Do you want to improve your Spanish vocabulary? In this post we tell you everything you need to learn to talk about the days of the week and the weekend in Spanish.

Learn the vocabulary related to the days of the week and the weekends to be able to manage in Spanish and ask your friends. So, get ready to learn some very useful words for your day-to-day life and be able to immerse yourself in Spanish customs.

Click here if you want to read this article in Spanish.

Days of the week in Spanish

Let's start with the simplest, the days of the week from Monday to Friday. Do you know any of them already?

Lunes (Monday). We start with the first day of the week: “lunes”. It's like that first sip of coffee in the morning: sometimes it can be hard to swallow, but then you wake up!

Martes (Tuesday). After Monday, comes “martes”. It's like Monday's little brother, but it's a bit easier to handle.

Miércoles (Wednesday). It's Wednesday - the middle of the week! Also known as "hump day" in some places. It means the halfway point of the week and, its literal translation refers to going up a hill, which once you pass it, it's downhill!

Jueves (Thursday). It's almost the end of the week! It's like a preview of what's to come.

Viernes (Friday): Finally, we get to Friday! This word sounds like music to the ears. It is the day everyone looks forward to because it means the beginning of the weekend (fin de semana).

Weekend in Spanish

Finally, we come to the “fin de semana” (the weekend). Two days that are eagerly awaited by almost the entire population: Saturday and Sunday.

Sábado (Saturday). It is the first day of the weekend! It's a perfect day to sleep in, have brunch and enjoy the social or nightlife.

Domingo (Sunday). And then comes Sunday, the last day of the weekend. It is a day to relax or, perhaps, to do a bit of preparation for the week ahead. In short, a day to relax and enjoy.

Remember that in Spanish, both the days of the weeks and the months of the year are written in lower case.

In addition, here are some additional words related to the weekend that you may find useful. With them you will be able to express your weekend plans more concretely in Spanish.

Descansar (to rest). A weekend is a perfect time to relax and take a well-deserved rest. This word is perfect to indicate that you are going to spend the weekend relaxing and without any set plans.

For example: “Voy a descansar, llevo toda la semana trabajando sin parar” ("I'm going to rest, I've been working non-stop all week").

Entretenerse (entertain). During the weekend, you can enjoy various forms of entertainment, such as watching films, going to concerts or visiting museums.

You can say: “Este fin de semana tengo un concierto y voy a ver un partido de baloncesto.Voy a estar entretenido todos los días” ("This weekend I have a concert and I'm going to watch a basketball game. I'm going to be entertained every day").

Salir (go out). You can go out on the weekend to explore the city, dinner at a new restaurant or enjoy the nightlife.

Example: “Este viernes voy a salir con mis amigos por el centro de la ciudad” (“This Friday I'm going out with my friends in the city centre”).

Relajarse (relax). The weekend is a time for relaxation, where you can forget the worries of work and enjoy yourself.

For example: “Este sábado voy a relajarme a un spa con mi pareja” ("This sábado I am going to relax at a spa with my partner").

This vocabulary will help you to be ready to talk about the days of the week and your plans for the weekend in Spanish. Have fun exploring and enjoying your days off!

Examples of how to use this vocabulary

Here are some useful phrases to use with the above weekend vocabulary that can help you understand these concepts in Spanish:

• “¿Qué día es hoy?” (“What day is today?”). Ask what day of the week it is.
• “¡Que pases un buen fin de semana!” (“Have a good weekend!”) Wish someone a good weekend.
• “¡Es viernes!” (“It's Friday!”). Express your excitement for the weekend.
• “¿Qué haces el domingo?” (“What are you doing on Sunday?”). Ask about Sunday plans.
• “Voy a salir el sábado” (“I'm going out on Saturday”) or “Este domingo voy a visitar un museo” (“This Sunday I’m going to visit a museum”). Indicate your weekend plans.
• “¿Cómo ha ido tu fin de semana?” (“How was your weekend?”) Ask about the weekend.

There you have it: basic vocabulary for the days of the week and the weekend in Spanish. Now you can start planning your weekend getaways or just chat about your plans for the week with your friends and with a little more style.

Are you ready to take your Spanish vocabulary to the next level? Learn Spanish in Spain with don Quijote. We are a leading language school with a wide range of immersion programmes, whether you are a beginner or advanced learner, at don Quijote we offer courses tailored to your needs.

Have you ever heard a Spanish expression that sounded strange? "Esto es pan comido" or "He metido la pata hasta el fondo". Well, these are colloquial Spanish expressions that will help you master the language.

The importance of understanding and using colloquial language is effective in gaining a deeper understanding of Spanish culture. We will show you some of the most common expressions, their meaning and some examples that will clear up any doubts of their context. And if you want to read this article in Spanish and practice your reading skills, just click here.

What is colloquial language?

Colloquial language is a form of verbal communication used in informal and everyday situations. It is a more relaxed, familiar language that reflects the way people speak in their daily lives. Therefore, it is based on a more natural vocabulary, gestures and intonation gain more importance and, of course, expressions and idioms specific to each place or region are used.

The use of colloquial language is a natural way of communicating and it is important for interacting in informal situations. It is also very useful for understanding a language such as Spanish, as you can integrate yourself more into its culture. So, if you are learning Spanish, these colloquial expressions may help you to understand the language better.

Colloquial expressions in Spanish and their meanings

These are some of the most used colloquial expressions in the Spanish language. Have you heard any of them before?

1.Estar en las nubes or Estar en la luna (To be in the clouds or To be over the moon)

It means to be distracted or thinking about something other than what is happening at the moment. For example: "Hoy estuve en las nubes en clase y no entendí nada" ("Today I was in the clouds in class, and I didn't understand anything").

2. Meter la pata (Screwed up)

It is used when someone inadvertently makes a mistake or says something inappropriate in a peculiar or sensitive situation. Example: "Ayer metí la pata al decirle a mi compañero que su idea no me gustaba" ("Yesterday I screwed up when I told my classmate that I didn't like his idea").

3. Echar una mano (Give a hand)

It means to help someone or have a person help you with a specific task. Example: "¿Puedes echarme una mano con este ensayo de ciencia?" ("Can you give me a hand with this science essay?").

4. Costar un ojo de la cara (Cost an arm and a leg)

It is often used when something is extremely expensive. For example: "Este nuevo smartphone cuesta un ojo de la cara" ("This new smartphone costs an arm and a leg").

5. Estar hecho polvo (To be knackered or To be exhausted)

This expression is very useful to say that you are tired. For example: “Nos estamos mudando, así que estamos hechos polvo” (“We are moving house, so we are kanckered”).

6. Ponerse las pilas (Pull your socks up)

This expression in Spanish means to get into action or to put more effort into something. For example: "Si quieres aprobar el siguiente examen, debes ponerte las pilas y estudiar más" ("If you want to pass the next exam, you have to pull your socks up and study harder").

7. Tener mala leche (Have a bad temper)

This is an expression used when someone is angry. It can also mean to be malicious or to have bad intentions. Example: "No discutas hoy con Juan, tiene mala leche" ("Don't argue with Juan today, he's got a bad temper").

8. Hablar por los codos (Talk too much)

It is used when a person talks a lot and non-stop. For example: "Mi prima habla por los codos, no puedo entender cómo tiene tanto que decir" ("My cousin talks too much, I don’t understand how she has so much to say").

9. Tener buena o mala pinta (To look good or bad)

This is a very common phrase and is used to say that something looks good or bad. For example, when you are in a restaurant, and you say: "La comida tiene muy buena pinta" ("The food looks very good").

10. Es pan comido (It is a piece of cake)

Means that something is very easy to do, for example: "El examen fue pan comido, no tuve problemas para responder las preguntas" ("The exam was a piece of cake, I had no trouble answering the questions").

11. Dar la lata (Bother or Badger/Hassle)

Another very common expression used to say that a person is annoying us is "dar la lata". For example: "María no ha parado de dar la lata todo el día con el mismo tema" ("Maria has been bothering us all day with the same subject").

12. Estar hasta las narices (Tired as hell)

It means to be tired or fed up with something or someone, for example: "Estoy hasta las narices del ruido que hace el vecino con el piano" ("I'm tired as hell of the noise the neighbour makes with the piano").

Have you heard any of these expressions? Have you heard a different one that is not in this article? What colloquial expressions does your language have? Tell us in the comments!

It is important to note that colloquial language can vary according to region and culture; what is colloquial in one place may not be colloquial in another. In addition, colloquial language is appropriate in informal contexts, such as conversations between friends. However, it may not be appropriate in more formal situations, such as job interviews or academic presentations.

If you want to learn Spanish in Spain or in a Spanish-speaking country such as Mexico, don Quijote schools are waiting for you. Our immersive courses and native teachers will help you learn Spanish and understand all these colloquial expressions.

One of the most common questions when you want to start studying a language is: how long will it take to learn it? Spanish is one of the top 5 most spoken languages in the world, which is why this question is often asked by students.

This question is a recurring concern among people who want to study Spanish and is very present during the learning process. Here, we will answer this question and tell you how long it takes a person to learn to speak Spanish fluently. Click here if you prefer reading the article in Spanish.

Factors that influence when learning Spanish

The process of learning Spanish can be very complex. The hours you dedicate to study it, the objectives you have or the resources you use are some of the determining factors to become a Spanish speaker.

The mother tongue is another factor in whether your learning progress will be fast or slower. Romance languages such as Italian, Portuguese or French have more similarities with Spanish, as they all come from Latin. Therefore, if your mother tongue is one of these, the structures and the words will be more similar, and the process will be easier.

On the other hand, if your mother tongue is German, Dutch, Arabic or comes from Asia, such as Chinese or Japanese, you may find it more difficult to learn Spanish grammar or phonetics, for example.

However, this does not have to be a problem, since in Spanish, the pronunciation is identical to how the words are spelled. For this reason, some students which their mother tongue is English find it very easy to learn Spanish.

Another factor that influences the process of learning Spanish is the amount of time you invest in it. Spending an hour or three hours a day will vary the level, as well as the materials you use. Native teachers, books, Spanish movies, or music can help you improve your pronunciation or understanding of the language.

Even the objective you set for yourself is fundamental to learning Spanish. Because reaching an A2 level does not require the same effort as achieving a C1. Thus, it also depends on what you want to achieve: understanding yourself in a foreign country, reading a classic novel or speaking fluently with native people.

How many hours it takes to learn Spanish?

The number of hours per week you spend in studying Spanish is the key factor in determining how fast you will learn the language. It is estimated that to speak and understand Spanish you need a minimum of 250 to 350 hours, that is, between 8 to 12 months. You can achieve this considering that you spend at least one hour a day studying Spanish, and depending on the methods you choose.

However, the U.S. Foreign Service estimates that to learn Spanish fluently you need to spend between 600 and 700 hours, that is, 24 to 30 weeks.

All these data are subject to variations and to the characteristics of each person because everyone has a different ease in learning a language. And, as we have seen, it also depends on your mother tongue, the hours you invest and how you decide to learn it.

Although, learning Spanish in a country where it is the mother tongue and being able to practice daily with native speakers is one of the best options. Make a difference and immerse yourself in the culture, join Don Quijote to learn Spanish in Spain and live a unique experience.

“El alma que allí canta, que allí en el misterio de la creación poética se cela y a la par se descubre, no es el alma del poeta: es el alma de su Andalucía, es el alma de su España. ¡El alma de su España andaluza, gitana y romana, patente y densa, olor y luz aliviados en música en la poesía de García Lorca!”

“The soul that sings there, that there in the mystery of poetic creation is concealed and at the same time discovered, it is not the soul of the poet: it is the soul of his Andalusia, the soul of his Spain. The soul of his Andalusian, gypsy and Roman Spain, clear and dense, scent and light relieved by music in the poetry of García Lorca!”

Today, we leverage these words said by the great Spanish poet and philologist Dámaso Alonso about Federico García Lorca —the most international granaíno (localism to refer to people from Granada)— to pay homage to one of the most studied dialects of all the linguistic and cultural variants of the Spanish language: Andalusian Spanish. Why? Because today, February 28, is the Día de Andalucía, “Andalusia Day” in English, the day that commemorates the celebration of the referendum that marked the beginning of the process for the creation of the Autonomous Community of Andalusia in 1980.

Click here to switch to the Spanish version.

A first approach to Andalusian dialects of Spanish

Andalusian Spanish is a linguistic modality of the Spanish language spoken mainly in Andalusia, Ceuta, Melilla and the southern areas of the province of Badajoz. In addition, the Andalusian is a dialect used in the British territory of Gibraltar, in the Bay of Algeciras, and also coexists with the Portuguese in those locations bordering the province of Huelva.

It is not surprising that a language such as Spanish, with more than 400 million native speakers spread throughout the world, presents different and diverse dialect variants. This is the case of the Andalusian dialect or Andalusian dialects,  the rich and abundant subvariants that can be found internally. Andalusia is a vibrant region where we can discover different forms of expression which are unique and proper of each area.

Andalusian Spanish: prejudices and cultural imperialism

As we have already commented above, Andalusian Spanish is one of the most studied dialects of all the variants of the Spanish language. However, this mainly theoretical perspective has not made an impression on the social ground, giving rise to many topics and false myths. It is possible that you have ever heard someone, who is not a native speaker of Andalusian Spanish, imitating the accent, sometimes even making fun of it, as well as the peculiarities of this linguistic modality.

However, it is also true that mother tongues are not an exclusive property of native speakers, and it would be interesting that, just as we adopt Lorca's poetry as one of the most valuable elements of Spanish culture, we also considered Andalusian Spanish as an essential part of the standard variety. Andalusian Spanish is just another form of expression that enriches us all, since, in addition, languages ​​and their variants are not watertight compartments with rigidly established borders and limits.

Andalusian Spanish as an oral form of expression

As the Research Group called "The Spanish spoken in Andalusia", at University of Seville, say "Andalusian speech is the result of a long historical tradition, and arises from a development —from old Spanish— partially differentiated from the one experienced by other modalities of the Spanish Language.”

In other words, the Andalusian variety is another way of speaking Spanish, a variant of the standard that is the result of hundreds of years of development and evolution, a different speech that brings richness and diversity to oral ways of expression while providing other perspectives to understand and define the world around us. In fact, Andalusians —except some cases that can be found in poetry*— write like any other users of the Spain Spanish, leaving aside their most characteristic features.

* At the beginning of the 20th century, Andalusian Spanish was about to be considered a regional and cultural variant also on a written level. One of the Andalusians that contributed to this development was the great Federico García Lorca. He knew that Andalusian Spanish was a language full of joy and musicality, something reflected in all his poetic and theatrical production. There is also a version of the literary work The Little Prince —written by Antoine Marie de Saint-Exupéry— in Andalusian Spanish.

The great diversity of Andalusian Spanish

As we said at the beginning of this blogpost, rather than talking about the Andalusian speech, we should talk about Andalusian speeches. The characteristics and attributes of the Spanish spoken in southern Spain occur differently depending on the region, province or town, giving rise to very different traits both in pronunciation and the lexicon: ceceo versus seseo , loss or aspiration of the final -s, illo vs pisha or mi alma (different terms used in Andalusia to refer to men or boys in a colloquial way), and a long etcetera.

In the same way that the Spanish spoken in the interior or northern areas of the Iberian Peninsula show clear signs of diversity, we can discover a melting pot of different shapes and colors within each of the subvariants of Andalusian Spanish. In fact, not all Andalusians speak what we colloquially call Andalusian Spanish, since not all areas of Andalusia manifest the same characteristics nor the signs that we usually classify as Andalusians. For example, in northern areas of Huelva and Seville, the variant is closer to the Spanish spoken in Extremadura, in the same way that the Spanish used in Granada is more similar to the one used in Murcia. Thus, we return to the idea that languages ​​and their dialectical variants are not fixed nor respond to established limits, but rather behave as a continuum whose elements occur without spatial interruption, flowing through the different areas where there is social interaction.

The art of Andalusian Spanish: pronunciation, grammar and lexicon

The Andalusian accent is probably one of the most representative features of the Spanish spoken in southern Spain. Researchers have long pointed out three general characteristics of Andalusian speech:

• A faster and more varied rhythm in terms of the tone used, which, in comparison to general Spanish, produces great contrasts due to the rather monochromatic tone of the Spanish used in the interior of the Iberian Peninsula.
• Certain ways of articulating sounds that have a different distribution, so that certain phonemes are produced in a more relaxed way and others in a more tense way.
• A set of pronunciation features – shared with other areas - that occur more frequently in Andalusia, reaching a high concentration and social relevance.

We cannot say that there is a proper grammar of Andalusian Spanish, since the grammar used in the south is the same as that one used in the rest of the country. However, we can observe certain variations in the way personal pronouns are used, for example, the use of ustedes instead of vosotros —although this is not a regular issue. We can also find some archaic uses in certain verbs, such as the use of the verb ser as an auxiliary instead of haber. E.g. Si me fuera dado cuenta instead of si me hubiera dado cuenta.

Lexicon: Andalusian Spanish vocabulary

The types of meaning refer to specific cases of study from the University of Seville:

Rural and related voices

• Instruments: capacho (basket), barcina (esparto net), almocafre (escardillo), calabozo (pruning ax)

• Rural machinery: alfarje (millstone), atarjea (pipe, ditch), almatriche (id.)

• Land: campiña, marisma, pago (vineyard or olive groves), cortijo, balate (ditch / wall)

• Plants and fruits: alhucema, gurumelo (mushroom), jinjolero (deciduos shrub), alcaucil (artichoke), durazno (peach), papa, pero (apple), habichuela, cañaduz (sugar cane); casco (orange slice); puyar (grow tree guide)

• Agricultural activities: ablentar (throw), esmuir (milking)

Seafaring voices

• Fish: albures (river fish), safio or zafío (conger), breca, lula (coarse squid), cardume (n) (school of fish), brótola, chanquete (two different autochthonous fish).

• Boats: traíña, boliche (a type of boat)

Food

• Human: chícharo (chickpea / pea / bean), alboronia (vegetable stew), hallulla / -o (cake), calentitos y tejeringos (churros), hochío (cake), repápalo (round muffin, donut), pipirrana (Andalusian salad)

• Cattle: afrecho (bran), arvejón (staple crops)

Home

• Soberado y doblado (upper part of the house), sardiné, sardinel, and rebate (entrance step), casalicio (large house), alacena (pantry), falsa (attic).

Weather

• Hacer buena (/mala) orilla, llampo (lightning), boria (fog), claras del día (sunrise), harinear (to drizzle) and harinilla (drizzle), flama (burning heat)

Descriptions

• About people (positive connotations): (d)espelotado (healthy, robust), jirocho (satisfied), marchoso (brave)

• About people (negative connotations): majareta and majarón (crazy), charrán (rascal), chalado and pirado (crazy), gilí (dumb), (d)esabori(d)o, chuchurri(d)o (withered, cracked ), falto (dumb), frangollón (who does things late and badly), parguela (dumb)

• Positive feelings: camelar (want)

• Negative feelings: achares (shame, jealousy), canguelo (fear), coraje (anger, irritation)

As any other language, Andalusian Spanish is linked to people and cultures. Andalusian is the Spanish of Andalusia and the language used by great geniuses like Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer, Pablo Picasso or Federico García Lorca.

At don Quijote, we hope you enjoy this article and that it helps you to expand your knowledge of the Spanish varieties spoken in cities such as Malaga, Seville or Cádiz.

Let’s talk about machine translation. Often abbreviated as MT, it refers to automated software that can translate text inputs from one language to another. Google Translate or DeepL are some of the most popular machine translation services on the Internet.

Although the machine translation market size is expected to grow worldwide in the next years, as Statista data shows, Google Translate will never achieve the efficiency of human-powered translation. Do you want to know why? Keep on reading to discover some of the funniest Google Translate Fails in Spanish and why they can’t (yet) be avoided.

Switch to the human-translated Spanish version of this post.

Polysemic Words: A Nightmare Scenario

Without the right context, polysemy can be a great challenge for translation machines, especially in short text strings. When a word has multiple meanings, Google Translate chooses one according to the information given in the rest of the sentence. But, as you can see in the example below, that doesn’t always work.

The word school refers not only to a teaching organization, like don Quijote Spanish schools, but also to a large number of fish swimming together in the same direction. However, Google Translate does not quite grasp the difference. The result? A target text stating that some fish spend most of their time being schooled.

Proper Nouns Hinder Proper Translations

Proper nouns should only be translated in very specific cases. For example, when a fictional character’s name defines something about his personality. If you’re a Lord of the Rings fan, you’ll know how important it is for Gandalf the Grey to become later Gandalf the White. That’s why, for once, Spanish movie translators did well in translating this character’s name for ‘Gandalf el Gris’ and ‘Gandalf el Blanco’.

However, in most cases we shouldn’t translate proper nouns. In the example below, Google Translate didn’t realize that Pink is (also) a proper noun and ended up saying a that a color went straight into the Billboard Hot 100 list.

Proverbs and Sayings: A Long Way to Go

Google is getting more and more efficient thanks to artificial intelligence. However, and even if English<>Spanish is one of the language pairs most human input, it makes mistakes. It can translate well-known sayings, like it’s raining cats and dogs, but it doesn’t work with the less common ones.

The equivalent Spanish saying in the following case would be mejor pájaro en mano mejor que ciento volando.

Cultural Differences: Guaranteed Failure

Even professional translators can sometimes overlook cultural differences… imagine how often machine translation does so. How many lives does a cat have in your language? In English it’s nine, but in Spanish it has seven, and in Arabic only six. And believe us, Google can’t tell the difference.

Final Thoughts

Automation is taking over the world, but there are some tasks that a machine will successfully perform on its own. Translating is one of them. If you work in an international environment, we strongly recommend you to take a business-oriented Spanish course so you don’t need to rely 100% on Google Translate for your emails and presentations.

Spoiler: same as ‘little’ vs ‘a little’

Our latest post about Spanish language talked about quantifiers such as mucho, bastante, demasiado and poco. In today’s article, we are going to go over the differences between poco and un poco when used with uncountable nouns.

If what we are saying is all Greek to you, switch to the Spanish version of this post and keep on reading.

Countable or Uncountable?

To better understand this blog post, you need to know first what countable and uncountable nouns are:

• Countable nouns are realities that ca be counted unit by unit. In other words, they can be assigned a number. For example, libro (book), niña (girl), casa (house), botella (bottle), or beso (kiss) are countable entities.

Tengo tres libros de terror

(I have three horror books)

En España es normal saludarse con dos besos

• However, uncountable nouns depict realities that, due to their nature, can’t be broken into units. Therefore, they can’t be counted. Substances, materials and abstract concepts usually fall into this category: leche (milk), agua (water), azúcar (sugar), paciencia (patience), miedo (fear)… For example:

En esta piscina hay mucha agua

(This pool has a lot of water)

Mi profesor tiene bastante paciencia

(My teacher has a lot of patience → is very patient)

In this case, it would be incorrect to say, for example, tres aguas* (three waters) or 20 paciencias* (20 patiences). The quantity of this kind of nouns is determined by quantifiers such as mucho (a lot of), bastante (quite some), demasiado (too much) and poco (too few), but not with numbers.

Poco vs un poco

The type of nouns we’ve just reviewed, uncountable nouns, can use the formula we introduced at the beginning of this post: un poco (a little). The difference between poco (little) and un poco (a little) depends mostly on the speaker and the message he or she wants to convey.

• Poco (little) highlights the idea that there is almost nothing. In other words, the word has a negative connotation. For example:

Hay poco café en casa. ¿Puedes ir al supermercado por favor?

(There is few coffee left at home. Can you please buy some more?)

• Un poco (a little) expresses that there is a bit of something, although not that much. In other words, the word has a positive connotation. For example:

Hay un poco de café en casa. No es necesario que vayas hoy al supermercado hoy

(There is little coffee left at home. You don’t need to go to the supermarket today)

In the first instance, the speaker considers that there is not enough coffee left, while in the second example he or she considers that there is few coffee left, but it is enough.

To summarize, with poco the glass is half empty and with un poco de the glass is half full.

Many thanks to Ignacio Sellés, from our Spanish school in Alicante, for writing this post. Keep on learning Spanish with don Quijote’s language resources!

For Catholics all over the world, Christmas is a traditional holiday that starts on December 25. It commemorates the birth of Jesus of Nazareth, but it is also a time to celebrate with our loved ones, exchange gifts, eat typical products, say goodbye to the year that ends, and welcome the new one that begins.

Click here to continue reading this blog post in Spanish.

But, in Spain, we have our own holiday traditions, and when New Year’s celebrations are over and January 6 is approaching, we start to prepare one the most exciting festivities —especially for the youngest of the family: the arrival of the Three Wise Men. We have already told you in other posts of this blog what this tradition consists of, but today we are going to give you some tips for you to enjoy the ritual of writing the letter with your children, nephews, cousins ​​or little siblings. Not only is it about making a list of all the things they want to be given, but it can be also a good opportunity to teach them to think about their actions and the situation of the world around them.

1. Teach them to reflect on their behavior

Writing the letter to the Three Wise Men can be a great way to perform an exercise in self-criticism in which children reflect on their behavior and improve it in the future. It is therefore a good time to teach them that they should evolve day by day and have a conscious life, not only on these dates, but also during the rest of the year. They will learn to value that every effort has a reward.

2. Teach them to make decisions

Each year in the month of December, children start to decide what gifts they want to receive on January 6. But since they can't ask for everything in the toy catalog —because the Wise Men would go bankrupt— the little ones must learn to choose what they really want. They will be also learning that every decision we make has some kind of impact on our lives. Explain also that, although their desires are reasonable, they may not be given everything they asked for, as the Wise Men must reach every child in the world and, sometimes, they make mistakes. Thus, they will learn that we ​​cannot have all we want, even when we deserve it.

3. Recommend them to ask at least for one non-toy gift

Although we all know that children love toys, it can be a good point to teach them that there are other valuable things to ask for. Maybe, something to make the world a better place, like the ending of war, hunger or pollution throughout the world; or even something for their future, such as a family trip, or an unforgettable experience in a Spanish summer camp! They will learn a new language and make friends from all over the world.

4. Recommend them to choose one other gift that encourages exercise —physical or mental

Hottest toys today encourage sedentary lifestyle, that is, they are designed for children to play without much effort. However, this can be a good time to change habits and ask for some toy that promotes outdoor exercise, teamwork or intellectual development. Good examples of this are puzzles, bicycles, skates, sports balls, or even Spanish courses in Spain!

5. Teach them some history

Take this opportunity to teach some history to the youngest of the family. Tell them about the origin of cultural holidays . They will be learning interesting facts about our past and having fun at the same time, since history can be told as a story. They’ll love it!

At don Quijote, we hope you make the most of this blog post, so that you can perform the ritual in the best way! Here, you can find a letter template that you can download (click on the photo) and complete with the children around you. Do you take the challenge?

This is probably not the first time you find us talking about linguistic economy. When we shorten words, either using apocopes, acronyms or other types of abbreviation, we make language more economical. In other words, we express ourselves quicker. In today’s post, we bring you a list with some of the most used abbreviations in Spanish, so you can easily identify them.

Keep on reading to learn the most commonly used Spanish abbreviations or click here to switch to continue reading in Spanish.

Before Getting Started: Differences Between Sigla and Acrónimo

Both siglas and acrónimos are shortened forms of words. In Spanish, siglas are a type of abbreviation formed by the initial letter of each term in the string. They are spelled letter by letter. By contrast, acrónimos can be spelled by syllable.

• Sigla: ECB > BCE (European Central Bank > Banco Central Europeo). Spelling: B-C-E.
• Acrónimo: UN > ONU (United Nations > Organización de Naciones Unidas). Spelling: O-NU.

In this article by RAE (which is by the way an abbreviation of Real Academia Española) you’ll find the most common Spanish abbreviations.

Country and Language Abbreviations

Let us introduce you the ISO 3166 system in case you didn’t know it. This is a standard coding system that assigns three letters to each country. This way, the code for Spain is ESP, the code for Mexico is MEX and the code for Costa Rica is CRI.

And because not all countries have just one language, the international community has created another abbreviated system called ISO 639 to identify all languages around the world using only two letters. Here’s the name of all official languages spoken in Spain according to this system:

• Spanish: ES
• Catalan: CA
• Basque: EU
• Galician: GL

International Organizations Abbreviations in Spanish

One of the biggest challenges when learning a new language is being able to understand abbreviations. Some cultures tend to keep the official abbreviation (in the source language), but we all know that in Spanish we translate everything, even movie titles.

However, most of the times organizations abbreviations are made of English or French terms, which are not that different from Spanish. Thanks to this, the Spanish abbreviation usually differs from the English one only in the order of the elements. Let’s see the abbreviation of some of the most popular organizations in the media:

Time Abbreviations

Charts, calendars, reports and official documents usually contain dates that we tend to shorten to save time and space. To do so, we can use only numbers following the format dd/mm/yyyy or shorten the name of the month and the weekday. Although there are discrepancies between the different short forms, Fundéu recommends the use of the following ones:

Month Abbreviations in Spanish

Weekday Abbreviation in Spanish

Texting Abbreviations in Spanish

Since the SMS (abbreviation of Short Message Service) appeared, the use of abbreviations increased. Afterwards, social media and instant messaging did they part and, nowadays, abbreviations are an ordinary thing in our daily chats. Twitter’s character limit and WhatsApp’s immediacy are good reasons why you should learn to identify (and use) texting abbreviations.

Let’s leave aside academic formality for a while and have a look at some of the most popular digital abbreviations.

Hope you found this post useful. Next time you face an unknown Spanish abbreviation, breath deeply and don’t panic! You can use the tips above to find out its meaning.

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?