Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Spanish teacher

Alicia de Galicia is the organiser of the London Spanish meetup, one of the most popular in London.

She is a talented language teacher. Alicia is her real name, and, she says, 'soy de Galicia. So, I always say to my students Alicia de Galicia, and they never forget.'

She speaks beautiful Spanish, clear to be understood even by a timid beginner. At the same time, she manages to slip in idioms that can be appreciated and adopted by an advanced fan of Spanish, like myself.

The first time I met her, I learned de pura cepa, which means de souche, which in turns means indigenous, but there must be a better way to say it in English.

The second time I learned tiquismiquis, which she explained means quisquilloso, which means fussy.

And the third time I learned estar en pelotas, which means estar desnudo, to be naked.

I am looking forward to learn more of these idioms.

Update.

What I like about Alicia, is that she would always go an extra mile (I wonder how you say it in Spanish) to teach you something new about her language. When I told her aboout this post, she sent me the the following email:

Y como sé que te gusta y aprecias el aprender nuevas expresiones aquí van tres más: (1) salir de Guatemala y entrar en 'Guatepeor' ... salir de una situación mala para meterse en otra peor (2) enrollarse como una persiana... equivalente a 'hablar por los codos' (cosa que yo hago a menudo) (3) mandar a alguien a freír espárragos... equivalente a decirle a alguien que se pierda, que se vaya a paseo, y a decir a alguien 'vete a la porra'.

!Muchas gracias, Alicia de Galicia!

2 comments:

BETTINA said...

Just came across your blog by chance.
Here´s another expression used a lot in Spain.
"No veo tres en un burro" It means you need glasses, that you can't see well.
"Ando más perdido que Turco en la neblina"
It means I´m lost. I don't know what to do.
"Es más raro que (un) perro verde"
He is a strange person

Hope it's useful. My blog is written in Spanish, perhaps you can get other expressions there, and I'll be glad to explain anything you want.

Baltic Polyglottic said...

!Muchas gracias, Bettina! Both for the expressions and for mentioning of your blog to me. I have been looking for Spanish blogs for a while, and would be delighted to read it.