hands.” Don’t talk about “mi bolso,” talk about “el bolso.” Don’t say “Puse mis pantalones,” say “Me puse los pantalones.” It’s not “¡Abre tus ojos!”; it’s “¡Abre los ojos!”

4. … mix up por and para.

Ah, the headaches this used to give me! Por and para were the bane of my existence in college. I thought I would never get it!

5. … translate prepositions too literally.

In Spanish, you dream with something (sueño con …), not about it. You think in something (pienso en …), not about it. Prepositions do not always translate literally! But this can lead to some funny sentences.

6. … are fooled by false friends (false cognates).

I talked about some of my favorites in this post. But remember, realizar does not mean “to realize” in the sense of “to become fully aware of something.”

7. … think all words ending in –a are feminine.

They aren’t. Check out el día, el mapa, el idioma, el problema, el sofá, el tanga (hahaha). Likewise, not all words ending in –o are masculine: la modelo, la mano, la bici, la foto, la radio.

8. … use pronouns when they’re not needed.

I’ll just use one example: “Busco para/por un trabajo.” No, just no.

9. … don’t pronounce vowels well.

I’ve learned that Spaniards make fun of our accents by making an –o sound into an –ou sound. Thus, “Yo soy americano” becomes “You soy americanou.” Spanish vowels are short and very distinct.

10. … confuse ser and estar.

I know: this is a pretty basic one. But it’s a bit more complicated than it seems! For instance, you wouldn’t say, “¿Dónde está la fiesta?”; you’d say, “¿Dónde es la fiesta?” You use ser to tell where an event is taking a place—“El concierto es en el colegio.”

What are some mistakes you (or “your friends”) make in Spanish?

The post 10 Language Mistakes Guiris Make in Spanish appeared first on ymuchomas.com

Confession: I’m not that big of a coffee drinker—tea is really more my thing. But I do enjoy the occasional cuppa joe about once a week, and after living here in Spain for a year I’ve figured out how to add some variety to my morning injection of caffeine beyond the standard café con leche.

The post How to Drink Coffee in Spain: 8 Ways to Order a Cup of Joe appeared first on www.trevorhuxham.com

Most of these are just variations on a shot of espresso and steamed milk, but there’s a few surprises, too. Get your coffee pot started and join me as I explain the basics of drinking coffee in Spain.

Café solo

(Source: thiery49)

“Only coffee” is simply a shot of espresso (that’s spelled with an S, not an X!), the coffee beverage that is made from forcing hot water at a high pressure through ground coffee beans. It’s served in a short, tiny glass or ceramic cup with a saucer, spoon, and a bag of sugar. A good café solo will have a thick, almost bitter body capped with thin layer of foam. This is coffee at its rawest.

Café cortado

(Source: Alexandra Guerson)

A café cortado is called so because the shot of espresso is “cut” with some steamed milk—but only some, as there’s more coffee than milk in this drink. It’s not quite as strong or bitter as a straight-up café solo; instead, the creaminess of the milk makes it a little more palatable. Author David Lebovitz, who writes about pastries in France, has praised the simple pleasures of the cortado in a really lovely blog post you should check outhere.

Café con leche

(Source: Jorge Gobbi)

Love, love, love me some café con leche. Equal parts espresso and steamed milk, this is the best of both worlds, and the milk foam is literally the icing on the cake. Compared with other beverages on this post, a café con leche is actually quite substantial in terms of volume, so it will last you longer if you’re having breakfast or munching on a snack. Although I know I’m not terribly original at all, this is my favorite on this list because, for me, it’s the perfect combination of coffee bean and dairy. What I really love, however, is the contrast between the cooled milk foam and the hot coffee beneath.

Café manchado

(Source: Miguel Librero)

The name for café manchado (“stained coffee”) is kind of confusing, because it’s really a cortado that has been stained with milk. But this coffee is more appropriately leche manchada (“stained milk”) because this drink is mostly steamed milk with a little bit of espresso, not quite an entire shot. Very milky with a little coffee flavor, this is for you folks who like to drink coffee but don’t actually like coffee.

(In the picture above, a café con leche is in the foreground and amanchado is in the background.)

Café americano

(Source: Arneliese)

Don’t confuse “American coffee” with drip or filter coffee; to create a café americano, you add hot water to a shot of espresso…and that’s it! Starbucks’ website describes this drink as “a coffee that satisfies the American preference for more sips in every cup,” and although anamericano hardly sizes up to the cavernous mugs of coffee most Americans are accustomed to, I’d say this hits the spot when you’re craving some black coffee but aren’t in the mood for a brief, concentrated café solo.

Café con hielo

(Source: Marion Deveaud)

Add a shot of espresso (café solo) to a glass of ice cubes and you get café con hielo—“coffee with ice.” Although it hardly measures up to your typical grande iced coffee to-go from Starbucks, it’s a nice pick-me-up that Spaniards often drink on warm summer afternoons when they’re craving some caffeine but don’t want something too hot. You’ve got to be fast when pouring the espresso into the glass of ice, though, otherwise you’ll end up with a mesa con café, a “table with coffee”! My friend Alissa has written a great, introspective post about the deeper meaning behind the flick of the wrist involved in making a café con hielo here.

Carajillo

(Source: Carles Escrig i Royo)

Pronounced “kah-rah-HEE-yoe” [ca.ɾaˈxi.ʎo], this coffee-based drink might throw you for a loop since it’s one part brandy and another part espresso. Yep—alcohol and caffeine sound like a risky combination, but it’s surprisingly common in the afternoon and evening. Fun fact: a carajillo with whipped cream on top becomes a café irlandés: an Irish coffee.

Café bombón

(Source: Daniel Lobo)

Yep, this is what you’re thinking it is, a “bonbon coffee.” Add one part condensed milk to one part espresso and you’ve got a café bombón, an extremely syrupy and sweet little shot that tastes like the gooey inside of a chocolate bonbon. Basically liquid candy. But to be fair, I really am in love with the presentation here: the condensed milk makes a huge, sharp contrast with the espresso that floats on top of it, so much so that when it’s all served in a clear glass you can see three stripes of milk, espresso, and foam. This makes for a great dessert coffee after a heavy menú del día.

#ProTip: to get any of these decaf, ask for it descafeinado, but make sure to add de máquina (“from the [espresso] machine”) because otherwise you might get instant coffee.

Final note: I am hugely indebted to this flowchart entitled Café para todos—Coffee for Everybody—that was put together by a Spanish blogger a couple years ago. I once wandered in the desert of Spanish cafeterías, but now I feel like a pro. Check it out!

(Source: copépodo)

The post How to Drink Coffee in Spain: 8 Ways to Order a Cup of Joe appeared first on www.trevorhuxham.com

 

5 Fun Facts I’ve Learned About Spanish Wines

The post 5 Fun Facts I’ve Learned About Spanish Wines appeared first on Spanish Sabores.

When I first traveled to Spain as a 20-year-old, I knew very little about Spanish wine. Rioja rang a bell, but other than that I was completely in the dark. And to be perfectly honest, it didn’t really matter. I spent my four month study abroad program in Granada drinking Alhambra beers and eating the free tapas that came with them. Granada is a great place for students, and I took advantage of what it had to offer.

Fast forward to the present day and here I am not only loving Spanish wines, but also working with them. I recently became certified through the WSET program and have been offering wine tastings through Madrid Food Tour for over a year now.

But the more I learn about Spanish wines, the more I feel I need to learn! Living in the country with more vineyards than anywhere else in the world, it’s easy to understand how it becomes an obsession. It also doesn’t help that the Spanish themselves know very little (on average) about one of their most important exports.

Here are some fun facts about I’ve learned about Spanish wines over the past few years. If you have anything to add, please leave a comment!

1. Spaniards don’t drink them!

Okay, so this is not completely true. But Spaniards aren’t drinking nearly as much wine as their neighbors. In 2011 they were the world’s 16th biggest wine consumers per capita– a number that has dropped 20.8% since 2007 according to studies by wineinstitute.org. In comparison France, Italy, and Portugal rank 4, 5, and 6, respectively. And let’s not forget that Spain is home to more vineyards than anywhere else in the world and is also the world’s third biggest producer of wines (after France and Italy).

The downward trend is seen all over Spain in local bars, where the wine selection is, more often than not, simply horrendous. It’s such a shame when, for the same price, you can have a terrible glass of wine or an excellent one.

2. Value for price is nearly unbeatable

The most expensive bottle of Spanish wine may raise alarm ($911 for a bottle of Dominio de Pingus, Ribera del Duero), and you’d likely have to transfer money online (this particular service is for Brit wine-lovers) to afford a case of it! But don’t despair, most Spanish wines are an extremely good value. Every year Spanish wine writer Alicia Estrada publishes the 100 best Spanish wines for under 10€. Her number one this year? At 5.15 euros it is a lovely red, Luzón 2012 D.O. Jumilla.

Pouring wine from the barrel at a little wine shop in Murcia.

3. You order by the region, not the grape

This may be Spanish wines 101 but I’m always surprised by how many people have been living here awhile and still don’t quite understand the system. In Spain, wines are classified by their region, and not by their grape. So if you go into a bar asking for a syrah, they’ll probably look at you like you’re crazy– even if they have one. Luckily when armed with just a little bit of knowledge about Spanish wines you can easily make informed decisions, as many regions are known for using certain grapes with defined characteristics.

4. Sherries are wines and should not be ignored!

Okay, this might be half fact and half opinion. But anyone living in Spain who hasn’t fallen in love with sherry yet needs to try harder. I accept that they are wines with a bit of a funny reputation, and some are a hard sell at first, completely different from anything you’ve likely tried before– but I promise that if you keep tasting you will end up obsessed. As some of the world’s oldest and most complex wines, sherries are truly a world of their own that any wine lover should discover.

5. Rosé can be (very) dry

Before moving to Spain I had the idea that rosé wines were all sweet and syrupy, a dentist’s worst nightmare. And that’s because in the US many of them are (white zinfandel anyone?). But in most of Spain a rosé wine is actually a very dry wine, made of red grapes that have been crushed and allowed brief contact with the skins before being pressed. The results can be fantastic, and I drink rosé wines like a madwoman during the hot Spanish summers. My favorites smell like strawberries and lollipops, but have a touch of minerality when you take a sip. Anyway, I’ll stop with the wine talk and just advise you to try one next time you barbecue!

Ale’s own personalized bottle of Navarran rosé!

These are just a few fun facts I thought I’d share about Spanish wines. I’m finding the world of wines big and exciting, so if you’d like to see more wine posts as I keep learning, let me know in the comments!

The post 5 Fun Facts I’ve Learned About Spanish Wines appeared first on Spanish Sabores.

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