Notes, summaries, assignments, exams, and problems for Spanish

Common Jobs and Workplace Tasks

Workplace Tasks: Answer the phone, be on your feet, be part of a team, deal with the public, earn a lot (of money), make phone calls, serve customers, travel a lot, use a computer, wear a uniform, work alone, work indoors or outdoors, work with children, and work long hours or nine-to-five.

Professions: Architect, cleaner, dentist, engineer, farm worker, hairdresser, paramedic, pilot, programmer, receptionist, sales assistant, solicitor, travel agent, and waiter.

Describing Work and Career Paths

Adjectives for Work:

• Creative (creativo)
• Challenging (desafiante)
• Repetitive (repetitivo)
• Rewarding (gratificante)
• Stressful (estresante)
• Tiring (cansancio)
• Varied (variado)

Career Milestones and Experiences: Get qualifications,... Continue reading "English Vocabulary for Jobs and Essential Grammar Rules" »

English Vocabulary: Truth and Deception

• Be economical with the truth: No decir la verdad
• Bluntly: Decir algo a lo bruto
• Deny: Negar
• Fake: Falsa
• Fall for sth: Tragarse algo
• Gossip: Cotillear
• Hoax: Rumor
• Make up: Inventarse algo
• Own up: Admitir
• Pigs might fly: No lo creo
• Pretend: Fingir
• Tell tales: Cotillear o chivarse
• Two-time: A dos bandas, engañar
• White lie: Mentira piadosa

Phrasal Verbs

• Back up: Apoyar
• Cover up: Disfrazar una mentira
• Point out: Señalar
• Tamper with: Manipular, trastear

Beliefs and Opinions

• Activist: Activista
• Agnostic: Agnóstico
• Atheist: Ateo
• Be convinced: Estar convencido
• Believe in: Creer en
• Condemn: Condenar
• Disapprove of: Oponerse
• Environmentalist: Ecologista
• Extremist: Extremista
• Justifiable: Justificable
• Left wing: De izquierdas
• Maintain: Mantener
• Oppose:

UNIT 6

WORDS → TRANSLATION

Achieve → conseguir, lograr
Attend → acudir / ir (a)
Brand new → (completamente) nuevo/a
Bulletin board (Am. Eng.) → tablón de anuncios
Caretaker → conserje
Cheating → (el) copiar
Compulsory → obligatorio/a
Courage → valor, valentía (take ~: necesitar valor)
Curriculum → plan de estudios
Discovery → descubrimiento
Drop out → abandonar / dejar (los estudios)
Elementary school (Am. Eng.) → escuela / centro de enseñanza primaria
Encourage → animar (a)
Enrol → matricularse, inscribirse
Expect → esperar (que)
Fee → tasa, matrícula
Figure out → darse cuenta; encontrar; entender
Fur → pelo, pelaje; piel
Get into trouble → meterse en problemas / líos
Headteacher → director/a
High school (Am. Eng.)... Continue reading "English Vocabulary Units 6 and 7: Education and Technology Words with Spanish Translations" »

Satellite-framed vs Verb-framed Languages

In English or German, most motion verbs can express both movement and manner. They conflate manner in the verb meaning, but when they have to express direction of movement they use satellites or prepositions — satellite-framed languages. In Spanish and other Romance languages, motion verbs tend to conflate path (subir, bajar, salir) while manner must be expressed as an independent element, as an adverbial or gerundive (cojeando, de puntillas) — verb-framed languages.

Translation Approaches: Bottom-Up and Top-Down

Bottom-up approach analysis: literal translation. Top-down: from text level to word.

Lexical Fixedness and Pragmatic Units

Clear-cut problem: different degrees of fixedness and idiomaticity... Continue reading "Motion Verbs, Compound Translation, Dialogue Punctuation" »

Relative Clauses

Types of Relative Clauses

Specifying Relative Clauses

These clauses provide essential information and are not separated by commas. They identify the specific noun or pronoun being referred to. Without the relative clause, the sentence would be incomplete and lack clarity.

Example:

Incorrect: I don't like stories. They have unhappy endings.

Correct: I don't like stories which have unhappy endings.

Explanatory Relative Clauses

These clauses provide additional information that is not essential to the meaning of the sentence. They are set off by commas or a comma and a full stop. They never use the relative pronoun "that."

Example:

Incorrect: Mrs. Morgan is an English teacher. His son is in our class.

Correct: Mrs. Morgan, whose son is in

Core Definitions in Language and Culture

English Terminology

Translate

To express the meaning of speech or writing in a different language.

Translation

The process of changing something that is written or spoken into another language.

Language

The system of communication in speech and writing that is used by people of a particular country or area.

Culture

The customs and beliefs, art, way of life, and social organization of a particular country or group.

Code

A system of words, letters, numbers, or symbols that represent a message or record information secretly or in shorter form.

Assertion

A statement saying that you strongly believe something to be true.

Sentence

A set of words expressing a statement, a question, or an order, usually containing a subject

Colación

La colación (arts. 1035-1050 del Código Civil) es la operación particional consistente en agregar al caudal partible entre los legitimarios, instituidos herederos, el valor de las liberalidades inter vivos recibidas del causante para asignarlas a la cuota del colacionante en aquellas más particiones.

El artículo 1035 dispone que el heredero forzoso que concurra, con otros que también lo sean, a una sucesión deberá traer a la masa hereditaria los bienes o valores que hubiese recibido del causante de la herencia, en vida de este, por dote, donación u otro título lucrativo, para computarlos en la regulación de las legítimas y en la cuenta de partición.

El artículo 1036 señala que la colación no tendrá lugar entre herederos... Continue reading "Colación, Legados y Responsabilidad de Herederos en el Derecho Sucesorio Español" »

Passive Voice Verb Tenses

• Present Simple: examines — is examined
• Present Continuous: is examining — is being examined
• Past Simple: examined — was examined
• Past Continuous: was examining — was being examined
• Present Perfect Simple: has examined — has been examined
• Past Perfect Simple: had examined — had been examined
• Future Simple: will examine — will be examined
• Modals: should examine — should be examined
• Modal Perfect: must have examined — must have been examined
• Have to: has/have to examine — has to be examined
• Going to: is going to examine — is going to be examined

Health and Fitness Vocabulary

• Disease: enfermedad
• Kick in: empezar a hacer efecto
• Catch a cold: resfriarse
• Endurance: resistencia
• Last: durar
• Get fit: ponerse en forma
• Mood: