Spanish language Q&A Forum

Hola todos,
in the examples like Nuria has lived in California for 3 months, shouldn't it be: Nuria has been living in California for 3 months to express that it is still ongoing?
In the test I was similarly irritated with the sentence I have lived on a boat for 4 weeks, which I would translate as He vivido en un barco por 4 semanas, but the only option making sense was the one having the form explained in this lesson.
Of course I may be wrong, English isn't my first language.

Is this common usage in both spoken and written Spanish? Is it more common in Spain than in Latin America? (i.e. Will there be raised eyebrows if I use it in Mexico, like there often are when I use "cover?") Thanks!

In the example, "We saw a very interesting film at the cinema", why isn't el Pretérito Indefinido used, i.e. "Vimos" instead of "Hemos visto"?   I would think that hemos visto would be used in the following case, "We have seen a very interesting film at the cinema". I can't tell which tense to use.

holding down the letter doesn't give me an accent

In English, we often express the imperfect tense (a past habitual action) using the modal "would":

When I was young, I would eat sugar.

I can't find examples of the Spanish equivalent:

Cuando era joven, comería azúcar.

But just using the Spanish imperfect seems like it might be wrong:

Cuando era joven, comía azúcar.

... seems to translate literally as "When I was young, I was eating sugar", which doesn't seem to clarify that it was a habitual action rather than a one-time thing.

So, how would you say "When I was young, I would eat sugar" in Spanish?