How To Say You Re Weird In Spanish
Wicked Weird: Practice You Know These 10 Odd Spanish Words?
Although I take been learning Spanish for years, I still often rely on hand gestures and charades when I just tin can't discover that perfect vocabulary discussion.
For example, ane day I came home from my job as an ESL teacher and my friend asked how work was.
I told him, "It was okay. The students were very…."
And instead of completing my sentence, I mimed a student shouting, throwing a pencil and running effectually.
He thought almost it for a second. "¿Alborotados?" he asked.
I looked the word up online: Rowdy, disorderly, excited.
Exactly! And only similar that, I added a useful and uncommon vocabulary word to my lexicon.
Linguistic communication learning is oftentimes like that. Yous pick upwardly new, specific vocabulary words based on the situations you find yourself in. Eventually, those words come in handy.
Read on for 10 more weird (and weirdly useful) Spanish words to work into your vocabulary.
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Why Learn Weird Spanish Words?
Castilian dictionaries generally include almost 100,000 words, but the active vocabulary of a native Spanish speaker hovers between 5,000 and 10,000 words.
So, why bother learning specific, uncommon words, if you'll only get the chance to apply them in a few social situations?
As whatever language learner tin can tell you, languages frequently do not interpret directly. Thus, learning a new linguistic communication means changing the way you think about and relate to the world around y'all. At that place's something exciting and interesting almost learning a phrase or word in Spanish and thinking, "Huh, at that place's no style to say that in English!"
Sometimes, unique or untranslatable words can provide a window into a different culture. Take, for example, the give-and-take sobremesa (noun: the act of sitting around a table and talking long later a meal has ended). English language has no equivalent give-and-take, and the fact that it exists in Spanish shows but how common a practicesobremesa is in many Spanish and Latin cultures.
Not to mention, learning unique, foreign and unexpected Spanish words will undoubtedly pay off when you're talking with a native speaker and know that absolute perfect vocabulary discussion!
How to Expand Your Spanish Vocabulary
The words in this list go across the scope of most standard vocabulary lists. Y'all probably won't find them on popular language-learning apps either.
One of the best ways to learn strange and specific vocabulary is to immerse yourself in the linguistic communication. But if immersion isn't possible, try these techniques:
Read for weird words
It can be hard to pick up new vocabulary while speaking, considering it means breaking the menses of the chat to inquire what a specific word means. Reading, on the other mitt, is a great manner to pick up new vocabulary because you tin pause, take notes and use a dictionary.
Poetry is an especially great resource, because poets frequently employ uncommon, emotionally evocative words. Novels, magazines, manufactures and short stories also piece of work, of grade.
Hither is my technique: Sit downwardly with your text and a small notebook. Copy down unfamiliar words you lot come across, but don't stop to await them up as you become. Try to make sense of the text using context clues. When you accomplish the finish of the story, chapter, verse form or commodity, get back and expect upwards your unfamiliar words. At present skim the story again—did the new vocabulary change your agreement?
Think or write in Spanish for 5 minutes a day
Sit down down with a pencil and newspaper and just write about anything: your 24-hour interval, what you had for dinner concluding night, your sixth birthday party, something that'south been bothering y'all. If you don't dear writing, only sit in a calm place and switch your inner monologue to Spanish or pretend similar yous're conducting a conversation with a Spanish friend.
The point of this do is to recognize gaps in your Spanish vocabulary. Past writing or thinking most any is on your listen, you'll be testing your power to speak about a wide diverseness of topics in Spanish. Unless yous are an advanced speaker, in that location will undoubtedly be moments where you lot'll have to terminate writing and think, "Expect, how would I say that in Castilian?"
When I exercise this do, I put English words in brackets to signify the gaps in my Spanish vocabulary. So I might cease upwards with a sentence like "Estaba muy cansada pero también un poco[restless]."
When my writing fourth dimension is up, I tin can become await upward the bracketed words and write them in the margins then I don't forget them for next time.
Learn a new word every day
Many websites highlight 1 uncommon or useful Spanish word every day. I especially similar the Word-a-day service past DonQuijote.org, which provides not only a give-and-take and definition but likewise the discussion's origin, an example of its usage and a list of related words.
The website SpanishDict fifty-fifty has a service that will conveniently electronic mail a discussion of the day to you every day!
10 Weird Spanish Words You Won't Believe Exist
i. Madrugar
Function of Speech communication:verb
Significant: to wake upwardly very early in the forenoon
The literal translation of the verbmadrugarwould be "to dawn." ItsReal Academia Españoladefinition is "to wake up at sunrise, or very early."
I apply this give-and-take all the time in Kingdom of spain, considering I actually do have to wake upwardly earlier the sunday rises to get to my didactics job on fourth dimension! It is a very useful give-and-take for when my friends are trying to convince me to stay at the bar for i more round of drinks: "No, no puedo, tengo que madrugar mañana." (No, I can't, I take to wake upwards early tomorrow.)
Of form, I could just utilisedespertarme muy temprano (wake up very early), but the wordmadrugar packs a fleck more of a dramatic punch.
This word is too featured in the wise Spanish proverb "No por mucho madrugar amanece más temprano." (Waking up early doesn't brand the dominicus rise earlier.)
2. Dominguero
Part of speech:substantive
Meaning:a city-dweller who drives into the countryside on weekends
The worddominguero comes from the give-and-takedomingo (Sunday). It refers to that specific brand of tourist who leaves the city eye on weekends and holidays and heads out to the countryside with their bermuda shorts, barbecue grill and carful of kids.
Domingueros are also the reason for hours-long weekend traffic jams heading out of and into the city. The term is a bit pejorative, and then employ it advisedly.
The give-and-takedominguero tin also be an describing word, in which case information technology refers to something typical of Sundays or ofttimes used on Sundays. For instance, the phraseropa dominguera (Sun dress) is the equivalent of the English phrase "Sunday best."
iii. Picotear
Part of Spoken communication:verb
Meaning :to eat small quantities of lots of different types of nutrient
Are you the type of person who hovers by the snack tabular array at a political party? Do you strongly believe that cheese platters and hors d'oeuvres make any social engagement more than enjoyable?
If and so, then you will undoubtedly find many uses for the verbpicotear.
Additionally, at that place's a convenient noun form to describe the type of social event where one tinpicotear:un picoteo.
4. Gentilicio
Role of Speech:noun
Significant: a word used to describe somebody from a sure place
The wordsuruguayo(Uruguayan),madrileño (person from Madrid),andaluz(person from Andalucía) andneoyorquino (New Yorker) are all examples ofgentilicios: adjectives that describe where you come from.
The well-nigh common usage of the wordgentilicio, especially for non-native speakers, is to ask: "¿Cuál es el gentilicio de[place]?" (What is the right adjective for [place]?)
Whip this question out when y'all forget words like guatemaltecoor costarricense, or when you lot're unclear on the difference betwixt abonaerense (person from the province of Buenos Aires) and aporteño(person from the city of Buenos Aires).
five.Tocayo
Part of speech:noun
Meaning: a person who shares your outset name
As a teacher in Spain, I accept then many students named Laura, Javier, Nuria and David. And don't even get mestartedon Marías and Alejandros—I tend to accept at least one or two per class!
This tin make information technology difficult for me to recall all my students' names ("Sorry, are you María S. or María K.?") but at least I got a cool new vocabulary word out of it.
Alejandro B., Alejandro P. and Alejandro R. aretocayos—people who share a first proper name.
6.Arroba
Lexical category:noun
Significant:@
Ane nighttime while backpacking in Argentina, I wanted to bank check my email at a hostel. Merely I couldn't effigy out the foreign keyboard, so I had to clumsily inquire in Spanish, "Where'south the, uhm, the little thing, like an "a," with a circle, y'all know? The affair for email addresses?"
He stared at me, confused, and then finally responded. "Ah. Arroba."
The discussion has since come up in handy many times while dictating my email address over the telephone to new friends, co-workers and various public servants.
Thearroba too accomplishes a unique part in Castilian: Information technology allows Castilian-speakers to be gender-neutral in their writing. In Castilian, many words to describe people have gendered endings, with an "o" for males and an "a" for females. Traditionally, when referring to a mixed-gendered group, Spanish speakers default to the masculine "o" ending.
Notwithstanding, those who want to emphasize the fact that they are referring to all genders use anarroba, since it looks kind of like a mashed-upwards "o" and "a." For instance, a Spanish speaker might start a group email with "¡Hola a tod@southward!" (Hello everyone!). When apartment hunting in Kingdom of spain, I oftentimes saw listings that read "buscando compañer@ de piso" (seeking male or female person roommate).
7. Botellón
Part of Speech:substantive
Meaning:an consequence, ofttimes outdoors or in a public identify, where young people meet to drink alcohol together before heading to confined or clubs.
If you wander through a park or plaza in a Spanish city at near 11:30 p.chiliad. on a Friday, there's a good chance you'll run across a group of immature people, dressed to kill, holding liters of beer and various plastic bottles of indeterminable content. This is abotell ón,and it is a thrifty social practice common among Spanish teenagers and academy students.
8. Sesear
Function of Speech:verb
Meaning:to pronounce one's c 'southward or z 's with an "s" sound
There are many differences betwixt Latin American and European Spanish. Perhaps the most noticeable difference is in the way the two continents pronounce their c's and z's.
In Kingdom of spain, these two letters are pronounced with a lisped "th" audio. In Latin America, on the other paw, these letters sound identical to an "s."
The wordzapato (shoe) in Spain would sound something similar "thapato," whereas in Latin America it would sound like "sapato."
The verb to describe speaking with a Latin American pronunciation issesear.
9.Manía
Lexical category:substantive
Meaning:An excessive fixation on one small-scale, specific thing
The versatile wordmanía covers all sorts of things: bad habits, superstitions, pet peeves, obsessions, and so on.
Often, people will talk most theirmanías with a hint of irony or self-deprecation. They know that their fixation is giddy or unreasonable, but they obsess withal!
For example, I have a friend whose car radio volume must always exist set up to a number that ends in 3, v or 7. To explain herself to a Spanish speaker, my friend could shrug and say, "Es una manía que tengo." (It'due south a weird fixation I have.)
x.Trámite
Lexical category:noun
Pregnant:each step that must be carried out in order to complete a transaction or procedure
If you have tried to apply for foreign residency in a Spanish-speaking country, I can almost guarantee that y'all are familiar with the termtrámite.
One possible definition for this word would exist "annoying bureaucratic stuff"—the many trivial routine tasks you have to complete in club to become something done. Some similar English language phrases are errands, arrangements or cerise record.
Use the wordtrámite with the verbshacer (to do) andrealizar (to reach).
Tengo que hacer algunos trámites antes de viajar a Irlanda. (I have to sort some things out before I travel to Ireland.)
These unique Castilian words might non come up up in chat every single day, only they are nonetheless worth learning! How many of these uncommon words can yous work into your vocabulary?
Download: This weblog post is available every bit a convenient and portable PDF that yous can accept anywhere. Click here to get a copy. (Download)
Source: https://www.fluentu.com/blog/spanish/weird-spanish-words/
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