Learn Spanish Through Hispanic Culture archivos - Page 2 of 4

Un trocito de Real Spanish | ¡Ojalá me toque El Gordo! La lotería de Navidad en España: Spain's famous Christmas lottery

This lottery takes place in the Teatro Real or the Palacio de Congresos in Madrid and crowds of people attend. Children from San Ildefonso school, one of the oldest in Madrid with more than 400 years of history, practise singing out the winning numbers. One child takes out a numbered ball from a rotating drum and the other takes out of another drum ball that announces the prize for that number. The first prize is known as El Gordo (The Big One) and the winner receives 400,000 euros. The ticket with the number is known as el decimo (one tenth), because each number appears on ten different tickets: that is, there are ten tickets with the same number. There are four other prizes as well as El Gordo, worth from 125,000 euros (second prize) to 6,000 euros (fifth prize). Then there is what’s known as La Pedrea, consisting of lots of smaller prizes. Crowds of people queue up at the lottery offices to buy tickets, which cost 20 euros each. The most famous place to buy tickets is Doña Manolita, en Madrid, which started in 1904 and became very popular because so many of the tickets sold there won prizes. Many people buy shares in a ticket; that is, a ticket is shared among friends and family. Sometimes local businesses sell shares to their customers. The cost of shares is much lower and the prizes are shared among all the participants. The television advertisements for the lottery (see below) feature moving stories which encourage solidarity. The message is: “The best prize is sharing.” If you are in Spain around these dates, why not try your luck by buying a ticket or a share? Share the dream! Links to other articles and videos: Wikipedia article (in Spanish or English and several other languages): Sorteo Extraordinario de Navidad TV ad for the 2019 lottery: TV ad for the 2025 lottery: Sign up or log in to learn more about all our great materials

2023-12-05

Confused about when to kiss or shake hands? In this video, Virginia explains an important aspect of Spanish culture.

Hi! I'm Elizabeth, from Real Spanish, and a Spanish enthusiast just like you. The first time I came to Spain was to give a talk to groups of teachers in the Basque Country. I left Toronto on a cold and miserable late winter day, and arrived in bright spring sunshine in Bilbao. Sandals and shirtsleeves weather! That trip marked the start of my love for Spain. The teachers seemed to appreciate my work, and over the following years I was invited to work with primary and secondary teachers in many parts of the country. With each visit, I discovered more to admire: the relaxed lifestyle, excellent food, beautiful architecture, and stunning scenery. In time, I realised Spain was where I wanted to retire. I did, and I have been learning the language and adapting to the culture ever since. Why am I telling you all this? I’m telling you about my first trip to Bilbao because it was on that occasion that I was introduced to a woman — an important civil servant in the Department of Education of the Basque Country — who ignored my outstretched hand and kissed me on both cheeks. What Spaniards call the “dos besos” — two kisses, one on each cheek. Then I noticed a lot of cheek-kissing going on around me as people (mostly women) met old friends and new acquaintances. It took me a while, and several more embarrassing occasions when I lunged left just as the other person went right. Awkward! When I started this blog and our YouTube channel I decided to include some videos on cultural aspects of living in a Spanish-speaking country — including customs like the “dos besos “greeting that can catch newcomers completely off guard. This is one of those videos. Why don't I appear in the video? The video is in Spanish, narrated by Virginia, because although I speak Spanish, my accent remains stubbornly British (my original nationality) — and I felt it was important for the videos to be narrated by native Spanish speakers, to give you an authentic Spanish-language experience. So here is Virginia to help you with this important aspect of Spanish culture (transcription below). Hi, great to see you! Today I’ll explain the cultural norms in Spain regarding kissing or shaking hands. In an informal situation, when a friend introduces you to someone else, it’s normal for women to kiss each other on both cheeks, beginning with the right. Men usually shake hands, although when friends meet, it’s normal to hug or to pat each other on the back. In a formal setting, such as in a job interview, it’s normal to shake hands. However, don’t be surprised if, when you meet someone in a meeting or a conference, they kiss you on the cheek… as long as one of you is a woman. When you greet your colleagues whom you see every day, a greeting such as ¿qué tal? or ¿cómo va todo?, etc., is fine. So, some

2023-10-06

«Ponte las pilas!»: Improve your vocabulary by reading extensively

This blogpost is about the importance of reading to improve your Spanish. You'll get some useful advice on how to choose your reading material. You'll also learn how the Día del Libro, also known as the Day of Sant Jordi in Catalonia, is celebrated in Spain on April 23rd each year. Read extensively to improve your vocabulary and broaden your cultural knowledge According to applied linguists such as Stephen Krashen, the best way to improve your vocabulary is to read a lot, just slightly above your present level. According to Paul Nation, a leading expert on vocabulary development in a second or foreign language, to be able to get meaning from what you read, and to be able to figure out the meaning of most of the words you don’t know, you should already know at least 95% of the words in a text. To check the readability of a text, read a page without looking anything up but underlining or highlighting each new word. Count the number of words in several lines. Average out the number of words per line then multiply it by the number of lines on the page. Then count each underlined or highlighted word once, no matter how many times it appears on the page and whether it appears in only one form or several (e.g., mentira, mentir, mentiroso/a). Then calculate the percentage by dividing the number of known words by the total number of words. If this comes to more than 5%, this material will be hard going. Struggling with text is not motivating, so save it for later and look for something more accessible for now. You can read whatever interests you: novels, biographies, magazines, press articles, children’s books, graphic novels, practical or informational books or articles on cooking or gardening or the climate crisis… But read a lot! The first time you meet a new word, decide if it is essential to your general understanding of what you are reading. If not, skip it! It will surely come up again, and each time it does you will get a clearer idea of its meaning. Alternatively, if you don’t like ambiguity, use a reading app that has a built-in bilingual dictionary. Click on the word, and it will pop up with a translation. Sometimes you will encounter a known word that the writer is using in a more figurative or idiomatic sense. For example, if you know the word leche but you don’t understand how the writer is using it, click on the word and you’ll get not only a definition but also various expressions such as tener mala leche (to be bad-tempered) or estar de mala leche (to be in a bad mood). (Check out our post on the many ways of using leche in Spanish.) If you can find audiobooks, so much the better… you will improve your listening comprehension too! You can also look for a good text-to-speech app if you are reading electronically. Once you know the text well

2023-04-18

Solemne y alegre: Holy Week in the Hispanic World

First of All Before anything else, if this is your first visit to this corner of the blog: welcome to Seasonal Spanish, our series of video lessons about the great festivities and special days of the Spanish-speaking world, like New Year's Eve, Carnival, Labour Day, Holy Week and more. These lessons are aimed at intermediate-advanced learners, packed with the colloquial expressions people actually use in everyday speech: things like partirse el lomo, pasarlo pipa or no dar palo al agua. We also focus on the grammar nuances that come up in the video. Every video comes with its own student PDF—annotated transcript, grammar notes and links to activities—plus notes for teachers. By the way, this entry and the video carry quite a bit of specialised vocabulary, so depending on your level, you might prefer to read this entry in Spanish first: click “Español” above. But I'd encourage you to come back here afterwards to read it in English too—it's always a good way to check your understanding and then stretch your Spanish further. My Holy Week: from Barcelona to Seville I live in Barcelona, so my own experience of Semana Santa is, let's say kindly, the quiet version. There are processions here, yes, but nothing like the scale of Andalusia: the towering pasos, the costaleros sweating under the weight of the image, saetas sung from a balcony, the total silence of a packed street. That's Seville, and it's Holy Week with a capital H. I'll admit I've never actually been in Seville during Holy Week itself. But I did visit once, a couple of weeks before Easter, wandering around the Santa Cruz neighbourhood. And I saw one of those scenes that sticks with you: a group of little boys, no more than eight or nine years old, playing at being costaleros. They'd improvised a paso out of a small table, covered it with a tablecloth to stand in for the cloak, put a couple of religious figurines on top, and took turns carrying it on their shoulders down the pavement, dead serious, copying the slow, swaying walk of the real cofrades. Nobody had asked them to. It was simply, for them, as natural a game as playing football. It's a shame I don't have a photo, but you can picture the scene. That's when it really hit me how deeply Holy Week runs through the emotional fabric of a city like Seville—even for people still in short trousers. Something that might surprise you: the capirotes If you're from North America and you see a Holy Week procession for the first time, there's something that's probably going to unsettle you: the capirotes. Those tall, pointed hoods, with the nazareno's face covered beneath the cloth, can be unnerving, recalling—uncomfortably—the robes of the Ku Klux Klan. Even more so if you are black. It's an entirely understandable reaction, and I'd rather address it head-on than pretend it doesn't exist. The short answer is: no, they're not connected. Spain's confraternity capirote is far older,

2023-04-01

¡Es una pasada! Celebrating Carnival in the Hispanic World

Carnival in the Hispanic World After reading this blogpost in English, we recommend that you read it in Spanish Carnival is a celebration with both religious and pagan origins. It’s related to Lent, the forty days of spiritual preparation before Easter. Its pagan origins are related to the festival of Bacchus, the Roman god of wine, and other Roman festivals. Carnival is celebrated between February and March; the date changes because it has to begin on a Thursday, known as jueves lardero or jueves gordo (Fat Thursday). It ends on the following Tuesday, which is called Carnival Tuesday.This festival is called Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) in France, the United States (especially New Orleans) and Brazil; in the UK and other English-speaking countries this festival is called Pancake Tuesday or Shrove Tuesday. The origins of the word “carnival” may be the Latin carnelevarium, the prohibition of eating meat during Lent, or it may be related to carrus navalis (boat on wheels) that carried Bacchus during the Roman Bacchanalia festival. This celebration varies a lot; each city has its own characteristics and customs, but in general it involves costumes, music, parades and street parties. In Spain two cities are noted for their different ways of celebrating Carnival. The Carnival of Cádiz and the Carnival of Santa Cruz de Tenerife have been declared Fiestas of International Tourist Interest by the Government of Spain. The festival is also important in Águilas, Murcia and other cities such as Badajoz and Las Palmas de Gran Canaria. The Carnival of Cádiz is different from other Carnivals because its flair and sense of humour. People come out on the street wearing funny and very original costumes. In the Gran Teatro Falla (named for the musician Manuel de Falla, who was born in Cádiz) there are musical competitions among groups singing satirical songs or serious songs in praise of the city of Cádiz. The groups include chirigotas, comparsas, coros and cuartetos. The chirigotas are the most entertaining because of their lyrics and their costumes; they usually use satire to criticise current social or political events. But they can be heard outside the theatre too; there are many groups that come out to sing in the street, and people wearing costumes listen to their songs in a joyful and amusing party atmosphere. The Carnival of Tenerife is influenced by the Brazilian Carnival. It is noted for its colourful parade, rhythm and imagination. During the Gran Gala Carnival Queen is chosen, a beautiful young woman who is the centre of attention during the parade, wearing a huge fantastical costume. This gala to choose the Carnival Queen is broadcast on television and is one of the most anticipated and important events of the city. But this Carnival is also celebrated in the street. La Plaza de España de Santa Cruz is decorated and is full of refreshment stands or churrerías, and people go there to enjoy music in a festive atmosphere. Carnival Tuesday is the

2023-02-13

Christmas in Spain and other Hispanic countries

Learn some words and phrases related to Christmas in the Hispanic world. Before reading this blogpost, we suggest you view our video and the related blogpost about El Gordo (The Christmas lottery). Real Spanish: for people who are serious about improving their Spanish. Click here to view all our materials. One of the most characteristic things about Christmas in Spain is the belén (Nativity scene), also known as the pesebre (manger), or nacimiento (birth). The belén can be seen in December in many homes and businesses. However, its origin is not Spanish; King Carlos III of Spain brought the tradition from Naples. But the belén is a tradition not only in Spain but also in many Latin American countries as well as Naples, the south of France, Poland… Portal de Belén In Cataluña it’s traditional to display the figure of the caganer (shitter) doing his business in the fields. This figure is a symbol of fertility and prosperity and is supposed to bring good luck in the year ahead. You can see Christmas trees in many homes and commercial establishments as well as in public spaces such as plazas and local monuments. They are decorated with garlands, baubles, and lights, with a star at the top. Caganer Árbol de Navidad In Spain Christmas is mainly celebrated the evening of December 24th, the day of Nochebuena (Good Night). The whole family gathers to enjoy a special dinner. The dishes vary according to the region; some people like to full the table with delicious tapas, while others prefer a more formal dinner with first course, second course (fish or meat), and dessert. The important thing is to eat something special, something we don’t eat often. Typical sweets in Spain include turrón, mazapanes and polvorones. Turron Mazapan Polvorones In Latin America turkey is very popular, and panetón or sweet bread is a typical dessert. But every country has its own traditional foods. On Nochebuena people often sing villancicos (Christmas carols) accompanied by the tambourine and the zambomba, a kind of drum. Zambombas y Panderetas - "Ambiente navideño en las calles de Madrid" by M. Martin Vicente is licensed under CC BY 2.0 Speaking of the zambomba, we should mention the Zambomba Jerezana (in Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz), a popular celebration that has been recognised as a cultural asset. It originated in the 18th century, when neighbours used to meet in the interior patios of their buildings, to sing and to share food and drink. Zambombas Jerezanas - "Zambomba 2016 de la Fundación Cajasol en Jerez" by fundacioncajasol is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0 At twelve o’clock the midnight Mass is celebrated to commemorate the birth of Jesus; however, attendance at Mass is less and less common among Spaniards. Finally, you probably already know that in Spain gifts are traditionally exchanged not at Christmas but on January 6, the day of the Three Wise Men. Links to articles and videos: Recommended video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KQx7KGOoI9Y (short version of the above): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-K3b34NALeg Information based on: https://es.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zambomba

2022-12-08