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21 unusual facts about Spanish language


¿Quién quiere ser millonario?

¿Quién quiere ser millonario? is the title of several Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? franchise game shows in Spanish-speaking countries.

Afinidad

Afinidad means affinity in Spanish.

Alforja

The Spanish language word for saddlebag, from Arabic portmanteau of "saddle-bag" al-khurj ( الخرج ).

AP Spanish

Advanced Placement Spanish Language (often referred to as AP Spanish Language, AP Spanish V or simply AP Spanish) is a course and examination offered by the College Board as part of the Advanced Placement Program.

Asháninka language

Literacy rates range from 10% to 30%, compared to 15% to 25% literacy for the second language, Spanish.

Corto

the Spanish translation meaning short, curt, brief, narrow, skimpy, scanty, timid, stumpy, or bashful.

Demographics of Suriname

Dutch (official), Sranan Tongo (Surinamese, sometimes called Taki-Taki, is native language of Creoles and much of the younger population), Hindustani (Hindi-Urdu), Javanese, English (widely spoken), French due to cultural influence from French Guiana, Portuguese and Spanish.

Fiestas Patrias

Fiestas Patrias is a Spanish phrase meaning "Patriotic Holidays" or "National Holidays".

Formosa surname

The name derives from the Latin name Formosus and Spanish word "fermoso", meaning "beautiful".

Langostino

In Cuba and other Spanish-speaking Caribbean islands, the name langostino is also used to refer to crayfish.

Languages of Peru

In Peru, the most common language is Spanish, which is spoken by the majority of Peruvians (83.92% of the total population).

Life Outside the Toybox

Escucha and Gozo Nuevo are remakes of earlier tracks in Spanish, namely Listen and Sweet New Found Joy.

Marathon Media Group

The shows are dubbed into French (1st official), Japanese (2nd official), English, Thai, German, Dutch, Malay, Arabic, Italian, Romanian, Spanish, Portuguese, and other languages dubbed and shown around the world.

Otaran

Otaran surname appears in Turkish and Spanish although there is no direct family relation between each other.

Pacto de sangre

El Pacto de Sangre or Pacto de Sangre is a Spanish phrase meaning "the blood compact" and "blood compact" respectively.

PR-72P-class corvette

Pennant numbers were originally P-101 to P-106, but were later modified to CM-21 to CM-26, where CM stands for corbeta misilera, Spanish for guided missile corvette.

Puente Piedra

Puente Piedra is Spanish for Stone Bridge.

Saint James Matamoros

Saint James the Moor-slayer (Spanish: Santiago Matamoros) is famous Spanish myth.

Santa Cruz de las Flores

Santa Cruz de las Flores is Spanish for "holy cross of the flowers"

Soberanismo

Soberanismo (lit. "pursue of sovereignty") is a term used in the Spanish language when referring to different political movements that pursue a non-subordinated status for their respective territories.

Voice of the Turtle

Voice of the Turtle sings in a variety of languages typical of Sephardic music, including not only Spanish, Hebrew, and English, but also Judeo-Spanish (Ladino), Aramaic, Yiddish, Judeo-Italian, Judeo-Provencal, and Judeo-Arabic.


2006 State of the Union Address

Newly elected Governor of Virginia Tim Kaine gave the Democratic response in English and Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa did so in Spanish.

A. Ronald Walton

Working with ACTFL, the US Department of Education, the College Board, among other organizations, Walton helped to formulate nationwide standards for Japanese, French, Hebrew German, Spanish Chinese and Korean.

Amit Offir

On 2013 Amit's books were translated to other languages such as English, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese and many more.

Asociación de Historietistas Independientes

Argentine comics creators formed the Asociación de Historietistas Independientes (Spanish for Association of Independent Comic Creators) at Buenos Aires convention Fantabaires in 1996, to collectively address the challenges of independent publishing.

Assembly of the Guarani People – North Charagua

Assembly of the Guarani People – North Charagua (in Spanish: Asamblea del Pueblo Guarani - Charagua Norte), a progressive political grouping based amongst the Guarani people that contested the December 2004 municipal elections in Charagua, Santa Cruz Department, Bolivia.

Barcelona Zoo

Barcelona Zoo (Parc Zoològic de Barcelona in Catalan, Parque Zoológico de Barcelona in Spanish) is a zoo in the Parc de la Ciutadella in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.

Barrio Suecia

Barrio Suecia (Spanish for "Swedish neighborhood") is a section of Santiago, Chile, centered on Calle Suecia ("Swedish Street"), in the upscale Providencia municipality, which includes many pubs, discos and restaurants.

Blanco y Negro Records

Blanco y Negro Records (Spanish: "White and Black"), a subsidiary of WEA Records Ltd., was established in 1983 by Geoff Travis of Rough Trade Records and Mike Alway of Cherry Red.

Campillos International Piano Competition

The Campillos International Piano Competition (Spanish: Concurso Internacional de Piano de Campillos) is a Spanish annual professional piano competition held in Campillos, Málaga.

Canadian Newcomer Magazine

Although the magazine’s philosophy has always been to offer information in the languages of the marketplace in Canada, their website also offers multilingual editions (available in .pdf format) in Arabic, Urdu, Persian, Tagalog, Portuguese, Spanish, Chinese, Punjabi, Russian and Korean.

Canción Animal

Canción Animal (Spanish for Animal Song) is the fifth album released by the Argentine rock band Soda Stereo, released in December, 1990 (see 1990 in music).

Chimila language

The "Cesar" name of the Cesar River and Cesar Department is an adaptation from the Chimila indigenous word Chet-tzar or Zazare ("calm water") into Spanish, in reference to the Cesar River.

Demographics of Bolivia

The Spanish, Quechua, Aymara, Guarani languages, as well as 34 other native languages are the official language of Bolivia.

Demographics of Guatemala

Though the official language is Spanish, it is often the second language among the indigenous population.

Dígame

Dígame (meaning 'tell me' in Spanish) is the title of a monthly listings magazine for the Spanish Balearic island of Majorca which is the best read English language magazine on the island.

División Minúscula

División Minúscula (Spanish for "Minuscule Division") is a Mexican rock band from Matamoros, Tamaulipas, which is becoming increasingly popular in Mexico and gradually making an impact on the U.S. Latin alternative scene.

Dublin School

Courses include chemistry, biology, marine biology, algebra, pre-calculus, calculus, statistics, Spanish, French, Latin, Mandarin, world history, American history, economics and English, various AP courses, and various electives in each category.

Eduardo Lago

He returned to teaching Spanish, Spanish literature, and European Literature at Sarah Lawrence College in Yonkers in 2011, after leaving in 2005 for the position of Director of the Cervantes Institute in New York.

El Factor X

The winner of season one was Julio César Meza from solo-singers-aged-25+ category; the runners-up were Enygma (group made up of Ricardo García, Manuel Peña, Germán ‘Tito’ Núñez and Iván Peña) from vocal groups category and in third place was the controversial reggaeton-singer Farina (full name Pao Paucar Franco) from the solo-singers-aged-25-and-over category, famous for her quote Yo soy Farina! (from Spanish: I am Farina)

Francisco Espoz y Mina

In 1825 Espoz y Mina published A Short Extract from the Life of General Mina, in Spanish and English, in London.

Gran Passeig de Ronda, Lleida

Gran Passeig de Ronda (Catalan language official name; Spanish: Gran Paseo de Ronda) is one of the main thoroughfares in the city of Lleida (Catalonia, Spain).

Guillermo Toledo

In 2008 he played in a Spanish commercial for the popular MMORPG World of Warcraft, in a series of commercials that also featured Mr. T, William Shatner, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Verne Troyer.

In Milton Lumky Territory

He belatedly discovers that the typewriters all have Spanish language keyboards, and so he tries to pass these hot potatoes down along the line to his former warehouse employer.

Indigenous Dialogues

Esperanto was chosen rather than a major national language such as English because it is nationally neutral and relatively easy to master, while still backed and proven by an existing infrastructure—over a century of Esperanto culture—and its surface similarities to major European languages facilitate the learning of regional and world languages such as English, Spanish, or Russian.

International Poetry Festival of Medellín

The International Poetry Festival of Medellín (Spanish:Festival Internacional de Poesía de Medellín) is an annual festival held in Medellín, the second-largest city of Colombia.

KLBD

The station broadcasts a Spanish Christian music format and is owned by The Worship Center of Kingsville.

La Jerga: Periodismo Gonzo Independiente

La Jerga: Periodismo Gonzo Independiente (Independent Gonzo Journalism) is a free, bilingual (Spanish and English), gonzo newspaper established in San Miguel de Allende, Mexico in April 2003, that has been publishing consistently monthly for the past four years.

La sonrisa etrusca

The book La sonrisa etrusca ("The Etruscan Smile") originally written in Spanish was written by the Spanish economist and writer José Luis Sampedro in 1985.

Laura's Happy Adventures

Many different language versions of the game were produced, including Spanish, French, German and even British English.

Los Arlequíns

Los Arlequíns (Spanish for "The Harlequins") was a Mexican professional wrestling group, called a stable, who worked as a rudo (term used for wrestlers who portray the "Bad guys") faction.

MacArthur Study Bible

Initially only available in the New King James Version, the MacArthur Study Bible is now also published using the New American Standard Bible text and the English Standard Version text, and the New International Version text as well as in Spanish, German, French, Italian and Portuguese.

Matthew Raymond-Barker

Raymond-Barker is a student, studying French and Spanish at the University of Bath and was in France for a period of six months to improve his French language skills at University of Toulouse.

Middle French

There were also some borrowings from Spanish (casque) and German (reître) and from the Americas (cacao, hamac, maïs).

Natalia Toledo

Natalia Toledo Paz (Juchitán de Zaragoza, Oaxaca; 1968) is a Mexican poet in Spanish and Zapotec.

Nicaragua National Institute of Information Development

The National Institute of Information Development of Nicaragua; (Spanish: Instituto Nacional de Información de Desarollo de Nicaragua (INIDE)), is responsible for completing censuses and surveys.

Oceano, California

"Océano" (with accent) is the Spanish word for "ocean", but the toponymic name is written without it.

Open University of Catalonia

The UOC offers graduate and postgraduate programs in Catalan, Spanish and English in fields such as Psychology, Computer Science, Sciences of Education, Information and Knowledge Society and Economics.

Palacios del Arzobispo

Palacios del Arzobispo (Spanish for "Palaces of the Archbishop") is a village and municipality in the province of Salamanca in western Spain, part of the autonomous community of Castile and León.

Paterna International Piano Prize

The Paterna International Piano Prize (Catalan: Premi Internacional Pianístic de Paterna, Spanish: Premio Internacional Pianístico de Paterna) is a biennial piano competition in Paterna, Valencia, Spain.

Paulo Freire University

The Universidad Paulo Freire (Spanish: Universidad Paulo Freire (UPF)), located in Managua, Nicaragua, with branches in Diriamba, Río San Juan and Matagalpa.

Promociones Gutiérrez 1st Anniversary Show

The focal point of the event was a Ruleta de la Muerte (Spanish for "Roulette of Death") tournament, in which five teams of Parejas Incredibles (teams of enemies) participate in an elimination match to see which team would have to face off in a Lucha de Apuesta, mask vs. mask match.

Radio Bulgaria

In 2004, Radio Bulgaria broadcasts to Europe, Asia, Africa, North and South America on short and medium wave in Bulgarian, English, French, German, Spanish, Russian, Serbian, Greek, Albanian and Turkish.

Ramendra Kumar

Ramen's work has been published and reviewed in major newspapers and magazines and translated into several Indian languages as well as Chinese, Japanese, Mongolian, Sinhala, French, Portuguese and Spanish.

Reina King

Reina and her sister have similar names: Reina and Regina both mean queen, in Spanish and Latin, respectively.

San Juan de la Rambla, Santa Cruz de Tenerife

San Juan de la Rambla (first part Spanish for Saint John) is a municipality in the northern part of the island of Tenerife, one of the Canary Islands, and part of the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife.

Ts'ao Yung-ho

Ts'ao has studied a number of languages in pursuit of his understanding of early Taiwanese history, meaning he can now make use of ten languages: Taiwanese, Japanese, English, German, Mandarin Chinese, French, Dutch, Spanish, Portuguese, and Latin.

Unified Trade Union Sub Federation of Peasant Workers of Ancoraimes – Tupak Katari

Unified Trade Union Sub Federation of Peasant Workers of Ancoraimes - Túpak Katari (in Spanish: Sub Federación Sindical Única de Trabajadores Campesinos de Ancoraimes Túpak Katari) is a trade union in Ancoraimes, La Paz Department, Bolivia.

Vicio Latino

The chorus was sung in Spanish by female vocalists, while male vocals were sung in an invented language imitating English language phonetics of the US Funk singers (somewhat like the later hit Asereje by Las Ketchup, or previously Tom Tom Club's "Wordy Rappinghood").