Coffee Break Spanish - CBS EM 1.05 | Ronda: Ciudad Soñada

Episode Date: March 29, 2019

It’s time for another day trip to a beautiful city in the region of Málaga and, this time, the team are in Ronda, lovingly nicknamed the ‘city of dreams’. As the home of modern bullfighting in Spain, Ronda presents the perfect opportunity for the team to ask some people about their opinions on this controversial Spanish tradition. This episode will help you continue to build your listening comprehension skills while introducing you to this dreamlike city through a series of interviews with both Ronda locals and fellow visitors.This season of En Marcha con Coffee Break Spanish features 10 audio episodes, all of which will be included in the podcast feed. Just stay subscribed to the podcast to enjoy each episode. If you'd like to benefit from transcripts, bonus audio materials including our "Language Study" audio episodes which explain some of the language points introduced in the conversations, exercise packs, vocabulary lists and exclusive video materials, you can access the En Marcha online course in the Coffee Break Academy.Don't forget to follow Coffee Break Spanish on Facebook where we post language activities, cultural points and review materials to help you practise your Spanish. Remember - a few minutes a day can help you build your confidence in the language. Access the Coffee Break Spanish Facebook page here.If you'd like to find out what goes on behind the scenes here at Coffee Break Languages, and access regular language challenges, follow @coffeebreaklanguages on Instagram.For all information on Coffee Break Spanish, visit coffeebreaklanguages.com/spanish/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Siga the route during 5 kilometers. Hello and welcome to another episode of Coffee Break Spanish, in March, with Coffee Break Spanish. Today we are in the coach, we are in a road, a city, a one hour and a half of Malaga. And we're going to know this city, we're going to talk with the people that live there,

that's there, and also, in what visit Ronda as a city touristic. It's a city very interesting and also a city very important. Ronda is very interesting from a geographical point of view because it sits at the top of the Tajo

Gorge and there's actually a bridge that crosses the gorge and joins the old town to the new town. And from a cultural point of view is also very interesting because it is said to be the birthplace of bullfighting. Now I know that that can be a very controversial topic, but from the

point of view of traditions and the history of the town, bullfighting is indeed very important. So we're hopefully going to be finding out a little more about that in this episode. Well, I hope that this episode and let me just have gone to Now before we go on, I would like to pick up on one little thing that you may just have heard on the sat nav. The most recent thing that you heard would be, ha ha ha ha halle dextino. You have arrived, using the Usted form, of course, at your destination. But did you hear what the earlier one said? Let's have a listen one more time.

A 200 meters, have a yet to the destination. Okay, a little bit more of space, a 200 meters, Abra have come to so at a distance of 200 meters Abra yeah

that is you will have arrived at your destination because Aver conjugates in different tenses

just like any other verb so the future tense of Aver will be Abre, Abra Abra Abremos

Abra and so in this example Abra Jegado al destiny you will have arrived at your destination.

We're using the future tense of Aver with the pass participle and this together gives us the future perfect tense. So we can take the future tense of Aver and combine it with any past participle to give us I will have done something. You will have done something. Abre etcho mis deveres. I will have done my homework. Abremos comido la paella.

We will have eaten the paella. So have arrived at your destination. And of course, we have now arrived at our destination Ronda. And as usual, we headed first to the tourist office to find out what this beautiful hilltop town has to offer. I asked the lady in the tourist information office about what tourists can do in the town of Ronda. In Ronda,

we can visit different monuments and museum. So can start by the Plaza of Toro, continue for the recorridors that are just behind of the parador of tourism and get to the new, which is the famous

the point of the city, where are the houses in the house they're in the place in the

place in a series of palaces and houses between them palaces of Moktezuma Casa of Don Bosco and also the church

the church the church. Also we also we're a part very interesting of origin Arab where

are the murgars, the banyos Arabes and the Minas, that also are of the same epoch. And, for ultimate, a series of museums them, among them, Museum of

Columnus, Kaza, Pandoler, or also the Centre of Interpretation of the Vino. Okay, there was lots in there. She suggested that we begin in the Plaza de Toro, so that's actually where the Tourist Information Office is, so in the square where the bull ring is.

And then continue along the path of viewpoints, miradores. So these are viewpoints where you can look out over the hills and the surrounding countryside. And these are just de tras del parador de tourism. Now, a parador is a sort of luxury hotel, and it's normally in some kind of historic building. It's been a converted historic building.

So there are paradores all over Spain, and you can actually go from one to the other and have a very nice trip through different parts of Spain going from parador to parador. So just behind the parador, there are these viewpoints and you can also see the Ponte Nuevo, the new bridge which is the famous bridge of the town. And then after the bridge, she mentioned some palaces and houses and she named a few of these. She also spoke about the Arab origins of the town and she mentioned the Banjos Arabes, the Arab baths and the walls.

and also Las Minas, the mines, which are also from the same period. I asked another question and that concerned of what the typical food of the region is. So let's have a listen to her answer here, and it may surprise you. The plate typical is the rabo of toro. It has heard it in the collar of the toro. And so they prepare in the majority of restaurants. But also in the bars of tapas, we have a montadito, that's called Serranito. that's made with hamon, loom, tomato, and pimento.

So the typical dish is El Rabo de Toro, which is the bull's tail. And she also mentioned a tapas, so this is made with ham, with pork, tomato, and pepper. Okay, now that we knew what we needed to see in Ronda, we headed off to explore and to chat to some people out and about in the town. We're here with... Rita. Rita, what tal? Good, I'm very well.

You're you? Very good. Well, let us, has come to a Ronda, no? Ace a half about about

and what it is a a place? A little very beautiful, very very beautiful. Where is

you? Of the north of Spain. Exactly. Of Galicia but I live in Santander. Very well

So, are you on vacations? Yes, some days. Only in Rondah in other In Mala

in this case in Malaga. And what he does this part of Spain? That no has no

has nothing to be with the our much sol very different the

people very very great nothing we're we're so we're

more different but the point of the meteorological we're we're

a little a little but for we're we've much in the

north of Spain and for us for us also also

also also a natural affinity okay we also spoke to

Vicente who is from Marbella on the coast and it was up in the Ronda for the day doing some business. Where do you're? De Marbella. And you like to come to once in a round? Yes, I'm a lot.

Very beautiful. Why? For the views, for example, that we have here, the people are very amable and, well, and all what is the serrania, the tajo of Ronda. I'd say, I'd say, marvellousia, in this case, is marvellousas. It's a wonderful. Yeah, and is special. Very good.

And you, and is analus? I'm... I'm... Although I'm from Madrid, eh? But, yes, yes, for us

it's a little the accent of a bit of sometimes. Yes, we've got many some of the zone,

then there's there's a different, in the population very very certain to a other, in the

here's a language very, very, very, and then we're to the other time,

that's totally that, neither I'm I'm know of what what you say, I'm going to say Andalus, no,

I'm not to enter of nothing. I'm very content to listen to listen to because I'm not,

we know, we know we're not many times of what we're saying. Well, me alger

much. Much thank you. Nothing. To you. I said that no a accent

an old old sometimes no cost. It literally costs us a little and that means

we find it difficult, so me custer or no costa. And if you have been

struggling like us a little with these Andalusian accents, then perhaps it will be reassuring to hear that Vicente also struggles from time to time and he lives there. He says he's originally from Madrid, but considers himself Andalus, he says, but no me enterro de what Dice the people, I don't understand what people say. No me entero of nothing.

I don't understand a thing. And then he clarified this. Nosotros no nos enteramos, much of what we sometimes we say we're saying ourselves. So we don't even get sometimes what we're saying ourselves. So hopefully that is reassuring.

Enterarse de algo is a useful verb. It can mean like here to understand, to comprehend. But it also can mean to discover When you say, for example, me enterado, I discovered that Miguel Jenga this afternoon, that Miguel is arriving this afternoon, so I realized, I discovered I found out. And perhaps another use that could be useful from time to time is the expression

Te vasse enterar. Literally, you will find out, or you're going to find out, but it's that kind of expression that could be used as a warning. You'll see, you'll soon see, te vasa enterar. Perhaps we should leave it there. One thing that you will find all over Rwanda are buskers, people performing music in the streets. We spoke to the guitarist when he finished playing, and it turned out that he and his dog were from Argentina.

So a completely different accent for you here. Tango. Your dog, is a tango? Yes, it's a tango, yeah. A very appropriate name for his dog, Tango. I asked him how long he'd been playing the guitar for. I took from the time but as a lot of life,

has eight years. Well, you always talk here in Ronda? Yes, since a time long, about about seven years, that I took Fijo in Ronda. Before I was doing about Europe also.

Very well. And what type of music to talk normally? A mix of music classical, a lot popular, Bosanova, uh, learning some of flamenco, here in Andalusia.

And also? Yes, some of tango also. Very well. And you've been in Ronda since a lot of time? Yes, I've lived in Ronda, since eight years, that I'm in Ronda,

now with more frequency. Before, me went to Barcelona, too. Very well, so it's very well, much thanks. Of nothing. Here we are in Ronda.

We have had a wander around, and we are now outside the Plaza of Tos, of the home of bullfighting and we've been talking to some of the people who are visiting here and asking them their thoughts on bullfighting. Let's listen to some of those

opinions now. First of all, we spoke to Javier and Dolores who were visiting Rwanda on a day trip. Have you seen the place of toros? No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, the question of the toros and all of this, is a a thing a little difficult. What do you

think you're a very controversial? In my case, I mean the Towers, I'm like, although I'm that I can appear something something that can't know or not those knows or not those entienes. In my case, well,

me, it's something traditional in Spain, I respect, but also I'm a defender of the animals and I'm tending to all the organizations that are put in contrao and contra this type of spectaculous. Perhaps a couple of words

about the vocabulary used here. The Torero is the perhaps in English we would call the Toriador. But the word Toriador in Spanish doesn't really exist.

No one uses the word Toriador. It's Torero or Matador. The adjective for all of this is Taurino or Taurina. So, for example, you could describe Ronda as a Ciudad Taurina

or a Pueblo Taurino. The lady in the tourist information office gave us a little more information on this. Ronda in a city taurino, and the actually the toreo at-pea commenced in this city. So, as tradition, we're going to

one day a year with corrhidas, and then the rest of the year, they can have information taurina in the museum that is in the Plaza of Tories, and also can visit the edificio, but the topic taurino, and a favor or in

contra, that's very, very personal, is optional. The respect, is a thing very Spanish, but no I like much the thos. I've gone to go to one. I've been not very teurina.

As we were preparing for our visit to Ronda, it was Flora who was doing the research on this particular town. So we're going to ask her some of the questions about Ronda. Flora, can you tell us a little about the history of bullfighting here in Ronda? I can. We're standing

just outside the Plaza de Toros in Ronda, which claims to be the oldest Plaza de Toros in the whole of Spain. It was originally founded in 1572 as an equestrian school for the Spanish aristocracy. And I just wonder if our listeners can work out what 1572 would be in Spanish. Mille 5702.

Okay, it's always good to check your dates because it's a good practice for numbers. Yep, that's right. There's a bit of a legend about this whole bullfighting thing, isn't there? Yes, so when I was doing my research, I found out that, as we know, it had been used as an equestrian centre where the Spanish aristocracy trained to fight and also to ride on horseback. and during one of these fights, legend has it, that a spectator named Francisco Romero jumped into the crowd and brought out his hat

to act as what would now be the cape. And this was kind of taken on and mixed with the bullfighting that used to happen in the streets of Spain. And generations down the line, Pedro Romero was born. He was a direct descendant of Francisco Romero, that was his grandfather.

He's arguably the most famous Spanish bullfighter in Spain because it was from him that modern Spanish bullfighting was born. So the idea of bullfighting in a sense has always been present in Spanish culture, but the actual ceremony of a bullfight in the traditional way, that was what was born here in Rwanda. Yes, that's right. Something very interesting about bullfighting is that there's a lot of ceremony

behind each of the bullfights. There are costumes, there's almost ballet-like movements with the cape. Some of the costumes have been designed by world-finding. famous fashion designers like Armani, for example. So it really is quite an occasion. And obviously from the people we've spoken to, there are differing opinions about this, but the one thing that everyone seems to agree on

is the fact that it is a key part of tradition here in this part of Spain, indeed, all over Spain. Yeah, from the people we've spoken to, it seems that they are actually all very proud of the tradition, even if they then go on to say that they don't necessarily agree with it. It is something that they acknowledge as part of their culture, but it is true that it's a very controversial talk. in Spain, especially in the past few decades.

Bill fighting is undoubtedly a polemic issue, a question polemic, very polemic. But the writer, Ernest Hemingway, has said something very interesting about this. What has said, Flora? I'm going to say it in English, because he wrote it in English. He said, anything capable of arousing passion in its favor

will surely raise as much passion against it. So there you have it, in the words of Ernest Hemingway. You really do encounter everything here in Ronda We've come across a cantabrian musician Who's brought his backpipes with him And a tour group following him So I think the tour group has actually brought their own musician with them To entertain them

Because they're all dancing and singing in the streets Fantastic, how bien Now just as we are getting ready to leave Ronda We're going to do one more thing And that is drive over the bridge And round it to We'll basically go down the hill so that we can look up at the bridge and the gorge

and get a little photo to put on the website. So we're almost ready to terminate this episode. We're, sure, that you've liked. Of course, if you are already signed up to the premium version of In Marcha, then you'll already have access to the bonus materials, which include the transcripts, so you'll be able to follow all the conversations with the transcript and vocabulary.

There's a vocabulary list. And there's also our exercise pack, which will give you some practice of some of the expressions and the grammar points that have been covered in this episode. And of course, don't forget also the language study episode where Anne and I talk through some of that language and help you understand things and give you further practice.

All of that is part of the premium version of EnMarcha and if you haven't yet signed up, you can find that at coffeebreaktravels.com. Well, yeah is an episode very interesting. We've talked with much people, many people interesting, many people, many tourists

that were visiting Rwanda like we're also. We've also we've been and we're a lot of

and this also has been very interesting. We've also about that question

something a problem about the question taurina as the whole

issue of bullfighting and we had some interesting answers from the various

people we spoke to under the words of Hemingway anything capable of arousing passion in its favour will surely raise as much passion against it. And with that we will say much thanks.

And after the next, in Marcha with Coffee Break Spanish. Venga, after then. You have been listening to a production of the Coffee Break Academy for the Radio Linguar Network. Copyright, 2019, Radio Lingual Limited. Recording Copyright, 2019, Radio Lingual Limited. All rights reserved.