Spanish is a rich language.

Spanish is a rich language. I hear this about once a day from my professors. It’s their nice way of saying Spanish as a million different ways to say the same thing or one word means a million different things. Take the verb “echar”, here is the list of some of the meanings from my dictionary: to throw, throw away, throw out, issue, emit, publish, discharge, dismiss, swallow, smoke, turn, play, to utter, to put on, deal….the list goes on. And this list doesn’t include phrases like “echar de menos” which means to miss someone or something, or “echarse a” which means “to begin to”. It’s as though if they don’t have a verb/word for something they just go with “echar”.

Then there is “ser” and “estar”. Anyone who has studied Spanish will tell you that “ser” and “estar” are the downfall of every student. Both words mean “to be” but with the same word following it, it can mean two very different things. For example, “Ella es buena” uses “ser” and means “she is a good person”. “Ella esta Buena” uses “estar” and means “she is good-looking”. Let’s just say, using “ser” or “estar” in the wrong context can cause a lot of embarrassment.

There is also many words for the same thing. For example: coat. How many words can you think of for coat? Coat. Jacket. Raincoat. Dress coat. Ski jacket. Most of the terms all end up being something followed by “coat” or “jacket”. Now let me teach you all the words I have learned for a jacket or coat of some sort: abrigo, cazadora, chaleco, chaqueta, impermeable, gabardina, anorak, Americana, un Rebecca. None of these sound alike and the Spanish are very specific as to using the right word with the right type of item. For example, I have a Columbia jacket. I just called it a jacket., but here it would strictly be classified as an “anorak”.

Spanish is a tricky language. There are days where things like this just frustrate me, where I can’t put together one correct sentence and I wonder if I will ever be able to respectably carry on a conversation. Then there are other days where I have moments of brilliance, where I use the right word, the right verb and the right tense and it all flys out of my mouth at a speed that afterwards I wonder to myself “Where did that come from?”. When things like that happen I remember why I wanted to learn Spanish - because I like to be challenged now and then.

:)
Andrea