post

Buenos días, amigas.  ¡Otra miércoles, otra canción!  Esta semana, os traemos Danna Paola’s”Agüita” (“Water”).

Danna’s back!

What is “agüita”?  Well, I looked it up several places, and for several reasons.  And I got several answers!  A couple of interesting ones were “tea”, which is evidently true only in Chile, and “dough”, which is what the word means in Andes.  However, the most popular translation was, of course, water, which is obvious when you read the lyrics in context, as well.

The sexier, more PG-13 version of the video also features water quite extensively, though it also features mountains, dust, bottles of colored powders, and boots.  I didn’t share that version here, since it might offend the sensitivities of some  — e.g., those whose vocabularies comprise a lot of words like “racy” and “risqué”.  But, if that’s not you — and it’s certainly not me — the other version is quite colorful and pretty.

The main reason I chose to share this version of the video is that I thought it was sweet of Danna to include the lyrics for folks like me (and maybe you) who are attempting to learn the language.  Sometimes, particularly in song, it can be difficult to understand spoken Spanish for beginners, so following the proverbial bouncing ball method can ease the pain a bit.  You might even be tempted to sing along!

Present perfect

I’ve been making my way along in Duolingo lately, and I have another streak going.  Only 12 days this time around, as opposed to the 60+ day streak I ended up breaking back in February, but a streak nonetheless.  I spend much of my Duolingo time nowadays in “practice” mode — gaining back “strength bars” I lost since the last time through a particular skill.  I suppose that it shouldn’t surprise me, since I’m now on skill #40 of 63.  In fact, I’m pretty sure that, the closer I get to the end of the page, the more time I will have to put in each day just to get some new ground covered!

Actually, I find myself wondering whether it’s better to spend more time reviewing the old skills or moving on to new ones.  After all, many of the words and phrases covered in earlier lessons do reappear quite frequently as I move along.  There’s likely a decent ratio of review to new that I should be using, but I have yet to decide on one.

One interesting factor for me (the word nerd) upon moving into the “present perfect” skill modules on Duolingo is learning a different translation for the word have — haber — whose only form I’ve encountered heretofore is the 2nd person formal/3rd person, singular, indicative form, hay.  Furthermore, the only way I’ve seen that form used is as the “impersonal” form, in which it means “there are/is” — e.g., hay cervezas en la nevera?

I’ve only begun studying this skill, so I’m sure there will be surprises.  Will do my best to keep you posted.  I do highly recommend Duolingo to those who have limited time and/or funds.  I still prefer Rocket Spanish, of course, for in-depth study, both of language and culture, but probably use Duolingo more often these days due to time restraints.  Full disclosure:  I am an affiliate marketer for Rocket Languages, so the preceding link will provide me a commission should you follow it and decide to purchase the product after the trial period.  I wouldn’t try to sell you on it, though, if I didn’t think it was a great way to learn.  Again, I just wish I had more time to devote to studying that way.  Algún día pronto, quizás.  (Someday soon, perhaps.)

High-dollar CDs

Speaking of affiliate links, the Amazon link below is to the (over-priced) special edition CD, Danna Paola Edición Deluxe.  The reason I shared it was that it was the only place I could find the song I’m sharing with you this week.  On Amazon, anyway.  I’m sure you might find it on iTunes or from some other source if you dig hard enough, though.  When I bought the CD below, it was far less expensive (~$20, as I recall), and I’m not sure how the pricing got so crazy.  I can only imagine that there’s a limited supply and the seller has no mercy.

That’s it for me this week.  Don’t hesitate to leave comments, either here or on the Facebook page.  ¡Hasta luego, amigas!