Sadler's Wells Flamenco Festival 2010

Spanish timetables and greetings

Timetables

Spanish times and timetables, especially for meals, are a bit different from those in other countries. This might be shocking sometimes.

Desayuno: breakfast. This is not so different although many people like having breakfast when they get to work or they like having it during a midmorning break anytime before 12.00 pm.

Almuerzo: lunch. It normally takes place between 2.00 and 3.00 pm. It normally is a strong meal.

Merienda: afternoon snack. This is a late afternoon-early evening light snack, normally offered to children.

Cena: dinner. A meal (lighter than lunch) which takes place between 9.00 and 10.00 pm.

That is why most Spanish people go to bed late, not before midnight.

These are generalizations, not all Spanish people are the same, but this timetable is what most of us roughly do.

Greetings along the day

The following video shows the different greetings in Spanish during the day but it has been adapted from an English course. What are the differences between English and Spanish in this aspect?

- "Buenos días" is actually used until midday if you want to be very precise but it can also be used until lunchtime, normally at about 2.00 pm in Spain.

- The use of "buenas noches" in Spanish is different from that in English as Spanish people use "buenas noches" meaning also "hello" when it is dark. So you can use it when you arrive at a place, while in English you would still use "good evening". It is like English when you say "goodbye" at night or when you are going to sleep in the evening.

More greetings: a song.

Spanish alphabet

In Spanish, "ch", "ll" and sometimes "rr" are considered letters too although this is not consistent anymore.

That means that if you look up a word starting with these letters, in some dictionaries, mostly Spanish, you will find they are not under the "c" or "l" entries, but under the "ch" or "ll" ones.

Here is a song to revise the alphabet in which they are included as independent letters. Next to the letter, between brackets, you can see how Spanish people write the full word for it:

Spanish surnames

What is different about Spanish surnames?

1) Spanish people have two surnames.



The first surname is the father's first surname (Sánchez) and the second surname is the mother's first surname (Montes). Well, this was the tradition until a new law was passed and parents can choose on the order of their children's surnames.

That means that now a child may have as his/her first surname that of his/her mother and second that of his/her father.

2) Women have the same surnames all their lives and these do no change with marriage.

You can read the names of the bride's parents on the top left-hand corner: Arnulfo Mejía Zurita and Yolanda Cárdenas Ceja, which means that the bride's name is (and will be after the wedding) Yolanda Mejía Cárdenas. In the same way, the groom's name is Armando Ayala Durán (his mother has two names and two surnames, something quite common).

Some women use their husband's surname and say "señora de + husband's surname" but this is not so common and a bit conservative. In any case, their "official" surnames in every document will be their "maiden" ones.

Spanish names

Hola, me llamo Juanjo y soy español. Acabo de llegar a la Universidad de Westminster y este es mi blog para apoyar la enseñanza del español en el Polylang.

Hi, my name is Juanjo and I'm Spanish. I have just arrived at Westminster University and this is my blog to help you with the learning of Spanish at the Polylang.

Vengo de Sevilla, en el sur de España / I come from Seville, in Southern Spain

Something you might not know about Spanish names:

It is very common for Spanish people to have two names (or more) and using them both!!! As they get too long to say, we sometimes shorten them like this:

Juanjo: Juan José = Juan+Jo(sé)

This is a very common formula to create Spanish nicknames. Other examples:


Juanma: Juan Manuel = Juan+Ma(nuel)

Josema: José María (yes, it is a male name!!): Jose+Ma(ría), also Chema (much shorter and more familiar)

It also works with female names, but in that case it happens with María and the second name can also be fairly altered:

María del Carmen: Mari(a del)+Carmen = Mari Carmen

María Teresa: Mari(a)+Tere(sa) = Mari Tere, also Maite

But you also have some more complicated changes, like these:

José = Pepe

Dolores= Lola

Manuel = Manolo = Lolo

Rosario = Charo

Any questions about other Spanish names? Send a comment.

Meanwhile here is a song called "No me llames Dolores, llámame Lola", by Pastora

(Don't call me Dolores, call me Lola)