el balcó
“el balcó” — balcony in Valencian. Noun, level A2, topic — home and things. The outdoor ledge every flat here has; eixir al balcó — step onto the balcony. In a live sentence: “Des del balcó es veu el mar” — From the balcony you can see the sea. One of 230 words in the set “home and things” in the Valencian course.
In short
| Written in Valencian | el balcó |
| Translation | balcony |
| Part of speech | noun |
| Level | A2 |
Why it looks that way
The outdoor ledge every flat here has; eixir al balcó — step onto the balcony
A word with a story stays in memory longer than one learned as a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.
In a live sentence
A single word almost never appears alone in conversation. A sentence shows where it fits and what stands next to it.
- Des del balcó es veu el marFrom the balcony you can see the sea
Nearby words: home and things
Room, key, water, electricity. You will need them on your first day in a rented flat.
- la casahomeA casa without an article — at home; a la casa — inside the particular building. The ear catches the difference
- l'habitatgehousingThe dwelling as a whole — the word of rental ads and forms
- l'habitacióroomA room of a flat, not the whole flat — that is el pis
- la cuinakitchenThe room and the cuisine in one word: cuina valenciana
- el banybathroomThe room with the bath; banyar-se is to bathe
- la plantafloorThe floor of a building — primer planta is first floor; also a plant of the garden
- l'ascensorliftThe elevator, a look-alike of Spanish ascensor
- l'escalastaircaseThe whole stairway; one step is el grao
- la taulatableThe table of the kitchen and the market stall alike
- la cadirachairThe single seat; seure a la cadira — sit on the chair
Test yourself
Five questions from the same set — “home and things”. Recalling a spelling from meaning is harder than knowing a familiar word on sight, and therefore more useful.
- How do you say “balcony” in Valencian?
The outdoor ledge every flat here has; eixir al balcó — step onto the balcony
- How do you say “lift” in Valencian?
The elevator, a look-alike of Spanish ascensor
- How do you say “room” in Valencian?
A room of a flat, not the whole flat — that is el pis
- How do you say “chair” in Valencian?
The single seat; seure a la cadira — sit on the chair
- How do you say “floor” in Valencian?
The floor of a building — primer planta is first floor; also a plant of the garden
How not to forget this word
Reading a word and remembering it are different jobs. A day later, little survives of a single reading — and that is not bad memory, that is how memory works.
- This has been tested on foreign words too. The difference shows up most when you test yourself a few days later rather than straight away.checked many timesKim & Webb, 2022, Language Learning 72(2) · 48 experiments, 3,411 participants, 98 comparisons.
- Recalling beats re-reading. Covering the translation and trying to remember it does more than reading it ten more times.checked many timesAdesope, Trevisan & Sundararajan, 2017, Review of Educational Research 87(3) · 188 experiments, 272 comparisons. g = 0.61; against plain re-reading 0.51, against passive review 0.93.
- An answer you worked out yourself sticks better than one handed to you.checked many timesBertsch et al., 2007, Memory & Cognition 35(2) · 86 studies, 445 comparisons, d = 0.40.
Frequently asked
How do you say “balcony” in Valencian?
«el balcó». In a live sentence: “Des del balcó es veu el mar” — From the balcony you can see the sea. Noun, level A2, from the set “home and things”.
Why does this word look the way it does?
The outdoor ledge every flat here has; eixir al balcó — step onto the balcony. A word with a story stays in memory longer than a “spelling — translation” pair: memory holds on to meaning, not to a string.