Vocabulary this week to help you Learn Spanish:

unos meses después – a few months later
un aspecto – an aspect
puerta – door
palabras – words
padres – parents
nuevo idioma – new language
muchas veces – many times
mandarme saludos – to send me greetings (say hi to me)
la semana pasada – last week
hogares – homes
gente – people
familias – families
familiarizado – familiar
esto representa – this represents
esta semana – this week
esta parte – this part
español – Spanish
disfruto – I enjoy
diferencia – difference
cultura diferente – different culture
cultura – culture
cuando – when
crece – grows
cortés – courteous
cienes – hundreds
años – years
amistades – friendships
amigo – friend
alguien – someone
algo muy interesante – something very interesting
a veces – sometimes

Esta semana we will be talking about un aspecto of the Latin cultura that I disfruto and admire.

I first became familiarizado with esta parte of the cultura in Latin America cuando I was visiting familias with a native Spanish amigo. When we visited hogares where we noticed that the padres weren’t home at the time, and children had opened the puerta for us, before leaving, my native amigo would usually say what sounded like, “Salud a tu mami [maw-mee]” or “Salud a tu papi [paw-pea]“. This Spanish phrase means “Health to your mom”, or “Health to your dad”. I thought this was algo muy interesante to say to the child but remembered that I was in a cultura diferente where gente must go around wishing each other good “health” all the time.

I laughed at myself unos meses después, cuando I finally realized that he was saying “Saluda a tu mami” instead of “Salud a tu mami”. (more…)

This Week’s Vocabulary To Help You Learn Spanish:

mencioné – I mentioned
miles – thousands
una cosa – one thing
diferente – different
hombres – men
esposas – wives
¡Te has engordado! – You have gained weight!
delgado – skinny
diferencias culturales – cultural differences
probablemente – probably
puerta – door
hogares – homes
interesante – interesting
esposos – husbands
un mes – a month
aquí – here
la semana pasada – last week
la oportunidad – the opportunity
amigos – friends
cultura – culture
pueblos – poor small cities
dinero – money
comida – food
ersona – person
gente – people
hace unos meses – a few months ago
años – years

Like I mencioné la semana pasada, when I lived in Latin America, I had la oportunidad to visit many miles of gente in their hogares. As a result of this, I learned some pretty interesante and fun cultural information while visiting gente.

Una cosa that really shocked me and still seems somewhat diferente was how many of hombres referred to their esposas and vice-versa. (more…)

Vocabulary For The Blog To Help You Learn Spanish:

porque – becuase (“por que” – with a space – is “why”)
técnica – technique
papi (paw-pee) – child’s word for “father”
-mente – -ly (this is a suffix or word ending; “mente” at the end of a word means “ly” in English)
cortés – courteous
besito – kiss
mujer – woman
abrazo – hug
casas – homes
gente – people
muy amable(s) – very friendly (plural)
misionero – missionary
hombre – man mami (maw-mee) – child’s word for “mother”
diferencias culturales – cultural differences
padres – parents
puerta – door mencioné – I mentioned
una persona – a person
amigos – friends
visita personal – personal visit
boletín – newsletter
niño – child

For this week’s boletín, I want to discuss some of the diferencias culturales when visiting Latin America. (more…)

Just like many parts of the mundo (world), soccer is the “número uno” favorite pastime in Latin America. Latin American’s take soccer very seriously, and many fans are fanatical about their teams.

The word for soccer in Spanish is “fútbol”. It sounds and looks like the English word “football”. But, if you are referring to U.S.-style “football”, you would say “fútbol americano” instead of “fútbol” which, as I mentioned, means “soccer” in español. (more…)

To finish our section on culture from Ensenada, Mexico and what I learned while on my trip there, this week we’ll discuss a little about the economy, jobs, and land purchases in Mexico.

While talking with our guide Miguel in Ensenada, he told us that most people there are thankful to Americans for NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement). Because of NAFTA, many large U.S. companies, that hire 1,200 – 1,500 people, have established plants in Ensenada and pay people wages of $10 – $12 per day, which is higher than their minimum wage. As a result of these opportunities, unemployment has gone down. The companies also pay for transportation to and from work since gas there is very expensive and many people still don’t have cars. (more…)

This week we are going to talk more about shopping/bargaining in Ensenada and Mexico in general.

Like I mentioned a few weeks ago before the holidays, when we went to Ensenada, we had an excellent tour guide named Miguel. He gave everyone in the group tips on how to bargain in Mexico. For example, he said that if you’re shopping and something you want costs $10, you should automatically offer $5 (half the original price). The vendor will never go that low, but it gives you some leverage to begin the bargaining process. Eventually you’ll work the price up to about $7. (more…)

I recently went on a with my wife Melanie for our 11th anniversary to Ensenada Mexico. During the cruise, I learned a lot of new fun cultural information that I would like to pass on to you this week.

To start, I learned that the latest word for “cool” in Ensenada is “chilo” [chee-low].  I asked Miguel, our horseback tour guide, if that word is used just in Ensenada or in all of Mexico. (more…)

Lawsuits: United States vs. Latin America

In the United states many people sue other people over very small minor things as well as over large extreme issues. People in Latin America are not usually a sue-happy (litigious) people as in those in United States.

One of my Spanish professors at the university made this comparison (he was exaggerating somewhat, but it gets the point across).

In the United States, if someone is walking on the sidewalk in front of a home and trips, they might sue the homeowner. In Latin America, if someone walks on the sidewalk in front of a house and trips, the homeowner will laugh at them.

Forms and Meanings of the Verb “to drink” (more…)

In Spanish, there are four ways to say “you” – “tú”, “usted”, “ustedes”, and “vosotros”. If you use the wrong “you” at the wrong time, you might offend someone. Luckily, most people in Latin America will recognize that you are a “gringo” and give you the benefit of the doubt, but it’s still important to know how and when to use each form of “you”. Knowing this will help you seem more educated and possibly avoid causing offense to someone unintentionally. Some of you (newsletter subscribers) might have already learned about this concept in a classroom; hopefully this newsletter will help to clarify things a little more for you. Here are a few basic tips for the usage of “you”: (more…)

Just a few weeks ago, one of our newsletter subscribers asked me to address the differences between Spanish in Latin America and Spanish in Spain. This week, I will discuss a little bit about those differences as well as a few regional word differences from Central America to South America and so on. (more…)