Hello,

I have questions about the phrase la máquina. I’ve heard it mostly in song, and really don’t understand it - I think it has something to do with following or doing something like a machine, but I’m not too sure.

The lyrics are from a Young Miko song, so it might be specific to PR. The order of the sentence confuses me; why is la máquina in the middle, and then also what is la máquina? Which person? Can anyone describe what this means?

Thank you in advance!! I appreciate it!!

I took Spanish for 3 years at my highschool, all my teachers were from Venezuela and moved to America to work. I remember listening to them closely and carefully to make sure I was hearing them right and they pronounced their "y" and "ll"s like in the words yo and pollo as something that sounded like an English "j" sound in a word like "judge." Any time I say it like that though, I get corrected (not by native speakers or anyone that knows Spanish well) whenever I read something and say it like that. Was I just mishearing them all of that time and the teachers never corrected me or are they just enforcing a different accent as authoritatively correct?

I work with a majority of Spanish speakers from Latin America. Mostly Venezuela and Colombia. I’ve picked up a lot of Spanish from listening, and one thing I heard a lot as a way to say excuse me was “permiso”. I began copying them and using “permiso”. However, yesterday, a coworker told me to use “disculpe” instead.

Is “permiso” rude? I don’t want to be rude.

Hi! Does anyone have any recommendation for dictionaries or resources that are specific to legal wording/legal phrases, etc? I’m currently in the process of getting licensed in Illinois to practice law, and I speak Spanish conversationally (years of education) but obviously don’t have the background to know court specific terms/legal phrases. I want to be sure I can communicate with individuals who speak Spanish about court specific language if necessary. So I’m looking for recommendations if anyone has them or knows of law specific dictionaries, guidebooks, etcetera that contain legal/court language specific phrases.

I’ve looked this up before, and while some resources pop up, I wanted to know if anyone had recommendations for ones they personally used that worked well or were ones that really were legal specific (some of the ones I was finding didn’t utilize phrases in the way they are meant legally, or were just not expansive nor specific enough)

I know too in Illinois courts, especially criminal, they have access to interpreters but depending on what area of law I go into, those might not be available. Plus as a note of pride lol, I want to be able to have conversations still on my own without needing an interpreter. Any guidance would be much appreciated!

I'm learning Spanish, and I'm at a very early A1 level.

I've noticed that there is a musical, melodic quality to spoken Spanish, and I noticed this when I heard people speak in Spanish, especially when it's spoken rapidly.

How does this work? I suspect it has to do with how syllables are stressed. Has anyone else here noticed this effect?

I like how it sounds, and it's pleasing to hear. It's oddly calming.

However, when you learn Spanish, does this musical quality disappear? Does it change, or improve?

Thanks!

my in-laws are both mexican. one is from oaxaca and the other is from puebla. i learned through self study, that in the preterite tense, tú usually ends in -iste or -aste. why do they always add the s on the end? for example, they’ll say “que hicistes”. is this a mexican thing?

My husband is Peruvian. So am I, but not by birth. There have been a few occasions where I've described something as azul, and he corrects me, saying that it's celeste, not azul. Huh? Isn't celeste a shade of blue? Is that normal to say that celeste is not azul?

Hola Amigos,

I'm new to Spanish, and I'm using some of the tricks that helped with my English pronunciation early on with Spanish.

I'm using music to help with my pronunciation.

When a word ends with a vowel and the next starts with one, you guys link them together, but what I want to know is, do you merge the sounds, or does one vowel take over and overpowers the other?

I've heard "no hay" almost like "noy" even after slowing it down, and "nunca es" as "nuncas".

So I thought I'd ask here to make sure.

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Hi! I have been searching through podcast apps for months now, so I figure I might as well head here to see if anyone has any recs or insight I've been missing.

In English, my favorite podcasts are Diabolical Lies (long-form culture & politics), Celebrity Memoir Book Club (smart & snarky pop culture analysis - now rebranded as Good Noticings), and If Books Could Kill (snarky breakdowns of popular nonfiction).

I would love to find some podcasts in Spanish that have a similar vibe - smart/snarky analysis of pop culture, internet culture, and politics with a progressive/leftist vibe.

I already have a list of some podcasts I'm planning on trying out, but would love your insight! Any dialect is fine, and I don't care how "difficult" it is - if it's beyond my current Spanish comprehension level, it'll just be another goal for me to work towards.

Also, if you have any other content (YouTube, TikTok, books, literally anything) that I'd like, feel free to drop your recs.

Im playing a few video games right now some of them only have Spain spanish. I was wondering if non-spain spanish speakers put it in españa if theres no other choice?

is this something i SHOULD be learning?

esit: my friends and extended family are mexican so im trying to learn for them. I have this fear of mixing up slangs and certain words from a different culture

Joven to Jóvenes, Marrón to Marrones

I’ve been wanting to learn conversational Spanish to not only feel more connected with my other Latino friends and parents but to feel more connected to my own culture. I grew up around spanish to where I understand it but I struggle holding a conversation. Does anyone have advice to learn Spanish at a conversational level?

I've always really loved the language and tried to learn it, and now meeting and getting with my spanish boyfriend it means i have more reason to learn the language

he sometimes talks spanish with his mum at home, and i occasionally get asked if i know how to say something by her

alot of the time i do know how to say it (e.g. how to order a coffee) but i get scared/nervous to say incase im gonna pronounce it wrong, get the words wrong or it just be more like tourist spanish i learn from duolingo rather than sounding more native which i'd like

anyone got any tips they can give me on how to sound more native and/or other methods than duolingo?

(added nsfw for the slurs present)

I've come across some terms that, upon Google searches, appear to translate very explicitly in English but don't seem to have as much of a weight in Spanish and I still see tossed around pretty lightly. I was just curious since I don't want to accidentally upset someone (even though I've been avoiding said words all together) and was wondering if maybe the words actually had lighter translation in English or they really are extremely degrading.

There's two so bullet points:

• Subnormal - From my observation, used by Spain speakers mostly. I'd heard it in passing video online and assumed it just meant dumb (or ugly/evil since I thought of the word 'subhuman' in English). Then, I saw a video where Spanish speakers and English speakers were in a playing a game together while using a live translation tool. Someone said this word and it automatically translated to 'retarded'. The host of the game, who was fluent in both languages, looked pretty surprised and told everyone to please ignore the translation, apologized for the error, and continued on. It was just interesting that he seemed surprised since a couple websites told me this was a correct translation.
• Jotos/Jochis/Maricon - Seem to be more common among LATAM speakers. I know it's slang gay/homosexual but many sites translate it specifically to faggot. Also, I once saw it used in a sentence as "No seas joto, solo pedirme una cita!" which made me wonder if a more appropriate translate would be 'pussy' (as in 'coward')

Hope someone has an answer and inform me! gracias por leerme :D

So I started learning Spanish a little over a month ago. I currently have around 41 hours on dreaming Spanish and have completed 11 lessons of language transfer and I practice shadowing 10-15 new sentences everyday with SRS.

Any tips on what else can I add to my routine to make the progress somewhat faster?

I have a service dog, and I was hoping someone could tell me how to say “service dog, ignore me” for a vest. I’ve seen a few different ways to word, it so I wanted to ask for help to make sure I choose the correct phrasing. Thank you!

Con realista es alcanzar el nivel B2 en 5 meses partiendo del B1 ? Soy portugués, e he estudiado Castellano en la escuela por 5 años. Pero yo no estoy muy confortable hablando la lengua. En la mayoría de las veces, mi Castellano es más Portunhol que otra cosa. Por eso, yo no sé cual es mi nivel. Yo tengo con certeza el B1, pero no sé si podré tener el B2. Entonces, del B1 a B2 en 5 meses es realista ?

Is there a general rule I can follow regarding the placement of adjectives with respect to the noun? I am becoming confused about placement of the adjective either before or after the noun.

This is one of those things the (free) version of Duolingo lacks... just simply practicing nouns -- and building vocabulary.

https://fungamery.com/spanish?quiz=nouns

Would you say there is significant benefit to be had by simply doing word exercises? I definitely feel that it helps me build vocabulary and memorize lots of Spanish words.

One of the earliest songs I learned in Spanish was El Derecho De Vivir En Paz and ever since, the “derecho de” pattern has been engraved in my mind for referring to the right to do or have something. El derecho de saber la verdad, el derecho de acceder a una vivienda digna, etc. However over time I’ve noticed that “derecho a” seems just as or even more common, in both everyday speech and print.

Is there a rule or pattern for when “a” or “de” is more appropriate?
Or maybe it varies by region? or speech patterns have changed since the legendary Chilean singer wrote the Vietnam-era song over fifty years ago?

OK, I'm confused (again.) For to take a walk, as in to just walk around without much purpose enjoying the weather etc. I've seen: Dar un paseo - Dar una vuelta - Andar por... - and Caminar por...

And to physically turn around, as in turn around and change direction, I've seen: Girar de vuelta - Dar la vuelta.

And for to just turn your head, for example, to look at something: Girarse

 Any help on which, if any, of these are correct or most common, would be appreciated.

Thanks in Advance!

My question is about the use of conocer here, instead of saber or entender. I thought conocer would mean being familiar with a person or a location. I was surprised to see it used for describing knowledge about something technical, for choosing to use or disable cookies in this case. Why would conocer be used instead of saber or other words meaning to learn or to know, in this context?

This was in a blurb about cookies for a Spanish language newspaper, El Tiempo, probably from Colombia based on the article I viewed.

It was the last sentence in a paragraph that seemed to have legal or at least technical language. This last sentence, I think, was directing me to a link on the word “aqui” in order to find out how to disable cookies.

Was it because this was describing the location of a link, so figuratively in the computer world, it was describing another location where you could go (conocer?) to find out about these computer cookies?