Pam's Blog

I’m a word person and it’s been fun and interesting to figure out Spanish words and meanings and see how they relate (or don’t) to English words. I love the sound of some Spanish words and just the look of others. After a couple of weeks of Spanish class, here are some of my favorites.

Ballena – I first ran across this word in Puerto Lopez. Ballerina came to mind and then I figured out it translates as “whale”. I think it’s great that such a delicate word is attached to such giant beings.

Increible – I think it’s the just the sound of this word, the emphasis on the “i” that sounds like an “e” and pronouncing the “e” at the end (as an “a” sound).

Peligroso – I first saw this on yellow caution tape my first week here and like the sound of it. It translates as dangerous.

Interesante and posible – Again, the “e” at the end is pronounced instead of being silent, like in English. All the vowels are pronounced in Spanish so sometimes the words have a lot of syllables. The accent on these two words make them roll right off your tongue.

Palabra – The word for “word”.

Bombero – The first time I saw a fire fighter he was dress in redish fatiques. Just like “fighter” is a strong sounding word I think “bombero” is also a strong sounding word.

Mascot – This is the word for “pet”. I’ve seen signs at businesses that say “No Mascots”. Yesterday I walked by a place that caters to pet owners and in the front window, the worker was blow drying the hair of a very white dog. It was the first blow dryer I’ve seen in Ecuador.

Diversion – This translation is the most curious to me. It’s “fun”.

What’s your favorite word (either English or Spanish)?

This entry was posted on Sunday, January 22nd, 2012 at 2:32 pm and is filed under Random Thoughts, Travel. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.