How to say ‘Happy New Year’ in 20 languages

Posted by simonager under English, French, German, Italian, Learning a language, Spanish

New Year is celebrated around the world, though not necessarily on the same day everywhere. In some cases, such as in Chinese and Vietnamese communities, there are celebrations for both solar New Year on 1st January according to the Gregorian, and Lunar New Year, the date of which changes every year. In the Eastern Orthodox [...]

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Tags: arabic, catalan, french, german, italian, mandarin, new year, spanish, voc

Superstitions in Italy: what’s considered good and bad luck

Posted by simonager under Learning a language, Spanish

There is quite a lot of regional variation in the superstitions held in Italian, however there are a number of widely-held ones such as the concept of luck, whether good or bad, and fear of evil spirits. Such beliefs are most common among Italian peasants.
The most widely-held superstition in Italy is fear of the evil [...]

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Tags: culture, italian, italy

Por and para – how to use these semingly similar Spanish words

Posted by simonager under Learning a language, Spanish

One aspect of Spanish that frustrates learners is knowing when to use por and when to use para. Both can be translated as ‘for’, but are not used in quite the same way as that English word, and have other meanings as well.
Usage of para
Para can be used to indicate purpose (for/in order to); a [...]

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Tags: examples, for, learning, spanish, translate

New Ricardo Garcia Flamenco Show Sponsored by Cactus

Posted by Sarah under Spanish

Dates and Venue: 4, 6, 7, 8, 11 & 12 September 2024 | Waterfront Theatre
Performers: Ricardo Garcia – guitar, Roberto Benson – percussion and ‘La Clara ’- dance
Reviewer: John Jane
Ricardo Garcia’s Flamenco, Flamenco! underscores the exciting music as much as it does the dance. Garcia’s acoustic guitar playing is mellifluous, while percussionist Roberto Benson aggressively [...]

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Tags: flamenco, flamenco flow, ricardo garcia

Christmas with Radishes, Anyone?

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Learning a language, Spanish

Advent markets, yule logs, mistletoe, gluhwein…and radishes? Christmas celebrations around the world are as varied and wonderful as the people and cultures who hold them, but there can be few traditions as exotic or unlikely as Mexico’s Noche de Rábanos, or Night of the Radishes.

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Tags: christmas, december, mexico, night of the radishes, noche de rabanos, oaxaca

10 Spanish Words That Defy The Gender Rule

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Learning a language, Spanish

Don’t get caught out by these common ‘trip-up’ words…
In Spanish, as in other Romance languages, words are classified as either masculine or feminine. And it’s usually the case that a masculine word will end in ‘-o‘ while a feminine word will end in ‘-a‘. But, as is always the case when learning a language, there [...]

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Tags: gender rules, spanish

Top 5 City Breaks this Autumn

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, English, French, Italian, Learning a language, Spanish

Put some brightness in your diary this autumn…
August has just been pronounced the worst on record, we’re almost in autumn without even seeing a summer, and the evenings are starting to draw in. Anyone living in the UK has ample reason to be jumping on a plane right now - and it seems that, despite [...]

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Tags: barcelona, berlin, cava week, city break, english, french, italian, new york, nice, rome, spanish, thanksgiving

Day of the Dead in Mexico: A Time to Celebrate

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Learning a language, Spanish

A unique and heart-warming tradition to look forward to in November
The Day of the Dead, or Día de los Muertos, is not the morbid event it may at first appear: to the contrary, it is an uplifting fiesta, celebrated mainly in Mexico, to remember and pay tribute to friends and relatives who have died. It [...]

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Tags: day of the dead, dia de los muertos, mexico, morelia, november, oaxaca, spanish courses mexico

Language Holidays for the Over 50s

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, English, French, German, Italian, Learning a language, Spanish

Why learn a language later in life?
With an increasingly ‘older’ population, and people living for longer, it is not surprising that the over 50s and retirees are now enjoying, and demanding more, of their free time. Many now have the time, money and freedom to indulge in existing passions and explore new interests, whether at [...]

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Tags: language learning over 50s, learning a language, learning later in life, young at heart

Cactus Opinion: Learning Spanish in the Dominican Republic

Posted by Sarah under Cactus Languages Abroad, Learning a language, Spanish

Managing Director of Cactus in the US, Rich Ambler, tells us about his Spanish course in Sosua

It’s late Sunday morning and I am sitting at what passes for a bus station in Sosua, in the north of the Dominican Republic, waiting for the next bus to the capital Santo Domingo. My Spanish language holiday is [...]

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Tags: dominican republic, santo domingo, sosua, spanish, spanish course, spanish language course