Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with Spanish

Feliz Navidad

ryanbryan — Sun, 20 Dec 2009 18:44:36 -0800

Need a Christmas salutation in Spanish for a business letter... Something to the effect of the following:

"Company X wishes all at Company Y a Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year".

Doesn't have to be a direct translation to Spanish, just want something common and appropriate for a high-level and relatively impersonal business letter. Please no comments about the suitability of a Christmas greeting in the letter, I don't care for them.

Visa Problems

The Esteemed Doctor Bunsen Honeydew — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 21:23:50 -0800

I'm supposed to be at the Spanish Consulate in Miami getting a student visa tomorrow (appt. at 9:25am), but I don't have all the paperwork I need because some of it hasn't arrived from the school that I'll be studying at next semester(as a visiting student). What do I do? What can I do? Fun complications after the jump. So, i'm studying abroad next semester through Saint Louis University's Madrid campus. They (SLU) were supposed to send me the documents I need to apply for a student visa, but they have not arrived to me in the mail. These documents are (I believe) coming from the Saint Louis campus of SLU. Because of the time difference and the fact that I have an appointment with the consulate at 9:25am tomorrow and that I live in Tampa and i'll be driving to Miami (which takes about 5 hours), there's no way I can wait and call SLU in the morning to see what's up and/or potentially get them faxed to me.
I'm going to call the Madrid office when they open in 2 or 3 hours, and see if they can do anything, but what should I do in the meantime? Is there anything I can do, realistically?
Also, as a sidenote, what do you wear when applying for a visa? Should I put on a shirt with a collar/tie/etc?

Tools to learn Spanish

Nickel — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 18:42:14 -0800

What tools can I use to help my family (adults and children) learn to speak Spanish? I am interested in CDs, software, music, TV shows,kid-friendly immersion programs, and anything else. This recent question has inspired me to try to learn Spanish with my family. It is something I have been meaning to do myself to further my career, and I would like my kids to be proficient in another language as well. It will also be a fun and intellectual activity that the family can do together. We will most likely never approach native-level fluency, but I would like the adults to be proficient and the kids to be proficient or better.

In my house, we have:
1 adult with proficient Italian
1 adult with high school courses in Spanish, could get by in basic conversation
1 adult (grandmother) who used to be fluent in French
1 toddler
1 baby whose daycare providers speak Spanish to him

We have several family friends who are native Spanish speakers as well, so I know we will be able to expose the kids to native Spanish.

What tools would you recomend? I'm thinking language learning CDs for the adults, childrens tv shows for everyone, simple spanish music, software, movies, etc.

Intellectual periodicals in Spanish

Mummy of a Lady Named Jemutesonekh — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 17:49:09 -0800

What are the most interesting intellectual periodicals in Spanish? Is there a close equivalent to the London Review of Books? To Dissent? To n+1? What distinguishes the slate of intellectual periodicals available in Spanish from that in English?

Spanish translation

nextian_geometry — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 23:33:49 -0800

Asking for a friend who bought a shirt in Spain which reads "Por crisis alquilo 50% de mi cama". Can anyone translate? Already tried babelfish etc without any success..

Idiodome

coffeefilter — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 10:16:53 -0800

(Spanish Translation) Juan Luis Guerra! "Senorita"

OK, I can babelfish as well as anyone else to get the words translated into English. But, what do they actually mean? To learn a language requires learning a culture ....

su cuerpo es flor de canela
póngase un vestido blanco
y a darle fuego a la vela

...

dobla la cintura como un soplo de luz
and check it out, mi mambo or blues
toca el horizonte de un mismo acordeón

¿Es Spanish Cat language school in Australia bueno?

ponystyle — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 01:47:29 -0800

Have you taken classes at the Spanish Cat, a Spanish language school in Australia. If you have would you recommend them? They claim to have teachers who are native speakers, which is great, but they also appear to have developed their own methods and materials, which can go either way. I'm interested in learning the language quickly and keen on putting in quite a few hours of study each week.
Would also welcome any other recommendations for a beginner's course, although it must be in metro Melbourne, preferably in the South Melbourne/St Kilda/Prahran area. If you know of any good online courses, I'd like to know about those as well.

Spanish in Washington Heights?

chrisalbon — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 16:00:28 -0800

New-York-Filter: How big is the Spanish speaking community around Columbia University Medical Center? How many of their patients are Spanish speakers? A friend is thinking of applying for residency next year at Columbia University Medical Center in New York (here is a map). My friend speaks Spanish and wants to work at a hospital with many Spanish speaking patients.

Can any New York Hiveminders tell me:

1) How big is the Spanish speaking community around Columbia University Medical Center?

2) How many (roughly speaking, guesstimates obviously okay) of their patients are Spanish speakers?

Any answers would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance!

What would you call it?

Chrischris — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 09:00:33 -0800

emergency translation alert: What phrase would a Latin American Spanish speaker use to describe the following piece of closet hardware: Extending hang rod.

Picture a rod assembly which is attached to a closet or cabinet and slides out to hold clothes hangers, but slides back in an out of sight when not in use. I've been tasked with finding out what a Spanish speaker might plausibly call such a thing, and am leery of the online translation sites, which have burned me by returning inappropriate or overly-literal phrases before...

Ayudame, MeFi, por favor!

devilish — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 09:39:16 -0800

Relocating to South America: haven't touched Spanish in 20 years, how do I freshen my lingual skills up? Just got a job offer, finally, but it requires moving to Bogota, Columbia for a year. I took 11 years of Spanish between grade/high school/college but it's been 20 years since I've
spoken it. It's not a job requirement, but it would help with
the team and getting acclimated.

So, what's the best and quickest way? I primarily need help
with the complex verb conjugation (past participle, etc.), a quick
refresher on vocab and getting my speed back. I think Rosetta Stone might be too simple (I know gato from perro) but I don't know what they do on advanced levels.

Gracias!
-D

¡Ayúdame, por favor!

twistofrhyme — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 22:19:31 -0800

Spanish filter: please translate this short paragraph. My Spanish grammar is a little rusty so I'm seeking some advice on how to properly translate something I'm working on. I'd like this to sound like a voiceover for a family-friendly documentary, along the lines of March of the Penguins. And I would prefer a dialect of Spanish that doesn't point specifically to any particular region, as much as that's possible. Here's the text I need:

"And so, as you will see if you look very closely, some objects are very smooth, while others are quite bumpy or rough to the touch. These differences in texture are much more apparent when magnified, than when viewed by the naked eye."

¡Gracias, colmena!

Where can I find movies or tv shows that are spoken in Spanish with English subtitles?

inatizzy — Fri, 09 Oct 2009 16:36:25 -0800

Where can I find some movies or tv shows that are spoken in Spanish with English subtitles? I'm going to be in Buenos Aires, Argentina for awhile and to help improve my Spanish skills I'd like to watch some movies or television shows in Spanish, with English subtitles. But I'm having a hard time locating any; the TV stations here tend to have the opposite: English-language programs with Spanish subtitles. (Which, while helping my reading skills, isn't helping my listening comprehension very much.)

Any idea where I might be able to find what I'm looking for? (In-person or on-line is fine, I have a pretty good internet connection here.)

Thanks!!

Low-Cost or Paid Spanish Immersion Programs?

AV — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 07:48:07 -0800

Asking for a friend: Does anyone know of any low-cost or paid Spanish immersion programs? A very good friend of mine is in the process of learning Spanish with the aim of eventually being able to teach it. She has studied Spanish at the university level and is currently living in Peru teaching English. She speaks and understands enough Spanish to get by quite well in Peru, but she isn’t picking up the advanced grammar or reading comprehension she needs in order to be comfortably fluent. She would like to find an immersion program that would address this.

The complicating factor is that she doesn’t have much money to spend on this, so she needs a program that is relatively inexpensive, allows one to work in lieu of tuition, or (if such a beast exists) is paid.

If there are other ways she might be able to attain fluency she would be open to them at well. Her main goal is to nail down the grammar and reading comprehension so that she can get to a level where she is able to communicate respectably in a Spanish-speaking academic environment.

If it helps at all, friend is a female in her late twenties, from the US, fairly worldly, open to travel (prefers it, in fact) and pretty open-minded.

Any input or ideas of where to look would be much appreciated.

I have seen these previous questions and will send her those as well, but am hoping for some cost-specific suggestions

Castillian Music similar to Juanes?

PaulingL — Sat, 19 Sep 2009 01:00:02 -0800

LivingAbroadFilter: Help me mimic the Castillian accent through music! I love the music of Juanes, but I am trying to learn the Castillian accent. Most of the sources for Spanish music that I like, and have found, do not have it.

Can anyone help me out? Much appreciated!

Help me find some good contemporary Spanish music to learn by?

wingless_angel — Thu, 17 Sep 2009 02:20:28 -0800

Modern Spanish-language music to help a complete newbie? ... but I have some specific preferences based on what I like in French! I have embarked on a goal to learn Spanish for work. I do field work in different regions around the world, and a priority region is Latin America. After attending a meeting of this group at a recent conference that was conducted entirely in Spanish (with translation in parts only for me) I've decided I want and need to learn Spanish to communicate better. I don't expect to become fluent, but I do want to be able to listen to to conference papers, discussions and participate in conversations.

As I have a lot of irregular travel for work, I can't attend scheduled classes, so I am learning from Rosetta Stone, Michel Thomas, reading papers in my field in the language etc. I have some background in Italian and a little French.

Complication is that my preference is for learning a Latin American accent (Mexican?) rather than one from Spain (I am currently in the UK so a lot of the materials I am finding are geared towards Castilian Spanish).

I have checked previous AskMe's, and what I am looking for is music recommendations. In learning French, I listen to a lot of Michel Polnareff, Keren Ann, Benjamin Biolay, Jacques Dutronc. I'd love some similar recommendations for Spanish language music, poppy stuff where the words are relatively clear (or I can read along with a lyric sheet).

I remember learning Italian at university way back when and in lab we listened to terrible music, awful cliched stuff and I want to avoid that. I want good contemporary music!

Music and any other general media/learning recommendations greatly appreciated!

otherwise I'll just end up biting my fingernails for eight hours

borkingchikapa — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 15:37:35 -0800

I've found myself in a Latin American country for a while, but I don't really know any Spanish. On Friday I am going to take a ton of speed and study until my eyes fall out. Using just the internet, what sort of super-intense regimen can we come up with? English is my first language, but I've learned two others (one academically, one independently through immersion). Unlike those I don't have all the time in the world - this trip was hastily planned and I only have two more weeks here, so I want to pack as much Spanish into my tiny brain as I possibly can. I don't really have any books or anything, just a laptop and the internets.

I sort of get it - I know how the grammar works and some essential vocab. What sorts of things should I spend my time doing on Friday (I wasn't kidding) and in general? So far I've got some basic categories to memorize - body parts, food, utensils, ordinal numbers - but I need some more. I think I'll also pick up a newspaper and power through it with a dictionary.

What else?

Downloadable content in Argentinian Spanish?

yesno — Sat, 05 Sep 2009 16:36:55 -0800

Downloadable content in Argentinian Spanish? I'm looking for spoken content read by someone with an Argentinean or Rioplatense accent. Audiobooks, podcasts, and so forth. Any tips?

Teaching Spanish with news and music

dealing away — Sun, 30 Aug 2009 23:53:18 -0800

I am teaching a high school Spanish class for the first time and need some help. I'm looking for 2 things, short news clips in Spanish and free songs with translations. I already found a ton of help from similar previous askmefi questions but this is the specific needs I have:

(The students are in high school and are either in 2nd or 3yr Spanish)

# 1 I would like the students to watch a short (2-5 mins) news segment in Spanish. I have tried already BBC Mundo and CNN Spanish and other similar sites, but the Spanish spoken is really fast for the students and they get lost. Does anyone know any other site or resource that could provide something current about the world but in either slower or easier to understand Spanish?

# 2 - I would like to use also music to teach Spanish. The problem I keep encountering in my research is that the songs to teach Spanish tend to be for really young children, or expensive (looking for free if possible), or lacking translation or usefulness in teaching vocab or verbs.

I'd greatly appreciate any help, even if it's a site that doesn't address the questions but that just helped you understand Spanish better.

All my students have laptops so any site that streams would work as well. Thank you so much for any help!

Am I fluent or what?

Aizkolari — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 10:37:00 -0800

Can I say that I'm fluent in Spanish on my resume? Details and whatnot inside. I'm very tempted to say that I'm fluent in Spanish on my resume. Right now I have the phrase "proficient in Spanish," because I'm afraid of getting called out by a prospective employer if s/he thinks my language skills are not up to snuff.

My Spanish experience is as follows: I've been taking classes in it since 7th grade, did a study-abroad term for three months in Buenos Aires in college, where I spoke a ton of Spanish, and worked one summer in a legal aid clinic in which I counseled clients in Spanish about their legal problems. That summer, I would have said that I was fluent. However, its been a year since then, and I've gotten a little rusty, although I can still speak quickly and smoothly (I don't often stumble looking for conjugations or vocab words) and the other day I drafted an error-free letter in spanish for work without thinking too hard about it. I think that if I were using Spanish regularly as part of my job my comfort with the language would rise to fluency pretty quickly.

Basically, my questions are: Can I put "fluent in Spanish" in my resume?

If I do, and an employer is disappointed in my performance or abilities, would that keep me from getting a job?

Also, what would be a good way to explain in an interview that my claim to fluency might have a few caveats?

What song repeats "bailando" over and over?

pyrom — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 17:09:32 -0800

I'm looking for a song I heard in Costa Rica during the summer of 2007. I think it was raggaeton in style and repeated the word "bailando" over and over. All I can remember is that when they said "bailando", they would start at a higher pitch, and descend to a lower one as they stretched out the "o" sound at the end. The song was in Spanish.

Apologies, googling doesn't help as "bailando" ("dancing") isn't exactly uncommon in music.

Thanks!

So are they zombies, or what?

orrnyereg — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 10:36:58 -0800

Question about the Spanish horror film [REC]. Spoilers ahoy! I watched [REC] last night and am a little confused about the last 15 minutes or so.

There's the clear implication that the infection is linked to demonic possession (a nice touch). So what was the business about "enzymes" on the tape that Angela and Pablo were listening to? How did the infection initially spread? Finally, what happened to the doctor speaking on the tape?

Sorry if I'm being a bit dense. Overall, a great little movie.

Spanish International Relations

chrisalbon — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:04:22 -0800

What are the important political science, international relations, or military history texts written originally in Spanish? I am a political science (IR) phd candidate trying to brush up on my Spanish. My wonderful wife suggested I read a work in its original Spanish for practice.

Can anyone think of a work like this?

Quiero un diccionario de Español en mi ... que is "Mobile Phone" in Español?

Admira — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 16:27:24 -0800

I'm on an ongoing quest to learn Spanish, and I thought it would be handy to have a dictionary on my mobile (cell) phone. I have a Nokia E51 - Symbian s60 34rd edition phone. I bought the paper Collins English/Spanish Dictionary and it had a link to their mobile software (5th down on this site). But before shelling out 10 pounds I thought I'd see if the hive mind could recommend any alternatives? Thanks!

Paper pushing en espanol

nameleech — Tue, 07 Jul 2009 09:39:39 -0800

What online tutorials or books are best for learning literacy only in Spanish? I am applying to a credit card disputes department at my workplace in October because they have need for the Spanish-literate. I'll be dealing with written statements from Spanish speaking customers primarily.

However, my language skills are so rusty I'll definitely need to do some brushing up beforehand. What books or online tutorials are best for achieving literacy only in Spanish? Free is better, but I'm willing to pay if the lessons are quality. Thanks all!

Quick Spanish Translation

ieatwords — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 15:17:47 -0800

Spanish Translation, por favor. My customer in Mexico with limited English is angry at me. Maybe I could appease her in the native tounge. Please translate the following into Spanish: Hello Claudia, Our warehouse has notified us that your order will ship by this Friday. Unfortunately, your order was delayed a couple of days because it arrived to the wrong fax machine. Please let me know if you have any questions. Thank you. (Gracias. Ha I know that one!)