Castellano vs. Galego

In Galicia, there are two official languages; Castellano(Spanish) and Galego(Galician). According to my observations, most people speak Spanish while a handful of people speak Galician. In most public schools, Galician is the language that is used for the majority of the classes with the exception of other language classes. In my school right now, all the material and textbooks are in Galician, although my History and Philosophy teachers teach in Spanish. In some private schools, they mainly teach in Spanish. My host family speaks Spanish all the time at home and most of my friends speak Spanish when they hang out. (There are some friends that speak Galician at home).

Most of you probably already know what Spanish is, since it is one of the most spoken languages in the world (410 million native speakers) and is an official language in 20 sovereign states.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_where_Spanish_is_an_official_language

This is just a paragraph from my history textbook about Francisco Franco. (In Spanish)

In Spain, the c's and z's before i's and e's are pronounced with a "th" sound.

Zapatos (shoes): "Th"apatos
Zumo (juice): "Th"umo
Gracias (thank you): Gra"th"ias
Cesped (grass): "Th"esped


If you are wondering what Galician is, it is a romance language just like Spanish, Italian, or French. Apart from popular belief, it is not a dialect of Spanish. Believe it or not, hundreds of years ago, Portuguese and Galician used to be the same language. Spanish and Galician sound really alike. If you barely know any Spanish, you probably cannot tell the difference between the two when listening. For me, reading is a whole lot easier. The first couple weeks of school, I had a hard time telling the difference and I had to ask my friends. It is better now because I can use clues that show whether it is Spanish or Galician.


How I tell the difference from Castellano and Galego

1. If the person is using "sh"  a lot while speaking, it is probably Galician. In Galician, the j's and g's placed before i's and e's are replaced with x's.

English: For example              Biology                   Game                 Chess                 Gym              
Spanish: Por ejemplo              Biología                  Juego                 Ajederez            Gimnasio
Galician: Por exemplo             Bioloxía                  Xogo                  Xadrez               Ximnasio


2. They count differently

       Spanish                   Galician

1      uno                          un
2      dos                          dous
3      tres                          tres
4      cuatro                      catro
5      cinco                       cinco
6      seis                          seis
7      siete                        sete
8      ocho                       oito
9      nueve                      nove
10    diez                         dez


3. Whenever I hear these words:

Galego                                          Castellano                                     English

Mais ou menos                             Más o menos                                More or less
Como te chamas                          Como te llamas                              What is your name
Home                                          Hombre                                          Man
Abaixo                                        Abajo                                             Under
Falar                                           Hablar                                             Speak
Facer                                          Hacer                                              Do/Make
Eu                                               Yo                                                  I
Poñer                                          Poner                                              Put
unha                                            una                                                  A/One
os                                                los                                                  The

English	Galician (Official)	Galician (Reintegrationist)	Portuguese	Spanish
Good morning	Bo día / Bos días	Bom Dia	Bom Dia / Bons dias	Buenos días
What is your name?	Como te chamas?			¿Cómo te llamas?
I love you	Quérote / Ámote	Amo-te		Te quiero / Te amo
Excuse me	Desculpe			Perdón / Disculpe
Thanks / Thank you	Grazas	Obrigado		Gracias
Welcome	Benvido	Bem-vido	Bem-vindo	Bienvenido
Goodbye	Adeus*			Adiós
Yes	Si	Sim		Sí
No	Non	Nom	Não	No
Dog	Can	Cam	Cão	Perro (rarely, Can)[53]
Grandfather	Avó /aˈbo/	Avô[54] /ɐˈvo/		Abuelo
Newspaper	Periódico / Xornal	Jornal		Periódico
Mirror	Espello	Espelho		Espejo

A little bit of Galician from my Economics class

Galician is spoken by around 3 million people but honestly, it is not that useful because you aren't going to use it a lot around the world. (But it can help me get a head start for learning Portuguese). I really want to learn both, but my priority is definitely Spanish.



Hasta Luego! 

Galicia

In Spain, there are 17 autonomous communities. Autonomous communities have the power of self government within limits of the constitution of Spain. Within these autonomous communities are other provinces which have their own capitals. 

   The link to the left is a map game

 I currently live in the Autonomous community of Galicia, which is where Santiago de Compostela(the capital) is located. As you can see, there are four provinces in Galicia. Galicia proudly boasts of their fishing industry and Zara (started near A Coruña). The most important cities in Galicia are probably Vigo, A Coruña, and Santiago De Compostela. People of Vigo and A Coruña are really proud of their fútbol teams. 

Real Club Celta de Vigo, who plays in Primera Division de La Liga BBVA, is my favorite fútbol team even though they suck. I think they're #16 in the standings right 
now...

This is Real Club Deportivo de La Coruña. They are the biggest rivals of Celta de Vigo. Hate them or love them, the truth is they really really suck. As of now, they play in Segunda Division, one level lower than Celta De Vigo. (Puta A Coruña)

On the other hand, Santiago is like the jem of Galicia. It is home to many famous cathedrals, the last stop of the camino, and the Universidad de Santiago. If you go there, you will see lots of English speaking and Japanese tourists with hiking gear and stuff.



http://www.bbc.com/travel/slideshow/20131203-where-is-the-seventh-celtic-nation

Flag of España and Galicia

Chau tío!

La Tele

Tele is short for television in Spanish which as you can probably guess, means television in English. My host family spends a lot of time watching TV. After school, my host brothers watch The Fairly Oddparents, or Phineas and Ferb, or Wipeout. (All kid stuff...) When my host brothers go to sleep, my host parents watch the news, then some show depending on the day. The problem with the TV shows is that almost all the most popular programs are American TV shows translated into Spanish. It pisses me off because the Spanish voices sound ridiculous and doesn't sound anything similar to the original voice. Watching comedies translated from english to spanish isn't as funny either. I tried watching Big Bang Theory (called Big Bang in Spain) in Spanish and it wasn't funny at all. I understood what they said, but the comedy just doesn't translate well. Same goes with Two and a Half Men. (Dos Hombres y Medio). The other problem with TV, is that all my favorite and most of the popular TV shows start at 10:30 and end at 12:00. It is a little bit too late at night.

Lunes

My host parents watch Isabel, a TV show about Isabel I, the queen of Castilla from 1474 to 1504. I personally don't like this show because I don't follow it and find it boring

http://www.rtve.es/television/isabel-la-catolica/

Martes

We watch a soap opera Gossip Girl kind of type show called Vive Cantando. I find it cheesy but watch it anyways just to practice my Spanish. 

http://www.antena3.com/series/vive-cantando/

Miercoles

I like to watch Top Chef España. I don't think it is as dramatic as hell's kitchen and the judge rarely yells at the contestants but they do swear a whole lot. My favorite contestant is Hung Fai, but he is eliminated

http://www.antena3.com/programas/top-chef/

Jueves

My favorite show on jueves is Aguila Roja. It was one of the most popular Spanish made TV shows in Spain. If you live in the US or Canada, you should go to www.dramafever.com and watch it with English subtitles. Even though this show is good, it gets kind of cheesy, predictable, and repetitive after 6 seasons. Basically, this TV show is about Gonzalo, a teacher and a disguised hero(ninja) who fights crime and injustice. Kinda like Spiderman.

Viernes

At night, we usually watch some Disney Channel show with the whole family. 

Sabado

Every Saturday night, my host family watches a TV show called Uno de los Nuestros. It is a singing show kind of like American Idol, X Factor, or The Voice. Basically, the contestant performs with a twelve member band, and if the band doesn't like their singing, they can press a button and stop playing their instruments. If more than six members of the band press the button, the contestant is eliminated. It is entertaining at times, but definitely cannot compete with American Idol or the Voice. 

¡Mi Casa!

En mi casa, hay 3 pisos. I am very lucky and thankful to live in such a nice house. 

Arriba

Mi habitacion

Mi Armario
This is very hard to keep organized!

El baño

Pasillo

This is la habitacion of my two host brothers. I don't think they mind sharing rooms because the only thing they do in this room is sleep. It is kind of different in North America because we spend a lot of time in our rooms doing homework or video games or other stuff. By the way, the brown stuff animal on their beds are Vancouver 2010 Olympic mascots. 

Segundo Piso 

El Comedor
We eat lunch in this room on the weekends.

Este es la cocina. I spend a huge chunk of my time in here making sandwhiches and chocolate milk :)

This is the sala de estar. After my host brother's go to sleep, my host family and I usually watch TV, read, or just relax in here.

This is kind of like the living room of my host brothers.They spend most of their time here after school or on the weekends. This is where all the toys are, where they do their homework, play wii, and where they watch TV.

Pasillo


Abajo

This is the room where I do my homework. No one really ever goes in here except when my host brother, their friends, and I play board games on the weekends.


El Garaje

There is nothing special about this room except for the fact that there is a huge bookshelf with tons of books that no one actually reads. Oh, and the puppy sometimes sleeps in here

As you can see, this is a huge garage. There is a bathroom... and there is a ton of space even after two cars are parked. The thing on the right is a futbolin table

Afuera

Whenever it is sunny or warm, my host brothers study here. This is just another place to chat whenever guests come over

This is obviously the swimming pool. After the first couple days of October, it is too cold to swim here. The shack on the left is to store swimming pool toys, balls, and rafts.

This is the barbaque inside the building behind the swimming pool

This is the kitchen inside the building behind the swimming pool

 Campo de futbol
I only play soccer with my host brothers whenever their friends come over. One of my host brother only plays with his friends and the younger host brother hates soccer but likes padel tennis. The building behind the court is a storage for gardening tools.

The turtles live in the sandbox

Estanque with fish inside

Outside of the house, they have another garden with lots of fruit trees and plants. (Kiwis, apples, chesnuts)

Mis Mascotas

I have a puppy, a cat, a dog, and two turtles. My host family likes animals because my host dad is a veterinarian. There are so many dogs near where I live. It is probably because I live in a place with lots of farms and trees. It is kind of annoying because once one dog barks, other dogs start barking and it takes them a long time to shut up. This happens every day! 

This black perra se llama Chispa, which means spark in English. This is probably the most boring dog you will ever have. All day she either sits in the sun, barks at other dogs, or goes outside to walk. We barely take her out to walks because she is too lazy! I don't play catch with her because one time I threw a tennis ball at her and she ran away.

Este perro se llama Peque. We got him as a birthday present for Esteban, the younger brother. I am pretty sure that this is the favorite pet of the whole family. He is tiny and likes to bite a lot when he is energetic. As of now, it doesn't hurt, but I should probably be a little more careful when he gets bigger. He likes to attack the other dog and the cat as well. The dog doesn't do anything when she is attacked, but the cat will claw him back. 

La gata se llama Loly. Like Chispa, she does nothing as well. Most of the time, she crawls into bushes, climbs fences,  meow, or lies down in sunny places. She also likes to kill birds and tear them into pieces. Every day at lunch, she climbs onto the window and "meows" when we eat.

In this picture, she is being gilipollas and stealing the puppy's food.

My cat sleeping on top of the car

Festival de Ajedrez

 These are pictures of the "Festival de Ajedrez" in Vigo. This was an exhibition for people of all ages to play chess against grand masters. the grand masters went around the table and played chess with everyone. Personally, it was kind of boring because I'm not that advanced at chess. My host brothers go to a chess club in Vigo every friday, where they practice and learn with other kids. I didn't know chess was a big deal because they had books and magazines and softwares about chess strategies. Everyone who signs up gets a medal, but the best players of the exhibition gets a prize.

The guy in the blue shirt got nominated for one of the best players in the exhibition. He was pretty close to beating one of the grand masters.

The brother on the left is called. Esteban. His brother to the right of him is called David

                                                          http://www.festivalajedrez.com/