Happy New Year to you, dear Spanish learners! I wish you enjoy a beautiful evening and holiday with your beloved ones. In Uruguay, where I am now, Christmas and New Year festivities are huge family celebrations (beyond the religious meaning of the first, which is merely nominal in our country). So this is a time when relatives spend a lot more time together: cousins, nephews, brothers, parents, grandparents, uncles, and other relatives which name I don’t know in English (grandparent’s brothers and sisters, relatives of parent’s cousins, and things like that).
However you decide to spend your New Year’s eve, I wish you can do it in the way that is more meaningful to you.
Here are some few useful expressions and words in Spanish that refer to this time of the year:
Navidad – Christmas
Año Nuevo – New Year
Noche Buena – Christmas Eve
Víspera de navidad – The day before Christmas
Cena de navidad – Christmas dinner
Cena de año Nuevo – New Year’s dinner
Árbol de navidad – Christmas tree
Feliz navidad – Merry Christmas
Feliz año nuevo – Happy New Year
Felices fiestas – used for wishing both Merry Christmas and Happy New Year
The rule for capitals in Spanish is that you generally only begin a word with capitals only if it’s at the beginning of the sentence, or if it is a given name, or for “Dios” (God), or “Estado” (referring to the State). However, if for emotional reasons people choose to right “Feliz Navidad” or “Feliz Año Nuevo”, that is fine too!
FELIZ AÑO NUEVO A TODOS!
HOW LONG DO YOU FEEL IT TAKES TO COMFORTABLY SPEAK GENERAL SPANISH? I KNOW YOU CANNOT KNOW EVERY WORD AND EVERY TRANSLATION, JUST AS IN ENGLISH, HOWEVER I WOULD LIKE TO BE ABLE TO HAVE A GENERAL CONVERSATION. I ALSO APPRECIATE YOUR VIDEOS AND YOU ARE A GREAT HELP IN MY LEARNING SPANISH.
Hi Allan,
If you study every single day, and you practice, in one month you’ll probably learn several words, sentences, and basic conversation structures. But to reach a conversational level, I would say not before one year of regular study. That is mainly because to speak a language you have to make it second nature to you, and for that you need time and more time. And, of course, someone to practice it with, so that you get used to “finding” those words that you already know, and building sentences in real time. If you are completely along and don’t have anyone to practice at least once in a while, the process will be much slower.