Context

In our latest Spanish learning video Ben and Marina begin by explaining how Marina’s sister and her boyfriend came back from a Kitesurfing holiday in Brazil keen to improve their eating habits, and started buying more fruit and vegetables from the local market.

This reminded us about how lots of children these days don’t know the names of many fruit and veg, and so we thought we’d test your knowledge of the names of fruit and vegetables in Spanish! Watch the video and see how many you get right!

Spanish vocab and phrases from the video

Hacer kitesurfing – To do kitesurfing
Le gusta mucho hacer kite – He really likes kitesurfing
Han vuelto con muchas ganas de cambiar su estilo de vida y llevar una alimentación mas sana – They’ve returned [from holiday] really keen to change their lifestyle and eat more healthily
[En el mercado] se supone que la verdura y la fruta es de mejor calidad – In the market the fruit and vegetables are supposedly better quality
[La fruta y verdura] no ha pasado tanto tiempo en cámaras – The fruit and vegetables haven’t spent so long in refrigerators
Un limón – A lemon
Un aguacate – An avocado
Una berenjena – An Eggplant/Aubergine
Un calabacín – A zucchini/courgette
Una manzana – An apple
Una calabaza – A squash/pumpkin
Lo tengo en la punta de la lengua – It’s on the tip of my toungue
Un plátano (de Canarias!) – A banana (from the Canary Islands!)
Están super ricos – They are really nice/tasty
Una mandarina – A mandarin/tangerine
Una Clementina – A Clementine
Una nuez – A walnut
Un cascanueces – A nut cracker
Un cazo – A ladle
Un mortero – Pestle and Mortar
Una cabeza de ajos – A bulb of garlic
Un diente de ajo – A clove of garlic
¡Tampoco te pases! – Don’t go over the top!

And finally, Marina rembered a typical Spanish phrase with apples:

¡Estoy mas sana que una manzana! – I’m really healthy!

More Great Spanish Learning Resources…

- Learn Spanish with our best materials: Our free Spanish Learning Audio / Podcasts and the Premium Materials in our Store
- Watch more of our Spanish learning videos here
- Sign up for our Spanish-boosting newsletter here

Context

In our latest Spanish learning video (with real Spanish conversation followed by analysis in English!) Ben and Marina discuss the heat in Madrid, summer holiday plans, and what challenges they have lined up for the summer.

Vocab and phrases from the ‘Analysis’ section

¿Qué tal? – How are you?
…Muy bien – Fine
…Regular – So so/not great
…Estamos fatal - We are a complete mess
Todo el mundo tiene insomnio – Everyone has insomnia
El fin de semana que viene prometen 37 o 38 grados – This weekend we can expect 37 or 38 degrees
La fiesta de esta noche promete – I think it’s going to be a great party tonight
La fiesta promete – The party looks like it’s going to be really good
Vamos a viajar a la Selva Negra que me hace mucha ilusión – We are going to go down to the Black Forest which I’m really excited about
A mi me hace mucha ilusión pasar por Suiza – I’m really excited about going through Switzerland
Tienes algún reto para las vacaciones – Do you have any goals /challenges for the holidays?
Descansar y pasármelo bien – Relax and have a good time
Pásatelo bien – Have a good time
Bloc para esbozo – Sketch pad
Bloc – Notepad
Leeré a ratitos – I’m going to read in short bursts

More Great Spanish Learning Resources…

- Learn Spanish with our best materials: Our free Spanish Learning Audio / Podcasts and the Premium Materials in our Store
- Watch more of our Spanish learning videos here
- Sign up for our Spanish-boosting newsletter here

Context

Ben and Marina take a trip to one of their favourite spots in Madrid, the Museo de Sorolla, the green city home of one of Spain’s least known, but most loved painters. Like our video from Monday on Spanish table manners, the second half includes key analysis in English again!

Vocab and phrases from the ‘Analysis’ section

En pleno centro (de Madrid) – Right in the middle (of Madrid)
Se desnudó en plena calle – He took his clothes off right in the middle of the street
Qué gozada – How fantastic
Qué gozada bañarte en el mar – What a joy to swim in the sea
Están hechos en estilo arabesco – They are made in the Moorish style
Le gustaba retratar escenas cotidianas – He liked to paint everyday scenes
En mi vida cotidiana – In my everyday life
Retratos – Portraits
Voy a pintar un retrato – I’m going to paint a portrait
Su obra era caracteristica por la luz y lo llaman el luminismo – His body of work was characteristic for its use of light, they call it ‘luminismo’

Get More Spanish Inspiration!

Gold 2, mentioned in the video, is available here
Watch more of our Spanish learning videos here
Sign up for our Spanish-boosting newsletter here

Context

More fun Spanish learning video from Ben and Marina! We look at the different customs at the Spanish dining table, and Spanish superstitions involving the salt! Do listen to the second half analysis in English to get the most from the video.

Vocab and phrases from the ‘Analysis’ section

No se usa la servilleta – Serviettes aren’t generally used (in the UK)
En España se come mucha ensalada – A lot of salad is eaten in Spain
Otra cosa que se suele ver en la mesa española es una aceitera – Another thing you tend to see on the Spanish table is an olive oil bottle
Me resulta un poco violento pedirles una servilleta – I feel a bit uncomfortable asking them for a serviette
Cuando yo pongo la mesa – When I set the table
Soy un chapuza(s) – I don’t do things properly/I do things in half measures
Hacer chapuzas – To do some DIY
Hacerlo de manera chapuza – To do it not very well

More Great Spanish Learning Resources…

Gold 2, mentioned in the video, is available here
Watch more of our Spanish learning videos here
Sign up for our Spanish-boosting newsletter here

You can find them listed below. Feel free to download them and add them to your personal Spanish learning resources.

N.B. Sign up for our newsletter via the form top-right of this page, and you’ll get two more of our best ever reports too – our Super Simple Spanish Subjunctive Rule Book (the biggest, and best report we’ve ever made!) and Kick-Start Your Spanish, packed with ideas to improve your Spanish learning right now!

	11 Cool People Phrases in Spanish PDF The Spanish are gifted when it comes to describing their fellow human beings!

	Conversation Starters PDF 10 Ways NOT To Sound Like A Total Tourist In Spain…

	The Mighty Echar PDF Useful phrases with one of the most versatile verbs in Spanish, Echar

	The Most Amazing Spanish Learning Ideas Ever PDF – Put together with ideas from hundreds of Notes in Spanish listeners, this is a gold mine of ideas!

	10 Very Cool Spanish Verbs PDF – Some of these are pretty colloquial, but they’ll make you sound Super Spanish!

	Zero to Fluent in Spanish in 9 months PDF – The original steps Ben took to go from zero to pretty darn fluent in just 9 months!

	Spanish Wine Phrases Report PDF – We teamed up with our friends at Catavino to bring you both useful, and fun, wine phrases!

	False Friends Report PDF – How to avoid extreme embarrassment by not getting these mixed up!

	34 Uses of Dar PDF – 34 excellent ‘Dar’ phrases and expressions that are commonly used by Spanish speakers every day

	23 Ways to Translate “Become” in Spanish! PDF Dominate “Become” in Spanish from now on!

	Totally Understanding Llevar! PDF Become a llevar expert now!

Remember, if you’ve signed up for our newsletter you’ll get two more of our best ever reports too – our Super Simple Spanish Subjunctive Rule Book (the biggest, and best report we’ve ever made!) and Kick-Start Your Spanish, a real motivation booster full of ideas to improve your Spanish learning capabilities.

Just sign up for our newsletter via the form top-right of this page to make sure you get those two right now as well!

Many of you will have made improving your Spanish a New Year’s Resolution, and we aim to do our best to help you.

Hopefully you have already started to explore all the free Spanish learning audio and Spanish videos on these pages, and signed up for our newsletter – as usual we’ll be sending out frequent updates this year with our best Spanish learning language tips and advice.

Plus we’ll be making new audio and videos (starting with a great new video this week hopefully! Stay tuned!)

In the meantime, if I had to pick one free report from our archives to really encourage your big New Year’s Spanish-Learning Push, it would be our ‘Zero to Fluent in 9 months’ report.

Please download it here, and have a look at the ideas inside. Even if you do just one thing mentioned in the report, it could make a big difference to your Spanish.

Zero to Fluent in Spanish in 9 Months: PDF Download Link

Please note though, the report refers to my (Ben’s) learning experiences when I was young, free and single – I now know that things are very different when you are trying to fit learning in around a busy family and working life!

My biggest, best piece of advice today is to try and find consistency in your learning – try and do just 10 to 20 minutes a day if you like, but make sure those 10 to 20 minutes make you happy! Whatever learning method makes you feel comfortable, interested and relaxed – go with that!

What are you planning to do for your Spanish this year? Have you got any tips to share with us? Please leave us a comment, and once again, Happy New Year, and good luck with your Spanish!

Ben y Marina, 10 de enero, 2011

To celebrate the public launch of Notes in Spanish Gold (our best audio ever!) we’ve got another great free report for you, with a huge list of over 50 crucial Spanish false friend pairs.

You can download the report below, but do read this classic Spanish-confusion-nightmare tale first:

Why are False Friends important? Some of you may have heard this story before, but it’s worth repeating as a bit of a warning!

NIS listener Courtney sent us this great confession recently, about a somewhat embarrassing experience during the very first day with her host-family in Spain:

“Nunca lo olvidaré: Yo desayunaba con mi nueva “familia” española el primer día que yo llegué a su apartamento en Salamanca. Yo comía un pan dulce con una mermelada bien sabrosa. Les dije a mis “padres”: “¡Ay, que rico! Me encantan estos preservativos….”

At which point the whole family fell about laughing! Courtney, trying to be nice about their preservative jam, had just told them how much she loved their condoms!

The word she was looking for was “mermelada”, of course!

The special false friends report we’re giving away here to celebrate the launch of Notes in Spanish Gold this Monday, has a list of over 50 of these tricky false friend pairs, to make sure you never make an error like that one!

Download it here now:

Download: Notes in Spanish Falsos Amigos Special Report PDF

Important Extra News:

1. If you haven’t got our Spanish Subjunctive 21 page report yet (that basically demystifies it forever!), then get it here right now.

2. Did you see this weeks videos yet? If not, do check out the latest, ‘Our Big Vice’, with the brand-new analysis section in the second half (a winning concept taken straight from our new Gold audio). Watch it here.

2. Notes in Spanish Gold has previously only been for a handful of private members. This is our best work yet! We can’t wait until everyone gets a chance to find out…

Update: Notes in Spanish Gold is available now in our store!

Find out how to talk to this lot in today’s downloads!

UNO: Super-Useful PDF’s!

¡Hola! We’ve been going through our personal archives this week, and have found a couple of great pdf’s that we realise we may not have given to everyone yet. Please download these now and add them to your collection if you haven’t got them yet!

Download 1: 11 Cool People Phrases in Spanish PDF
Real Street Spanish from Spain, to fit in with (or be rude about) the locals!

Download 2: Conversation Starters PDF
How NOT To Sound Like A Total Tourist In Spain!!

To download these special reports, click on the links above or right-click on the links, and select “save link/target as” to save the pdf’s to your desktop.

DOS: NIS Charities Update

Every year Notes in Spanish gives away up to 5% of profits from our Store to charity. We’ve recently updated our contributions, and want to thank YOU very much for helping us help these great causes. With your help, we’ve recently added donations for:

- 720 euros to Fapas to plant 120 more trees in Asturias (this is our second tree-planting donation, see a video about the first Fapas ‘NIS Forest’ here).
- 400 Euros to Maitreya Fonds, which supports charitable projects in Vietnam.
- 510 dollars to Care and Share, which sets up schools for orphans in India, amongst other projects.

We have contacts working with all of these charities, so we know they are trustworthy and doing great work!

TRES: Coming Soon!

Keep an eye on your email next week for new Notes in Spanish Videos, plus the best free gift we’ve ever given away… ever! All to celebrate the upcoming launch of a very, very special Notes in Spanish pack on June 14th. More news about that, and more great free Spanish learning content next week!

If you haven’t signed up for our newsletter list yet, make sure you do so now via the form at the top of the right-hand column of this page! That way you’ll get all the cool free stuff first!

Thanks to all who voted! The winners are, First place: Scott 34% (322 votes); Second Place: Ana 31% (293 votes); Third Place: Pippa 16% (149 votes). Congratulations! I’ll be contacting you today! (And well done to the runners up, who also had great videos!)

Original post…

Marina and I have picked the finalists in our Notes in Spanish Video Competition! It was a very very tough job to pick 5 from all the wonderful videos we recieved. We haven’t been able to reply personally to everyone that entered (or we’d be here all week!) but we want to thank you all again for taking the time to participate – we really enjoyed your videos!

Please take a minute to watch all 5 of the short finalist videos below, and then vote for the one you like most using the special poll under the last video. The voting ends this Thursday July 9th at midnight, and we’ll award prizes (top prize 150 dollar Amazon voucher and more goodies!) to those three lucky winners with the highest number of votes on Friday 10th.

Here are the videos!

Finalist Number 1! Ana: WINNER 2ND PLACE!

Finalist Number 2! Pippa: WINNER 3RD PLACE!

Finalist Number 3! Patrick:

Finalist Number 4! Kjersti:

Finalist Number 5! Scott: WINNER 1ST PLACE!

Here’s the poll. Wathced all the videos? VOTE NOW!!

Muchas gracias! Ben y Marina

Keep boosting your Spanish with our audio!!