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!

The US writer and activist Rita Mae Brown said that “Language is the road map of a culture. It tells you where its people come from and where they are going.” Today, at don Quijote, we take advantage of this quote to share and celebrate the importance of the Spanish language and its presence in countries around the world.

Click here to read this blog post in Spanish.

Surely you already know that Spanish is the second most spoken language by native speakers, mainly because of the expansion of the Spanish Empire that began in the Golden Age. In the territories of the empire, the language of administration and commerce was Spanish. Consequently, the language gained importance and, with the passing of time, it was established as an official language in many countries of Latin America.

However, this was not the only reason for Spanish to travel all over the planet, the migratory movements that took place in the 20th century caused the tongue of Cervantes to move to remote places where we find important communities of speakers nowadays.

1. Algeria

Spanish arrived in Algeria in 1492, when Spain was declared a Catholic nation and the Spanish speaking Muslims who rejected conversion were expelled out of its borders. Thousands of them moved to Algeria. Moreover, at the end of the Spanish Civil War, many Republicans had to take up exile and went to Algeria too.  Thanks to these factors, we can find more than two hundred thousand of Spanish speakers in the city of Oran now.

2. Aruba

Aruba is a small island in the Caribbean Sea and a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The official languages are Dutch and Papiamento, but Spanish is also spoken by 80% of the population. Spain controlled the island before the Dutch took control of it, but the language has also gained importance in the recent years because of the immigrants coming from Colombia and Venezuela. Moreover, the economic ties with Venezuela have forced many people to learn Spanish as a second language.

3. Belize

Although the official language of Belize is English since it was a British colony, the country also belonged to Spain in previous centuries. Hence, Spanish is spoken as a mother tongue by almost 50% of the population, mainly focused on the northern towns of Corozal and San Pedro.

4. Philippines

The Philippines is a country located in the Southeast of Asia which was a Spanish colony for more than three centuries, being Spanish the official language during that period. But when the United States invaded the Philippines at the end of the 19^th century, the English language was imposed and the use of Spanish forbidden. Consequently, much of the Spanish language disappeared, and the newer generations speak mainly English and Tagalog (a mixture of English, Spanish and native languages). However, the Spanish language has resisted, and we can still find a community of more than 2 million speakers in these remote islands.

5. Equatorial Guinea

Equatorial Guinea is a country located in Central Africa, but what few people know is that one of its official languages is Spanish. In 1778, Spaniards gained control over Equatorial Guinea by means of the Treaty of El Pardo. The treaty meant an agreement between the Spanish Empire and the Kingdom of Portugal, an agreement in which both powers distributed the borders of their colonies and exchanged some territories in South America and Africa. Nowadays, Spanish is spoken by almost 90% of its population.

We hope you find this information interesting and, above all, that it helps you realize that Spanish can open a whole world of opportunities. If you find the topic interesting, we encourage you to watch the video “Lugares remotos donde se habla español” and tell us which country has surprised you the most.

"Dying is a wild night and a new road." (Emily Dickinson)

The celebration of death

The Halloween celebration is fast approaching, and with it all the preparations for the spookiest night of the year, a night at which we remember those who are no longer among us. At don Quijote, we want to take this opportunity to bring you some interesting facts about the origins of this tradition and its meaning.

You can also read this blog post in Spanish.

Although it is true that Halloween is especially commemorated in the US (or in Mexico, where the festival is known as Day of the Dead and consists of honoring deceased loved ones), the fiesta has been exported to the rest of the world in recent decades and it seems that has come for good. Decorated pumpkins and skulls, the game of "trick or treat" or the costumes of witches, ghosts and zombies have become part of our collective imaginary.

However, and contrary to what many may think, Halloween wasn’t invented in the US. Read on to find out more about the history of Halloween.

History of Halloween

No one knows what happens when we pass away, but death, as well as all the mystery around it, has always been a source of inspiration for artists of all ages and disciplines. But not only for artists, because if there is something that we all have in common, it’s precisely that the grim reaper awaits all at the end of our days.

Since time immemorial and to this day, death has been very present in the traditions and customs of many cultures and peoples around the world. In order to explain why Halloween is celebrated we must go back to the times of the Celtic communities in Ireland. Like most celebrations and traditions, this is a festival of pagan origin.

The ritual was known as Samhain ("the end of summer" in Gaelic) and it was meant to honor autumnal equinox and, which commemorated the end of the harvest, which coincided with the arrival of the Celtic New Year. However, this is not the only nor the most important reason, because what the Celts mainly pursued was to connect with the world of the dead. The belief was that the barrier that separated this world and the next one was thinner at this time of the year, maybe because nights are longer during this period.

It was also believed that evil spirits came from the other world to take the living, so the Druids made bonfires and spells to ward them off. People prepared food and sweets and left it at the door of their houses to entertain them.

But with the appearance of Christianity, the tradition underwent several changes, since it was considered that this kind of ritual could attract the devil. In this way, the party was transferred to November 1 and called All Saints Day.

The party arrives in the United States

It was in the 18th century, with the first wave of Irish immigrants, when the party is exported to the United States. Although at first the celebration was persecuted by the Puritans who lived in New England, after the second wave of migration in the late nineteenth century, they managed to establish the holiday permanently.

The tradition was mixed with the beliefs of the American Indians at the time of the conquest of the West. In this way and in these years, the custom of telling scary stories, the "trick or treat", the costumes of witches and ghosts begin to be included in the rituals of celebration.

Nowadays

The Halloween party became one of the most important in North America. And at the end of the twentieth century, in most European countries and possibly thanks to the influence of literature, film and television, young people began to celebrate this date in the style of the States.

Thus, the holiday has been moving away from the Judeo-Christian tradition year after year, being transformed into a night event full of mystery, ghosts, zombies, witches and sense of humor.