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- Bilbao: Modern Cathedral Town
- Adventures in Northern Spain – Part I: The Northwest (Asturias, Galicia, Porto, Zamora)
- A Little Bit of Spain in Pictures
- Pamplona – Not just bull runs and imagined worlds
- Paella Town – Fire and water in Valencia
- Science and Innovation in Spain: A wonderful work in progress
- Made in Spain: ArcelorMittal Steel
- The best place to live in Spain!
- The Canaries (Canarias)
- La Rioja – More than Words and Wine
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Author Archives: johnkwhi
So chunky you can eat it with a tenedor
Do we learn language according to rules or in repeatable phrases that are trotted out to fit the occasion? To be sure, regular idioms fill up most of our day: How are you?, Good morning, Where is the bathroom? It’s … Continue reading
More translated food for thought: Am I my film maker’s keeper?
Lost in Translation isn’t just a movie, but what happens when we try to map one culture onto another. It’s like a game of Broken Telephone, where what goes in doesn’t always come out the same at the other end. … Continue reading
Translation 101: Our many language shores
In his play Translations, the Irish playwright Brian Friel wrote about the difficulty of describing place names in different languages and the meanings for native and visitor alike. Is the ancient local place name Poll na gCaorach (literally “hole of … Continue reading
Teacher, teach thyself
When an English speaker starts to learn Spanish, the hard sounds are the r as in perro and arroz, the j as in jamón and ejemplo, and the g as in Sergio and Gijón. The sounds are a bit guttural, … Continue reading
Asturian Cider Stories and other Gijón Excursions
In Asturias, cider (or sidra) is a way of life. There are 22 officially designated apple varieties which can be pressed into almost 100 different brands made by small farmers and larger empresas alike. I can’t say I’ve had every … Continue reading
Espere … Ctrl-Alt-Supr only as a last resort
Living in a new country is daunting. Living in a new country with expat language skills can be terrifying. Insanity soon prevails, from opening a bank account (8 separate signed pages needed) to signing on at the local police station … Continue reading
El Menú del Día – IVA y pan included
El menú (men-OOH) del día is a great way to eat in Spain. Primero, segundo, postre, con una botella de vino (typically, red or tinto), all for the crisis-busting price of €9 and up. Where I’m from, you can’t get … Continue reading
Spanish Quizland. Comments welcome.
This week’s caracola is a quiz with a Spanish flair, one I put together for the Blue Sky Café on Friday night for the curious and the kind, including the winning team Turmi. Come along next Friday if you’re interested … Continue reading
Help me por favor, más despacio
The language learner in a new place is full of doubts, insecurities, and fears – big breaths in through the mouth and out through the nose are essential. As is a big L sign hung around the neck to indicate … Continue reading
Game shows galore or how I learned to love anuncios
So far, my favourite Spanish TV show is ¡Ahora Caigo!, a quiz game with 10 contestants circled around a main player, who duke it out in head-to-head questions, until either the main player misses 3 questions (one life or green … Continue reading