LAS LENGUAS INGLESA Y ESPAÑOLA de Delfín Carbonell

 Two Spanish words are much in the air these festive days. "Ambiente" and "fiesta" dominate the vocabulary scene, especially at Christmas. "Me gusta ir de fiesta; esta noche vamos de fiesta; salgo de fiesta todos los sábados" are common phrases we hear. With "ambiente" we have a problem because it is difficult to define, and dictionaries do not help. In Spain, people say: "hay buen ambiente en la Plaza Mayor", or "había buen ambiente en la reunión." In both cases, "ambiente" means plenty of people and hard drinking. Perhaps drugs are also involved. "Hay mucho ambiente en la called Preciados en Madrid" can be translated to there are plenty of people on that popular street, going in and out of bars. So, "¿vamos de fiesta?" could be translated to "shall we paint the town red?" I guess I am a wet blanket and party pooper but "no voy de fiesta" and I dislike "ambientes". (...

 Each language has its own particular music. Similar words will have different sounds in different languages. This is verifiable in languages that are very different and have so much in common, like English and Spanish. I have chosen a few words that have the same meaning, same spelling, same origin, and yet their musicality, and pronunciation are so different. You can verify this by pronouncing them: ENGLISH                                     SPANISH Normal                                                    Normal Cordial                                              ...

I was thinking today that readers from Muslim countries do not approach my Blog. I am not complaining, just curious.  Then I read a note from the Biblioteca Nacional explaining  that writers who died in 1944 are now in the public domain, and Miguel Asín Palacios (1871-1944) was mentioned. My father had his Crestomatía del árabe literal in his library, and as a boy,  I tried to study the language from that book. The farfetched connection is that Muslim countries are not interested in my Blog. Yet, Spain has produced many arabistas , like Asín Palacios , Francisco Codera , Pascual de Gayangos , and even Juan Valera . Fancy that! Gayangos, while at Oxford, introduced Arabic to Captain Sir Richard Burton , who went on to translate the Arabian Nights into English. I suggest you check the names I mention above; they are fascinating Arabists, writers, professors, and travelers. 

  ANGRY es una palabra universal. Todos nos enfadamos más tarde o más temprano; todos perdemos el control de nuestras emociones, los papeles; algunos van por la vida con una constante cara larga, enfadados, gritando y criticando. Hay muchas maneras de expresar enfado en lengua inglesa: To blow one’s top. To blow a fuse. To climb the wall. To flip one’s lid. To get mad. To have a fit. To hit the ceiling. To see red. To flip out. To lose it. Veamos algunas frases: When I told Peter the money was lost, he blew his top and began shouting. Don’t blow a fuse now, have patience. After three days in the hospital, I was climbing the wall. The man flipped his lid and started punching everybody. When Robert gets mad, he shouts and breaks things. Politicians make me see red. Angry puede llevar la preposición at o with detrás, sin ninguna duda, tanto si hablamos de cosas como de personas.

Like Alain de Botton , I am a cultural Christian. Although skeptical about many of its tenets, I love all the paraphernalia associated  with religion. After all, we could not understand Western civilization today without Christianity. Our heritage is Christian, whether we believe in God or Christ or not. And so, let me wish all my readers, believers and unbelievers, Happy Holidays, a Merry Christmas, and a Prosperous and Healthy New Year, 2025. Thank you for reading my little entries!

  Yes, grammar may be difficult to master, and vocabulary takes time to memorize, but phraseology is the wall all language learners, even natives find hard to overcome. A set of words, a sentence, that makes no sense taken at face value: "fall off a turnip truck", for instance, has nothing to do with turnips, trucks or even falling. Never mind about a push or a shove in the expression "when push comes to shove" because it really means that we must take action, and commit ourselves at the moment of truth when we really have to. If idioms, sayings, and phraseology present a true challenge, you can well imagine what it is to translate them into another language. I am finishing my THE LARGER PHRASEOLOGICAL DICTIONARY, ENGLISH AND SPANISH , after 4 years of intense work and dedication. The statistics are: a manuscript of 850,000 words. 33,000 idiomatic expressions. 33,500 samples of usage translated into the opposite language. 8,000 citations from publications in Hispani...

  Las palabras que comienzan con wh : what, when, where, white, which, whet, while , etc. se pueden pronunciar aspirando la h o no aspirándola. Se aspira en los Estados Unidos, Escocia, Irlanda y el Canadá. Así podemos pronunciar where , como “uéar”, o “juéar”. Si aspiramos la h podemos diferenciar witch de which ; whet de wet ; whether de weather , por ejemplo. En Inglaterra no se aspira, especialmente en el inglés llamado culto. Alfred Holt esplicaba: “The traditional British inability, or unwillingness, to make any distinction in sound between wet and whet …” 

  Our external appearance often conceals our inner woes because we do not wish to share our troubles with others because of respect. We keep our woes to ourselves or spare people our inner drama. Spanish has a very descriptive idiom for that feeling: "La procesión va por dentro." Religious processions or parades are stern, gloomy, and sad, after all, they normally occur during Holy Week. "I may look good and happy but... I am keeping my troubles to myself and not sharing them." "Puede que tenga buen aspecto y parezca feliz, pero la procesión va por dentro." Below is my entry PROCESIÓN in my Phraseological Dictionary: Ir la procesión por dentro Spare people one’s inner drama (troubles), keep one’s woes to oneself, grin and bear it, take it in stride, take it on the chin Pongo a mal tiempo buena cara, pero la procesión va por dentro I put a good face on a bad business but I spare people my inner drama — “Parece ser muy controlada, cuando dice que es ...

My article on bilingual phraseology, English-Spanish, is out, published by the Revista de la Universidad Autónoma de Yucatán, no. 284. Please copy and paste:  Revista de la UADY https://www.revistauniversitaria.uady.mx/ru284.php Thank you. Hope you like it.

Today, I reflected on the intriguing disparity among my students when it comes to mastering languages. Some seem naturally gifted, while others struggle despite their best efforts. This phenomenon extends beyond language learning, resonating across many aspects of life. Matthew 22:14, "For many are called, but few are chosen,"  ( muchos son los llamados y pocos los elegidos ) offers a poignant lens through which to view this reality. This truth can serve as both a challenge and a comfort for those who pursue the path of language mastery, sometimes finding meager results despite their dedication. Why do some excel while others falter under seemingly similar conditions? This remains a mystery to me.  Life, as we know, is not always fair. I have devoted my life to mastering two languages, Spanish and English, while others, often younger, boast fluency in seven or more. Yet, I harbor no regrets. The journey has been deeply enriching, and I remain committed to achieving fluency, t...

  Like English ( I am writing ), Spanish has the progressive form ( estoy escribiendo ). In both languages, a distinction exists between the present simple and the present progressive: I eat bananas vs. I am eating bananas , or, in Spanish, como plátanos vs. estoy comiendo plátanos . However, English tends to use the progressive form more frequently, sometimes compensating for its lack of distinct inflected verb forms compared to Spanish. There are many nuances in the usage of the progressive form in both languages. When we chance upon a friend on the street we might ask her: "Where are you going?" and never "Where do you go?" In Castillian the reverse is true: we would never ask: "¿Dónde estás yendo?" but instead we will inquire: "¿Dónde vas?". And the answer is: "Voy al cine" and never "Estoy yendo al cine." I am no grammarian but upon consulting La Nueva gramática de la lengua española I find no answer as to whether I can...

  Perfect , perfecto es lo que es imposible de mejorar, impossible to improve , por lo tanto nada puede ser more perfect que otra cosa que ya es perfect. Sin embargo la gente insiste en este error en los dos idiomas. “…a clear, beautiful blue sky day that God couldn’t have made more perfect .” Terre Haute Tribune Star - ‎Oct 17, 2010‎. “…el más perfecto de todos los animales soy yo…” Camilo José Cela, Cristo versus Arizona , 1988.

  Sufijo diminutivo para sustantivos y adjetivos. De pig , cerdo, piglet , cochinillo. Wormlet, booklet, starlet, ringlet, cutlet, bracelet, wristlet, townlet, anklet.  Nabokov, autor de Lolita , llamaba a las nubecillas cloudlets.

  In English we have to be ; in French, être ; in German sein and in Spanish ser and estar . Those three languages make do with only one verb, and their speakers seem happy. Read below some of the Spanish possibilities and how English copes with them:   Ser listo                  to be clever Estar listo               to be ready Estar seguro           to be sure Ser seguro              to be safe Ser malo                to be bad, naughty Estar malo              to be sick, ill Ser bueno               to be good Es...

    Malas noticias para los románticos: love is blind. “We cannot tell the faults, physical or intellectual, of the object of our love, although we finally do, when it’s too late, of course. Wife Jan said: Love is blind—it’s deaf, too.” The Daily Mirror. (London: Mirror Group Newspapers, 1992). El amor es ciego y sordo, encima. No me cansaré de decir que amar es to love , y un amor a love. My love lives in Hong Kong , mi amor vive en Hong Kong (cuanto más lejos, mejor). Come here, love , ven aquí, cariño, amor mío. (Los cubanos traducen esto como “mi amol.”) La palabra love está muy devaluada en lengua inglesa: People love to eat, love football, love to drink … que tendremos que traducir por encantar , más que amar , claro. Podemos decir por ejemplo: Martha likes to work , a Marta le gusta trabajar. I love to play golf , me encanta jugar al golf. To fall in love , enamorarse. She fell in love with her teacher , se enamoró de su profesor. To be in love with , e...

  Cuando tecleo "for ever" el corrector lo corrige y sugiere "forever". Yo me resisto siempre que puedo. Los correctores de texto, de estilo, de gramática, tienen sus normas que yo no siempre acato porque no me convencen o porque simplemente son erróneas. Pero este asunto del "for ever" me irrita. Después de rebuscar, he llegado a la conclusión que en el inglés americano actual se prefiere "forever" aunque "for ever" es más "literario" y, quizá, más británico. Si consultamos bases de datos lingüísticas confirmaremos que ambas opciones se emplean. Mi diccionario Random House sólo menciona "forever". Podríamos perfectamente escribir: "She is for ever crying", se pasa la vida llorando, o "she is forever crying", y será igual y la tipa seguirá llorando tal cual. Caso resuelto, creo.  

Los idiomas son sonido. Esos sonidos los ha creado el hombre y por lo tanto cualquier sonido de cualquier idioma puede dominarse. Cierto es que los primeros sonidos del primer idioma que aprendemos de niños tienden a fosilizarse en el cerebro. Creo firmemente que podemos dominar nuevos sonidos de un nuevo idioma con la ayuda necesaria de un buen texto, un profesor dedicado y constancia y tesón. Debemos pronunciar bien para que nos entiendan mejor y para ser respetuosos con los nativos. No hay sonido inventado por el hombre que se le resista al hombre. Mi PHONÉTICA INGLESA (Oberón, 2015) no es un texto perfecto pero es, con la ayuda de un profesor, una manera expedita de dominar los sonidos de la lengua inglesa. Es posible aprender a pronunciar los sonidos de la lengua inglesa. Te lo digo yo.

  Como en castellano: bien hecho, bien hablado, bien ajustado: Well-adjusted            He is a well-adjusted student Well-articulated       A well-articulated speech Well-done                 A well-done job Well-fed                    His family is well-fed Well-written              A well-written book Well-known              A well-known writer Well-made                A well-made pair of shoes Well-spoken              A well-spoken boy  

  Because  Spaniards at large can appear sometimes so full of themselves, so uppity, on their high horse, I tend to denigrate and disparage myself when I describe my personality. I am in all truthfulness a real run-of-the-mill, below-the-salt, scholar-in-the-making person, nothing more. The word I use, tongue in cheek, is "pelagatos".  In less fortunate times, people were obliged to hunt stray cats for food but first, they had to skin them, "pelarlos"; this practice gives us the etymology of "pelagatos": a person who skins cats, a "cat skinner", or more broadly, a person of little significance. The DRAE defines it as: "persona insignificante o mediocre, sin posición social o económica" which fits me to a T.  Synonyms like pelafustán (layabout, good-for-nothing), pelagallos (nobody), paria (pariah), and mindundi (nobody) enrich its meaning. Meanwhile, Collins Bilingual Dictionary translates pelagatos as 'nobody,' a reduction...

Spanish-speaking people are obsessed with the cost of things. As soon as you meet one, she will tell you how much she paid for the car, house, the children's education. And they are hyperbolic about it! They will exaggerate to no end. Let me simply copy an entry from my Phraseological Dictionary to prove my point: Costar un ojo de la cara (una barbaridad, una pasta, potosí, Perú, Congo, huevo, riñón, una fortuna) Cost a pretty penny, an arm and a leg, a fortune, a bomb, the earth, a bundle La sortija me costó un ojo de la cara The ring cost me a pretty penny — “… como cuando quiso la pianola que me costó un ojo de la cara…” Ricardo Elizondo Elizondo, Setenta veces siete , 1987. Méx. || “Digo ahora maldito partido porque nos costó un huevo.” Diego Armando Maradona, Yo soy el Diego , 2000. Arg.

    Del latín ad libitum significa improvisar, al hablar o al tocar música. Es un verbo común y corriente en inglés, a pesar de las apariencias: ad libbed , ad libbing. Esto en la jerga del teatro se llama “morcillas” en español. “Half the time the cast ignored the script and ad-libbed.” (Nashua Telegraph, NH, 11/20/2008). “Having fun in the recording studio usually comes from ad-libbing.” (NewsOK.com, Nov. 6, 2008.) También tiene ad lib  el significado de a voluntad, a discreción: “Water can be given to the patient ad lib.” (Random House Dictionary.) When we forget our lines or what we were prepared to say, we must ad-lib.

Some expressions, turns of phrase, idioms, and manners of speaking are funny and often even shocking. In Spanish, as a way of consolation, and when something, a gift, a present, appears not to be up to the occasion, we say: "menos da una piedra" because no matter how much you squeeze them, stones render nothing. English has similar funny expressions, like "better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick,  better than a slap in the face (with a wet fish)."  It's a consolation.  Menos da una piedra Better than nothing, better than a slap in the face, better than a poke in the eye with a sharp stick Me dieron un euro de propina que es poco, pero menos da una piedra I was given a one-euro tip which isn’t much but better than nothing — “Pero también se decía menos da una piedra…” Antonio Muñoz Molina, Sefarad , 2001. Esp.

  AAVE es una variedad del inglés, un dialecto empleado por la población de color (negra), que tiene las siguientes características: Se omiten is/are : You crazy? She my wife. Who you? La “s” de la tercera persona presente se omite: He write novels. Were se reduce a was siempre: They was here. Ain’t como negativo: I ain’t do that. Dobles negaciones: You ain’t going nowhere. Don’t por doesn’t en tercera persona: She don’t like nothing .es El genitivo sajón desaparece: My sister boyfriend. El acento, la fonética, ya es otro cantar. AAVE es diferente y tiene variantes entre estados y regiones. En internet podemos escuchar de viva voz este rico dialecto que tanto aporta al inglés estándar. Esta gramática se emplea también por blancos de las mismas regiones. 

  Se habla de a mutual admiration society cuando dos se alaban y se echan flores, y se emplea de manera sarcástica. “A mutual admiration society, eh?” says Ruth Rendell about two people who compliment each other, in her book The best man to die. ” (London: Arrow Books Ltd, 1981). La expresión la hizo popular la obra de Broadway Happy Hunting (1956) y la letra decía:  We belong to a Mutual Admiration Society My baby and me We belong to a Mutual Admiration Society   I think he’s handsome and he’s smart I think that she’s a work of art I say that he’s the greatest man And likewise I’m her biggest fan I say her kisses are like wine ............................................. Cosas curiosas del idioma que todo nativo sabe o debiera saber.

  When according to accounts we had 6500 different languages in the world, we were told that several languages died daily. I hear now that the number has increased to 7000. Those figures do not jibe. How are languages counted? Who decides between language and dialect? Who issues language death certificates? Do you remember Dalmatian? When Tuone Udaina died in 1898, the Dalmatian language died with him. He was the sole speaker left. We must assume that he spoke to himself only and managed to communicate in other languages or else he would have been unable to express his needs and ideas. This language lore does not wash with me.  There are American languages spoken by tribes of only 300 members. A language like that has no future not because it is more or less suitable for modern life but because the voice intercourse is very limited, although this is relative. I, for one, speaking English and Spanish can in theory communicate with over one thousand million people. In fact, some...

Fray Justo Pérez de Urbel (1895-1979),   fue catedrático de historia en la Universidad Complutense, medievalista, abad mitrado del Valle de los Caídos, rabioso franquista, y un buen profesor. Me colé en una de sus asignaturas de doctorado por despiste. Leí "Escritores españoles de la Edad Media lejana" que me pareció una asignatura interesante y sin reflexionar a qué escritores españoles "de la edad media lejana" pudiera referirse me apunté. El primer día de clase Fray Justo explicó que el tema versaba sobre "escritorios" españoles, no escritores. No había vuelta atrás. Pero el curso me resultó interesante y cada vez que oigo nombrar El nombre de la rosa , de Umberto Eco , me viene a la memoria Fray Justo hablándonos de los escritorios medievales y los monjes amanuenses. Recibí un sobresaliente. Reseño esto como anécdota y el despiste de un doctorando de 23 años.