El Día de los Muertos – The Day of the Dead
This celebration is held in Mexico and South American countries and Spain starts on October 31st at midnight and finishes on November 2nd. It dates back to pre-Columbian times when people honoured their ancestors. The meaning behind it is to honour the dead and to celebrate life. It is also sometimes known as the “Día de Todos los Santos”.
What happens during the celebration?
People remember the dead by telling stories about them and they also clean the graves of their loved ones that have passed on and lay flowers.
1st November is a day to remember children and is known as the “Día de los Angelitos” (Day of the Little Angels).
2nd November is for remembering adults who have died. This is the official “Día de los Muertos”. People believe that the dead come to life again on this day. There is even a belief that if the dead see that they are not being honoured on this day they will haunt the living. Continue reading
How to talk about what you “usually do” in Spanish
How to use the Spanish verb “Soler”
When chatting to people in Spanish you often like to talk about what you usually do and your habits.
There are several easy ways to do this. You can just use words like, “Normalmente” (Normally), “Generalmente” (Generally) or other frequency terms such as:
– A veces (sometimes)
– Muchas veces (many times)
– A menudo (often)
– Siempre (always)
– De vez en cuando (from time to time)
… followed by a present tense verb: Continue reading
Why Businesses Need to Invest in Foreign Language Training
“Monoligualism is the Illiteracy of the 21st Century” British Academy.
According to the British Council, “Deficient language skills and the presumption that international business partners will speak English costs the UK economy about 3.5% of GDP”.
Businesses are expanding rapidly and one of the most common ways to do this is to tap into foreign markets. To do this successfully it is important to be able to communicate effectively with colleagues, suppliers and customers abroad to avoid embarrassing mistakes and problems. Employing foreign staff and learning a second language will open up many opportunities for your business. In this blog post we will discuss why now is the best time to invest in employee language training. Continue reading
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