How to find the words to say what you want to say, and how you want to say it? In other words, how to achieve accuracy in Spanish? At the base of an accurate expression in Spanish – or any other language you are learning–, is an understanding of basic […]
The robin redbreast had a message The robin had something to say. A song of renewal amongst the trees. A chirp to cheer el primer sollozo of the newborn. And like in mama’s womb a sliver of light se filtra por el Este. Y el petirrojo says: Come out! Emerge! […]
When I think about the challenges of learning a language, I rarely think about the difficulty of language itself, but about the mindset of the learner. And that, the willingness to make mistakes, the not taking oneself too seriously, the exploration, the never-ending journey… I am glad to introduce you […]
Whenever I ask my new students, subscribers, or any member of my audience, what they struggle with, the answer is always: the Subjunctive. And I get it. There are things in English whose logic took me time to get. And there are things I still don’t get like, the pronunciation […]
(to) teach: ‘to impart the knowledge of’ For years, I loved teaching. This passing on knowledge used to make my heart swell with joy. But, then, after many years of teaching, learning who to teach well, finding my own way of doing it, and becoming a good teacher, my heart […]
Mental health is not a destination, but a process. It’s about how you drive, not where you are going. While we are quarantined, you have no excuse to learn a language or improve it. And yet, the opposite is also true. You can leave this time of confinement with no […]
Meditation in Spanish <blockquote><p style=”text-align: center;”>Awareness is like the sun. When it shines on things, they are transformed.</p></blockquote>I have talked extensively about the benefits of <a href=”https://mariaortegagarcia.com/spanish-blog/meditation-and-language-learning/”>meditation for your language learning</a> practice. Having a calm mind will result in a more efficient Spanish practice, but what if you combine meditation […]
Journaling is one of the best ways to improve your Spanish. Why? Because you not only put into practice what you have learned but also, and most importantly because you connect emotionally with what you are writing. “A personal journal is an ideal environment in which to become. It is […]
Connection to ourselves and others. Connection to the planet we are inhabiting. Connection to the language we speak. Slowing down and paying attention with all our senses, it is, for me, the key to have a successful learning experience. And I am not the only one who thinks this way. […]
What is Meditation? According to the dictionary, ‘to meditate’ means to focus one’s mind for a period of time, in silence or with the aid of chanting, for religious or spiritual purposes or as a method of relaxation. There exist different practices, such as mindfulness, mantra chanting, focusing the mind […]
I have two sentences for you: Me ha dicho que viene el jueves. Me ha dicho que venga el jueves. Both correct. How is that possible?!?! What is this madness!? It’s not senseless and it is consistent with the meaning of subjunctive (subjective). Keep reading. One could say that some […]
Journaling in my mother language led me to write poetry, an activity I loved but which I stopped doing because I was young and influenceable and I believed then that if I couldn’t write good poetry (like the wordsmiths I studied in college), then I should not write at all. […]
Eres completo y también parte de círculos mayores y mayores de compleción de los que igual no sabes siquiera. Nunca estás solo. Y ya perteneces. Perteneces a la humanidad. Perteneces a la vida. Jon Kabat-Zinn You are whole and also part of larger and larger circles of wholeness you many not […]
As Gerald Edelman said: “L’expérience sculpte la conscience”, the experience will shape conscience, which, applied to language learning means that, in order to internalise a language more efficiently one needs to “experience” it, to feel it. One way of doing this is by creating your own affirmations or mantras and […]
I don’t know about you but I don’t have the same energy every day, and I don’t want to do the same kind of things every day. Some days, I am more focused and social, some other times I feel more easily distracted and introspective. Sure, I could force myself […]
Calm & Activate Much has been said about the key ingredients to a successful learning process. Being <em><strong>disciplined</strong></em> and <strong><em>constant</em></strong> is essential to learning, implementing and following a routine around the language that combines your goals and your time and that works for you is a very important step to reach […]
“There are no foreign languages, there are onlylanguages I can’t communicate in (…yet)”. This sentence summarizes the two weeks I spent in Montréal to attend LangFest 2019. What a conference! It was a celebration of one of the best forms of communication known to man: languages. It was a language lovers […]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ELITns6n2o There are four past tenses in Spanish; the perfecto, the indefinido, the imperfecto and the pluscuamperfecto. These four tenses dance together when we tell stories about the past or anecdotes… The four are necessary to express when the action happens, but also to set up the context of that past story. In this blogpost, I […]
“Confidence is preparation. Everything else is beyond your control.” – Richard Kline But, what does “fluent” even mean? According to the dictionary, FLUENCY is about expressing oneself easily, articulately and effortlessly in Spanish. And yet, being fluent in Spanish means something different for each person depending on their needs. […]
“Tell me and I forget, teach me and I may remember, involve me and I learn.” ― Benjamin Franklin “How do we learn better?” This question keeps going round in my head over and over since I started teaching. What is the best way to access knowledge? And, the best way […]
Every language has its own prosody – the patterns of stress and intonation–. That’s why when we are in a foreign country we can recognise our compatriots by hearing them speaking even if we don’t hear what they say. In this post you will learn: The intonation in Spanish Five […]
This post focuses on the speaking tasks of DELE B2, DELE C1 and DELE C2 oral exam. These tasks involve expressing an opinion and negotiating / arguing with the examiner in a formal / informal conversation. In this post we also cover the DELE exam topics for the DELE B2, […]
How to give commands or instructions in Spanish? The most common way of doing so is with the Imperative form. Of course, you can always use the polite indirect question like: <strong>¿Puedes hacerme un café por favor?</strong> <em>(Can you make a coffee for me, please?)</em> or<strong> ¿Te importaría cerrar la […]
The Spanish that you Already Know There is a lot you already know when you start learning Spanish, even if you haven’t studied it before. First of all, languages are not isolated things. Each language has commonalities with other languages. They are all part of a family and influence each other, so […]
“Learning Spanish is more difficult when you are an adult”, they say. The common misconception is that when you start learning a foreign language at that age you won’t reach fluency and you will never sound like a Spanish native speaker. The older you are, the more difficult it is […]
Gaby Carreira, nacida en Argentina se mudó a Galicia con su familia y de ahí a Valencia, donde vive actualmente. Gaby es una buscadora vital, viajante y bloguera que se hace muchas preguntas transcendentales.Haciendo honor a su afán de compartir, Gaby nos habla de libros y recursos interesantes que le han […]
My Story After fourteen years of teaching experience both in schools and privately, my teaching journey has been a windy one. It started with a professional path separated from the personal one because I felt that I, with all my varied passions and quirks, was not adequate for the task […]
Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia, y si no la salvo a ella no me salvo yo. – Ortega y Gasset Philosophy and philosophers might seem far too abstract and disconnected with the “real” world, however, different philosophical principles and concepts from different times, ie. Ancient Greece, are still very much alive […]
Ana transformó un hobby que se le daba bien en una profesión cuando la crisis golpeó al tigre celta. Lanzarse al vacío e iniciar la aventura empresarial de crear tu propia empresa de fotografía requería de ella algo más que tener buen ojo. Tomar la valiente decisión de crear un trabajo […]
Whether you are inclined to a beer or a glass of wine, having a drink and a small bite is part of Spanish culture as much as eating paella on Sundays. Every neighbourhood is populated with dozens of bars, from the tasca de barrio to the new restobar or gastropub. Almost every […]
Giovanni sabía que, a pesar de que se le dieran bien las matemáticas, una ingeniería no era lo suyo, pero la presión del entorno fue más fuerte. Decidir entre lo que se supone que es lo mejor para ti según los dictados de la sociedad y el entorno, y aquello […]
Cada día es un nuevo comienzo.(Every day is a new beginning) <img width=”1170″ height=”350″ src=”https://mariaortegagarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Headers-1-1.png” alt=”” srcset=”https://mariaortegagarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Headers-1-1.png 1170w, https://mariaortegagarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Headers-1-1-300×90.png 300w, https://mariaortegagarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Headers-1-1-768×230.png 768w, https://mariaortegagarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/05/Headers-1-1-1024×306.png 1024w” sizes=”(max-width: 1170px) 100vw, 1170px” /> There are multiple reasons why you should be comfortable describing your morning routine, one of them being the DELE exam (as […]
Una imagen vale más que mil palabras.(A picture speaks a thousand words) <img width=”1024″ height=”306″ src=”https://mariaortegagarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Headers-1024×306.png” alt=”” loading=”lazy” srcset=”https://mariaortegagarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Headers-1024×306.png 1024w, https://mariaortegagarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Headers-300×90.png 300w, https://mariaortegagarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Headers-768×230.png 768w, https://mariaortegagarcia.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/Headers.png 1170w” sizes=”(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px” /> Many Spanish official exams (including DELE) ask for a description of a photo or image in the speaking and/or […]
It is all about the intention. We know that the Indicative expresses a statement about a fact (affirm or suppose), while subjunctive expresses a virtual idea, something that we can’t or don’t want to express as a fact. So, in this realm of the not real, not tangible, not facts, we […]
Have you ever considered comics to improve or learn Spanish? Well, let me tell you if you haven’t, you should. Comics are a great way to access any language because they don’t have much text or long sentences and they show the current spoken language. History of the comic in […]
Many are the celebrities of Spanish or Hispanic origin, so it’s only natural that they are fluent in Spanish, but not only native Spanish speakers celebrities are the only ones who speak Spanish. ¡No señor! There are also many others who have learned the language of Cervantes. Let’s see some […]
As we advance in the journey of learning Spanish and we deepen in the Spanish language, we need resources to express with more and more detail our emotions, our surroundings, our views… These resources for advanced Spanish are at our disposal in books. Literature tends to be very descriptive […]
<h3>Further Reading</h3> <p style=”text-align: center;”><a href=”https://mariaortegagarcia.com/spanish-blog/impersonal-constructions-with-ser-and-estar/”>Impersonal constructions with “ser” and “estar”.</a></p><p style=”text-align: center;”><a href=”https://mariaortegagarcia.com/spanish-blog/ser-bueno-estar-bueno-not-same-thing/”>”Ser bueno” and “estar bueno”, not the same thing?</a></p><p style=”text-align: center;”><a href=”https://mariaortegagarcia.com/spanish-blog/ser-or-estar-the-answer/”>”Ser” or “Estar”: The Answer</a></p><p style=”text-align: center;”><a href=”https://mariaortegagarcia.com/spanish-blog/10-journaling-prompts-to-practice-ser-and-estar-in-spanish/”>10 Journaling Prompts to practise “ser” and “estar”</a></p> <h3>Where to go next…</h3> <a href=”https://mariaortegagarcia.com/masterclass/” data-elementor-open-lightbox=”” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener noreferrer”> […]
Remember, pronouns are words that refer to a noun. Relative pronouns are called “relative” because they are “related” to a noun that has previously been mentioned. One way to view relative pronouns is to recognise that they combine two sentences that share a common noun. In the following example, the […]
What can be a better way to learn Spanish than doing it while watching one of your favorite TV shows? Many of my students keep asking me suggestions about TV shows in Spanish that they could watch to improve their learning and also, and if watching a TV show really […]
This two verbs are a big cause of headaches. When to use one? When to use the other? We have already tackled this topic in two previous posts: Ser or Estar? The Answer Ser Bueno / Estar Bueno. Not the same thing In this post, we will learn about the […]
Subjunctive is one of the three moods in the Spanish conjugation of verbs, along with Indicative (used for objective facts) and Imperative (this is the one we use for the commands and orders). The moods in the conjugations refers at how the speaker feels about an action while the tense […]
Spanish has many verbs that are used for specific types of change or transformation, and if the change is sudden or involuntary. Many of those verbs mean “to become” in English but in Spanish they are not interchangeable because they have very specific meanings for particular situations. The next four verbs […]
I like wine. Yes, I can`t deny it. I also know I am not the only one. So, if you are a bit like me, you will enjoy this post very much. In every country I have traveled, what I want to do is to soak in their culture, talk […]
Do you know how to use the verbs “tardar”, “llevar” and “durar” in time expressions? Their use is fairly common to express how long it takes to do something, how long something goes on for or how long something has been going on. Let’s see the best way to use […]
Gerund. And what’s that? FORM We make it by replacing the endings “-ar, -er, -ir” of the infinitive with -ando (verbs that ends in -ar) or -iendo for the verbs that end in -er, -ir Note: if the stem of the verb ends in vowel, ie. caer — ca-er, the […]
“Echar” is a very tricky but I’m here to help! 🙂 If you look for the meanings of “echar” in the RAE (Royal Spanish Academy Dictionary) you will find about 48 meanings and as many expressions that use this verb. But despite all this abundance of meanings, the idea of […]
These are official diplomas accrediting your level of Spanish, issued by Instituto Cervantes on behalf of Spain’s Ministry of Education, Culture and Sport. They are valid indefinitely and are widely recognized internationally. Enroll in a DELE exam for the April 2016 sitting! There are 5 sittings planned for 2016, here you have the […]
