Breakdown of A propósito, la charla del emprendedor ha sido brillante.
ser
to be
de
of
haber
to have (auxiliary)
brillante
brilliant
a propósito
speaking of which / by the way (also: on purpose)
la charla
the talk / the chat (spoken conversation)
el emprendedor
the entrepreneur
Questions & Answers about A propósito, la charla del emprendedor ha sido brillante.
How does a propósito fit into this sentence, and could I use por cierto instead?
In this context, a propósito means "speaking of which" or "by the way," used to shift the topic slightly. You could absolutely use por cierto here with the exact same meaning. However, if you wanted to use hablando de, you would need to add the specific topic, like hablando del tema (speaking of the topic).
Does a propósito always work as a topic shifter?
Not always! While it acts as a discourse marker meaning "by the way" here, a propósito also means "on purpose" or "intentionally" in other contexts. For example, Lo hizo a propósito means "He did it on purpose." The position at the start of the sentence followed by a comma usually gives away that it is being used to shift topics.
The English translation says "was", so why does the Spanish use the present perfect (ha sido) instead of the preterite (fue)?
In Spain, the present perfect (ha sido) is used for completed actions that occurred in an unfinished time frame, such as "today" or "this morning." The speaker is implying the talk happened very recently. If they were discussing a talk from last year, they would use the preterite (fue).
Can charla be used for formal presentations, or does it only mean a casual "chat"?
Charla is quite versatile. While it often translates to a casual chat, it is also the standard word for a lecture, a TED-style talk, or an informal presentation. For a strictly academic or highly formal conference, you might hear conferencia, but charla is perfectly natural for an entrepreneur's presentation.
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