Today we’re going to talk about the Spanish tongue. More concretely, about expressions that use tongue.

In other words, we’re going to have a look at common Spanish sayings that mention tongues.

Oftentimes, what we say isn’t exactly what we mean.

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When you’re speaking in Spanish, sooner or later there will come a time when someone will tell you something serious or important that they don’t want you to tell anyone else. If someone says to you, “No te vayas de la lengua” (Don’t leave your tongue), they’re asking you not to tell anyone what they’ve told you.

I’ll give you an example.

One of your friends tells you that he’s going to give his mom the best present ever. He starts telling you every little detail about the gift and might even ask for your advice on how to buy it. At the end of the conversation, he says

• Y, por favor, no te vayas de la lengua

What does he mean by this? Simple: he’s asking you to keep this a secret so his mom doesn’t find out about the gift he is going to give her.

On the other hand, another expression with tongue is no tener pelos en la lengua (to not have hair on one’s tongue). This means the opposite of the previous expression.

If you meet someone who doesn’t have hair on their tongue it means they’re honest, direct, and will tell you what they think without sugarcoating it.

Here’s an example:

Two old friends run into each other on the street:

• Hey, how are you? Long time no see!
• Yeah, it’s been awhile! You look different.
• Different? Of course, we haven’t seen each other for a long time.
• No, no. You look older.

Even though the person really is older, the fact that their friend has been so direct in saying so means that the friend no tiene pelos en la lengua.

Now you have two new expressions to use when you speak in Spanish. If you want to learn even more, watch this video and write down all the sayings you haven’t heard before!

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Learning Spanish takes time. To make learning easier and more entertaining, today we’re bringing you a list of the best TV shows to learn Spanish depending on your level.

Grab a snack, get comfortable, and get ready to binge on some of the best TV series in Spanish.

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First, for beginners, one of the best series is Cuéntame cómo pasó. It’s about the passing of time and the most important historical events that have happened in Spain from 1968 to 1986 (so far — the show’s still going). It’s the longest running Spanish TV show in history and revolves around what happens to the Alcántara family over the years.

Scene from Cuentame cómo pasó

Since it’s a show for the whole family, the dialogues are usually easy to follow and not too fast, with vocabulary that students of all Spanish levels can understand. It’s the perfect show to start learning Spanish or improve the level you already have.

If you want to hear what Spanish teenagers sound like, a good option is El internado. The story follows two orphan siblings, Marcos and Paula, who quickly discover that everyday life in an elite boarding school is anything but easy. Aside from not getting along with Iván, one of his classmates, Marcos starts to realize that strange things are happening at the school. Mystery, intrigue, high school crushes… this series has got it all, perfect for intermediate Spanish students who want to know how young people in Spain really talk.

Scene from El internado

To learn colloquial Spanish and listen to Spanish spoken by real people, both young and old, Los hombres de Paco is a very fun and entertaining show.

The series revolves around a typical police station. Paco, Lucas, and Mariano are a team of police officers who have big hearts but are clumsy and accident-prone. They complicate their cases, get tangled up in love affairs, show up at the wrong places… thanks to all the different situations they find themselves in, this is the perfect opportunity to hear Spanish as it’s spoken between friends, between adults, between young people, between work colleagues, and in the most common types of everyday situations. Watching this show is a good way to put the Spanish you already know into practice.

Scene from Los hombres de Paco

If you’re more interested in Spanish from Latin America, your best option is definitely Narcos. It follows the true and very dangerous story of an illegal cocaine trafficking network in Colombia. The leading man is Pablo Escobar, one of the biggest capos in history. The dialogue usually follows a relaxed pace, with characters speaking slowly and pausing frequently, making this a great way to learn Latin American Spanish in its purest form.

Scene from Narcos

Can’t make up your mind? For a little bit of everything, our recommendation is El ministerio del tiempo.

It’s a very special storyline. A team from the Ministry is in charge of making sure nobody travels back in time to change anything. Every time the team receives an alert, they’ve got to time travel immediately to make sure the past stays the same and protect the future. Because of the action, the show sometimes has fast dialogues, but other parts are slower, so you can hear Spanish spoken in an office environment, Spanish from other times in history, colloquial Spanish… a winning combination.

Scene from El Ministerio del Tiempo

Now you’ve got five fun ways to learn Spanish or perfect what you already know while you spend your lazy afternoons watching TV in Spanish.

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Welcome to the middle of the world. High in the Andes Mountains, Ecuador’s capital straddles more than just the line between the northern and southern hemispheres. Quito also juggles several identities, embracing its strong indigenous roots, acknowledging its colonial past, and cultivating the booming cultural scene and modern infrastructure you’d expect from any capital city. And when you step outside the buzzing urban hub, some of Latin America’s most beautiful natural landscapes await you.

Read this guide in Spanish

Slow start

When you arrive, you’ll want to lay low — at least as much as you can- given that Quito is the world’s second highest capital at 9,350 feet (about two miles) above sea level. While being up so high is great for the breathtaking views, altitude sickness is no joke, and it will take you a few days to acclimate. Just take your time strolling around and getting to know the city.

Rich colonial history

Why not start in the historic center, the world’s first city to be declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site? Quito’s 16th-century Old Town is a living museum lined with colorful colonial architecture, dozens of dazzling churches, and wide-open squares connected by charming cobblestone streets. Don’t miss Plaza de la Independencia, Plaza San Francisco, or Plaza del Teatro. The Baroque-style Iglesia de la Compañía de Jesus, also known as the golden church, is often considered Ecuador’s most beautiful building. Basilica del Voto Nacional is the largest neo-Gothic basilica in the Americas; walk up the towers for spectacular 360-degree views of the city.

A lane from Spain

Home to poets, artists, and musicians of all stripes, La Ronda is a traditional pedestrian main street in a small neighborhood full of restaurants and cafes, small workshops and art galleries, and live music. If you’ve ever been to the south of Spain, the style of the buildings and flower-filled balconies may make this feel like a trip down memory lane. Expect to hear traditional music from local folk musicians as well as lively Latin music you can dance to.

Art in August

Every year, Quito shows off its artistic side with the Verano de las Artes (Summer of the Arts) festival, bringing concerts, exhibitions, theater, workshops, and a festival of lights to illuminate the capital. This is one of the year’s biggest cultural events and you won’t want to miss it! But even if you do, there are lots of museums open all year round including the excellent Center for Contemporary Arts and the former home of Ecuador’s most famous painter, Oswaldo Guyasamín, which houses the artist’s extensive collection of pre-Columbian and colonial artefacts as well as 250 of his own paintings. It’s located right beside Guyasamín’s magnum opus Capilla del Hombre, an unforgettable vision of mankind that balances the treacherous struggles of the downtrodden with undying hope for the future.

Trendy spots

To see art and explore the city at the same time, take a walk around the colorful streets of La Floresta, a hip neighborhood full of cute and funky cafes, restaurants, and most of all, street art. Live music venues abound, and there’s a farmers market on Fridays and weekends.

Market shopping

For fresh fruits and vegetables, cheerful flowers, and delicious local dishes served up hot in a market atmosphere, Mercado Central is open every day of the week. If you’re looking for souvenirs or gifts to take home, Mercado Artesanal La Mariscal is a great stop for Ecuadorian chocolate and coffee as well as vibrant textiles and handicrafts. Parque El Ejido, one of the city’s main parks, also hosts artisan markets.

Soaring skies

Now that a few days have gone by and you’ve gotten used to the high altitude, it’s time for the TelefériQo, a gondola lift that will take you on a 10-minute ride straight up Pichincha Volcano to the top of Cruz Loma (a height of more than 13,400 feet). Many come just for the breathtaking views, while other, more athletic types use this as a starting point to hike up to the volcano’s summit.

Nature adventures

These are just a very few of the many things you can do in Quito, but if you want to get out into nature there are dozens of day or weekend trips you can take away from the city. The mystical Mindo Cloud Forest is a wonderful destination for outdoor adventures like zip lining, hiking over rope bridges, repelling down waterfalls, and river tubing. The forest is home to hundreds of bird species as well as a butterfly garden where you can see 25 different types of colorful butterflies. The bright blue-green Quilotoa Crater Lake is another spectacular place to hike and be amazed at Ecuador’s natural beauty.

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In Spanish there are hundreds upon hundreds of expressions about different topics, from food to love, the weather, friends…

There are lots of sayings about animals, but today we turn our focus to two very common expressions involving chickens.

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We’ll learn what it means to be a chicken (ser una gallina) and also what it means to have the skin of a chicken (tener la piel de gallina).

If you’ve ever spent any time around chickens, you’ll know that it’s very hard to catch one. If you creep up silently it probably won’t do anything, but the moment it hears your footfall it will start running as fast as its little legs will carry it.

Chickens are so easily frightened that if they feel the slightest hint of fear or see something that scares them, they take off running as fast as they can.

That’s why in Spanish, since we like expressions so much, when a person is quick to fear or afraid of confronting a situation, we say that the person is a chicken (es una gallina).

In fact, having the skin of a chicken (tener la piel de gallina) is also related to fear. It may be an expression, but it’s also a scientifically proven fact.

When a person feels afraid, experiences a change in the temperature, or has a good feeling run through their body (for example, when listening to music), they get what we call goosebumps — or, in Spanish, chicken skin.

It’s a way for the body to protect itself from sudden external changes. Under the skin, there are muscles that tense up, raising each one of the hairs on the surface of the skin. At one time, this reaction helped protect the body from cold temperatures, and today it’s what makes our skin look like la piel de gallina.

Although chickens aren’t an animal most people feel a great affinity for, people and chickens have a lot in common. From now on, you know that if someone is scared to face a situation and wants to run away you can call them una gallina, and if their hair stands on end you know they have la piel de gallina.

If you want to learn even more sayings about animals, enjoy our video about expressions with animals.

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Everyone will tell you that one of the bests things to do in Guanajuato is to leave your map at home and let your feet guide you through the maze of streets of the Old Town, where you’ll be amazed at the colorful buildings, leafy plazas, and charming cafes you’ll find around every corner. But all that exploring can be exhausting in the hot summer sun, especially when you know there’s no beach around.

Here are five ways to keep the heat from getting you down as you make the most of your experience in Guanajuato.

Read this guide in Spanish here.

Street Strolling With Serenades

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Summer temperatures in Spain can be suffocating, and the southern city of Granada is no exception. But don’t worry! At don Quijote we know all the tricks to combat the heat — and staying at home in front of the air conditioner doesn’t count, especially in a city like Granada, which is only an hour away from the beach and the mountains.

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Here are some practical tips:

La Costa Tropical

Okay, we’ll admit it: it’s not as comfortable as having the beach a 10-minute walk from your Spanish school, but in Granada it’ll be easy to find out why the nearby coast is called the Costa Tropical. Less than an hour away by car, the coastal town of Motril has two beaches to choose from, each with its own charm. Calahonda, a Blue Flag beach, is in the town itself (making it the perfect option if you’re taking the bus) and has lots of beachside restaurants and bars. The beach of La Joya is more out of the way, and to get to it you have to descend 200 steps to reach the bottom of the cliffs that protect it from massive crowds. We assure you, it’s worth the extra effort!

The small town of Salobreña is another good place to spend the day playing in the waves or sunbathing on the dark sand. After you walk up to the castle and enjoy the views, there’s nothing better than going for a swim at La Guardia beach, where you can also rent a kayak or enjoy the delicious pescadito frito (fried fish) this area is known for. If you like snorkeling or scuba diving, head to La Rijana beach — you need a car to get there, but when you see how clear the water is, you’ll be glad you made the trip.

Wait till sunset

After the sun goes down, Granadinos take to the streets and the city fills with life thanks to the cooler temperatures. Join them and enjoy the many tapas bars you’ll find downtown, from the high-quality tapas in Plaza de la Pescadería to the cheaper and more plentiful tapas of the university neighborhood. If you’re looking for something more special (and, why not, romantic), make your way to the upper part of the Albaicín neighborhood and sit at one of the terraces with views of the Alhambra, or walk along Paseo de los Tristes and enjoy the fresh air by the river. If you’re a flamenco fan, the caves of Sacromonte are well-insulated from the Granadan heat and cultivate the ideal atmosphere to experience the magic of the dance, song, and rhythms of the Spanish art.

The coolest hours of the night are also the ideal time to learn about the secrets of the city: you can book a nighttime visit to the Alhambra or tours through the narrow, cobblestone streets of the Albaicín where the guide will tell you all sorts of legends and interesting facts about the city.

Run for the hills… or better yet, the mountains!

One thing that makes panoramic views of Granada so spectacular is the background — the peaks of the Sierra Nevada are truly spectacular. In the winter, they’re a popular destination for ski bums, while in the summer they’re a good place to enjoy temperatures a few degrees cooler. Take a walk around the Hoya de Pedraza Botanical Gardens, cross the hanging bridges over the gorge of Los Cahorros in Monachil, practice adventure sports, or take a relaxing dip in the pool in the center of Pradollano.

Sierra Nevada even has a summer festival: each year, Spanish singers and bands play a series of free concerts known as Sierra Nevada por Todo lo Alto. Savor the feeling of wearing a coat in the middle of summer while enjoying a mixture of music and nature.

A breath of fresh culture

When the heat is no match for your burning desire to get to know Granada better, the most sensible thing to do is seek out a place where you’ll be protected from the blistering rays of the sun. Luckily, Granada is bursting with ways to enjoy the culture and history without sweating buckets. The heat can’t penetrate the thick walls of the cathedral, so you’ll be free to enjoy the beauty of its chapels, including the famous Royal Chapel, where the Catholic Monarchs are buried. If you’re interested in more modern history, you can stop by the Huerta de San Vicente, the family house of poet Federico García Lorca, or the museum of Sacromonte, where you can take an up-close look at the special culture and lifestyle led by the people of these typical Granadan caves.

Another obvious option is to visit the Alhambra, with all its impressive palace rooms and refreshing patios. Take advantage of the season and see a different side of the Generalife Gardens by attending the annual summer festival celebrating Lorca and Granada: each performance is a fusion of flamenco and the special poetic world of the most universal Granadan, and the result is magical.

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To truly get away from it all and enjoy life at a relaxed pace, surrounded by nature, set your sights on Santo Domingo de Heredia. Being surrounded by coffee plantations means you can start every day with a cup of local coffee so smooth and delicious you just might become a morning person.

Read this article in Spanish

Colonial Architecture

As you walk around town you’ll quickly notice the Spanish influence on the beautiful architecture and design of the buildings and homes. The towering white basilica of Santo Domingo de Guzmán, built in the 19th century, is especially impressive.

Local Festivals

Every August 8, on the feast day of St. Dominic (Santo Domingo), and October 7, the feast day of Our Lady of the Rosary (la Virgen del Rosario), the city holds a special festival celebrated with traditional games, sporting events, dances, fireworks, bands, masquerade parades, and ox herder parades. Did you know that UNESCO has recognized Costa Rican ox herding and oxcart traditions as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity? Oxcarts were used to transport coffee beans from the areas in the green central valley (including Santo Domingo) over the mountains to the Pacific coast, an arduous trip that could take up to two weeks. The festivals are also a good time to try the local food, like tamales, gallo pinto (rice and beans), and tortillas.

Happy Trails

Santo Domingo is well under an hour away from Braulio Carrillo National Park, one of Costa Rica’s many green expanses and home to more than 500 bird species, 120 mammal species, and 600 plant species. You will see the flora and fauna change as you hike along one of the many trails. Remember to bring hiking boots and a rain jacket: this is a rainforest, after all!

Culture in the Capital

If you’re ready for a change of pace, the capital of Costa Rica, San José, is only a few miles away, so it’s easy to pop over on a bus in less than 30 minutes and enjoy a more urban environment. Live music and dance, theaters, parks, and museums are just some of the attractions that bring people to San José. You’ll also enjoy a wide variety of restaurants and cafés and the bustling Central Market, where you’ll find all sorts of typical foods and souvenirs.

Learn Spanish

Take advantage of the time you’re here by studying at don Quijote in Santo Domingo de Heredia. We limit our classes to a maximum of eight students to ensure you’re getting the attention and support you need to learn as much Spanish as possible as you build strong ties with other international students.

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We’re already about halfway through August, so you’re probably about to fly away on vacation if you haven’t already done so. But here at don Quijote we’re not going anywhere; we’re sticking around to keep sharing ideas on how to improve your Spanish wherever you are. And since we’re talking about flying, today we’ll explain some expressions featuring birds.

Read this article in Spanish

The first saying we’re going to talk about is something you can use on a cold winter night or a hot summer day. In Spain, even when it’s more than 100 degrees outside, it’s perfectly normal to hear someone in a classroom or restaurant say, “Could you turn down the air conditioning? I’m turning into a little bird.” As you’ve probably guessed, in Spanish, turning into a little bird (quedarse pajarito) has nothing to do with flying through the air or singing a little song; it’s actually about being cold.

But be careful! Don’t mix this up with another Spanish expression that’s very similar: quedarse como un pajarito. Pay attention, because there’s a very important difference: when we say that someone se ha quedado como un pajarito (or they’ve ended up like a little bird), we mean that they’ve died peacefully, without suffering.

Another expression related to birds is tener pájaros en la cabeza (to have birds in the head). Don’t worry, it has nothing to do with The Birds, the movie by Alfred Hitchock; it’s much more pleasant, although it can also have negative consequences for the person involved. When we say that someone has birds in their head, we mean that the person likes to fantasize, or that their head is full of ideas that aren’t very realistic: “Cuando era joven, emprendió un negocio muy arriesgado pensando que se haría rico enseguida. Tenía muchos pájaros en la cabeza.” (When he was young, he started a very risky business thinking he would get rich quickly. He had lots of birds in his head.)

It’s kind of like when the world looks pink, but having birds in your head is more serious because not only are you optimistic, you are also expecting or believing in things that are very unlikely to happen, and that often leads you to make unwise decisions because you think everything is going to work out perfectly.

Now you know two new colloquial expressions you can use when you speak in Spanish. And if somebody asks you where you’ve learned them and you want to be a bit mysterious, you can always say me las ha dicho un pajarito (a little bird told me them). Any Spaniard you say this to will have no problem understanding you, but if you’re talking to a classmate who’s also studying Spanish they might be a bit confused. Do Spanish birds talk?

Of course, in Spain and Latin America, as in most of the world, parrots are the only birds that can talk. People use the expression Me lo ha dicho un pajarito when they don’t want to disclose who they got their information from. So don’t worry, no one will think you’re a Disney princess who talks with animals.

Do you like learning expressions with animals? Here’s a video we’ve prepared so you can learn (and use!) a lot more of them:

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Oaxaca is about as far as you can get from the typical Mexican beach destination, but what it lacks in waves and sand it more than makes up for in culture. This culinary dreamscape weaves traditions going back thousands of years into the colorful patchwork of a modern city renowned for its unique blend of contemporary art and ancient craftsmanship.

Read this guide in Spanish here.

Legendary flavors

Known as the land of the seven moles (pronounced MOH-leh), Oaxacan cooking attracts tourists to the city from all over the world. If you’ve tried the dark brown, chocolaty mole sauce outside of Mexico and have concluded that mole is not for you, we encourage you to give it another shot. You have seven delicious types to choose from: negro (the most famous), amarillo, coloradito, verde, chilchilo, rojo (the spiciest), and manchamanteles (the “tablecloth-stainer”). Contrary to popular belief, not all moles contain chocolate, so if you don’t have to mix sweet and savory if you don’t want to!

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We don’t know if it’s thanks to Spain’s more than 3,500 miles of coastline or the importance of fresh fish in Spanish cuisine, but it’s a fact that there are multiple Spanish expressions that revolve around fish. We already told you what it means to cut the cod, so today we’re going to explain some other expressions to make sure nobody tells you that estás muy pez (you are very fish).

Read this article in Spanish

Now that temperatures are climbing over 100 degrees in many parts of Spain, it’s the perfect time to understand what it means to be like a fish in water. Sounds refreshing and enjoyable, doesn’t it? When we say someone is como pez en el agua, we mean that they are feeling good, they’re in their element, they’re in an environment that feels natural and comfortable, or they’re doing a task that’s easy for them. Of course, since the expression doesn’t really refer to fish or an aquatic environment, you can use it any time, even on a cold, rainy day.

At don Quijote we want you to feel like a fish in the water when you speak Spanish, and to make that possible it’s essential for you not to have memoria de pez so you’re able to remember the vocabulary and grammar that you’ve learned. Can you guess what this expression means? Perhaps in your country the idea of fish having a bad memory hasn’t worked its way into the colloquial language, but you’ve probably seen Finding Nemo. In this animated movie, Dory is a fish who is incapable of remembering things that just happened, which leads to all sorts of funny situations.

This myth about fishes’ inability to remember things is behind the expression tener memoria de pez (to have the memory of a fish), which existed before the movie, and is used to refer to people who are scatterbrained or forgetful.

Now that you’re familiar with these two sayings, you’re probably wondering what we were talking about at the beginning of this article, when we said that nobody will tell you that you’re very fish (estás muy pez). Is this expression reserved for people who love swimming or scuba diving? Or does it describe those who are very good at something, something that makes them feel como pez en el agua? Well, we’re very sorry to tell you that it’s actually quite the opposite.

We say that someone está muy pez when they haven’t the slightest idea about something or they have very little experience. For example, it’s common to estar muy pez behind the wheel when we’ve just gotten our driver’s license, or to think that we’re not going to pass the math exam because estamos muy pez and we don’t know how to solve the problems correctly. Of course, this is an expression you’ll never need to talk about your Spanish abilities, we’ll make sure of it!

To help keep you feeling como pez en el agua when you’re speaking Spanish, we recommend you watch the video below, where we explain this and other expressions in which animals play a leading role:

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