"Get on board! Exploring the verb 'to board' in Spanish." 5 minutes of Spanish / English version + Podcast
"Get on board! Exploring the verb 'to board' in Spanish."
Hello,
how are you?
Good
morning, good afternoon or good evening, depending on where you are or what
time you're listening to us.
Thank
you for being here and welcome once again to these 5 minutes of Spanish in the
middle of the week What topic are we going to tackle in this podcast 208?
Today
we are going to talk about a verb that is used a lot in various situations:
abordar.
All
right, we're on board!
The
Royal Spanish Academy (RAE) mentions that this verb is abused, due to the
number of uses it has, but that's exactly why we have to tackle it. Besides, it
is a cognate of French and English.
And it
is also a regular verb. What is the origin of abord?
It
comes from the combination of "a" (to) and "bordo" (side of
the ship), that is, to board a ship. So that is one of its meanings: to board a
ship, plane or other means of transport.
Examples?
Te dejo, ya estamos
abordando.
I leave you, we are boarding.
Antes era muy
importante llevar el pase de abordar impreso, ahora lo tenemos en el celular y
es mucho mejor.
In the past, it was very important to carry the
printed boarding pass; now we have it on our cell phones, and it's much better.
Abordar
– to board
Abordaje-
boarding
Another
use?
Related
to the sea, touching or boarding a ship:
"El guardacostas
abordó el barco pesquero."
"The coast guard boarded the fishing boat."
En el siglo XVII, los
barcos piratas se escondían en las bahías de Baja California Sur para abordar
la Nao de China, la nave española que iba a Manila, Filipinas. El objetivo de
los piratas era abordar esta nave para robar el oro y la plata.
In the
17th century, pirate ships hid in the bays of Baja California Sur to board the
Nao de China, the Spanish ship bound for Manila and the Philippines. The
pirates' objective was to board this ship to steal the gold and silver.
Shall
we address other topics?
According
to the Dictionary of Spanish in Mexico (DEM), "abordar" also means:
To
deal with a difficult subject, discuss or raise a problem:
"Newton abordó el
problema de la gravitación universal cuando tenía solo veinticuatro años."
"Newton tackled the problem of universal
gravitation when he was only twenty-four years old."
Es preciso abordar ese problema
desde una perspectiva diferente.
This problem needs to be approached from a different
perspective.
In
this case, abordar can be translated as to approach. And there are many
synonyms in Spanish for this usage, such as:
Tratar
- to address
Estudiar
- to study, to explore, to consider
Discutir
- to discuss
Debatir
- to debate, to argue
Afrontar
- to confront
Encarar - to face,
to approach
"Durante la cena,
abordaron el tema de si las piñas deberían estar en las pizzas, lo que inició
un acalorado debate."
"During dinner, they tackled the topic of whether
pineapples should be on pizzas, which
sparked
a heated debate."
Shall
we address one last use?
To
address a person to talk to him/her about something:
"Los estudiantes
abordaron al profesor en el pasillo."
"Students accosted the professor in the
hallway."
"Los periodistas
trataron de abordar a la nueva candidata, pero no pudieron."
"Journalists tried to tackle the new candidate
but couldn't."
How do
you approach your Spanish practice? Would you like to approach it from
different types of practice?
That's
good! How?
For
example, you could approach the language and expressions we use in the kitchen,
doing crafts, or reading some news. You can also enrich your vocabulary in a
short story workshop or in a Zoom conversation class. Even taking an online
grammar class is one type of approach.
Thanks
so much for making it this far in the podcast. If you liked it, share it and
leave us a comment on YouTube, Facebook or Instagram; we're all over it! See
you at our workshops and classes or listen in next Wednesday.
See
you soon!
Bye-bye!
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