Margarita | Bridging Words, Teaching Worlds

It was 2011. I was walking toward a 13th-grade classroom—the final year of studies—at an international school in Ostrava. I remember feeling excited and nervous, wondering if I should speak with a Spanish accent or just be myself. I thought, “Just keep it clear. Don’t mess with the whole spectrum of Latin American accents and words,” which vary so much from country to country. It wasn’t my first year at the school. I had started my journey in the Czech Republic in 2010, working as a teacher assistant at a primary school—in a different building, surrounded by little kids. This time, I was about to face older students. Some of them were already adults. (Fun fact: the Czech system has 9 years of basic education, then 4 years of secondary school.) To make things even more interesting, these students had never had a Spanish lesson with a native speaker—not even a Latin American teacher. A Peruvian in Ostrava? No way! I walked in. The girls sat at the front, boys in the back. I think the...

 Photo by Kiril Krsteski on Unsplash Welcome to my second post about sounding more Spanish! If you’ve ever tried watching a Spanish movie with subtitles, you probably noticed that there are many words you won’t find in textbooks or regular lessons. In my experience, upper-intermediate students want to learn these phrases, but—let’s be honest—Spanish people use a lot of swear words! So, I’ll start with some normal phrases and end with a few spicy ones. Curro / Currar (job / to work) In Spanish movies, “curro” is a very common word. In Latin America, people use different words for “job.” For example, in Peru, we say “trabajo,” but in Argentina, people say “laburo.” All mean “job.” Echar la bronca (to tell someone off / give someone a hard time) You can combine this with “curro.” For example: Me han echado la bronca en el curro — Someone gave me a hard time at work. Gilipollas / Gilipollez (idiot / nonsense) ¡Qué gilipollez! — That’s nonsense. ¡Vaya gilipollas! — What an id...

Photo by Mitchell Nijman on Unsplash Watching a Spanish movie is a totally different experience than reading a textbook in class. Have you ever tried using subtitles and still felt confused? Don’t worry — today I’ll guide you through some of the most common everyday Spanish expressions. Let’s help you sound more like a native! Many of the phrases you’ll find here can give your conversations a real Spanish feel. But be careful — sometimes you can’t translate them directly into English or Czech without losing their natural meaning. If you’ve already learned body parts in Spanish, you probably know “cabeza” means head. But did you know you can also call it “el coco” ( coconut )? For example: 👉 No le des mucho al coco – Don’t overthink it! Now, how do you say you don’t understand something — like, at all? You could try: 👉 No me cabe en la cabeza – I don’t get it Or casually ask someone: 👉 ¿Pillas? – Do you get it? Sounds way more native, right? So far so good... ¿pillas? Let’s...

  Photo by Marco Gnaccarini on Unsplash Have you ever said you were “embarrassed”... and told someone you were pregnant instead? 😳 Welcome to the world of false friends — words that look similar in English and Spanish, but mean completely different things. These “friends” are tricky, but they also bring funny stories and great learning moments. Here are five classic ones I see all the time — and at the end, a small bonus from my life in the Czech Republic! 1. Embarazado = Pregnant 😬 Nope, embarazado doesn’t mean embarrassed — it means pregnant ! The word you want is avergonzado/a . Let’s practice: How did Hansel and Gretel’s dad feel after leaving his kids in the forest? And how about Rachel in Friends , when she was playing games with Ross’s heart? Right! Both were avergonzado/a . 2. Actualmente = Currently 🕒 Students often think actualmente means “actually.” But it really means currently . “Actually” is de hecho . Example: ¿Actualmente Pedro Pascal está saliendo con Je...