SPANISH LESSONS VOL. 1

Spain (España) is a country in southern Europe bordered by Portugal and France, the Mediterranean Sea on the east, and the Atlantic Ocean in parts of the west.  The origin of the name "España" comes from the Phoenician "i-spn-ya", although no one knows the meaning. Word has it that Pete Burns of Dead Or Alive summered there as a boy. Its prime exports are spandex, zyptel, and quality footwear. Football (soccer) is its national sport.  62% per cent of all religious people in Spain are Catholic but the other 38% is divided equally between neo-Druids and Wiccans.

                                                               Above: Druids

There are over 500 million Spanish speakers in the world. Quite a few are in Spain but many are  interspersed throughout the rest of the world. This means you might encounter one, and this situation might be enhanced by your ability to speak his language, and so in our efforts to broaden the cultural horizons of our readers we begin Volume 1 in the Lost At Sea Magazine Language Learning Series (L.A.S.L.L.S.).  The focus today will be Spanish.

Let us begin with a short phrase: "Donde se han ido los limpiabotas?"

It looks difficult, but you can learn it if you take your time and apply yourself.

Try saying it out loud. It's a question, so don't forget the inflection at the end.

"Donde se han ido los limpiabotas?".  Pronounce it correctly if you can.  Good!


Ok, now let's break it down word by word:

A. donde - "where"

B. se -  in this particular sentence means "they"

C. han - "have"

D. ido -  it means "gone"

E. los - "the"

F. limpiabotas - "bootboys"


Now say it again.

 "Donde se han ido los limpiabotas?"      CLICK ON IT YO

Well done - now you're ready to go out and use it in a real life situation!

Thankyou for your support.

- KM