Merry Xmas!

Music: Death Cab for Cutie

The Great Spanish Crash

I know today is not the day for this kind of post, but you can watch the video any time, when you feel like it. It's interesting to know how other countries see us, so here's the BBC documentary certain people didn't like in Spain...

Speaking was never easier

Hi again!
Today I'm feeling better and I've been searching for tools and widgets that can be interesting for us. The previous post was about using the "Lingro" dictionary while reading online, and this one is about a widget I just installed so that you can record messages and send them over to me. It's funny because you're very shy and don't even send written messages to me through the blog, so... I'm not very sure what to expect ;-) 
You just have to click on the microphone tag on the right and start recording on your computer. I'll receive the message but it won't be automatically published in the blog if you don't want to. I've already figured out ways to publish your spoken comments as well, if you want me to ;-)

Speaking exercise proposal: why don't you leave a message explaining the type of ordinary moment you love most? Here's mine
And many other beautiful ones in this video


(A good exercise with this video is to try and describe all the types of moments that are shown; that'll be good for your vocabulary building!)

Let's defend public language teaching!

¡Defendamos la enseñanza pública de idiomas! from Matthieu Davière on Vimeo.

Word order

Hi!
Here's an example of word-by-word translation from Spanish into English

Spanish allows for a freer word order than English. In English, if a verb has a direct object, the verb and the object are kept together. In the billboard, the "bike" is the direct object of the verb "rent", so the advertisers should have written "Rent your bike here"
Of course there are exceptions, like in the following passage, which is the beginning of a story I've just read:

"On the bench outside the station, I sat and waited. The station had been open when the train arrived, but now it was locked. Another woman sat at the end of the bench, holding between her knees a string bag full of parcels wrapped in oiled paper."

In this case, the direct object ("a string bag full of parcels wrapped in oil paper") is very long, 

so "between her legs" comes first and the direct object is left for the last part of the sentence.

Spanish advertising is full of incorrect English, so watch out!

The "poorest President" in the world

Watch this video and try to answer the questions below, which I have taken from Ian James' wonderful blog for English teachers:

1. How does international media refer to José Mújica?
2. Where exactly is his house?
3. How does José Mujica define poor people?
4. What does he own according to his latest declaration of wealth?
5. What does he do with his salary?
6. What is his political background?
7. What does the man interviewed say about his lifestyle and political record?
8. What do his approval ratings say about his popularity?
9. What does his main political rival accuse him of?
10. What does Mújica hope for in the future?

You can find the answers in the comments, as always ;-)