Blog del Instituto Cervantes Nueva York

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In the age of global business, the value of employees being able to speak more than one language has increasingly been highlighted over the last few years. Multilingual employees earn more money and have «practical benefits in a globalized economy».

Despite the fact that The United States is now the world’s second largest Spanish-speaking country after Mexico, many American people still monolingual.

Truth be told, being bilingual or mulitlingual has also many personal benefits. From being better at multi-tasking to decision making, sharper reasoning, holding off the onset of Alzheimer and being able to see or read about situations from a different perspective or cultural point of view.

Unfortunately many still don’t see the real need for a native English speaker to go out of their comfort zone and learn a second language.

Comfort is easy. We fear uncertainty and so we seek to cushion ourselves in artificial climate-controlled boxes safe from unwanted intrusions. But this is unfortunate. Personal discovery and personal development happen only outside our comfort zone.

When it comes to language learning we create tons of excuses to avoid getting out of our comfort zone: «I’m too old to learn a second language», «I haven’t enough memory to study,» «I’ll sound silly speaking another language,» «They will laugh at me,» etc. But if we take a moment to look back, we see that our life is a sequence of firsts. There’s a first time for everything. And we’ve always felt fear and uncertainty. It’s time to beat language-learning frustration, reach your goals and enjoy a new world of opportunities.

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Palabras polisémicas en español

¿Se te ocurren más frases con palabras polisémicas?

Una palabra es polisémica si tiene varios significados pero un único significante. En español ocurre a menudo que se utiliza la misma palabra dos veces en la misma oración, dando lugar a frases bastante curiosas que pueden llamar la atención del estudiante de español. He aquí algunos ejemplos ¿Se te ocurre alguno más? ¡Compártelo con nosotros!

Polysemy is the existence of several meanings in a single word. In Spanish happens that the same word is used twice in the same sentence, leading to rather funny phrases that can be somewhat confusing for the student of Spanish. Here are some examples. Can you think of more sentences in Spanish like these? Share it with us!

No traje el traje – I didn’t bring the suit
Mañana por la mañana – Tomorrow morning
Olvidé la bolsa en la Bolsa – I forgot my bag in the stock exchange
¿Se cura el cura? – Is the priest healing?
Te he dado el dado – I have give you the dice
Me regaló un imán del Imán para la nevera – He gave me a magnet of the Iman for the fridge
Estoy sentado en el banco frente al banco – I am sitting on the bench in front of the bank
Un mono muy mono vestido con un mono de trabajo – A very cute monkey dressed with overalls
El chico bajo es el que toca el bajo – The short guy is the one playing the bass
Bota esa bota – Throw away that boot
Sal a por sal, por favor – Get out to buy some salt, please
¿Viste cómo viste? – Did you see how she dress?
Vino a la cata de vino – He came to the wine tasting

Ahora que el invierno se acerca para convertir a Nueva York en una ciudad menos acogedora, es el momento de encontrar rincones y actividades que nos resguarden del frío y la nieve, que nos den el calor necesario para el cuerpo y la mente, y que nos ayuden a sobrellevar con cierta alegría estos meses de días cortos y luz débil. Os presentamos siete cosas imprescindibles para atravesar el invierno e incluso convertirlo en una estación acogedora. Y todas están en el Instituto Cervantes.

Winter is coming and is about to turn New York into a less welcoming city. It’s time to find places and activities to get away from the cold weather, things that provide the necessary warmth for the body and for the mind. Things, basically, that help us to get through these months with less daylight. Here you have some essential things to help you transform winter into a much more warmer season. And they are all happening at Instituto Cervantes New York.

1-Un café o un té bien caliente / A hot cup of coffee or tea

2-Un buen vino / A good wine

Apúntate a una de nuestras catas de vino en el Instituto Cervantes y saca el enófilo que hay dentro de ti.

Sign up for a wine tasting at Instituto Cervantes and  become the oenophile you always knew you could be.

3-Ir al cine / Going to the movies

Mira nuestra agenda cultural y descubre el cine español y de América Latina, interesentes conferencias, conciertos y mucho más.

Check out our cultural program and discover the new cinema from Spanish speaking world, interesting round tables, concerts and much more.

4-Un buen libro / A good book

Con más de 80.000 libros, la biblioteca Jorge Luis Borges es uno de los mejores archivos en español de Nueva York.

With more than 80.000 titles, the Jorge Luis Borges library at Instituto Cervantes is one of the best Spanish archives in New York City.

5-Buena compañía / Good company

Las clases de español en el Instituto Cervantes son divertidas, provechosas y exahustivas. Si tu objetivo este invierno es aprender español en la mejor de las compañías, aquí te esperamos.

The Spanish classes at Instituto Cervantes are fun, helpful and comprehensive. If your goal is to learn Spanish this winter, why not doing it at the best place to learn Spanish in New York with the best company you can get -students like yourself.

¿Estás preparado ahora para el invierno?

Are you now ready for winter?