The new Notes in Spanish L!VE video blogging adventure continues (subscribe in iTunes!) Today we talk about a few of our favourite phrases, first of all focusing on the wonderful, and pretty informal, Chungo:

Las cosas se han puesto chungas - Things have got pretty hectic/tricky/difficult.

Lo veo muy chungo - I think it’s going to be difficult (e.g. to get a certain project done by Monday).

¿Qué tal tu abuelo? … Pues está muy chungo - How is your grandfather? … He’s in a pretty bad way.

Other phrases from today’s video blog:

Hasta el 40 de mayo no te quites el sayo - this great phrase basically means it could still get a bit chilly any time up until about June 10th. After that you can pack your coat away!

Se está de miedo - It’s lovely (in this case the weather)

Estamos en la gloria… estamos de maravilla… estamos estupendamente… estamos guay - we are super happy, comfortable and contented (in this case about the wonderful temperatures)!

Le llevo dos años - I’m two years older than her

Enjoy these phrases?

There are a whole lot more like this in our Real Spanish Phrase Book!

Hopefully a few of you are thinking about making a video blog to post in our forum, as part of our grand ‘iPod Nano’ videoblogging competition. (Full details here about how you could win!)

We got the first video in yesterday, so thought we would post it here as an example of the kind of thing we’d love to see. In the video, Graham takes us around his village in Wales, pointing out, amongst other things, the old slate (pizarra) mines:

Remember, all the other videos will be posted in our special forum thread, though we may occasionally highlight great ones here in the blog! Do add one from your neck of the woods soon!

 

 Podcast Video: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download     

Also available on youtube and via iTunes

Phrases from today…

Escaquearse de algo - To get out of doing something

Ser un poco friki - To be a bit of a geek

Win an iPod Nano!

All you have to do is to send in a short video blog of your own - no matter what your Spanish level is! Come on, give it a go! Full details here!

Notes in Spanish L!VE - Fun video blogs for Upper Intermediate and Advanced learners - with all the cool vocab explained for everyone below!

This week, La Chuleta…

Cool phrases from today’s video blog…

La Chuleta - a cheat sheet that you smuggle into exams to copy from (what the guys in the photocopying shop wanted the girl behind the counter to make for them!)

Mi viejo/a - My old man, my old lady, slang for parents.

Mazo - slang for ‘lots’. E.g. Me mola mazo, I really like it, or tengo mazo de curro, I’ve got loads of work (curro is slang for work).

Eres un rajao - A rajao is a person that promises to do something with you, and then pulls out (rajao is short for rajado)

Tengo una movida en casa que no veas - You can’t believe the trouble I’ve got at home…

Competition Time!

Why not make a video of your own, and join in our new video blogging competition? You could win an iPod Nano! All Spanish levels welcome!

iTunes Users

You can subscribe to our Notes in Spanish L!VE video blogs in iTunes, via this iTunes link

We’ve decided that our main aim with our new Notes in Spanish L!VE videos is just to have a lot of fun! So here is the latest entry, ‘Truenos’, in which…. Ben es un exagerado, los ingleses saben más, y ¡la gente esta loca!

The top words from today’s video blog are:

Apart from the good old storm vocab (Rayos = Lightening, Trueno = Thunder), the top phrase pick has to be Marina’s comment to Ben:

‘Eres un exagerado!

… a cool Spanish phrase meaning, ‘you are completely over the top!’

If you enjoy these short videos, please sign up to get them automatically, just like our podcasts, via iTunes: Direct iTunes link.

Find more cool Spanish Phrases in our Real Spanish Phrase Book and Audio Guide!

A random start to our new ‘Notes in Spanish L!VE’ video blogging adventure, in which Ben, the Guiri Total, had to get a bit Spanish in mega department store Fnac to get his Euros back.

This is the start of a new videoblogging season here at Notes in Spanish: there will be lots of videos from lots of places coming your way! We hope to see yours too! Details of a new feed for those that want to subscribe in iTunes etc will follow shortly.

The top words from today’s video blog are:

Guiri - Foreign bloke, more info here.

Meterle caña - To give someone a hard time

Ponerse Chulo - To get tough about something, take no crap!

More Real Phrases in our Real Spanish Phrase Book and Audio Guide!

From Madrid’s Retiro park

Entonces, la pregunta es… ¿Qué es lo que más miedo te da?

(Extra points for anyone who answers with a video blog and posts in our forum!)

Subscribe to our video blogs - iTunes link

We think this is going to be a really fun month for Notes in Spanish!

October has been dubbed the ‘International Video Blogging Month’ and we really hope that as many of you as possible will send in a Spanish video blog from where ever you are in the world. We’ve already had our first video posted, from Costa Rica!

Send us a video blog too! It’s a great way to improve your spoken Spanish confidence, and to introduce yourself to the super-friendly Notes in Spanish community.

All you have to do is make a short video and upload it to the special video-blogging section of our forum, where you’ll find details of how to post your videos, and be able to see everyone else’s work.

We look forward to seeing your videos!

Singapore video

Finally, for those that missed it and prefer to see our videos here on the blog, here is our latest video blog from our trip to Asia, on Singapore!

Watch out for details coming soon on how to subscribe to our videoblogs via iTunes. In the meantime, here is the first installment from our recent trip to South East Asia…

Huge kudos to the students from Westlake High School en Austin, Texas, for putting together this great class video blog!

Thanks guys!

Why don’t you get your class to do something similar, and add your video to our Youtube group?

The latest installment from our recent travels…

More Spanish video blogs in the forum!

Discuss this video and more in the forum!

Back from a recent trip to the south of Spain, we have plenty of videos for you over the next few weeks! Here is the first, from the terrifyingly-named Puerto de Despeñaperros!

Don’t forget to join in the competition in the forum!

It’s the NiS Oscars Moscas! For the next month, until Friday May 25th, we hope to see a Spanish video blogging frenzy from all over the world. At the end of the month you will help us to pick a winner, the Mosca for the Best Spanish Video Blogger, who will receive a $100 dollar prize! Full details are posted over in our forum, in the new Spanish Video Blogs section, where all the action will take place!

Summer is coming my friends and it’s time to give another empujon to the Notes in Spanish videoblogging collective. Keep an eye out for details of the upcoming NiS Oscars! Meanwhile, here is a serious contender for the Oscar for Best Leading Actor… or maybe Best Use of Wardrobe (or lack of ) …

A new release from the NIS videoblogging archive - is the difference between the two meanings of “chapuza” clear? Join the discussion in the forum…

Tony Spanos and his students over at Weber State University are doing great things with the Spanish video blogging movement, with Tony introducing us to excellent modismos, and his students producing videos of their own. You can see their work over at Tony’s youtube page. Nothing, however, propared us for the following masterpiece by Marcus Asay and Jeff Jepperson:

¡Muchísimas Gracias Chicos! Nos ha encantado. You can see all the Notes in Spanish videoblogging community’s obras de arte over at our special youtube group page, and discuss them in the forum.

Now we need another university to take up the challenge of producing work as good as we’re seeing from Weber State. Keep these video blogs coming!

Today’s video looks at two monuments in the center of Madrid that commemorate those that died in the March 11th 2004 Madrid train bombings. Forgive/spot the occasional Spanish error, I’ll always be learning too!

Why not join the NIS video blogging party? Make your own Spanish vlog, add it to our fast-growing youtube group, and discuss it in the vlogging forum post with all the other NIS video bloggers around the world!

Keep ‘em coming!

… VideoBlogs!

Great stuff, thanks Simon, where will you guys take us next?! More Spanish Videoblogs please!

We now have at least six (more by now!) avid NiS videobloggers producing oscar quality content that can only help their Spanish to improve in leaps and bounds. To celebrate this we have set up a special Notes in Spanish video blogging group at youtube, where you can check in to see the collective’s latest works of Spanish vlogging art: check it out at www.youtube.com/group/notesinspanish, and please, join in the fun! Instructions on how to make and upload a video are here. Once it’s up, just add it to our group, and post/discuss it in our special vlog forum thread - not only will people tell you how great you are for making the video, but they should also help to correct any mistakes in your Spanish!

Forum member Pepino (Dave Hall) joins the NiS videoblogging collective with this obra de arte from Barcelona. Check out the ongoing videoblogging discussion in our forum, and get inspired to join in! Maybe we need to set up the NiS Spanish videoblogging oscars!

Now we want to see yours! OK, one more from us, below, then it’s over to you guys. Who’s going to be next to join the NiS videoblogging revolution?!

Many thanks to Eric for showing us the first day of his Spanish videoblog, watch his and then read on to see how you can join in!

As Eric says in the video he started the videoblog as a way of practicing for a Spanish exam, which seems to us to be a fantastic idea, a great way to get confidence speaking Spanish. Marina and I decided to record an answer for Eric:

So, why don’t you join us with a quick video of your own? Ours was recorded using a simple point-and-shoot camera and then uploaded to youtube (instructions here). We would LOVE to see your videoblog in Spanish - it could be like a quick diary entry, showing us something about your life, talking about learning Spanish, whatever! Upload it to youtube, and send us the link - who will be first to join the NiS videoblogging fun!?