Learning another language is learning another way to think and live

Macedonians think Spain is heaven. Now, a massive study reveals that Spanish is the happiest language.

“Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things”, said Flora Lewis.

There are about 5,000 languages spoken in the world. Spanish is one of the most commonly used languages, with currently 500 million speakers. Researchers in the US, from the University of Vermont and the MITRE Corporation, studied texts from books, news, music lyrics, movies subtitles and social media in each of 10 languages, including English, Spanish, French, German, Brazilian, Portuguese, Korean, Chinese, Russian, Indonesian and Arabic. The study found that Spanish people use more positive words than negative ones. People in Spain use words such as “love” and “laughter” more than any other region.

Kassandra was the first Hispanic soap opera Macedonians could watch. Ángela is a girl from Prilep. She loves these serials and Spanish language. In her words, “Spanish language is my greatest passion”. Angela will travel to Madrid the next month and she looks forward to know more about Spanish people. She wants to be a doctor and, why not, she would like to live there, enjoying the sun and handsome men, like the legend says.

Eleonora started listening Spanish language with Manu Chao, Spanish-French singer. Also, she loves flamenco. What does she think about the happiest language? “It´s true, because when Spanish people speak, they seem happy”, she says.

Ángela and Eleonora are LEARNING SPANISH at INFOSEGA. You can do it too. If you are interested, you can contact us by email, through this website. Meanwhile, you can start by yourself seeing some interesting Spanish expressions. “Learning another language is not only learning different words for the same things, but learning another way to think about things”, said Flora Lewis. “The limits of my language are the limits of my world”, thought Ludwig Wittgenstein. “If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart”, Nelson Mandela.

Start to learn, open your mind and set the whole world on fire. ¡Cómete el mundo!

-To set the (whole) world on fire. Comerse el mundo.

-Like water off duck´s back. A palabras necias, oídos sordos.

-In for a penny in for a pound. De perdidos al río.

-Kiss and make up. Borrón y cuenta nueva.

-In the altogether. En pelotas

-To ask for the moon. Pedir peras al olmo. 

-Indeed-. Ya lo creo

-Paint from the same brush. Distinto perro con el mismo collar.

-Put yourself in his shoes. Ponte en su pellejo

-Inside out. Del revés

-It is water under the bridge. Es agua pasada. 

-It sounds Greek to me- Me suena a chino.

-It’s not a big deal . No es para tanto

-Just in case. Por si acaso / Por si las moscas

-Keep dreaming. Sigue soñando

Rosario Lopez