What would you like to see in the Word of the Day?
Today marks the 300th Word of the Day that I have written and honestly, I've kind of run out of ideas 
I know some of you have asked for more advanced words and hopefully I have given you a few that you didn't know. You guys always have the best ideas, so I was hoping you could give me a few ideas for the word of the day too!
So here's the challenge: give me 10 words you would like to see in the word of the day. Don't worry about writing example sentences (unless you want to!) and I'll write them up and you'll see them soon in your Word of the Day.
Thanks in advance! Paralee
16 Answers
I could see themes. Right now you could do end of summer or back-to school words. Then you could do holiday words (related to labor for labor day), related to exploring for Columbus day, words to do with Fall, words to do with voting, Halloween, Día de los Muertos, Thanksgiving, Christmas, Winter, Hannukuk, TAXES.
You could make some up that revolve around current news events (like when the Hurricane season starts again.) As soon as everyone comes down with the Swine flu you could do medical terms. You could do one on the government going into receivership. Do one on the environment (Global warming-going green) or the world ending whichever comes first.
I see no end to this. Get going girl!
As suggested by others, I like the idea of themes. There was a question last night about a medical report that started me thinking. I have been involved in some missions work in Latin America, which called for using some medical terminology and also musical terminology. Most of the translators I worked with were unfamiliar with most of the words I needed to have interpreted.
Well all of this was just to say that I would appreciate focusing on some of these categories of words that most people don't learn in language school, etc. Even in the U.S. I have had several people who speak a minimal amount of English ask me to explain what their doctor's report says, etc. I'm not suggesting difficult medical terminology, but maybe words like diabetes, stroke, heart attack, etc.
Thanks for all you do!
I suggest that you attach an audio clip with the Word of the Day, speaking the word in a sentence, or several sentences. Then we could also open the text to see what we had just heard. Be sure that the sentences are spoken by various people from various Spanish-speaking countries and include their origin in the text.
As of late, the words have been "more advanced" and I have found them more interesting. I find that adverbs, adjectives, conjunctions, and the less common parts of speech are more informative than just basic translations of nouns, but if they're less common nouns or nouns often employed in modismos/dichos they are still interesting. And how can you exhaust your repertoire? Close your eyes, randomly open a dictionary, and point! Do you need a random word generator?
Do you need a random word generator
Actually, I think Lazarus has one of those.
• Comicios • Averiguado • Cónyuge • Vigilar • Contribuyente • Vínculo • Sentido • Profundizar . • Ciudadano • Cazador • Ajedrez • Reciclar • Destruido • Neumonía • Arrugada • Acercarse • Alejarse
Just let me know if you want more...I've got hundreds of "intermediate" words on my list.
Paralee you asked for 10 but being me I thought I would give you a list of over 300. Many you have already done for sure but here goes: -ito 2 (diminutives) abrir abuela aburrirse acabar aconsejar actual acuerdo adecuado adiós afán afición afortunado agenda agresión ahora ahorita álamo alegrarse alfombra algodón alma almohada anciano anda andar antes antes antipático apellido apetecer araucaria asistir asunto aunque barba barrio blanco boca broma buzón cabo cafetero callarse caluroso campo capaz cariño carrera carta cartero casarse caso catalán cebiche ceviche celebrar celos cerrar charlatán chimenea cien claro collar colorado comer competencia comprometerse compromiso con neblina con viento conocer conseguir consistir contrario correo cuadro cuarto cuenta cuento cuidado cumplir dar decir desgracia despertar despierto después día diferente dirección dirigir disgustar disimular embarazada empanada encantar encoger equivocarse espalda esperar espinacas estallar estampilla estar euskera explicarse exterior fe fiebre flojo florido fondo fresco fuerte gato gracia gracias gracioso haber hablar hace calor hace frío hacer hasta hecho helado historia hito hogar honestamente honor hora hospedarse hospitalario huelga hueso huésped ignorar igual igualmente ilusión ilusionado imagen importante importar inri intención intentar interés Inti introducir invitado ir ito jamás largo lavarse lazo librería ligero listo llevar lluvioso lo lunes madrugar mano marco martes máscara mate medida miedo mil mismo molestar montaña montar morirse mosquito motivo nadie náhuatl negocio nevado nick niño nochebuena pila nublado ocurrir oficio ojalá ojo orden oscuro pan pañuelo para parar parecer pareja parrilla pata pensado pensar pepino perderse pérdida perro pie platicar plaza de mayo poco poner ponerse por por qué? por si postre potosí precioso pregunta preparativos presentar presumir pretender principio prisa probable profesor pronóstico puente pues pulmón puntual que qué tal Quechua quedarse querer quetzal quinceañero quinto rancio raro rato rayo raza razón realizar rebeca receta recordar redundancia referirse régimen regular remitente resultar retrato rey rincón ropa saber sacar salir salsa sangría sanidad sanitario seguir sensible ser siesta simpático simpatizar sobre soleado sombra sombrero soñar suceso sueño suerte tapa tarea tarjeta postal temer temperatura tener termómetro tiempo tijeras tiquet tomar tomate tontería tópico tortuga trabalenguas tras trece tres uva va valer veinte vela venir venta verde vez vidrio viejo vivir vivo volver wáter y ya ya que zapato
Hmm, I've always valued the way language is built upon in traditional English courses. You have a book with fairly common words, and then you have a few intermediate/advanced words that you might not know about. A packet of words is given to you, around five or ten, and then you read the chapter with those words in mind. It forces you to get a stronger grasp on what you already know and while doing that you learn the words on the packet. There are a few online texts that are in public domain for Spanish, as a possibility you could do this and it would alleviate you of the burden of coming up with your own words and examples. In this way you would provide the same service to people not reading the book plus an extra tool for those that are.
I realize this might be narrow minded of me, not exactly an outside of the box suggestion, but it is how I've always expanded my vocabulary in English.
I think there should definitely be different levels of word of the day.
For Beginner, there is only so much material. These are the building blocks of Spanish, and once you know them, you move on to Intermediate (common and useful) and then Advanced (less common, "for the sake of it").
Actually, this is against my suggestion, but the more advanced vocabulary is, I've noticed the rarer and less useful it is (in both languages).
I was looking up another word when I came across these (I always seem to get sidetracked by interesting words anytime I open the dictionary) in the dictionary. How about:
Chocarrear, chocarrería, or chocarrero
While reading, I recently came upon:
polizón
I love Janice's idea. How about an audio clip of the week, about various subjects, i.e. the supermarket, in a restaurant, at home, the office, driving ....
In Spanish with English translation, we could learn vocabulary and listen to conversations. Make it so we can download as an MP3 and listen on the bus or in the car.
I really do like this idea.
Paralee - how about giving us some slang (jerga) ?
Based up Lazurs's response to my initiatve to learn five words a day
http://www.spanishdict.com/answers/100547/5-a-day
you have to question the value of the Word Of The Day unless it is for marketing purposes.
Hola, Paralee, Yo soy uno de sus estudiantes, y agradezco mucho las “Aprender Español” lecciónes. No sabía que usted está el cerebro atrás de La Palabra del Día tambien. ¡Es fenomenal! Me gusta La Palabra del Día. Mis sugerencias están, el primero, buscar las palabras en las noticias. Si leería los artículos en los periódicos encontrará quizás unas palabras interesantes y oportunas. El segundo, buscar las palabras en las novelas. Están muchos tipos de novelas, y debe haber muchos palabras fantásticas en ellos.
Muchas gracias. El sitio de web es ¡estupendo!
Juan
(Doy la bienvenida cualquier corrección de mi español.)
You could do themes maybe. Like for each week or something, have a different theme like words related to each other, like topics/words to do with love/relationships, gardening, cooking or whatever, etc...
