Joanna Houseman
Thanks to family connections and work opportunities, Joanna has a lifelong affiliation with Spain and has been learning the Spanish language since the age of 12. Following university, Joanna spent a year living and working in Barcelona where her level of spoken Spanish was elevated to new levels (and she also dabbled in a little Catalan). Upon returning to the UK, she spent another year working for a Madrid based company whilst living in London, liaising every day with the factory in Spain. Joanna and her family then decided to up roots and move to Andalucía where they lived and worked for 12 years, fully integrated into Spanish village life and supporting the ex-pat community with their language challenges. Now living in Wales, Joanna has kept her connections to her village in Spain and returns as often as possible.
In days gone by, the center of the household was the fire, used for both cooking and heating. The Spanish word for fire, fuego, comes from the Latin focus, meaning hearth or fireplace. Like other Spanish words derived from Latin, the o changes to the diphthong ue. Latin American Pronunciation European Pronunciation Being a masculine …
Today, let’s explore a word that you can use when discussing farewells or goodbyes. Despedida is a noun derived from the past participle of the verb despedir, which means to say goodbye. Latin American Pronunciation European Pronunciation Despedida is a feminine noun and takes the following definite and indefinite articles: La despedida fue agridulce The …
Today I thought I would write about a word that I just love the sound of vocally: esimismamiento. Wouldn’t you agree that it just rolls off the tongue? However, its meaning isn’t exactly positive. It comes from the reflexive verb ensimismarse, which means to become lost in thought or to be self-absorbed. Latin American Pronunciation …
Today, let’s take a closer look at a simple yet essential object we all use daily without much thought: doors. We pass through them several times a day, and they can be made from various materials. Door in Spanish is puerta and it comes directly from the Latin porta meaning gate or entrance. Latin American …
Today, let’s look at another staple of Mediterranean cuisine: fish, known in Spanish as pescado. The word pescado comes from the Old Galician-Portuguese word pescado (fish), which originates from the Latin word piscātus, meaning fished. Pescado is the past participle of the verb pescar (to fish) and literally means “fished”—fish that has been caught. Latin …
It’s not a pleasant feeling, but it’s one we all experience from time to time – that feeling of being annoyed or angry with something or someone. In Spanish, the word for this emotion, being angry, is enfadado. Enfadado is the participle of the verb enfadar, which originates from Old Galician-Portuguese. The etymology of enfadar …