As we live in a globalized world, international relationships are increasingly frequent. From the late 15th century to the 17th century, Western culture began to spread to other parts of the world and extensive overseas exploration emerged as a powerful factor in European culture. That led to the discovery of new continents, and also to the exploitation of different resources and cultures, meaning the beginning of globalization. In this way, all kinds of resources were exchanged, making borrowed words a thing in most languages nowadays.

As we’ve already told you in other blog posts, Spanish is the second most spoken language in the world (thanks in part to the colonization during the Spanish Golden Age), with almost 500 million native speakers, a fact that has had a considerable impact on different languages. For this and other reasons (we love helping you to learn Spanish in the most original and easy way), today we want to share some 15 Spanish-origin words that are used naturally and have been borrowed by the English language.

Continue reading this entry or click here to switch to the Spanish version.

Some Spanish Origin Words

1. Aficionado: In Spanish, this term is used to define a person who has an interest in some subject informally or superficially. But in English, this word is used as a synonym for connoisseur, that is, `understood´ or `expert´. For example, a `literature aficionado´ would be someone who, in addition to enjoy reading, has deep knowledge or is an expert in literature.

2. Barrio: Native English speakers use this term as a synonym for `neighborhood´ or `quarter´, and its meaning is the same as in Spanish: a specific area of a city or town.

3. Cafeteria: It is usually used to refer to a self-service coffee shop or restaurant, but also for those spaces found in schools, or workplaces, which are used for eating and having lunch. It is also a synonym for “canteen”.

4. Fiesta: The word fiesta has the same meaning as the word `party´, and was included in English dictionaries in 1983 after Lionel Richie used it in his song `All Night Long´.

5. Guerrilla: This word means the same in English as it does in Spanish, that is to refer to paramilitary groups acting independently of official armies in a specific conflict.

6. Macho: This word is not used in English to refer to the sex of the different species, it only means `very masculine´. It began to be used after the famous song of the Village People: `Macho Man´.

7. Maestro: Actually, this term is an Italian origin word, and it is used in English with two different connotations: to refer to famous composers and conductors of classical music, and also to designate geniuses in other areas and disciplines. 

8. Mosquito: As we do in Spanish, this term is used in English to allude to a slender, long-legged insect that bites.

9. Negro: This term was used until the 19th century, especially in the US, in a very pejorative way towards black-skinned people. Today is still a super offensive insult and disrespect for African American people.

10. Patio: This term is used in the United Kingdom to refer to outdoor spaces inside pubs or restaurants. The equivalent English origin is `beer garden´ or `terrace´. On the other hand, patio is also used to make reference to that spaces that usually exist in the single-family houses in the UK and Ireland.

11. Plaza: The word plaza means the same as in Spanish and it is a synonym for `square´, `park´ or `court´, although recently it has begun to be used for shopping mall, and also for especially representative hotels, such as the `Plaza Hotel´ in New York.

12. Politico: Word used in informal contexts to refer to the politicians of a country in a pejorative way.

13. Pueblo: In English, this word is used to refer to American Indian villages of the southwestern US.

14. Siesta: The word siesta is associated with the habit of lying down for a while after having lunch. The English-origin term is `nap´.

15. Solo: This term of Spanish origin refers to loneliness or the fact of doing something without any company, especially in a musical performance or composition.

At don Quijote, we hope that this entry’s been interesting and fun for you, but, above all, that helps you understand these words in order to use them correctly in both languages. Finally, we want to share a phrase that any English speaker would understand without much difficulty: El maestro tocó un solo de guitarra en la fiesta de la plaza del barrio, lo que no dejó dormir la siesta al macho del pueblo. Can you think of any other?

How to express quantity and quality

In today’s blog post we are going to go over the main intensity and quantity expressions used in Spanish: muy (very), mucho (much/very) and poco (few). You’ll realize that not many explanations are needed and that it’s a very easy topic to understand.

Click here to continue reading in Spanish.

Muy, poco

We place muy (very) and poco, poca (few) before adjectives and adverbs to describe the intensity of a quality or a feature. For example:

El examen fue muy difícil.

(The exam was very difficult)

In the previous example muy gives us a hint of how difficult the exam was. In other words, muy modifies the adjective difícil.

Mi profesor habla muy rápido

(My teacher talks very fast)

Muy refers now to the adjective rápido, giving us more information on how fast the teacher speaks.

Es una persona poco habladora

(He or she is not a very talkative person)

In the example above, poco describes the intensity of the adjective habladora.

Mucho, poco

However, we place the words mucho, mucha, muchos, muchas and poco, poca, pocos, pocas next to nouns and verbs. We do it to indicate the quantity or quality of an action. For example:

Tenemos muchas preguntas.

(We’ve got many questions)

In this case, the word muchas helps us understand how many questions they have, and the word preguntas is not an adjective, but a noun.

Ahora hay poco trabajo en mi ciudad

(There’s few work in my town).

In the previous example, poco refers to the quantity of available jobs and it also accompanies a noun.

Hablas mucho, pero escuchas poco.

(You talk a lot, but you listen very few)

However, here mucho and poco don’t modify a noun. On the contrary, they express the intensity of two actions: hablar and escuchar, which are both verbs.

Note that when they modify verbs, that is to say, actions, mucho and poco are only used in their singular and masculine form.

Hope everything is very clear by now and you have very few doubts left. ?

Thanks to Ignacio, from our Spanish school in Alicante, for clarifying many of our doubts.

Imagine having to plan a trip without Internet. You would need to use a real map, ask around to find a hotel, choose a restaurant without reading Google reviews… Sounds tough, right? Well, centuries ago, when the first explorers and merchants sailed the seven seas, they didn’t have machine translation apps in their smartphones.

How do you think they communicated with people from other lands? The answer is easy: they had to find linguistic solutions easy to understand for both parties. Keep on reading this post or click here to switch to the Spanish version of this article and find out about mixed languages and how they originated.

Lingua franca, pidgin and creole

When a cultural exchange between two or more different cultures takes part, speakers need to find a way to communicate effectively. Before translators existed, this was possible thanks to linguae francae, pidgins and creole languages.

A lingua franca is an already existing language which people from different linguistic backgrounds use to communicate. Until the 18^th Century, for example, Latin was the lingua franca for scientists and scholars. Nowadays, English has taken that role on an international level.

In contrast, a pidgin language is a new linguistic variety that arises when two or more groups of speakers need to attain something immediately; for example, a trade deal. It’s the result of the contact between at least two languages, with one of them having more prestige than the other one.

Finally, creole languages, as their name indicates, are those that have developed organically from the colonies’ cultural mixture. With the European expansion in the 16^th and 17^th Centuries, Amerindian languages, European languages and African languages merged, generating new linguistic varieties.

5 Spanish-Based Pidgin and Creole Languages

Due to the History of the Spanish Crown, Spanish is present in many mixed languages around the world. Here’s a list with the top Spanish-based pidgin and creole languages.

1.Chavacano

Chavacano is a group of languages spoken in the Philippines. The vocabulary of Chavacano consists generally of Spanish words and grammatical structures borrowed from the local languages. It is the main language of Zamboanga City, although it is not very common for Filipinos to speak it fluently.

2.Palenquero

In Colombia, about 2500 people spoke Palenque in the early 90s. It is a mixture of Spanish and the slaves’ African languages. Nowadays, it is practically an unintelligible language for Spanish speakers and just some old people speak it, so most probably it’s going to disappear soon.

3.Jopara

Did you know that Guarani is the national language in Paraguay, as well as Spanish? 90% of the population understand it and it is taught in schools, but most speakers mix it very often with Spanish. This Guarani variation is called Jopara.

4.Cocoliche

This pidgin is the language that resulted after several Italian dialects mixed with the Spanish spoken in Argentina during the 19^th and the 20^th Centuries. Like other mixed languages, its use is mostly restricted to the conversational mode. This language has less and less speakers every time, but many Cocoliche words are now part of the Lunfardo speech, a dialect spoken in Buenos Aires.

5.Yanito

And finally, we have the only creole language in Europe: yanito. The old continent has traditionally been migrant, and that’s why most mixed languages in the world are found in colonies. However, there is one example of a creole language in Spain: Gibraltar’s yanito. People in this British territory in Algeciras Bay (Cadiz) speak a peculiar mix of English and Spanish.

Hope you learned a lot about how far a language can get. If you want to learn more on the topic, watch the video below. Are you considering now learning Spanish?

Grabbing your remote control and turning on the television is probably one of the activities you perform most frequently at home.

However, do you know how much work is actually behind this simple move? Keep on reading in Spanish to find out.

A Little Bit of History

Before television appeared as we know it today, many technological advancements took place. Some of those experiments led to the emergence of the modern TV.

Back in 1884, people managed to project the light objects issue using a metal disk and a light. However, it wasn’t until 1925 when they used these disks together to make up a real image. One of the disks worked as an issuer and the other one as a receptor.

Little by little, they kept on increasing the distance between both disks and repeating the same experiment, but through a telephone wire.

Five years after that test, in 1930, it took place the first simultaneous broadcasting: image plus audio. But what we know today as TV was still far from being achieved.

This broadcasting was the first of many of them, but they were all irregular and not scheduled.

In 1936, England started broadcasting with a consistent programming, and the United States began doing so in 1939. During the middle of the 20th Century, television started to spread throughout the world.

And What About Color Television?

During all this time there were a lot of scientists trying to achieve color images. But it wasn’t until 1970 when we finally got screens that could show the real color of objects.

Over the years and with a little help from the technological advancements, TV improved its quality and reached more and more houses.

The use of satellites helped broadcasting get faster. This way, TV got faster as well and reached more places around the world. Besides, satellites helped giving access to foreign TV shows.

And if you think that’s already a big improvement, wait to see what happened in the 80s. With digitalization, video production and broadcasting reached a whole different level of quality and speed rates.

As a consequence, TV started replacing the radio as the most popular medium for information.

However, these advancements didn’t arrive at the same time to all countries.

Television in Spain

While England’s first broadcasts took place around 1936, in Spain we had to wait 20 years more for that. The ordinary broadcasts at the time were mass ceremonies, official speeches, classic music concerts, etc. 

In 1959 it took place the very first TV broadcast in Spain: a soccer match. It was Real Madrid playing against Barcelona, causing TV sales to increase significantly before the game.

Until that point, all TV screens sold in Spain were imported. In 1960 they started being produced in the country and, as a consequence, they became cheaper. By the end of the decade, there was a television in almost 40% of the Spanish households.

The first color broadcasting that took place in Spain was the Eurovision Song Contest in 1969, live from Madrid. However, as the cameras and the rest of the equipment was provided by other countries, that was only an exception.

From 1973 on, black and white and color broadcasts shared space in Spain. But in 1978, color took over the power of TV.

World Television Day

And because such advancement should not be forgotten, since 1996 we celebrate World Television Day on November 21, commemorating the date on which the first World Television Forum was held.

The United Nations countries came to an agreement to make TV a broadcast medium for news and relevant information, promoting shows that were focused on peace, safety and social development, among other topics.

And what’s left of this story, you probably know it firsthand. DTT (Digital Terrestrial Television) made it possible to watch more channels with improved image quality and services. Nowadays, we talk about Smart TVs, apps and cutting-edge streaming platforms.

What do countries such as Argentina, Chile, Spain and Mexico all have in common? Only the language?

What would you say if I tell you that they all share something with Belgium, Italy, Portugal and Romania as well? Click here to unlock the secret in Spanish.

All these countries have at least one square in one of their cities named Plaza de España. For example, Argentina has one in Buenos Aires, Córdoba, Mendoza and La Plata, among other cities. The one from Belgium is in Brussels. Chile has one in Concepción and in Santiago de Chile. Beautiful Philippines also host one in popular Manila… And so on and so forth. There are more than 30 squares named Plaza de España around the globe.

Squares in Spain

Plaza de España in Barcelona

In Spain, the most important Plazas de España are in Barcelona, Madrid and Seville.

Madrid’s Plaza de España, with over 398ft², is the biggest square in the country. It was built in the 19^th Century, although its original name was actually Plaza de San Gil. In Exchange, Barcelona’s Plaza de España was built in 1929.

The one in Seville was constructed between 1914 and 1929, and it has a bench representing each of the Spanish provinces back then. Here’s a fun fact: this square has been home to several movie sets, like Star Wars: Episode II.

Squares in America

On the other side of the Atlantic Ocean, we have Mendoza’s Plaza de España in Argentina, which was built after an earthquake hit the city in 1964. Another Argentinian square which shares this name in Cordoba is the neuralgic center of the city, where the 6 most important avenues meet.  Buenos Aires’ Plaza de España is located in the formerly called Mataderos del Sud. The homonymous square in Montevideo (Uruguay) covers almost 10 acres.

Plaza de España in Guam

Let’s fly to the Pacific! There we’ll find Guam, a US-dependent territory that has its own Plaza de España. Its capital city, Agaña, hosts this square after a bombing took place in town during World War II. Before that, the area was part of the Spanish Governor’s palace.

Squares in Europe

Another fun fact: Lisbon’s Plaza de España was called only Plaza España until 1979, and the one in Manila (Philippines) has a statue of King Philipp II of Spain in the center. Did you know that the one in Brussels has a sculpture of don Quixote and Sancho Panza?

Plaza de España in Rome

However, one of the most popular squares named Plaza de España around the world is the one in Rome, Italy’s capital city. In the middle of it you’ll find the beautiful Fontana della Barcaccia, sculpted by Bernini. Its huge staircase has 135 steps, and in the up-right corner the old house of the poet John Keats is still standing.

There are just a few of the many squares named Plaza de España around the world. So, if you’re truly an explorer, take the chance to visit them and learn Spanish in the way! Learn more about remote places with lots of Spanish heritage in this video.

Sergio Leone said that “La vita è un'attesa tra un esame e l'altro” (“Life is a wait between one exam and another”).

The wait is now over and the next call for the official Spanish exam of the Cervantes Institute (the most internationally recognized, the DELE exam) is upcoming very soon.  At don Quijote, we know that this test is necessary for many reasons, we want you to be super prepared so that you can get the best grade you can!

Continue reading if you want to know more or click here to change to the Spanish version.

We assume that you have already completed the DELE exam preparation course with us, but since we do not want you to miss anything, today we bring you a lot of practice (sample DELE Exam Papers divided by levels) with which you will reinforce your skills and review the contents and exercises for the test.

When is the DELE exam?

In previous blog posts, we’ve already given you some tips on how to sing up for the DELE exam in 5 easy steps, and we’ve also talked about the exam dates and registration deadlines for 2019.

As for the next (and last) dates for the DELE exam, these will be next November. The levels convened are the following:

• A1 and A2 / B1 for the youngest

• A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2 for adults.

But if you have not registered yet, we regret to tell you that it is already too late for now, since the last day to register was October. However, if this is your case and you have not arrived on time, do not worry! The dates for next year will come out soon and you will be able to complete your registration. Stay tuned, because we will notify you as soon as we have news.

Sample DELE Exam Papers

Here you can find some sample DELE Exam Papers, which have been broken down into the different levels according to the European Framework Language Levels. Click on each link to go directly to the Instituto Cervantes’ DELE webpage and download the sample exam papers for each level:

DELE Exam Sample Papers A1

DELE Exam Sample Papers A2

DELE Exam Sample Papers B1

DELE Exam Sample Papers B2

DELE Exam Sample Papers C1

DELE Exam Sample Papers C2

We trust that these exercises will be useful and can serve as a guide for preparing the DELE exam. We can only wish you the best of luck and encourage you to continue studying Spanish or other languages. We'll be waiting for you!

Last week, we talked about Spanish indefinite adjectives. In today’s blog post, we are going to dive deeper into the topic by learning how to use algo (something), alguien (someone), nadie (no one) and nada (nothing). Click here if you want to keep on reading in Spanish. Let’s do it!

Algo (something)

Algo is a very frequent indefinite adjective. It can refer to an animate and to an inanimate object, as well as to a non-specific action.

Examples:

- ¡Cuidado! Creo que hay algo detrás de la cortina. (Watch out! I think there’s something behind the curtain)

[algo = animate / inanimate object]

- Juan quedó en llamarme cuando llegara a Sevilla y todavía no lo ha hecho, ¿crees que le habrá pasado algo? (Juan said he would call me as soon as he arrived in Seville, but he hasn’t done it yet. Do you think something happened to him?)

[algo = non-specific action]

Alguien (someone)

This word is always used to talk about a non-specific person, no matter singular or plural.

Examples:

- Hoy la avenida principal estaba llena de coches oficiales, así que creo que alguien muy importante ha venido a la ciudad. (Today the main avenue was full of official cars, so I guess someone very important must be in town)

[alguien = singular non-specific person]

- Alguien ha entrado en casa porque todo está desordenado (Someone has been home, because everything is a mess)

[alguien = singular or plural person]

Nada (nothing)

Nada refers to things, and it means ‘nothing’ We could say it is the opposite of something.

Examples:

- ¿Tiene algo que ofrecerme por este precio? (Do you have something to offer for that price?)

-Lo siento, por ese precio no podemos ofrecerle nada. (Sorry, we can’t offer you anything for that price)

-He ido a la nevera a por un yogur y no hay nada. Tenemos que hacer la compra hoy mismo. (I wanted to grab a yogurt from the fridge but there was nothing. We need to go grocery shopping today)

Nadie (no one)

It refers to people again but meaning ‘no one’. It is the counterpart of the word alguien.

Example:

- A veces pienso que nadie me entiende cuando hablo en inglés, ¡es una sensación horrible! (Sometimes I think no one understands me when I speak English. It’s such a horrible feeling!)

- El año pasado nadie vino a mi cumpleaños, así que este año no pienso celebrarlo. (Last year no one came to my birthday party, so I’m not celebrating it this time)

Thank you very much to Lucas, one of our teachers in Seville’s Spanish school, for helping us better understand how indefinite adjectives work.

Spanish Presence in North America

For about 300 years, Spain played a conspicuous role in the History of the United States, leaving a significant footprint in the country. During this period, Spanish traditions were exported by the settlers, who had a big influence on North America’s culture and customs. Click here to continue reading in Spanish.

Spain was present in the States for 309 years, and its heritage is still alive. Since Juan Ponce de León landed on the coast of Florida on April 12, 1513, many historic events involving Spanish people took place: Mexico’s Independence in 1822, the Pacific Ocean exploration and the role of the Spanish Monarchy in the Independence of the US are present in many monuments, symbols and place names around the country.

Place Names

Hispanic influence remains present in place names all around the United States. San Agustín, the oldest city in the US, was founded by Spanish explorers. So were San Francisco, San Antonio, Tucson, Los Ángeles, Santa Fe or San Diego. Besides, many places in the country still preserve the name that Christian missions, fortifications and Spanish settlers gave them: Amarillo, Arizona, Alcatraz, Boca Ratón, Bahía Morro, California, Cañaveral, Colorado, Florida, Madre de Dios, Montana, Nevada, Nuevo México, Pima y Tiburón, Puerto Rico and Texas.

Some islands and territories in the State of Washington do also have a Spanish name: San Juan, López, Fidalgo, López y Cortés. In Canada, Victoria and Isla Galiano are also good examples; and in Alaska we have Valdez and Córdova.

In the geography of the States we can also find several rivers with a Spanish name: Bravo, Sacramento, Colorado, Grande.

El origen español del dólar

The dollar was born in 1787 at the United States Congress. What many people ignore is that it was the equivalent to the Spanish duro and the dollar symbol ($) finds its roots in the Pillars of Hercules (Gibraltar), built to represent the Greek vision of the end of the world.

Besides, the so-called Spanish Dollar (real de a 8) was employed as hard currency in the States until 1857. It got even more popular than the American dollar for two reasons: it was thinner, and it weighed less, although it had a greater amount of silver. It was present in the New York Stock Exchange until 1997.

Spanish Symbols in the United States

• The Spanish flag is in the Texas shield.
• One of the six Texas flags is the one Castilla y León (a Spanish region)
• The confederate flag contains Saint Andrew’s cross, the symbol of the Spanish air forces.
• The Spanish flag still stands on the Castillo de San Marcos at St. Augustine, first fort built by the Europeans in the States.
• The shield of Los Angeles City contains the shield of Castilla y León and the date of the Spanish settling.
• The flag of Cupertino, Apple Silicon Valley’s headquarters, shows the helmet of Spanish explorers.
• Arizona’s flag has 13 red and yellow bars honoring the 13 colonies and the Spanish flag colors.

Spanish Landmarks in the US

• Cabrillo National Monument. It marks the location of the first European sea voyage, which departed from California in 1542 ruled by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo.
• Coronado National Memorial. It commemorates Francisco Vásquez de Coronado’s expeditions, that went all the way from Mexico City up to Kansas.
• Hernando de Soto’s Expedition Landing Mark, 1539.
• The Statue of Ponce de León, Saint Augustine.
• The Statue of Juan de Oñate, El Paso Airport. It is the tallest equestrian statue in the world, with 59 feet high, and it weighs 18 tons.
• St. Louis Cathedral, New Orleans. It hosts both the Spanish flag and the one of Castilla y León.
• Statues of El Cid in New York, San Diego’s Balboa Park, and San Francisco’s Lincoln Park.
• Sculptures of Isabella I of Castille at the Capitol of the State of California and at the Organization of American States building in Washington.

The lists above are just a brief summary of the Spanish legacy in the US. You surely are aware of the importance of the Spanish language in this country, where the Hispanic population is expected to reach 99.8 million by 2050. But did you know that there are many more remote places where Spanish is also a key language? Find out which ones with our video.

Today we are going to cover some characteristics of some indefinite adjectives and pronouns in Spanish. Are you familiar with any of them! ? Click here to read this post in Spanish. Let’s go for it!

Algún, alguno

They both express an undefined quantity somehow relatable to the speaker or an indeterminate fact.

1. Algún, as well as alguna/algunos/algunas, is a determiner (in this case masculine and singular). It refers to someone or to something and it precedes a noun that must be masculine and singular as well. It occupies the first position in the sentence.

¿Algún huevo para hacer la tortilla?

(Do you have) any egg to make a Spanish omelet?

 Algún año viajaré a Chile.

One day I will travel to Chile.

2. Alguno (not algún) is a masculine, singular pronoun that refers to someone and specifies the gender and number of the word that follows.

En Andalucía no todo el mundo pronuncia la “z” como una “s”. Yo sé de alguno que lo hace con el sonido “z” también.

In Andalusia, not everyone pronounces the letter “z” as an “s”. I know some people who do use the sound “z” as well.

3. Besides, alguno can also have the same role as algún + [pronoun]. It can be used this way when the speaker does not want to repeat the name.

- ¿Tienes algún libro de gramática?

- Aquí no, pero creo que tengo alguno (= algún libro de gramática) en casa.

- Do you have any grammar books?

- Not here, but I believe I have some (=grammar books) at home.

Ningún, ninguno

They are both indefinite adjectives. However, these two words have different meanings and they can’t be used in the same way. Let’s find out why:

1. Ningún and ninguna mean not one, and therefore they must be used in plural. You’ll find them always placed before a masculine, singular noun.

No queda ningún bombón en la caja. (There is not even one chocolate left in the box)

No hay ningún cliente en la tienda. (There are no customers in the store)

2. Ninguno has the same meaning as ningún + [nombre], but we use it when we don’t want to repeat the name we are referring to.

- ¿Tienes algún libro de gramática?

- No, aquí no tengo ninguno (= ningún libro de gramática).

3. When talking about people, we use nadie instead of ninguno. But we’ll get deeper into that in our next blog post.

We thank Lucas, Head of Studies at our Spanish school in Seville, for his contribution to our blog. Keep on learning with don Quijote!