Marina and I have some very special free content coming up this week at notesinspanish.com – the first video is up now, on 3 of the biggest and best newspapers in Spain!

Watch the video here!

Guest blogger Robert Gordon reflects on the recent Easter migration to his corner of the Bay of Cadiz…

Just over 10 years ago the area in which I live was covered in woods and fruit orchards, indeed my own home is set on what was an orange grove – as you can see from the photo many changes have taken place. The development of this part of La Bahía de Cádiz has established it as a considerable attraction for Spanish tourism, indeed over ninety per cent of the visitors here are Spanish, most of whom are second home owners.

In my barrio, the Spanish swallows arrive from Sevilla, Cuidad Real, San Sebastian and mostly from Madrid. What brings them to a fairly ordinary town to pass their well earned holidays, and how do they pass their time?

Well in most part they come for the ambience. Los Gaditanos have a reputation: “Ellos saben reírse de sí mismo” (they know how to laugh at themselves) even in these difficult times. During fiestas they form sizable groups in the cork woods, break into song, and will adapt any handy object into a form of percussion to enjoy day long festivals created by their own initiatives and paid for by their “vaquita” (piggy bank).

Many of the city dwellers that arrive have told me they seek “turismo nacional” and it can be found here in a form much less “bomdardeado” than in many other parts of coastal Spain. They are “con su gente, como estar en casa” (with their own people, they feel at home).

Semana Santa, Easter, represents “un aperitivo del turismo” with the main course served in July/August. Alongside the week long religious festival, the visitors relax, recharge batteries, and enjoy the local attractions which are mainly the food, spectacular light, and the beaches.

I at first doubted that the food here (fish) had a national reputation, but those doubts are long gone. Seeing Madrileños queue 40 minutes for a table resplendent with a “surtido” of fried/grilled fish and an uncountable variety of mariscos is proof enough for me. After lunch they stroll around town licking their preferred ice cream from tiny plastic spoons.

The swallows also tell me they love the beaches, not just for their natural attractions, but also for the fact that they have remained authentic in that they are both free and “bring your own”. There is no hiring of sun loungers, parasols etc. This leads to wonderful streams of beach pilgrims penguin-padding down to the shore laden with… well almost the kitchen sink.

During Semana Santa beach occupation is light, it is after all only the aperitivo, but the swallows are suffering from winter withdrawal symptoms. So down on Playa Santa Catalina they bask, preen and dip their wings in the fresh sea, revitalize all working parts and restore the canyons of their minds which have suffered from the winter grind.

They are easy to spot, sporting their recently purchased “pijo” (posh) spring outfits. During my evening stroll through my barrio, I see them, rollerblading, biking in family groups – enjoying themselves. They elegantly walk by with their tiny lap dogs cradled on their forearm. Couples with v-neck sweaters draped around the shoulder swan neck the plots which have changed since their last migration.

Their gardens come alive at night with chatter and sounds of local dishes being eagerly devoured, and later hoots and hollers over shared jokes and card games. I very much enjoy their arrival and whilst they are now gone, they will soon return for their summer visit, which will take both a similar and different form. For me there is something quite wonderfully distinctive and impressive in the style that my Spanish visitors pass their days here in Cadiz.

We’ve used great ideas from our Spanish podcast listeners to come up with an amazing free report that is going to help any Spanish learner leap ahead.

Get it here while it’s hot! Here’s the link:

Free Spanish learning report available here

Have a great weekend! Ben

I’m missing the writing and the comments so both will be back asap, with an explanation. For now, suffice is to say that the huge Spanish project we’ve been working on is finished, so I’m going to have more time from now on.

If you are an interested (and keen!) Spanish learner, you can check it out here:

Real Spanish Control

We think it’s great

Recently we were discussing why Spanish needs two verbs for ‘to be’, Ser and Estar. OK, so there were valid arguments for that, but please, someone tell me why they need two prepositions, Por and Para, for ‘for’?!

Thoughts welcome below, and for keen Spanish learners, we’ve been dissecting Por y Para in our latest Notes in Spanish episodes:

Click here to nail por y para once and for all!

Gracias por tu atención

Well, over at NotesinSpanish.com we try to make learning real Spanish as much fun as possible!

To make all our resources more accessible, we’ve just put together a new Intro section for those of you that are new to the site. Check it out here, and do please come back and let me know if these new intro pages were useful – I’d love some feedback!

What kind of a language has two verbs for ‘to be’?! Well, Spanish does, and over at our sister site notesinspanish.com, we have prepared the definitive podcast guide on how to dominate the use of both. For full details and immediate download, click here!

The latest Inspired Beginners podcasts are out at our sister site Notesinspanish.com. First up, cool conversation starters, coming soon, the definitive guide to Ser and Estar!

Find full details and start listening now over at Notes in Spanish!

For all those super sharp-shooting Spanish speakers amongst you, check out the new round of Advanced Podcasts at our sister-site Notes in Spanish.

The latest episode is about the potential hypocrisy of boycotting the Olympics: head on over and have a listen!

It’s not often I use this blog to promote our activities over at NotesinSpanish.com, but I’m so excited about the project we’ve just finished that that’s exactly what I’m going to do now!

Marina and I have just spent weeks working on what we’ve called our ‘Real Spanish Phrase Book and Audio Guide’. It includes over 100 of the phrases and expressions that real Spanish people use every day on the streets of Spain, explained in nearly an hour and a half of audio, with accompanying phrase book.

I’ve always been obsessed with picking up these sorts of phrases, things like ‘¡Dejame en paz!’, meaning ‘B+@+er Off and leave me in peace!’, ‘Esta chica esta zumbada’, that girl’s totally crazy, and one of my favourites, ‘La madre que te parió’, literally ‘the mother that bore you’, a quite exquisite expression to use when you are really really pissed off!

We’ve also put together a great bonus to go with the pack, ‘How to Sound Really Spanish in 10 Words or Less!’, again based on audio that basically does what it says on the tin: it includes the 10 words or phrases that will have Spanish people doffing their cap to you in respect in seconds!

Check it all out over at Notes in Spanish, by following this link:
The Real Spanish Phrase Book and Audio Guide

Here ends the shameless plug of something we are genuinely really really proud of. Have a great weekend!