Practice your Spanish daily (4/11/12)

While we, of course, believe that attending classes at CHICLE is the best way to learn Spanish, we do encourage our students to spend as much time as possible listening, reading, and speaking Spanish outside of class. Gerald Erichsen, at Spanish.about.com, sends me a word a day, accompanied by very creative sentences using that word. You can sign up for this. I usually try to translate the Spanish sentence he sends before looking at his translation. I'm getting better at colloquial translation and think I have even occasionally improved on his. Here are a few recent ones that are fun.

Palabra

la querencia

Significado

place someone feels at home, a drawing or attachment for such a place, homing instinct, attachment, something one feels attachment for or at home with, home, nest

Ejemplo

Parece, pues, que la precoz querencia de mi hija sieteañera por Beckham no es sólo una manifestación de rebeldía contra un padre omnipotente, sino que denota que se está produciendo ya un alejamiento afectivo y una devaluación de mi imagen.

Traducción

It seems than that the early longing of my seven-year-old daughter for Beckham is not only a rebellion against an omnipotent father, but it also shows that there is already a detachment from and devaluation of my image going on.

Palabra

la lisonja

Significado

flattering remark, flattery

Ejemplo

Bien puede haber puñalada sin lisonja, mas pocas veces hay lisonja sin puñalada. (Refrán)

Traducción

One can well be stabbed without flattery, but seldom is there flattery without stabbing. (Proverb)

You can also subscribe to his Dichos, refranes y citas daily email. This can be a little trickier to translate if it's one you're not familiar with. There are also some useful links to blogs, articles, exercises, quizes, and lists on his main page.