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In addition to Dutch, Papiamento, and English, most Arubans can also speak perfect Spanish, as Landa Henríquez attests to by singing it with ease. The island has deep seated and ongoing ties with Venezuela, only fourteen miles to the south, and neighboring Colombia. So it should be of little surprise that Landa peppers her song with a common Colombian expression.
Ya sabes, te vas de Barranquilla y te pierdes tu silla
You know, you leave Barranquilla and you lose your chair
Caption 48, Landa Henríquez - Mujer Cuarenta
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The expression is actually a take on a popular saying from Spain which goes Él que se va a Sevilla, pierde su silla ("He who leaves Sevilla, loses his chair"). Either way, the meaning is the same: if you're not vigilent, you'll lose what is yours.
There is another way to express the same sentiment, and we hear it in a cumbia song playing at that disco that Milagros and Gloria have snuck out of the orphanage to visit in Muñeca Brava.
Camarón que se duerme se lo lleva la corriente.
The shrimp that sleeps is taken away by the current. ["You snooze, you lose."]
Caption 29, Muñeca Brava - 1 Piloto - Part 6
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American English also expresses this idea with an analogy to sleep: "You snooze, you lose."
In the Argentine drama Provócame, we hear an ugly exchange between Mariano and his mamá. First, she calls her son an imbecile and then, a little later, Mariano spits:
¡Estoy harto de que te metas en mis cosas, mamá!
I'm sick of you sticking your nose in my business, mom!
Estoy harto de vos.
I'm sick of you.
Captions 34-35, Provócame - Capítulo Seis
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Yes, he's had it up to here, as we might say in English. Hearing these lines, we were reminded of the theme song for another drama in our library: Disputas. The song goes like this:
Me llamas para decirme que te marchas...
You call me to tell me that you're leaving...
que ya no aguantas más...
that you can't take it anymore...
que ya estás harta de verle cada día...
that you're fed up of seeing him each day...
de compartir su cama...
of sharing his bed...
Captions 15-20, Disputas La Extraña Dama - Part 2
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Did you notice it's "harta" instead of "harto" in the song? The "you" is obviously female. You see, "harto(a)" is an adjective that on its own means "full." It agrees with the person who's, well, had it.
In this song, a similar sentiment is expressed with "ya no aguantas más" ("you can't take it anymore"). We wrote about the verb "aguantar" ("to endure, to bear, to stand, to put up with, to tolerate") before, in this lesson. As it happens, we also hear the word uttered in the newest installment of Provócame by young Julieta who claims to be running a very high fever (40º C = 104º F!). She says:
No parece porque me aguanto.
It doesn't look like it because I tolerate it.
Caption 47, Provócame - Capítulo Seis
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You see, Julieta is enduring her illness in a way someone who's fed up with sickness might not. In a sense, you can tolerate (aguantarse) something until you are sick of it (estar harto).
If you didn't know a word of Spanish, but you knew how to pronounce it, the following would instantly make sense to you:
De chiquitos, nos metíamos en esa barra, y ¡guau! ¡Ese órgano!
As kids, we would get into that bar, and wow! That organ!
Captions 37-38, Carli Muñoz - Niñez - Part 1
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En esa tienda de música, en la vitrina había un piano, un piano de cola. Guau... Una cosa extraordinaria.
At that music store, in the window there was piano, a grand piano. Wow... An extraordinary thing.
Captions 59-61, Carli Muñoz - Niñez - Part 1
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Listen to our interview with musician Carli Muñoz and you'll hear him wowed. Yes, he says: "¡Guau!" (pronounced as the English "Wow") twice in our four-minute segment. The spelling of "guau" is good to keep in mind when pronouncing other Spanish words that start with "Gua...." Two famous ones are geographic locations: the oft-sung Guantanamera (click here for a popular performance) and the infamous Guantánamo. If you're like many North Americans you may pronounce the latter "Gwan-TAN-a-mo," with the initial "G" audible (or you may just use the nickname "Gitmo"). But if you listen to native Spanish speakers, that initial "G" is so soft it all but disappears and the "W" sound is much clearer.
¡Guau! -Y éste ahora mismo está en dos kilos.
Wow! -And this one right now is at two kilograms.
Caption 96, Animales en familia - Un día en Bioparc: Coatís
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Before we move on, here are two more lines to decipher based on your knowledge of Spanish pronunciation:
www.vuenosairez.com
¡Ja ja ja!
Stumped? The first was an events-listing website in Buenos Aires, which makes sense when you remember that "V" often sounds like "B" throughout the Spanish-speaking world and "Z" sounds like "S" in Latin America.
The second line is laughing, pronounced "Ha ha ha!," but with a more guttural "H" than we typically use in English. Remember, in Spanish, "H" is always silent, while "J" sounds closest to the "ch" of Scotland, Wales or Germany (as in Achtung, baby.) But a good memory aid is that "J"s approximate the "H" of English, and so "je je" sounds like "heh heh" and "ji ji" sounds like "hee hee."
Le debés quiniento' mango' a tu amiguito, quiniento' mango' a tu amig'... ¿Y querés saber otra cosa? A mí también me debés quinientos mangos...
You owe your little buddy five hundred bucks, five hundred bucks to your li'l... And you want to know something else? You owe me five hundred bucks too...
Captions 10-12, Muñeca Brava - 18 - La Apuesta
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In our latest episode of Muñeca Brava, Mili is clearly looking for revenge. So why is she mumbling about mangos and gansos? Milagros is always shouting clever and poignant argentinismos, that’s why we have to head far south to figure out what she is saying.
Milagros asks Ivo for quinientos mangos (500 mangos) and later on for quinientos pesos (500 pesos), pesos
That was easy to figure out, but then Mili says:
No te olvides de esto. Los quiero ahora. Poniendo estaba la gansa... ¡vamos!
Don't forget about this. I want them now. Pay up... come on!
Captions 28-30, Muñeca Brava - 18 - La Apuesta
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Un ganso is a male goose (also known in English as a "gander"). As we learned previously, ser ganso means "being a fool." Gansa, however, is a female goose (known in English as a "goose"), and one of the meanings of poner is "to lay" (as in "laying an egg"), so poniendo estaba la gansa literally means "laying was the goose."
However, another meaning of poner is to "to contribute" or "shell out" or "pay up." Here are some examples:
¿Van a poner para el regalo de María?
"Are you going to chip in/contribute for María´s present?"
No te preocupes, si no podés poner $50, poné menos.
"Don´t worry, if you can´t put in $50, put in less."
Mi tío se puso con $1000 para el viaje de egresados.
"My uncle shelled out $1000 for my graduation trip."
Si te casás, tu papá va a tener que ponerse.
"If you get married, your father will have to shell out/cough up [the money]."
Poniendo estaba la gansa plays on these two possible meanings of poner ("to lay" and "to pay"). Some sources report that the complete phrase is poniendo estaba la gansa, que era gorda y estaba mansa ("laying eggs was the goose, who was fat and was tame") and that it comes from an old children's game. In actuality, we can't find an Argentine who's ever played the game (and some doubt that such a game ever existed). All agree that this expression is considered rather vulgar and low-class, which is no less than what we would expect from Milagros.
No voy a pagar porque a alguien se le ocurra decir 'poniendo estaba la gansa'.
"I'm not going to pay just because someone says 'poniendo estaba la gansa'."
-Sergio Dalla Lasta
We also have a new segment from the Argentine telenovela, Verano Eterno posted for your edification. Amid the rapid banter, we heard:
Yo hoy me voy a dormir a mi casa, tranquilito, pero vos mañana salís conmigo. -Ni loca.
Today I'm going to go home to sleep, laying low, but tomorrow you go out with me. -No way.
Captions 67-69, Verano Eterno - Fiesta Grande - Part 13
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"Ni loco" or "Ni loca" (for a female speaker) is basically a short-hand way to say "Not even if I were crazy," "No way" or "Not on your life."
Here are a few more short but colorful "ni" expressions that mean essentially the same thing:
Ni en broma diga una cosa así.
Not even jokingly should you say such a thing.
Caption 91, Muñeca Brava - 41 La Fiesta - Part 6
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Ni en pedo vuelvo a esa casa ¿sabe?
Not even drunk will I go back to that house, you know?
Caption 30, Muñeca Brava - 7 El poema - Part 8
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Ni en broma
Not even as a joke / No way
Ni en pedo
Not even drunk / No way
Finally, there are some other phrases we thought of where "ni" + "que" means something like "como si" in Spanish. "Ni que" might be translated into English as "it's as if" or (with a negative slant) "it's not like." Here are three examples:
Ni que fuera el diablo en persona.
It's not like he is the devil incarnate.
Caption 35, El Ausente - Acto 3 - Part 3
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¿Por qué me gritas? ¡Ni que fuera sordo!
Why do you yell at me? It's as if (you think) I'm deaf!
Ni que fuera adivino, para saber lo que piensas.
It's not like I'm a fortune teller who knows what you're thinking about.
Pues, no tan bien que se diga, pero más o menos me defiende un poco.
Well, not so good exactly but it more or less helps me a bit.
Caption 9, Doña Coco - La Vida De Una Cocinera
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Doña Coco is not earning enough money que se diga, which literally translates to something like "it might be said." However, que se diga (commonly expressed as que digamos) is in fact a colloquial expression which has approximately the same meaning as precisamente ("precisely" or "exactly"), and is often used to mitigate negative statements, as we see here.
No me siento muy bien que se diga.
I don't exactly feel good.
El pollo no está muy rico que digamos.
The chicken isn't exactly very tasty.
Note that if we add "ni" we get the expression "ni que se diga," which is the Spanish equivalent to "Let's not even go there."
Los alumnos de cuarto grado son ruidosos. Los de quinto, ni que se diga!
The fourth grade students are noisy. As for the fifth graders, let's not even go there!
In Mexico City, our Amigos D.F. return to tell us something about arquitectura (architecture) in el D.F. (in Mexico City, that is). Indicating a nearby building, we hear:
O sea, abajo es una zona comercial, todo lo que vendría a ser la planta baja... y arriba, allá, son este... departamentos residenciales.
I mean, below it's a commercial area, everything that would be the ground level... and above, there, are umm... residential apartments.
Captions 29-31, Amigos D.F. - Arquitectura
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Despite the rambling nature of this unscripted dialogue, it's easy enough to understand that there are commercial businesses on the ground floor of this building and residential apartments above. If the building has an elevator, pressing the p.b. (planta baja) button will take you to street level.
Push "1" in the same elevator and you'll end up on what's referred to as the "second floor" in New York or Miami. You see, in Spain and in Latin America, "el primer piso" is "the first floor *above* the ground level."
¿Dónde está ubicado el restaurante? -En el primer piso.
Where is the restaurant located? -On the first floor.
Captions 71-72, Cleer y Lida - Recepción de hotel
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So, let's take this language lesson up a step. Say you want to visit your Mexican friend in his apartment up on "2." That's el segundo piso ("the second floor"). You see, you rarely hear la segunda planta or la primera planta outside of architectural drawings. In everyday speech, you'll usually hear pisos instead of plantas describe floors 1 through, well, the sky's the limit.
¿Ves ese edificio que esta ahí al frente? En el segundo piso, de ahí subís y ahí es tu salón.
Do you see that building that's over there in front? On the second floor, you go up there and there's your classroom.
Captions 48-49, La Sucursal del Cielo - Capítulo 1
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A final note on arquitectura: Departamento is the word of choice for Latin American apartments. Meanwhile, over in Spain, you'll typically hear apartamento.
On the Venezuelan shore, Francisco expresses his deep appreciation for the wild, natural beauty of his surroundings. In front of the camera, Francisco hesitates a few times, but it's not from lack of conviction. He's simply buying time to find the right word. For example:
Los arrecifes... la... la... el fondo marino en... en sí que es demasiado increíble.
The reefs... the... the... the ocean floor it'... itself is too incredible.
Captions 7-8, Playa Adícora - Francisco - Part 4
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One might take pause upon hearing en sí because those two words separately can mean "in" and "yes." But sí with an accent over the i is not just an affirmation; it's also a reflexive personal pronoun (short for sí mismo / sí misma) meaning himself, herself, itself, oneself, yourself (as in the formal usted), yourselves (ustedes) or themselves -- depending on the context.
Lo leyó para sí misma.
She read it to herself. [not out loud]
Cada uno debe hacerlo por sí mismo.
Each person has to do it himself or herself.
Solía pensar por sí mismo; no era influenciado por los tan llamados expertos.
He used to think for himself; he wasn't influenced by the so-called experts.
¡Venga y compruébelo por sí mismo!
Come and check it out for yourself!
Let's look back at our original example and home in on the idiom en sí, which means the same thing as en sí mismo (English translations: "in itself" or "in and of itself" or simply "itself").
El trabajo en sí no era interesante, pero le daba la posibilidad de viajar.
The job itself wasn't interesting, but it gave him the opportunity to travel.
Amor es bueno en sí naturalmente,
Love in itself is naturally good,
[from Juan Boscán's Sonnet, a sixteenth century poem]
You will also find it interesting to note that volver en sí, which we might be tempted to translate as "to come back to one's self," is an expression that means "to regain consciousness / to come to." It can also mean "to come around," as in "to realize the truth."
Si no vuelve en sí pronto, debemos llevarlo a un hospital.
If he doesn't come to soon, we must take him to a hospital.
Por suerte volvió en sí y se dió cuenta que era una locura.
Luckily he came around and realized it was a crazy idea.
This lesson has valor en sí misma, if you ask us!
Going to the private party where The Ramones were performing for the first time ever ended up changing the life of painter/artist Arturo Vega. Our featured video interview with Vega captures the story.
Entonces yo fui porque, pues, era una fiesta, ¿verdad? Y Dee Dee me caía bien.
So I went because, well, it was a party, right? And I liked Dee Dee.
Caption 52, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 3
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So, students following the subtitles of this interview may choose to click the Spanish words that they don't know for Yabla's handy dictionary definitions. It happens that if they clicked caía, the dictionary would reveal that it's a third-person past tense of the verb caer. And what does caer mean?:
All these definitions are true, but what about "liking someone" -- as the verb is used here? Turns out that in Spanish, to say you like someone, you basically say that someone, well, falls well for (or, to) you. That is to say, Me cae bien means "I like him/ her" or "He/she made a good impression on me."
Conversely, Me cae mal means "I don't like him/her."
You may be wondering if he might have used the verb gustar, which also can be used to indicate liking something or someone. However, when using gustar to refer to people, there can be romantic/sexual connotations. Using caer bien eliminates any potential misunderstanding, as it refers to a purely platonic attraction.
In your travels through the Spanish speaking world you will undoubtedly come across other interesting uses of caer.
Cualquier cosa te caigo más tarde, ¿vale?
Anyway, I might drop by later, OK?
Caption 34, Confidencial: Asesino al Volante - Capítulo 1
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No puedes caer así sin avisar. (slang)
You can't drop by like that without calling.
Siempre es igual, le cuentas un chiste y cae media hora más tarde.
It's always the same, tell him a joke and he gets it a half hour later.
Me puedes
You can get to me / I can't resist you
[song title, La Gusana Ciega - Me Puedes]
The song title for La Gusana Ciega's new video may at first sound like an incomplete phrase. After all, it's common to see the verb poder (to be able to) conjugated with a direct object -- as in, me puedes -- followed by another verb in the infinitive, such as Me puedes ayudar, (You can help me) -- or, with question marks, ¿Me puedes ayudar? (Can you help me?).
So, when encountering me puedes on its own, one may struggle to find sense in "you can me." (You can what me?) But the verb poder can also mean "to be stronger than," or "to have power over," which will give us "You are stronger than me / You have power over me" or, seen from another angle, "I can't resist you."
To investigate further, we went straight to the source, Daniel Gutierrez, lyricist/vocalist/guitarist of La Gusana Ciega. We asked him what he had in mind when he titled the song "Me puedes." Daniel, who speaks English quite well, replied and told us how the title ties into the song's refrain of me vas a ver llorar (you're going to see me cry):
It would be sort of a YOU GET TO ME referring to "you can make me cry" if you want.
¡Gracias, Daniel! If only we could always contact all our video stars directly. Alas, no podemos.
La curiosidad me pudo y fui a ver el combate de lucha.
Curiosity got to me [got the best of me] and I went to see the wrestling match.
Está bien, me puedes... vamos a ir al zoológico el domingo.
Alright, I can't say no [to you]... we'll go to the zoo on Sunday.
Estoy a régimen, pero la torta de chocolate me puede.
I'm on a diet, but I can't resist chocolate cake.
¡Ese chico me puede!
I'm crazy for that boy! [can't resist him]
Esta niña me puede... no pude decirle que no.
I can't resist this girl [her charms]... I couldn't say no to her.
Cuando llegué estaba enojada, pero esa sonrisa me puede...
When I arrived I was angry, but I can't resist that smile...
NOTE: You might be wondering if it's therefore possible to say te puedo for "you can't resist me." But our translators inform us that native speakers don't do this, and probably wouldn't understand it if you attempted to convey this sentiment like that.
In our latest live concert footage of Belanova, lead singer Denisse Guererro turns to the audience and asks:
Este mundo gira y algún día ha de morir
This world spins and someday it shall die
pero contigo -¿Cómo dice, Guadalajara?
but with you -How does it go, Guadalajara?
Captions 28-29, Belanova - Tus ojos
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The crowd responds by singing along to the well known song. North of the border, concertgoers might hear the words "How does it go?" to provoke a similar sing-along.
But wait. Most of you know the verb decir most often means "to say" or "to tell." It's ir that typically means "to go." A literal-minded translation of ¿Cómo dice? might be something more like "What does [it / the song / the tune] say?"
When we asked around, we gathered some more examples of English phrases in which "go" is best expressed in Spanish with decir. Here they are:
As the song goes
Como dice la canción
As the saying goes
Como dice el refrán
So the story goes
Se dice
So the argument goes (reputedly)
Según se dice
Hearing "decir" used in this context, it becomes much easier to understand another new music video. In "Llora mi corazón," La Secta Allstar leads into their own refrain with:
Y dice...
And it [i.e., the song's refain] goes [like this:]...
Caption 6, La Secta - Llora mi corazón
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So, how does La Secta's refrain go?
Puerto Rican band Circo remind us that a suspicion is, by definition, not the same as a confirmed fact. Here's the refrain:
No es lo mismo una sospecha que saberlo de verdad
A suspicion isn't the same as knowing it for sure
No es saberlo de verdad lo mismo que una sospecha
Knowing it for sure isn't the same as a suspicion
Captions 7-8, Circo - La sospecha
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The repeated refrain is reminiscent of a series of jokes in Spanish that start "No es lo mismo [decir]..." ("It's not the same [to say]..."). For example:
No es lo mismo decir: "me río en el baño" que "me baño en el río."
And the English translation?
It's not the same to say: "I laugh in the bathroom" as "I bathe in the river."
And that's funny? Well, the little joke is hinged on the fact that the verbs "reirse" ("to laugh") and "bañarse" ("to bathe") have conjugations that sound just like the nouns "el río" ("the river") and "el baño" ("the bathroom"). And that's why flipping the words around is un chiste (a joke) only in Spanish. Just try translating a groan-worthy English "knock-knock" joke into another language...
You can find dozens more "no-es-lo-mismo" chistes online with a simple search.
Asked about his influences in the arts, Arturo Vega gives a long, thoughtful answer that includes one particular verb phrase over and over. Here are the excerpts:
Después de la actuación... me di cuenta que... mi talento o mi vocación... era mejor... lo visual.
After acting... I realized that... my gift or my vocation... was really good at... the visual.
Captions 10-13, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 2
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Me he dado cuenta que mi manera de percibir y de valorizar...
I have found that my way of perceiving and appreciating...
Captions 14-15, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 2
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Pero a mí... yo me di cuenta que no era nada más... cuestión de que yo estaba absorbiendo o que me gustaba...
But for me... I realized that it was not just... [a] question of me capturing or of me liking...
Captions 19-20, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 2
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...sino que me di cuenta que podía hacer algo con la información visual.
...but that I realized that I could do something with visual information.
Caption 22, Arturo Vega -Entrevista - Part 2
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Y... y me da... me di cuenta del gusto...
And... and it gives me... I became aware of the pleasure...
Caption 24, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 2
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Me di cuenta que no tienes que por qué [sic] saber dibujar ni pintar para...
I realized that you don't need to know how to draw or paint in order to...
Caption 31, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 2
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Through repetition, you learn. Here our lesson is clear: Darse cuenta = "to realize". Yes, it's used often, you must realize.
Even native speakers have no end of trouble with the distinction between aun and aún. In fact, this newsletter was instigated when our chief proofreader removed the accents she found on the u's in Belanova's title refrain Y aun así te vas. The band's own CD shows an accent on the u, so we were dubious. Ultimately, she convinced us that there should be no accent on the u in the phrase aun así. Hopefully the following will convince you too!
Revolvimos los planetas
We stirred the planets
Y aun así te vas
And even so you leave
Captions 16-17, Belanova - Y aun así te vas
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Aun así is a Spanish idiom, or usage expression, meaning "even so", "still" or "yet." We could have equally well translated the line as "And still you leave," or "And yet you leave."
Hace frío afuera, aun así ella no se pone un abrigo.
It's cold outside, yet she won't wear a coat.
No tengo mucho dinero, pero aun así voy a comprar la computadora.
I don't have much money, but still I'm going to buy the computer.
Habíamos pagado por la habitación y aun así tuvimos que buscar otro hotel.
We had paid for the room and yet we had to look for another hotel.
Aun así, creo que deberías disculparte.
Even so, I think you should apologize.
The word aun, by itself, and with no accent over the u, and not followed by así, can often be translated as "even."
No como torta, aun en mi cumpleaños.
I don't eat cake, even for my birthday.
Aun cuando lo leyera, no lo entendería.
I wouldn't understand it, even if I read it.
Ni aun sabiendo la dirección llegarías a su casa.
Not even knowing the address would you find his house.
Can you see how when we put aun together with así ("like this" / "this way"), we get something along the lines of "even like this" / "even this way"? Or, more concisely, "even so"? Diccionario de Uso del Español, by María Moliner, a favorite of professional translators, goes deeper:
"AUN ASÍ" Expresión adverbial de significado adversativo, ya que expresa oposición entre el resultado real de la circunstancia expresada por "así" y el que podría esperarse de ella. "Aun así no llegaís a tiempo"
"AUN ASÍ" Adverbial phrase with adversative meaning since there is a contrast between the actual outcome of that circumstance expressed by "así" and the expected result. "And still / yet you are not on time"
If that's a bit too deep, ¡no importa! (don't worry), just remember the basic meaning and you'll be fine!
Aún, with the accent on the ú, means "up until the present moment" and is basically synonymous with todavía. Confusingly enough, aún is also defined as "yet," "still," but in the temporal sense (as opposed to when they mean "even so" / aun así).
¿Aún estás aquí?
¿Todavía estás aquí?
Are you still here?
Aún no ha llamado.
Todavía no ha llamado.
She hasn’t called yet.
Ya son las once y aún no ha llamado.
Ya son las once y todavía no ha llamado.
It’s already eleven o’clock and she still hasn’t called.
¿Has tenido noticias? —Aún no
¿Has tenido noticias? —Todavía no
Have you had any news? — Not yet.
Let's continue with Arturo Vega's tentative arrival in New York:
Y vine primeramente en el sesenta y nueve para ver qué onda, a ver qué tal estaba Nueva York.
And I first came in sixty-nine to see what was going on, to see how New York was.
Captions 70-71, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 1
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"¿Qué onda?" It's a common question in Mexico and elsewhere in the Spanish-speaking world. It's even a common greeting. If you took it literally, the question sounds like "What wave?" -since "qué" (with an accented é) means "what" and "onda" means "wave," technically speaking. While "de onda corta" is "shortwave," as in shortwave radio, note that "onda" can also mean "vibe" informally. And so "qué onda" can mean, basically, "what's up" or "what's going on," as our translators have it. ("What vibe" sounds silly in English.)
Onda in this informal sense seems to have originated in Mexican colloquial speech and is used in a wide variety of ways. This usage has spread throughout Latin America but, by most accounts, continues to be most common in the place it originated.
Note that ola is also a word for "wave," and this is the word used to describe the things that slap the beach. If you talk about an onda when describing a body of water, most native Spanish speakers will take it that you mean a "ripple." So, next time you visit Puerto Escondido, note that a surfista is certainly riding las olas, but might be staying at Cabañas la Buena Onda (The Good Vibe Cabanas) -- which are still so pure that they don't appear to have a website, but we guarantee you they exist (find them at La Punta, "The Point").
Chatting with Arturo Vega, the artistic director of the seminal New York rockers The Ramones, we learn he's from Chihuahua, Mexico (yes, the namesake of those tiny Taco Bell / Paris Hilton dogs). We also learn that he came to the U.S. in "los sesentas" ["the sixties"] -- as in, "los años sesenta." In fact, in just over six minutes of chatting in front of the camera, Vega mentions "los sesentas" four times (in captions 29, 30, 40 and 50, to be precise).
En los sesentas empecé a viajar y por supuesto en los sesentas era más atractivo ir a lugares como San Francisco, California
In the sixties I started to travel and of course in the sixties it was more attractive to go to places like San Francisco, California
Captions 29-30, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 1
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But the grammar police say that Vega gets it wrong four times: In proper Spanish, the decades are supposed to be singular, so it's los sesenta (short for los años sesenta).
Well, let's give Vega the benefit of the doubt. You see, Anglicisms in Spanish are increasingly popular. By "Anglicism" here we are referring to the application of a rule of English grammar to Spanish. Besides making decades plural, as an Anglicism, you may hear some family names pluralized in Spanish as the are in English. For example: Los Ramones (as uttered by our interviewer in caption 37) is technically the incorrect way to refer to the members of the fictional Ramone family.
Y... aquí fue donde... conociste a Los Ramones
And... it was here where... you came to know the Ramones
Captions 36-37, Arturo Vega - Entrevista - Part 1
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(Granted, "los Ramone" does not echo the name of the legendary band....) Note: the band members each took the last name "Ramone" as stage names, but these neighborhood pals from Queens were not, in fact, related, nor born with this surname.
Tip: If you want to hear a more traditional translation of a famous U.S. family into Spanish, tune into Los Simpson. (Yup: it's singular: "Simpson.")
In the song's refrain, there's another example of a common verb used in a secondary sense.
Si dos ya no se llevan bien
If two don't get along [well]
Caption 11, Jeremías - Uno y uno igual a tres
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The first definition you'll probably learn for the common verb llevar is "to carry." Learn the nuances of this versatile verb and you'll find this construction:
Llevarse bien/mal con alguien
"To get on well/badly with somebody"
For more examples -- and more nuances of llevar -- you could check out:
ThoughtCo. > Spanish language > Using llevar
The verb prestar (which means "to lend") has some different uses in Spanish than the verb "lend" does in English. For an example, let's turn to Chober, chatting on the beach in Venezuela in this week's new interview.
Y buenos, el destino final es prestar un servicio donde la gente pueda degustar gastronomía local...
And well, the final objective is to provide a service where people can taste local gastronomy...
Captions 37-38, Playa Adícora - Chober
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If you translated the above quotation and decided 'prestar un servicio' was "to lend a service," you'd still get the gist of the sentence. But your English might sound a little stilted. Same holds true of this common phrase in Spanish:
Prestar atención
To lend attention? Well, in modern English we'd say "to pay attention."
For more Spanish phrases containing prestar, see:
WordReference.com > prestar
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