[Course Forum] First 5000 Words of Spanish: Top Up #3 by ian_mn

Community-Created Courses Spanish (Castilian/Spain)
1

This is the discussion forum for the course First 5000 Words of Spanish Top Up #3

Top Up courses #1 through #4 cover general purpose, high-frequency vocabulary that’s not already included in First 5000 Words of Spanish by xoviat (or the reformatted version - Introductory Spanish 1 etc by BenWhately).

While constructing this course, I referred to the following sources:

  • GCSE Spanish AQA Vocabulary List (2009 edition)
  • 2001 Most Useful Spanish Words by García Loaeza
  • Spanish Top 5000 Vocabulary by Anki
  • U.S. Border Patrol Basic Vocabulary List
  • AWL headwords & most-frequent sublist words

FULL AUDIO

1 Like
2

Hi Ian,

In level 6, el hijo ilegítimo does not accept an accent.

3

Hi, thank you - the accent was missing and is now fixed.

Now: el hijo ilegítimo = illegitimate child

4

Hi Ian,
In level 6, you have “apurar=to purify; to hurry along, speed up (LAm) (not “apresurar”)”. Can I suggest the following: “apurar=finish off, use up, hurry” or something similar.

In Wordreference/Collins, the definition of ‘to purify’ has a small mention but says it is only used in a technical situation with the sense of ‘refine’.

Thoughts?

5

Hi, thanks - I just changed the item to:

apurar = to hurry along, speed up (not “apresurar”); to finish off, use up

This reflects the most common definitions found in three online dictionaries, and Davies’ Frequency Dictionary of Spanish.

The definition ‘to purify’ seems to be quite rare as you suggest, so I’ve removed it.

6

Level 1: el armario=wardrobe, closet (not “el ropero” or “el vestuario”)

Ian, can I suggest you add ‘cupboard’ to the definition. My understanding is that ‘el armario’ is anything with doors.
My friends in Spain call their kitchen cupboard: ‘el armario’.

7

I agree, and it’s now:

el armario = cupboard, closet, wardrobe (not “el ropero” or “el vestuario”)

8

Hi Ian,
Was looking at the phrase “en torno a” defined as about or regarding

I am under the impression that a another common usage is around.

eg saldremos en torno a las diez = we will leave around 10

of course another way of saying that would be we will leave at about 10 so maybe the change isn’t necessary after all

9

Hi Ian,
Another question:

estar a favor (L7) you have translated as “to agree”. Would an easier translation for English speakers be “to be in favour” as it helps separate it from acordar

10

Your’re right - now changed to:

Level 7: en torno a = about, around; regarding (not “acerca”)

11

Good points, I think. (I’ll also review all the other “to agree” items in these courses later.)

Previously:

Level 8: estar a favor = to agree (not “estar de acuerdo” or “concordar”)
xoviat 5000 Level 6: acordar = to agree (not acceder or convenir)

Now:
Level 8: estar a favor = to agree, to be in favor (e…, not “estar de acuerdo”)
xoviat 5000 Level 6: acordar = to agree (a…, not “acceder”)

12

Thanks for the hard work!

Also on L8 Querer decir is translated as to mean, would it be worth adding “to want to say” as an alternative. There is no ambiguity as you have already added (not significar) but it could be an alternative meaning.

Sorry for the weekend rush but I have some free time for once.

13

Hi George, I’ve noticed that the the verb phrase “querer decir” always seems to be translated as “to mean”, so I’m inclined to leave this one as it is. This is supported by:

Please let me know if you’ve found examples that show the translation “to want to say”.

14

I’ve been trying to understand the difference between:
la pauta = guideline, rule, standard
la directriz = guideline (not “la pauta”)

I’ve seen a few usages of “la pauta directriz”. It seems like a case of an adjective being used as a noun.

Can I suggest the following changes:
la pauta = guideline, rule, standard, pattern
la directriz = guideline, directive, directrix

PS. All these ‘agreements’ have been bugging me too especially as I’ve picked up “alcanzar un acuerdo” from Memrise 7.

15

Now changed to:

xoviat 5000, L52: la pauta = guideline (not “la directriz”), rule, standard, pattern
Top Up #3, L9: la directriz = guideline (not “la pauta”), directive, directrix

I didn’t know the term “directrix” which turns out to be a mathematical term - you learn something new every day, I think :slight_smile:

16

Directriz: se utiliza para describir una parábola; solo lo he utilizado en la escuela, hace muchos anos.