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In this episode: Gramática: Although, even though, despite, in spite of, Vocabulary: Work vocabulary, some more idioms and your questions.

Feedback: Email from Juan Carlos de Malaga:

Porque en la frase- “estos son vuestros vaqueros” no se traduce como – “Are these your jeans?”. En un ejercicio en La Mansion del Ingles (mansioningles.com – curso básico)
se pone antes la palabra “are” que la de “these” por que seria “son estos vuestros vaqueros”. Explicamelo por que el intercambio de palabras no me aclaro.

El orden de las palabras en inglés no siempre corresponde con el orden en español. “These are your jeans” (Estos son tus vaqueros) es el orden de la frase afirmativa.
Para hacer la pregunta, hay que cambiar el orden del verbo: “Are these your jeans?”
Gramática: Although, even though, though, despite, in spite of

Although Reza is just a poor English teacher, he’s happy.

Although = Aunque

‘though’ is the same but a bit more informal.  

Even though Reza is just a poor English teacher, he’s happy.

‘Even though’ is similar, but a bit more emphatic.

You can begin a sentence with ‘although, though, or even though’, or you can put them in the middle:

I’m happy, although I’m just a poor English teacher.

I’m just a poor English teacher. I’m happy, though.

‘although’ and ‘even though’ cannot be the last words in the sentence.

Craig has never been to Disneyland. He hopes to go one day, though. (‘though’ used in this way is more informal and more common in spoken English.)

You must use a clause (a subject and a verb) with ‘though’, ‘although’ and ‘even though’

With ‘Despite’ and ‘In spite of’ you don’t need to use a clause: In spite of/Despite + noun “In spite of the bad weather….” / “Despite the rain……”

In spite of being a poor English teacher, Reza is happy.

Despite being a poor English teacher, Reza is happy. (Despite / Inspite of + gerund – “In spite of being / Despite being….”)

Despite having bad weather, they went to the beach.

I’m happy, in spite of/despite being a poor English teacher.

Though it was raining, we went for a walk – Despite the rain, we went for a walk.

It was raining. Despite this, we went for a walk.

It was raining. In spite of this, we went for a walk.

It was raining. Despite that fact, we went for a walk.

Despite that fact that it was raining, we went for a walk.

In spite of the fact that it was bad weather, we had a picnic.

Despite the fact that Reza is poor, he’s happy.

It was raining. Despite this, we went for a walk.

In spite of / despite = A pesar de

Vocabulary: Work vocabulary

Job, work, career, to get the sack, get fired, to hand in your notice, to be made redundant, to get redundancy money, to retire and get a pension

Revise work vocabulary by listening to AIRC-9

and Mansioningles.com – el curso intermedio – lección 21 y lección 22
What’s the difference between:

“part-time” (de media jornada) and “full-time” (jornada completa)

“qualifications” (título, certificación) and “experience” (experiencía)

a “CV” (UK) a “resume” (US) and a “reference” (recomendación)

“promotion” (promoción) (to climb the ladder) and “prospects” (perspectivas)

to be “unemployed”, “out of work”, to be on the dole (UK) and “between jobs” (desempleado, parado)

“timetable” and “hours” (horario) – What are you hours? My hours are…..

Idioms:

A dog’s dinner

“A dog’s dinner/breakfast” – a mess, something badly organized (hecho un disastre) “The plans are a dog’s dinner.” 

“It’s not over until the fat lady sings” – You don’t know how this is going to end until the final minute. It’s often used in sport.

Southern US saying from fat ladies in a church choir “Church ain’t over ’till the fat lady sings.” or from Opera arias

“Scum of the earth” – lo peor de lo peor – The worst of the worst.

“Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile.” – Le das a uno la mano y se toma hasta el codo.

Be generous to someone and the person will demand even more. (Describes someone who will take advantage of you if you are even a little kind to him or her.)

If you let Mark borrow your tools for this weekend, he’ll keep them for years. Give him an inch and he’ll take a mile.

“once bitten, twice shy” = el gato escaldado del agua fría huye

“To let your hair down” – Relax, dejarse relajar – You’ve been working hard all day. Chill out, enjoy yourself, go out.
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The music in this podcast is by Pitx. The track is called See You Later – licensed by creative commons under a by-nc license at ccmixter.org.