These all are very useful Spanish nouns for the airport that write and sound pretty much the same in English. Also, maybe you noticed that the ending “tion” in “Reservation” gets slightly changed to “ción”. This is a useful thing to remember: Most words ending in “tion” in English end in “ción” in Spanish.
Detail:
You can also see that “Distance” is translated as “Distancia”. The ending “-nce” is often mapped to “-ncia”; as in “assistance” and “asistencia”. You should also keep this in mind, especially while in Latin- America or Spain.
There are gradations is Spanish too for the very rich, so magnate doesn’t change: ‘magnate’, a billionaire is a ‘milmillonario’ (still to be widely accepted), a multi-millionaire is a ‘multimillonario’ and a millionaire a ‘millonario’
‘Milenario’ has nothing to do with money, but with time: it means “millennial”.
Fingers in Spanish have special names too: the thumb is ‘el pulgar’, the index is ‘el índice´, the middle is ‘el cordial’ [related to the heart], the ring is the ‘anular’ [for the 'anillo'] the little finger is the ‘meñique’ or ‘auricular’ [because some people use it for ear (áurícula’) cleaning]
There are informal names too, as ‘el dedo gordo’ [the fat finger] for the thumb, and ‘el dedo chiquito’ [the little finger] for the little one.
One who has both talent and knowledge, and also gets to produce new ideas is known in Spanish as ‘sabio’. Sometimes the word is mistakenly used as ‘erudito’ [erudite], but this last word means knowing many things about many topics, not necessarily related with one another.
Also, if you get to know about somebody who knows a great deal about one subject, but doesn´t produce that many new ideas, you can call him/her ‘docto’ [taught]
Example:
No solo era erudita sino sabia también
Translation:
Not only did she was an erudite, but a wise woman as well
‘Dolencia’ comes from Spanish ‘dolor’ [pain] and it is used frequently instead of ‘enfermedad’ [sickness]. In case it comes across, you should find out whether or not a pain is involved.
Should pain be out of the picture, you must take it as ‘ sickness’, not as a suffering pain.
In Spanish, this word has a clear different meaning than ‘ética’ [ethics], as ´moral’ refers to a way to achieve the ethical principles. The first is about practice and the second about theory.
Furthermore; ‘Moral’ is taken in Spanish as a series of ‘modos’ [ways] and ´etica’ as a series of principles.
‘Lengua’ is frequently translated as “tongue”, “language” or “idiom”, but it should be used just for the first two, as “language” is related to ‘Lenguaje’, and the Spanish signification is associated with an individual practice: each person has his or her own language.
A nation has a ‘lengua’ and each one of its citizens, has a version of her own: her ‘lenguaje’. In English that is not the case. Both tongue and language refer to the same set of symbols.
When it comes the time to apologize in Spanish don’t use ‘me disculpo’ [I apologize myself] or ‘Doy una disculpa’ [I give an apology], because apologies are, like in English, offered… and they could even be rejected.
‘Ofrezco una disculpa’ [I offer an apology] is the right way to do apologize in Spanish, although you might find some countries in America where the wrong-way form ‘pido una disculpa’ is used the most.
‘Cometa’ can be translated straightforwardly as “ comet”, but it could also mean “kite” in both Spain and America. The context will tell you what people are talking about.
There are still more terms for ‘Cometa’ as a kite too, at least in some Latin-America countries: ‘papalote’ and ‘papagayo’ are the words used in Mexico and some Central American nations. In America you will find them as ‘barriletes’
Words with no Spanish counterpart are rare, but “Software” is one of them. ´Programa´ [program] is not the right translation, as software means also the data of those programs. To makes things harder, there is also software in other areas different from computer science, as in the musical field.
It is an intangible and it relates only to the information: the ordered elements of code or musical notes existing in a hard disk or CD. That is the reason you will find the word in Spanish untranslated. Don’t try to find a translation. And then… there is yet one neighbor: “Hardware”.
Some people in Spain prefer to use this word instead of “Spanish”, when it comes to talk about their language; and this is because there are in the country some bilingual regions, with a language of their own. As ‘Castilla’ prevailed militarily and politically over the other provinces, its language became the official tongue in the country… but the other ones are not forgotten.
In the rest of the world, you can use ‘Español’ or, with more detail: ‘Español castellano’ [Castilian Spanish]. In linguistics, there is yet another denomination: ‘Español de España’ as opposed to ‘Español de México’ or another Latin-America country. This is important for the foreigner, as some “bad words” are normal words in other countries.
Spanish Noun: Gente Pronunciation: Gayn-tay Translation: People Function: Noun Using ‘gente’ (a collective) when talking abou a single person might be wrong, but people in Spain often do, i.e. ‘Ví una gente en el corredor’ [I saw somebody on the hall]. Latin-Americans try not to do it, as the word is defined as a group of persons. You can use ‘gente’ for both “people” and “a person”, but try not to do it in Latin-America, where you should try to use ‘una persona’ [a person] or ‘alguien’ [somebody] instead. Example: – ¿Quién lo dice? – La gente Translation: – Who says? – People
How to address a representative of the authority Oficial‘ [? 'officer] is a sure bet whether he or she is ranked or not. They’ll gladly accept it nevertheless.
You can use this word for all kinds in Latin-America and any representative with uniform in Spain. ‘Oficial’ is also the translation for ‘Official’, so don’t get confused if you hear it in another context.
Sometimes it is very important to get across your feelings, especially when you have to do it in a foreign language, and it is about some pain you are feeling. It is a good thing to know if you need to tell a foreign doctor.
You should know how to convey at least three different intensities, as in ‘dolor’ [pain], ‘molestia’ [bothersome,] and ‘sensación’ [feel], all three going from a high to a low discomfort. They all accept to be qualified with ‘intenso’ [intense] or ‘leve’ [mild], in case you want to emphasize.
When trying to get an attendant´s attention, using his or her job’s name could be considered impolite. Usage in most of Spain and Latin-America calls for a general name to be used instead, such as ‘señor’ or ‘señora’, instead of ‘mesero’ or ‘mesera’ [waiter] or any other attendant job name.
If the attendant is a young man or woman, then you can also use ‘joven’ [young man] for a male, or ‘señorita’ [miss], for a female (just remember never to call a male attendant with archaic ‘señorito’, as it is only used these days in a pejorative sense)
There are two meanings for the Spanish word ‘intérprete’. It could refer to an interpreter or to an artist of the performing arts, i.e. ‘Frank Sinatra fue el mejor intérprete de Paul Anka’ means that Frank Sinatra was the best singer of Paul Anka’s works.
Other performing arts where ‘intérprete´ is most used are theater and movie role playing, as in: ‘Mark Hamill fue el único intérprete de Lucas Skywalker’ means Mark Hamill was the only actor who played Luke Skywalker.