Red from HEAD to tomaTOES

A whole city beyond control. Windows, storefronts and cobbled streets of the historical Buñol coated with squishy red pulps and tomato guts. Struggling crowds in the centre of the city.

You have no chance to hide from this weird spectacle! According to the motto: fight, otherwise you’re going to be the target of attack...but against whom? It doesn’t matter, simply join the show and throw yourself into the tumult of the largest tomato fight in the world!

Hereby, it’s neither a matter of joke, nor have I cooked up this story. A scene like this is taking place every summer in the Spanish city of Buñol, close to Valencia. I swear! More than 20,000 people from all over the world are getting together on the last Wednesday of August to take part at La Tomatina, the largest festival in the world dedicated to a very particular kind of vegetable fight. The only aim permitted: tomatoes, with an amount of ammunition of about 90,000 pounds! This year the Tomatina festival, held on 29th of august, expects around 40,000 participants.

Story behind “La Tomatina”

The historical background of the tomato festival is by no means religious. The annual tomato furor rather started by coincidental reasons during the carnival parade “Gigantes y Cabezudos” of 1945 in Buñol. For pure anger, a group of young people began to throw tomatoes and infected other visitors of the parade that joined the spectacle until the police intervened. After several years of turn taking between acceptations and prohibitions, the spectacle was able not only to establish itself, but also to earn an international reputation.

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Listening to Spanish language pop music is a fun and effective way to study the language. Learn more about recommended Spanish artists and radio stations.

Spanish Pop Music; An Excellent Learning Resource

Listening to Spanish language pop music is a fun and effective way to study the language. Reoccurring universal pop music themes of love and partying and predictable lyrics make listening to it a suitable learning method for students of any level. Colloquial language use, catchy melodies and danceable rhythms make it challenging, engaging and a great way to stay in touch with what's popular now. It may give you some valuable conversation topic knowledge; Spanish speakers will be impressed if you know the words to their favorite Spanish songs. You can even put what you've learned to use singing at a party or a karaoke bar. Vocabulary you may not have been familiar with when learning a song will no doubt stick with you for as long as the memory of singing in front of a crowd lasts, which in my case would be forever. Also, pop tunes often get stuck in your head. This means you'll have Spanish stuck in your head, which in a way is the goal of language learning.

Recommended Artists

La Oreja de Van Gogh, La Quinta Estación, Chambao and Amaral have been enormously popular Spanish groups for years. Their easy to listen to music includes slow love ballads and up-beat songs. Estopa is another successful group with more rock influences that includes the sounds of rumba in much of their work. Estopa has helped define Spanish music ever since they released their 1999 debut album. That album featured such memorable hits as El del medio de Los Chichos and Como Camarón. Enjoying these songs will not only help Spanish learners become more familiar with recent popular Spanish music, but also that of previous generations, as both pay homage to groups of earlier eras. The legendary music of the cantaor Camarón de la Isla is essential listening for anyone interested in Flamenco music and Spanish culture in general.  

Recommended Radio Stations

Decide for yourself what singers and groups you like best by listening to Spanish radio. Cadena Dial is a great radio station for learners, as they make a point of only playing Spanish language music. Cadena 100, who bills themselves as offering "la mayor variedad musical", does play a nice variety of Spanish and English language music. Los 40 principales is one of the most popular stations in Spain, especially among young people. Here you'll find all of Spain's latest chart toppers. You may end up listening to a lot of American English language imports however, as these seem to increasingly make up Spain's top 40 lists.

So take a break from your books and start listening, discovering and experiencing the sounds of today's Spain. Because a deep understanding of a country's traditional and popular culture is essential to mastering its language.

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Thousands of eager Madonna fans are hurrying to book their tickets for the singer’s December 2012 Argentina performances. Argentina will host three concerts, two in Buenos Aires’ River Plate Stadium (Dec. 13, 15) and one in Cordoba’ Estadio Kempes (Dec. 22). The shows promise to entertain and demonstrate the passion, uncompromising self expression and bold attitude that characterize Madonna’s legendary thirty year music career. After selling 300 million albums and becoming a popular culture icon around the world, she has come to symbolize determined strength, self awareness and controversy. These qualities have provided generations of fans with a source of inspiration and identity.

Madonna has only stopped in Argentina during two previous tours (in 1993 and 2008). This is her ninth world tour and includes fifty countries. It kicked off earlier this year in Tel Aviv, Israel. The wildly successful tour has already stirred up controversy, caused most notably by her brief nudity during an Istanbul show. Many observers think the move was especially bold considering Turkey’s strong Islamic tradition. The tour also stopped in Abu Dhabi, where rapper Lil Wayne appeared on a back screen sporting a huge cross. Also, Madonna sang her new song Girl Gone Wild and danced in a cheerleader outfit.

The tour promotes Madonna’s latest album, entitled MDNA, which features appearances by newer artists M.I.A. and Nicki Minaj. Concert goers can expect to enjoy performances of new songs from that album such as “Give Me All Your Luvin”, as well as energetic renditions of her classic 80s hits such as Vogue and Papa Don’t Preach. With numerous interesting set backdrops, tightrope acrobatics and accompaniment by a team of dancers, Madonna fans won’t want to miss this chance to watch her in action.

Tickets for Madonna’s Argentina concerts range in price from $250 for general admission seating to $2,100 for VIP packages. If you want to catch her live in Argentina, you’d better get your tickets soon. Show dates in other countries have sometimes sold out in days, and her Yankee stadium concert in New York sold out just twenty minutes after tickets went on sale. After performing in Argentina, the tour is scheduled to head to Santiago de Chile.

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As I’m now heading into my final few weeks in Spain (leaving this 32°C heat to go back to rainy England doesn’t bare thinking about!) I’ve already started getting nostalgic about the time I’ve spent here. Salamanca is a really fantastic place to study Spanish, but it’s the city’s quirks and unique character that I’m going to miss.

The tradition and its origins

One of my favourite days here was Lunes de Agua. This tradition is observed the first Monday after Lent, and dates back to the Catholic roots of Spanish society. In order to keep the city ‘pure’ for the Semana Santa celebrations at Easter, in XVI century the king Phillip II expelled the city’s prostitutes from Salamanca, so that the men to keep their minds on the religious goings on!

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Congratulations to everyone graduating! Whether you’re getting your degree or leaving high school, now is the time to throw caps in the air, burn your notes and rejoice that you never have to study maths/molecular biology/origami again! But for those of you who are leaving your language learning behind, or are reminiscing of your long-ago student life, you can revive your Spanish!

For many people, learning languages at school isn’t overly fun. The lists and lists of verbs to learn, speaking in front of the class when you’re worried people will laugh at you, the seemingly pointless discussion topics – I understand your pain. Truly I do. Because when I got to Spain, I could talk all day about the pros and cons of nuclear power, or what I had for dinner last week, but I really struggled opening my bank account. Personally, I didn’t find my school had properly equipped me for using the language in real life. But now you’re free of school, you can learn or refresh your Spanish the fun way!

Because languages aren’t just another subject confined to the classroom; they’re useful, relevant and a way to connect with the world. So now that school is becoming a distant memory or your uni days are a source of nostalgia, you don’t have to regret dropping a language; it’s like riding a bike, albeit a very wobbly one, but you never forget completely!

There are so many ways to refresh you’re language. Why not try online resources! Read the news from ‘El Pais’ instead of CNN, put the Spanish language option on the DVD you’re about to watch, or try re-reading your favourite book in Spanish (Harry Potter y la piedra filosofal anyone?!). It’s the little things like this can keep your Spanish knowledge ticking over, instead of casting it out of your memory like quadratic equations.

You could take a course! Due to the high demand of Spanish now, especially in the business world, there’ll be nightclasses near you, and it’s worth seeing if your employer/university provides or supports them. Or try and incorporate Spanish into your holiday; if you can, pop to Puerto Rico, visit Venezuela or chill out in Costa Rica. Just a weekend minibreak in Madrid can jog your memory and revive your Spanish.

Something that I’ve really enjoyed since being in Spain is doing intercambios, the Spanish for ‘exchanges’. In a world of ever increasing global mobility, many people move to the US or to the UK, who have native Spanish but need help with English. What better way to meet new people, help them integrate in their new society, and revive your Spanish, than to spend half an hour in English, and then half an hour in Spanish chatting. Check out local notice boards/the internet to find intercambios.

While it’s easy to get complacent with your languages, they’re definitely life skills, and a cool party trick at the very least! You spend years and years slaving away at school, so why give up on the fruits of your labour! Language skills do deteriorate without practise.

So, class of 2012, congratulations on making it through, good luck in the real world, and may your Spanish studies continue!

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The popularity of bullfights in Spain is past its peak. Nowadays, protests against the event are on the increase; fewer people purchase tickets for the bullfights and more and more arenas have closed down due to financial problems. To prevent the tradition from dying out, Spain’s conservative government wants to protect the controversial spectacle by law. The Conservatives plan to declare bullfighting a “National Heritage”.

The legislative initiative that was introduced in Spanish Congress claims that bullfighting is part of the culture and heritage of all Spaniards. Furthermore the fights or “Corridas”, as they are called in Spanish, also have economical significance as the bullfighting industry creates thousands of jobs. In Spain there are more than 1,000 farms, where bulls are trained for more than 3 years to prepare the animals for the fight. These farms employ approximately 70,000 people in total. The sector has a yearly turnover of 1.5 Billion Euros. Each fight is made up of 6 bulls which can cost up to 150,000 Euros. The largest bullfighting arena in Madrid employs 400 people and pays 5 million Euros of concession fees to the city each year.

The supporters of bullfighting managed to collect 600,000 signatures (including that of Spain’s conservative Prime Minister, Mariano Rajoy). He fulfilled the promise he made before he rose to power: “to do everything possible” to protect bullfights throughout Spain. As one of his first acts in office, Rajoy authorized bullfights to be broadcasted on live television.

Decreasing interest in bullfights

However, only a minority of the Spanish population, mostly the elderly, show interest in the bloody spectacle. Sold-out arenas are not as common as they were in the old days and the amount of “corridas” has been reduced to prevent a financial disaster. In the past five years, the number of bullfighting events in Spain halved to about 1,200 per year.  Formerly, every village festival included a fight.

Today, more and more people protest against the bloody tradition. “These performances are contrary to fundamental values ​​of the 21^st century, including the respect for life." says Juantxo Uralde Lopez, the spokesman for the Spanish environmental party, Equo. Catalonia, the north eastern region of Spain banned bullfights in 2012. In the Canary Islands, the spectacle was banned more than 20 years ago.

If the new national law for the protection of bullfighting is passed, the previous bullfighting ban of Catalonia and the Canary islands would be revoked. It seems very likely that the law will go through since the Conservatives have the absolute majority of seats in the parliament.

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The registration and testing dates have just been announced for next year’s DELE exam. Take note of these dates, so when the time comes you can sign up for the session that best fits your schedule. When choosing an exam date, remember to give yourself plenty of time to properly prepare. Also remember that taking a DELE exam preparation course greatly improves your chances of passing the exam and earning this valuable certificate. The writing and speaking portions are especially challenging to prepare for by yourself, as improvement in these areas relies heavily on expert evaluation and feedback. don Quijote offers the best courses in the field. These courses are specifically designed to help you achieve your goal of obtaining the DELE certificate, and they are taught by experts with extensive DELE preparation teaching experience.

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False friends are every language learner’s nightmare. It takes a huge amount of linguistic competence, let alone confidence, to express yourself in a foreign language, and these tricky words don’t help. While hoping for the best and adding an o onto English words flukily works sometimes, false friends will stop your Spanglish becoming fully fledged español.

False friends are words that are similar to a word in your language, but mean something completely different.

Here are some false friends you want to be very wary of!

So I’m hoping everyone knows that once is the number 11, and not the number of times you should watch the Eurovision song contest (which is una vez, unless you’re a sadist). ¿Vale? Now then; while you’re enjoying your holiday to Honduras, or your vacation to Venezuela, and you’re out for dinner in un restaurante BE WARNED! If you ask the waiter for some tuna, you’ll be treated to a glee club or an edible cactus, instead of the atún you wanted.

If you’re unfortunate enough to need to see a doctor while away, you might want a dictionary consultation as well. Constipado doesn’t mean what you’d think it would; estreñido is that unfortunate ailment, whereas those suffering from a cold are (hilariously) constipado. But whatever your illness, don’t be embarrassed! If you tell the doctor that you’re embarazada, you will be offered all sorts of prenatal vitamins; avergonzado is the adjective you need to explain that you’re not actually pregnant, just victim to a false friend!

Now, for any argumentative readers, when making your point in español, make sure you’re saying what you mean. En absoluto confusingly means ‘abosolutely not’. Inconsecuente isn’t the best way to dismiss an argument, as it means ‘contradictory’; de poca importancia would be more effective. Don’t take offence if someone uses desgracia, as it simply means a ‘mistake’ or ‘misfortune’, unlike vergüenza or deshonra which mean disgrace. The word compromiso means a promise, obligation or commitment; it does not usually convey the sense that you have reached a mutually satisfactory conclusion, which the verb transigir implies. And for goodness sake, don’t get confused by this false friend or your argument could start up all over again; to apologise is disculparse, but apologia means defence!

If you find yourself in a police station in Peru, be careful what you confess to. Delito means a petty crime, which you shouldn’t take deleite (delight) in. The verb molestar may sound scary to the non-Spanish speaker, but it simply means to annoy. Decepción means disappointment, but for deception, use engaño or fraude. Misery in Spanish (conjugation jokes aside) is sufrimiento or tristeza, whereas miseria means poverty. Don’t let linguistic mistakes cause you tristeza (or miseria either, but that seems less likely)!

I always get mixed up with false friends, especially since salida = exit, yet éxito = success, and suceso = an event or happening! Learning languages can be very extraño, and you have to be bizarro to keep it up! (extraño means bizarre, and bizarro means brave in case you’re wondering!) So keep calm, carry on and learn from your mistakes!

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Today, there is a strike all over Spain. (Since I’m writing this at work, you can probably tell that I’m not joining in!)

As you may know, the current economic crisis has hit Spain very hard; they have the highest unemployment rate in Europe (at over 23%), which is especially harsh amongst the youth (49% of under 25s are unemployed), and the economy here is in a very delicate situation.

Last year saw a new government take over, and todays strike is their first real challenge. Spain’s two biggest labour unions (CCOO and UGT) have disagreed with the new employment reforms that were launched in February, designed to help unemployment. While the government believes these measures (which include a reduced severence pay and changes to employment law) will help the ‘stagnant Spanish economy’ to create more jobs, the unions are worried that it allows employers to lay off workers more easily.

Road, rail and air transport is being affected all over Spain today, and make sure you check any travel plans that you have coming up – some strikes have been planned as far ahead as June. While strike participation rates have only been forecast at around 30%, protest marches have been planned throught the nation until late this evening. The recent regional elections have also been construed as lashing out against the government; Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy’s conservative government suffered in the polls on Sunday. Even the television has been affected; regional TV stations in Andalusia, Catalonia and Madrid were off-air because of the strike.

Both unions are praising high turn out and are already hailing the strike as a success. Strike activity started last night. After clashes between protestors and police by Madrid’s bus depot, there have been over 50 arrests and 9 injuries, 6 of which were police officers. Spanish Minister for Employment, Fátima Báñez has instisted that “partes troncales de la reforma laboral no se cambiarán" (the key parts of the reform will not change), according to El Mundo newspaper, because they are laying down foundations for future job creation in Spain.

As much of the country is at a standstill from the strike, the Spain waits with bated breath over the budget, which is being reveiled tomorrow. Deep spending cuts are expected, and this budget will be PM Rajoy’s best shot of bring Spain’s fragile economy onto steadier ground, especially in regards to the Eurozone crisis. But whether the citizens of Spain like what he has planned is another question. Watch this space...

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