La Hora de Cultura - La Copa Mundial

Sometimes, instead of learning grammar and endless verb conjugations by rote, you should implement some of your other god-given senses in learning a foreign language, like listening comprehension. The best part of learning Spanish is that there is a ready supply of Spanish television in your neighborhood, unless, I guess, you live in Alaska.

I recommend you watch the World Cup(la Copa Mundial) of Soccer(el fútbol) which is a decadent affair put on by FIFA every four years, and claims to be the greatest exhibition of the most popular sport in the world. If you can avoid your ethnocentric views, and admit that there is an entire world outside of the US that stays glued to the tube anytime there is un balón being kicked around in a feverish attempt to outwit an opponent, then the World Cup may be for you. Maybe not, but still it's a great way to pick up on some Spanish while throwing back ¡unas cervezas!

Here's some vocab you might hear often while listening to some World Cup matches.

el árbitro the referee
tocar bien good touch, "good play"
la pelota, el balón the ball
el jugador, los jugadores the player, the players
el juego the play
arrancar "to turn it up", to get moving, to hustle
la cancha the field
la posición the position
el portero the goalie
el delantero the forward
el centrocampista, el centro midfielder
el defensa fullback, defender
la falta foul
el penal penalty kick
una patada kick
el tiro de esquina corner kick
el saque de puerta, OR el tiro de libre meta goal kick
fuera de lugar off-sides
tarjeta amarilla yellow card
tarjeta roja red card
un embate a tie
ganar to win
perder to lose
tiempo adicional additional time
el gol goal (duh!)

A lot of times, if you hear some words you can't understand and you think you are pretty gosh darn fluent in Spanish, chances are, they're talking about someone's name!

Sigue estudiando,

Professor Joel