Unit 3 Personality and Gestures Vocabulary Notes

Linguistic Overview of Personality Traits and Abstract Concepts

Within the curriculum of Key to Bachillerato 1, Unit 3, the study of personality is divided into specific nouns and their corresponding adjectives, providing a framework for describing human behavior and internal states. Aggression (agresión, hostilidad) is paired with the adjective aggressive (agresivo), indicating a tendency toward hostile behavior. Assertiveness (asertividad) and its adjective assertive (asertivo) describe the ability to express oneself confidently. Confidence itself is translated as confianza or seguridad, with a person being described as confident (seguro de sí mismo). Conversely, defensiveness (defensiva) relates to the state of being defensive (a la defensiva).

Emotional states and moral considerations are represented through several pairs. Frustration (frustración) leads to feeling frustrated (frustrado). Generosity (generosidad) characterizes a generous (generoso) individual, while guilt (culpa, remordimiento) relates to the condition of being guilty (culpable). Happiness (felicidad) is listed as a primary emotional state. Impatience (impaciencia) is the trait of the impatient (impaciente) person, and independence (independencia) marks an independent (independiente) individual.

Intellectual and social qualities are further explored through innocence (inocencia), associated with the innocent (inocente), and intelligence (inteligencia), associated with the intelligent (inteligente). Social failings or specific temperaments include laziness (pereza), seen in the lazy (perezoso) person; modesty (modestia, humildad), seen in the modest (modesto, humilde) person; and nervousness (nerviosismo), which affects the nervous (nervioso) individual. Openess (franqueza, sinceridad) describes the open (sincero) person, while reliability (fiabilidad) defines the reliable (fiable, responsable) individual. Safety is linked to the noun safety (seguridad) and the adjective safe (seguro, prudente).

Furthermore, self-perception is addressed through self-consciousness (vergüenza), describing someone who is self-conscious (cohibido, tímido), and shyness (timidez), describing someone who is shy (tímido). Sincerity (sinceridad, honestidad) correlates with being sincere (sincero). Special attention is given to sensitivity (sensibilidad), which involves being sensitive (sensible, susceptible).

Social Etiquette, Gestures, and Physical Interactions

Action-oriented vocabulary in Unit 3 focuses on how individuals interact physically and socially. Communication begins with basic tasks such as to answer the phone (contestar al teléfono). In social scenarios involving errors or social debt, one must apologize (pedir disculpas). Formal or traditional manners may include a bow (inclinarse), while the act of attracting attention is described as to catch someone’s eye (catch sb’s eye – llamar la atención). To greet (saludar) serves as the primary verb for initiating contact.

Physical intimacy and connection are expressed through the verbs to hold hands (cogerse de la mano), hug (abrazar), and kiss (besar). Manners in public spaces involve the necessity to queue (hacer cola). Professional or formal greetings often require individuals to shake hands (estrecharse las manos). Other physical actions included in social contexts are to interrupt (interrumpir), to sneeze (estornudar), and the general act to touch (tocar). Lastly, to wave (saludar con la mano) is the standard term for a hand-based greeting from a distance. The term political engagement is presented as a standalone concept within this lexical set.

English-Spanish Cognates and Reciprocal Relationships

The curriculum identifies cognates, which are words that share the same etymological origin and look similar in both languages. These include create (crear), curious (curioso), fortune (fortuna, suerte), opportunities (oportunidades), rigid (rígido, inflexible), and strict (estricto). These terms allow for easier vocabulary acquisition due to their structural similarities across English and Spanish.

Finally, the transcript introduces the usage of the reciprocal pronouns "each other" and "one another" in conjunction with specific interactive verbs. These verbs imply a mutual exchange between two or more parties. The selected verbs for these constructions are: buy, interact with, call, support, help, and understand. These verbs function to show that an action is performed by two or more people, where each person receives the action of the other (e.g., they help each other, they understand one another).