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.
A few weeks back, I touched upon discussing pairs of objects using the example of a glove (guante). Today, I figured we could delve deeper into the word guante itself. The origins of the word guante are somewhat uncertain, but it’s widely believed to have derived from the Catalan word guant, meaning gauntlet. This term …
The Spanish word for oven, horno, originates from the Proto-Indo-European *gʷʰr̥-nós, which evolved into the Latin word furnus, meaning oven or bakery. The horno, a mud-built outdoor oven, was utilised by Native Americans and early settlers in North America. Introduced to Spain and the Iberian Peninsula by the Moors, it was adopted in all Spanish-occupied …
One of the effects of climate change across the world is said to be that generally the weather will become more windy and the winds will be stronger. The Spanish word for wind is viento from the Latin ventus with the same meaning. Latin American Pronunciation European Pronunciation Viento is a masculine noun and takes …
Today I wanted to talk about every child’s favourite yellow fruit, the humble banana which in Spain is called plátano. The word comes from the Latin platănus, originating from the Greek πλάτανος plátanos. Once we have dealt with the fruit itself, read on to see that this word means much more than just banana! Latin American pronunciation European pronunciation …
When you want to talk about somebody’s brother in Spanish, you will use the word hermano. Hermano comes from the Vulgar Latin germānus meaning brother. Latin American pronunciation European pronunciation Hermano is a masculine noun and takes on the following definite and indefinite articles: Note that the plural hermanos can refer not only to two or …
Some say that the most important meal of the day is breakfast or desayuno. Each individual has their own distinct preference for how and when they consume it. The word desayuno comes from the verb ayunar which means to fast and the prefix des, which means not, so it literally has the same meaning as …