Spanglish City

I wore an ugly Christmas jumper in March because it rained for three weeks solid and I had nothing else clean, warm and dry.

My mother visited for a week during this time, bringing four bikinis - and she used them, but as bras. She wasn’t prepared for the deluge, either.

And yes, it’s great for the plants. I’m changing my ‘sunflowers’’ name by deed poll because they’re doing surprisingly well. But the rain is bringing out the worst in me, and I’ve been fighting this insatiable urge to rant about it - you’ve been warned.

To keep this on topic, the learning objective is the word for 'umbrella'.

I’m pretty certain you know it already, if you’ve been around Valencia for the last month or so. But they are one of the most useless items on the planet with one of the poorest product UX no matter how much money you spend on one.

Firstly, they don’t even keep you wholly dry. Wet feet guaranteed and wet body from flailing the thing in the air when you have to avoid poking other pedestrians in the eye. Dry head at a push. But just put your hood up and done.

You can just about keep your bouffant dry if there’s no wind, but add that into the mix and the 'paraguas' doesn’t stand a chance at actually doing its job. What use is an inside-out umbrella? Absolutely none. Not that it was useful to begin with. And then it’s just something extra to carry - to the bin. In the rain.

You may make it to the cafetería, head dry, umbrella intact. But you just know you’re going to leave it there to die with all the others in the Umbrella Graveyard. They are one of the most easily forgettable possessions in the history of possessions. I have about 16 of them in the house - it used to be because I’d forget to take one out when it was raining and end up buying into the farce that is using an umbrella when it’s raining. But rather than forget to take them out, I need to remember to forget them in shops and restaurants like a normal person.

Suppose you actually make it home with one. Now your hallway has a puddle and you have to have the 'paraguas' staring at you in the house while you wait for it to dry off and put it away. Damp coat hanging up, wet socks, umbrella water turning your tiled floor into a makeshift skating rink and the f****** umbrella itself all sheepish because it knows it’s only one rainy day away from being fired.

Oh no, there’s more. I remind you I have a hearty collection of umbrellas at home and no longer use any of them. Plastic sh*te filling the cupboard of doom. Half are wind broken, or the little knobbly bit has come off the weak metal arm because that’s how umbrellas roll, and the rest just casting a carbon footprint that makes me think it’s better to repurpose them as plant pots, or something, but I can’t imagine they’d be very good at that either. Landfills are 65% umbrella, according to a recent guess.

I’ve always wondered if the Spanish word 'paraguas' is a blend of 'para' aguas, as in FOR water, or 'para' aguas, as in, STOP water. And if I ever find out that it’s the latter, that will be the final straw. Forget about the actual problems we have in the world, there will be a new political party whose sole purpose is campaigning for the abolition of the 'paraguas de los cojones'.

(Picture of Cueva Turche, the picnic area totally destroyed from heavy rainfall)

I never knew about the tribunal on Thursdays at noon!

Spain's ingenious water maze Invented by the region's Moorish rulers 1,200 years ago, Valencia's irrigation system is now a model for sustainable farming.

What breaks your💔 about learning Spanish?

How many can you name?

You’ve come to discover that winter, where you live in Spain, is actually cold.

Like, (faux) fur coat, hat and gloves cold. Like the-houses-aren’t-built-for-this-kind-of-cold cold. And you’ve set up a metre-thick blanket den on the sofa, drink coffee not for energy purposes but for hand-warming purposes, and plan your weekly shower for 2pm on the sunniest day to avoid frostbite.

Plus, the electricity prices have soared once again so you’re reluctant to set the heating to max. If you’ve got heating.

Fear not, fellow freezers.

All you need is a mesa camilla con brasero. It ticks the two main boxes of ‘cheap’ and ‘warm,’ but there are a few astonishing features of this invention which was so ubiquitous in decades past.

In case you’re looking at the photo thinking no, the answer is yes.

Yes, a wooden table.
Yes, a hole in the bottom.
Yes, a metal plate full of burning coal.
Yes, a fireguard.
Yes, a blanket over the table.

Then you sit around it in your chairs, with the blanket over your lap, letting the fire warm you from the toes up.

I mean, you run the risk of setting yourself or your house on fire. And carbon monoxide poisoning. But it’s a small price to pay for the warmth, comfort and nostalgia of a mesa camilla.

Classes now available to book up until the end of June!

https://www.spanglishcity.com/https/appsquarespaceschedulingcom/schedulephpowner20356738

A visual to help remember how to express possession in Spanish. Just don't forget the article el/la/los/las

Try these and see:

Juan 's bag. ↗️↘️
My aunt 's house. ↗️↘️
Your mum 's job. ↗️↘️

Test your knowledge with this new quiz!

FAMILIA
NACIONALIDADES
PRONOMBRES
PRESENTE SIMPLE
¡Y MUCHO MÁS!

https://www.spanglishcity.com/a1-vocabulary-quiz

🖤🖤🖤🖤🤑🤑🤑🤑🖤🖤🖤🖤

𝗝𝘂𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗕𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗸 𝗙𝗿𝗶𝗱𝗮𝘆 𝗯𝗮𝗻𝗱𝘄𝗮𝗴𝗼𝗻 𝘁𝗼 𝗼𝗳𝗳𝗲𝗿 𝘆𝗼𝘂 𝟮𝟬% 𝗼𝗳𝗳 𝗮𝗹𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝘀𝘀𝗲𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗗𝗲𝗰𝗲𝗺𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗝𝗮𝗻𝘂𝗮𝗿𝘆 𝟮𝟬𝟮𝟭!

That's just 7,20€ per class until February!

THIS OFFER ENDS AT MIDNIGHT CET ON FRIDAY 26TH NOVEMBER 2021, so there are only a few days before the classes go back up to their normal price.

For those of you who have been going strong since September, get your discount now!

If you have never joined a class, or are coming back after a break, in December we will be consolidating everything we have learned with some fun new elements. So it's the perfect time to reconnect!

Tell your friends!

For T&C and to book, follow the link and click on the 'Book' tab
https://www.spanglishcity.com/

As English shares some of the same Latin roots as Spanish, there are many 'cognates' and 'near cognates' - words that are similar because they come from the same source.

Here's 3,000 of them that are easy to remember!

Luckily for 𝗮𝗻𝗴𝗹𝗼𝗽𝗮𝗿𝗹𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝘀 (𝘌𝘯𝘨𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘩 𝘴𝘱𝘦𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴), Spanish and English share a lot of their DNA and there are thousands of words which are practically identical. Far from a holiday romance between an English rose and her Latin lover, the linguistic cocktail that makes up the English and Spanish language love-children is wrought with testosterone - invasions left, right and centre. Here’s the story in a nutshell:

Spanish started as Ibero, and got Latinned first. Yes I made that word up, but my spell checker doesn’t even bother fighting with me any more. English is a Germanic language which got Latinned a little bit later when the Romans finished their sightseeing tour of Europe and made their way over to the British Isles. Then some other power-crazy group, the 𝗔𝗹𝗺𝗼𝗵𝗮𝗱𝘀 (𝘈𝘭𝘮𝘰𝘩𝘢𝘥𝘦𝘴 - 𝘢𝘯 𝘈𝘳𝘢𝘣 𝘵𝘳𝘪𝘣𝘦) came on an 800 year holiday to parts of Spain and such was their stay that the 𝘇𝗮𝗻𝗮𝗵𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗮 lost all linguistic contact with the English 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘰𝘵, the French 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘵𝘦 or the Italian 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘰𝘵𝘢. The same goes for thousands of other words in modern-day Spanish. The interesting thing is that the Moors weren’t into cheap Stella and karaoke in Benidorm or surroundings, and they checked out of La Comunidad Valenciana early. Which could be why the language of the Valencian Community has maintained far more Latin-based words than Castilian Spanish has.

Hint! There's a pattern. Get the words here:
https://www.spanglishcity.com/blog/learn-more-than-3000-words-in-ten-minutes

So with the 'puente' coming up, those of you in Valencia may be wondering why the bakeries are full of marzipan and scarves.

Find out why 9th October is a festivity!

𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗮𝘁 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝘀𝘆𝗺𝗯𝗼𝗹 𝗼𝗳 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮?
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗿𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘇𝗶𝗽𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗶𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘀𝘂𝗺?
𝗪𝗵𝘆 𝗶𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝗯𝗼𝗱𝘆 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝗸𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗼𝗻 𝟵𝘁𝗵 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝗻 𝗩𝗮𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮?

Here’s what it’s all about:

Ages ago, Valencia was ruled by 𝗹𝗼𝘀 𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗼𝘀 (𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘰𝘰𝘳𝘴). So far, so good? Anyway, there was this guy called 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗝𝗮𝘂𝗺𝗲 𝗜 who wasn’t too keen on that idea. One night in 1238, he was trying to get some sleep, and 𝘂𝗻 𝗺𝘂𝗿𝗰𝗶é𝗹𝗮𝗴𝗼 (𝘣𝘢𝘵) was screeching, which woke old Jaume I up. He was a bit annoyed at first, but soon realised it was perfect timing because it was right about when the Moor King 𝗭𝗮𝘆𝘆𝗮𝗻 𝗶𝗯𝗻 𝗠𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗮𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗵 𝘄𝗮𝗻𝘁𝗲𝗱 𝗮 𝗯𝗶𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗮 𝗳𝗶𝗴𝗵𝘁. Jaume and his mates won, got Valencia back and everybody had an excuse for a bit of a party every year. Jaume thought the bat was symbolic of their victory, which is why it became the symbol of Valencia. As you may know, if like Spanglish City you've been here a while, a few 𝗽𝗲𝘁𝗮𝗿𝗱𝗼𝘀 never go amiss in Valencia. If there wasn’t a pandemic in the works you might have seen a 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘰𝘴 𝘺 𝘤𝘳𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘢𝘯𝘰𝘴 parade and loaaaads more fireworks.

It doesn’t end there though, because when 𝗞𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗙𝗲𝗹𝗶𝗽𝗲 𝗩 came into power he banned all the partying. So the Valencians had to work out a way around the party-pooper. And then they remembered that 𝟵𝘁𝗵 𝗢𝗰𝘁𝗼𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗶𝘀 𝗦𝗮𝗻 𝗗𝗶𝗼𝗻𝗶𝘀𝗶𝗼, which in Valencia is the equivalent of Saint Valentine. So they got all ‘romantic’ and decided to make 𝗺𝗮𝗿𝘇𝗶𝗽𝗮𝗻 𝗳𝗿𝘂𝗶𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝘄𝗿𝗮𝗽 𝘁𝗵𝗲𝗺 𝗶𝗻 𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝗻𝗱𝗸𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗵𝗶𝗲𝗳 to give to their partners. Not my idea of romance, but whatever floats your boat. It was a fine substitute until all the partying could return again. Hopefully 2021... right?