Blog Title: Discover Spanish With Us — An English speaker’s perspective

Poco Frecuente

Poco frecuente means to be infrequent. This site is going to be updated poco frecuente over the next couple of weeks. We are moving out of Mexico for a year. During this time of packing and traveling, it has been hard to stay consistent in writing new words. We appreciate your patience with this, and hope read more..

Tarima

We are moving and will be storing our stuff at someone’s house. I mentioned that I needed to get something to lift the items off the floor in case of a hurricane. The man who will be watching our stuff told me I needed tarimas. Of course I was thinking a pallet. Tarima is a read more..

Hazaña

While watching the Olympics the announcers talked about the accomplishment of one of the athletes. He used the word hazaña. It means a great or heroic deed, an achievement, a feat.

Estibar

Estibar is to load or stow. This would be like loading something for shipping. We bought some boxes the other day that say, “Estiba maxima 4 cajas” which I assume to mean, “Don’t stack more than 4 high.”

Aparejar

Aparejar is a verb that means to saddle (as in a horse), or to rig up, or prepare something for use. I don’t know if it is a common word or not. I read it in literature and am not sure that I have ever seen it used otherwise.

Prestar

Prestar is not an uncommon word. We most often see it used when talking about lending something to someone. Along the lines of lending is the idea of rendering service. The reflexive form of the verb, prestarse, has some other interesting meanings. It can mean “to be open to” as in the phrase: Dar ocasión de read more..

Medio ambiente

Your medio ambiente is your environment. This refers to your cultural, social or natural environment.

Empero

Empero means nevertheless. It was not an easy word to find in dictionaries. A good, more commonly used synonym, is sin embargo.

Sinsabor

Sinsabor is a descriptive term for something that is without taste or pleasure. I presume it can be used to talk about food, but the usage I have heard has been when talking about the discomforts or displeasures of life. Troubles or problems that people struggle with.

Estacionamiento

The place to park your car is the estacionamiento. It is the noun for a parking lot or a parking space. The verb is reflexive and is estacionarse. One of the worst “spanglish” words I have heard is parquear meaning to park. I suppose out of all the bad combinations of English and Spanish I have read more..