Two False Friends in Marta's Blog
You are preparing a reading portfolio for NCEA Level 1 Spanish. You choose a blog post by Marta, 16, who lives in Sevilla. The post is 180 words and contains: 'Actualmente estudio en un instituto en el centro. Mi librería favorita está al lado, así que voy allí después de clase.' Later: 'No me gusta nada el voleibol, pero me encanta nadar.' And: 'Este fin de semana, en vez de ir al cine con mis amigas, voy a quedarme en casa porque estoy constipada.' Your draft translation says: 'Actually I study in an institute in the centre. My library is next door... I don't like volleyball at all... Instead of going to the cinema, I'm going to stay at home because I'm constipated.' Your teacher says two words in your translation are wrong in a way that changes the meaning, and one inference is wrong.
1. Which two words in the first two sentences are mistranslated, and what do they actually mean? Use the surrounding context to support each answer.
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Word 1 - actualmente: means currently / at the moment, not 'actually'. English 'actually' is en realidad or de hecho. Marta is describing her present routine: 'At the moment I study at a secondary school in the centre.' Reading it as 'actually' makes it sound like a correction of something, which the paragraph never sets up.
Word 2 - librería: means bookshop, not library. A library is la biblioteca. Context confirms it: 'mi librería favorita ... voy allí después de clase' - a favourite place you drop into after school, next door. A bookshop fits a 16-year-old browsing after class; borrowing books would be sacar libros de la biblioteca.
Also note: instituto here is a secondary school, not a research institute.
Judgement: false friends are solved by context, not by resemblance. Ask two questions: does this meaning fit the rest of the sentence, and is there a different Spanish word for what I assumed?
2. Your translation says Marta is 'constipated'. What is she actually saying, and what does that tell you about her weekend plan?
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What she says: estoy constipada = I have a cold / I'm congested. It is not 'constipated' (that is estreñimiento; in Spain constipado is the everyday word for a blocked nose). So the correct reading is that Marta is unwell.
Effect on the weekend: en vez de ir al cine ... voy a quedarme en casa = 'instead of going to the cinema, I'm going to stay at home'. En vez de + infinitive means 'instead of doing X', and voy a + infinitive is a future plan. The outing is cancelled because of illness, not because she has fallen out with her friends.
Judgement: one mistranslated adjective flips the whole reason for the plan. When a sentence gives a porque clause, check the cause makes sense in the real world - 'staying home because I'm constipated' is a signal that the word has been misread, not information about Marta.
3. Does Marta like volleyball? Explain how the Spanish works, and why a word-for-word translation would mislead a reader.
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No - she strongly dislikes it. No me gusta nada el voleibol contains two negatives, but Spanish requires nada to reinforce the no: 'I don't like volleyball at all.' A word-for-word English rendering ('I don't like volleyball nothing') sounds like a double positive, which is how learners end up deciding she quite likes it. The same pattern appears in no ... nunca and no ... nadie.
The rest of the sentence matters: pero me encanta nadar - 'but I love swimming'. The contrast shows she is not anti-sport, just anti-volleyball. Encantar works like gustar: literally 'swimming enchants me', so the subject is nadar, not Marta.
Judgement: infer from the pair of clauses, not from a single word. The precise answer is 'she dislikes volleyball and loves swimming', which is stronger than the vague 'she doesn't like sport'.