Computer and Internet Terms in Spanish

If you travel to a country where Spanish is spoken, chances are that sooner or later youll find yourself using a computer. For English speakers, the Spanish of computers and the internet can be surprisingly easy—in areas of technology, many Spanish terms were adopted from English, and many English words in the sciences come to us via Latin or Greek, which are also the sources of Spanish words. Even so, Spanish vocabulary related to computers and the internet remains in a state of flux; some purists have objected to the direct import of English words. Because of this, for example, a computer mouse will sometimes be referred to simply as a mouse (pronounced as maus), but the word ratà ³n is used as well. And some words are used in different ways by different people and publications; for example, youll see references both to la internet (because the word for network, red, is feminine) and el internet (because new words in the language typically are masculine by default). These variations should be kept in mind if using the following list of computer and internet terms. Although the terms given here are all used by Spanish speakers somewhere, word choice may depend on the region and preference of the individual speaker. In some cases, there may also be other spellings or alternative terms that arent listed here. In most cases, imported English words related to technology tend to keep the English pronunciation or something approximating it. Computer Terms in Spanish: A–L address (in email or on a website): la direccià ³napp: la  app (the word is feminine), la aplicacià ³nat symbol (): la arrobabackslash (\): la barra invertida, la barra inversa, la contrabarrabackup: la copia de seguridad (verb, hacer una copia/archivo de seguridad)bandwidth: la amplitud de bandabattery: la pilabookmark: el favorito, el marcador, el marcapà ¡ginasboot (verb):  iniciar,  prender, encenderbrowser: el navegador (web), el browserbug: el fallo, el error, el bugbutton (as on a mouse): el botà ³nbyte, kilobyte, megabyte: byte, kilobyte, megabytecable: el cablecache:  el cachà ©, la memoria cachecard: la tarjetaCD-ROM: CD-ROMclick (noun): el clicclick (verb): hacer clic, cliquear, presionar, pulsarcomputer: la computadora (sometimes el computador), el ordenadorcookie (used in browsers):  la cookiecrash (verb):  colgarse, bloquearsecursor: el cursorcut and paste: cortar y pegardata: los datosdesktop (of a computer screen): el escritorio, la pantalladigital: d igitaldomain: el dominiodot (in internet addresses): el puntodownload: descargardriver: el controlador de dispositivo, el driveremail (noun): el correo electrà ³nico, el email (plural los emails)email (verb):  enviar correo electrà ³nico, enviar por correo electrà ³nico, emailearerase, delete: borrarfile: el archivofirewall:  el contrafuegos, el firewallflash memory: la memoria flashfolder: la carpetafrequently asked questions, FAQ: las preguntas mà ¡s frecuentes, las preguntas de uso frecuente, las preguntas (mà ¡s) comunes, las FAQ, las PUFGoogle (as a verb):  googlearhard drive: el disco durohertz, megahertz, gigahertz: hertz, megahertz, gigahertzhigh resolution: resolucià ³n alta, definicià ³n altahome page: la pà ¡gina inicial, la pà ¡gina principal, la portadaicon: el iconoinstall: instalarinternet: la internet, el internet, la Redkey (of a keyboard): la teclakeyboard: el tecladokeyword: la palabra clavelaptop (computer): el plegable, la computadora portà ¡til, el ordenador portà ¡tilLCD: LCDlink: el enlace, la conexià ³n, el và ­nculo Computer Terms in Spanish: M–Z memory: la memoriamenu: el menà ºmessage: el mensajemodem: el mà ³demmouse: el ratà ³n, el mousemultitasking: la multitareanetwork: la redopen-source:  de cà ³digo abiertooperating system: el sistema operativo, el cà ³digo operacionalpassword: la contraseà ±aprint (verb): imprimirprinter: la impresoraprivacy; privacy policy:  la privacidad; la polà ­tica de privacidad, la pà ³liza de privacidadprocessor: el procesadorprogram: el programa (verb, programar)RAM: la RAM, la memoria RAMsave (a file or document): guardarscreen: la pantallascreensaver: el salvapantallassearch engine: el buscador, el servidor de bà ºsquedaserver: el servidorslash (/): la barra, la barra oblicuasoftware: el softwaresmartphone:  el telà ©fono inteligente, el smartphonespam: el correo basura, el spamstreaming: streamingtab (in a browser):  la pestaà ±aterms and conditions:  los tà ©rminos y condicionestoolbar: la barra de herramientasUSB, USB port: USB, puerto USBvideo: el videovirus: el v irusweb page: la pà ¡gina web (plural las pà ¡ginas web)website: el web (plural los webs), el sitio web (plural los sitios web)WiFi:  el wifiwindow: la ventanawireless: inalà ¡mbrico