Alioth's Journal: Me gusta Mallorca, me gusta mucho!

Last week I had a (much needed) break, and went off to Palma de Mallorca with one person I knew, and about 20 that I didn't (the ones I didn't were all Germans, to add interest to the mix). So I got to practise the 6 weeks worth of Spanish I had learned (some on the Germans, too, since some of them spoke a bit of Spanish - but mostly on unsuspecting shop keepers, cafe owners and bar tenders). What probably helped force the issue was the hotel we were staying at was full of Germans only (Paul and myself were probably the only native English speakers there. The only other language I heard spoken by guests aside from German, was French). We were staying in S'Arenal, which the Germans call the "17th State", and it might well be true. I didn't hear much other than German being spoken out on the street.

This of course meant multiple trips to the Bierkoenig, a place of German hedonism where beer is drunk by the litre. And coctails. Yes, cocktails in litre glasses, with about a dozen metre-long straws as a 'communal drink' for your group.

There may have been a bit of inebriation here or there ...

Apart from the binge drinking, Paul and I got out and did some bike riding while the Germans lazed around on the beach. We did two days of riding, the first out to Cap Blanc (White Cape in Catalan), which involved a rather long and hot climb until we were on the road that runs along the cliffside. It wasn't helped by the chain coming off my bike. Then from Cap Blanc, we went to Llucmayor, a small market town of about 20,000 people. It rather reminded me of Castletown in the Isle of Man - dominated by a market square, fed by lots of narrow streets lined with old terraced houses (of course, Spanish style). Muy bonito!

That day's ride was about 40 miles worth. The next day we went into Palma, and up to Castillo de Bellver (which has a slightly dark past, having been used as a prison by Franco during the dictatorship). We had a bit of difficulty finding the castle though, it seemed to always be on top of the hill we were not on top of - eventually, we found a route. Naturally, it had commanding views of Palma Bay and the surroundings. About 30 miles of riding all in all that day (and quite intense some of it, the hills were steep).

I shall upload some photos tomorrow for my loyal readership!

Since then I've been trying to learn some more Spanish. It was very confidence boosting to say something *and* it have the expected result! I'm sure the people I spoke to could tell I was a beginner though, and accordingly spoke slower and more clearly (they were easier to understand than the 'full speed' speakers I've encountered in the BBC Languages material). The difficulty I'm now running into while trying to increase my vocabulary and grammar knowledge is that some Spanish words seem to have about 50 odd meanings. Consider the verb 'quedar' which can be used in phrases such '?Donde podemos quedar?' (Where can we meet?), where 'quedar' in this instance means 'to meet'. Contrast this with 'se quedó embarazada' - which means 'she became pregnant', 'quedo' in this case meaning 'became'. Or 'quedar varado' - to be left stranded (quedar meaning 'to be left' in this instance).

It's all very confusing.

Llevar is another verb that has many meanings - to take, to carry, to wear, to have (and about a dozen more!) Then, the verb 'dar' can mean to give or to have.

I suppose Spanish speakers learning English have the problem the other way around. They probably think we have this great verb 'llevar' that you work out from context, but in English you have to learn all these different verbs to say the same thing!

Still I've only been learning for 2 months. Perhaps it'll all become clear...in 2 years.