Every culture in the world (at least all that I know of) values “Health”, “Money”, and “Love.” If any of you readers out there know of a culture that doesn’t value health, money, or love, I’d love to hear about it.

These three words used together form a very small piece of Latin American culture, but in a way you might not have guessed. These words are said when someone sneezes! If you sneeze once, Latin people say “Health!” If you sneeze a twice, they say “Money!” and a third sneeze in a row brings “Love!” (more…)

When I was around 10 years old, living in the United States, I went to a movie with a friend. I didn’t have money to purchase food at the snack bar, but my friend seemed to have an unlimited supply with him. He bought a large drink, large popcorn and big bag of licorice but didn’t offer to share any of it with me. He went through the entire movie eating in front of me but never offered me one single thing to eat or drink. I don’t remember anything about the movie, but I do remember that this friend didn’t share even one single piece of popcorn with me.

I learned a great lesson that day which was again re-emphasized later when I lived in Latin America. Latin people will usually share anything with you, even if it is the smallest amount of possessions and food that they have. Many invite you to dinner or meals when they barely have enough food to feed their own families. (more…)

In the United States as well as in Latin America, it is impolite to eat in front of someone else who is not eating also. But, what do you do if you if you stop by someone’s home while they’re eating? If this happens to me, I usually say something like, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to interrupt your dinner”, or “Sorry to bother you during dinner time.”

This type of meal-time interruption doesn’t seem to happen as much in the United States as it does in Latin America. This seems to be because just about everyone in the United States has access to a telephone and people usually call each other before stopping by. In many Latin American areas, especially in the lower-income pueblos, a very small percentage of the population owns a telephone because of the cost involved. (more…)

In English, when we’re composing a letter that will be used as an example in business or in a textbook, we usually address it with, “Dear John” or “Dear Jane.” And, at the end of the letter we usually sign it, “Sincerely, John Doe” or “Sincerely, Jane Doe”.

John and Jane Doe, who are obviously married and model citizens, also have their names on government and employment forms as they show us, by their perfect examples, the proper way to fill out those difficult forms. Some of us tend to get frustrated as “John” and “Jane” seem to be the epitome of perfection in our society, and we are just the “average Joe” never quite able to reach their level of perfection. (more…)

Currently where I reside in the western United States, there are many rest homes and assisted living centers nearby where elderly people go to live. Within about a five mile radius of our business, there are about five facilities with one right next door to our building.

In the assisted living centers, the people that live there are somewhat independent. They usually have their meals cooked for them, entertainment planned, and transportation provided to go places. However, people residing in rest homes need more constant care, both physical and medical. Both rest homes and assisted living centers are usually very expensive.

When I lived in Latin America, I asked several of the locals if there were “rest homes” in the area. It took me quite a while to even figure out what the word for “rest home” was in Spanish, because only a few Latin Americans were familiar with them. After asking a few local friends, I finally found out that the word for “rest home” in Spanish is “asilo de ancianos”. The interesting part of that name is that “ancianos” means “ancient” or “elderly”, and the word “asilo” means “asylum”, “refuge” or “shelter”. So basically, if it is directly translated, it would be called an “elderly asylum” or “elderly shelter”. (more…)

In each of the Latin American countries I’ve lived in or visited, the people react to “el sarcasmo” (sarcasm) very differently than they do here in the United States.

In the United States the use of sarcasm is widespread and is used as a common, daily form of communication. For example, if someone you know purchased a new shirt that was obviously a little strange, you could tease them by saying “Nice shirt!” Of course, when you say “Nice shirt!” what you really mean is, “Wow, that shirt is a little crazy or strange.”

In Latin America, people generally aren’t used to hearing or using sarcasm with one another. For example, one time I was working with a native Spanish speaker who was wearing a very unusual sweater. It was definitely out of the ordinary and somewhat different. I said, “Nice sweater!” After I said that he looked at me with a thoughtful look and said “Thanks”. He didn’t understand the fact that I was using sarcasm with him and that I thought he sweater was a little unusual. He thought I was serious and was giving him a nice compliment about his strange sweater. (more…)

As you learn Spanish you’ll see there are many great words that I really enjoy and get a kick out of. Today I will share some of these with you as well as discuss a little about culture.

Some of my favorite words in Spanish have to do with cars. These words may vary by region; for example, the word for “horn” in one country is “cláxon”, and in another country it is “bocina”. Most core Spanish words are the same in each country but certain specialized words vary in different regions of the world.

Now we’ll move on to some more of the fun words. The word for car “windshield” is “para brizas”, which literally translates to “it stops breezes”. In Spanish, the word used for “bumper” is “para choques”, which translates to “it stops crashes”. And, the word for a heavy-duty grill in the front of a vehicle is called “mataperros” which means “dog killer”.

Now of course, for the record, we are a very animal-friendly company, website and blog, and I wouldn’t have used the word “mataperros” for “grill” if I had invented Spanish. However, by way of information, that is simply the name for “grill” on a vehicle in some areas. I believe that Latin-Americans may have called it “mataperros” because there is an abundance of dogs in many Latin American countries — especially in many poor pueblos where they seem to be everywhere. A few areas have a kind of dog that is pretty strange. This dog is gray and is pretty much bald with just a few hairs on its head. Where I am from, I have never seen a dog of that breed before going to Latin America, and especially not tons of them in the same city. I’ll just say that it this is the kind of dog I would not choose to own myself.

Now, I must break a myth. In some parts of Asia people eat dogs but this is not so in Latin America. Even though there are hundreds of dogs there, they do not eat dogs — at least not in the Latin countries I have ever lived in or visited. However, they do eat guinea pigs which are pets in the United States, but that is a different topic.

While we are talking about food, there is a fun phrase that I really enjoy in Spanish that people use commonly. This phrase is “me ostiga” and it means “I’ve eaten so much of that type of food that I am really tired of it”. There are certain places to use and not to use this phrase. Remember, as I have mentioned in past newsletters, if someone in Latin America invites you to dinner, if you so not eat everything or are not very complimentary and thankful for the food, they can become very offended by your behavior. In other words, don’t ever use the phrase “me ostiga” with the host/hostess that invited you to eat. The proper place to use this phrase would be after the meal when you’re talking to a friend and after you’re out of earshot from the host/hostess.

Moral of the Story: 1. Spanish words can be fun to learn as log as you use them in the proper place. 2. Don’t plan on eating dog in Latin America, but be prepared to meet lots of dogs if you visit smaller pueblos. 3. Remember to eat all of your food when eating dinner with the native speakers and always compliment the host/hostess. 4. You may eat guinea pig in some countries but it isn’t too common so I wouldn’t worry very much if you don’t want to eat it.

Sneak peek at next week: “How to instantly learn hundreds of Spanish words.”

¡Hasta luego! (Until later!)
David S. Clark — President / Director

Vocabulary This Week To Help You Learn Spanish

a veces – sometimes
adultos – adults
algo – something
amable – friendly
amigos latinos – Latin friends
aquí – here
casi siempre – almost always
casual – casual (same spelling in both languages)
conmigo – with me
conversación – conversation
cuando – when
cultura – culture
cultura hispana – Spanish (Latin) culture
cultura latina entre – Latin culture among
de hábito – out of habit
el cual – which
formal – formal (same spelling in both languages)
frase del día – phrase of the day
gente – people
grupo de gente – group of people
hoy – today
manera – way
mano – hand
Me acostumbré tanto a – I got so used to
muchas regiones – many regions
mucho más – much more
o – or
otra vez – again
otros – others
padres – parents
parientes – relatives
pasar – to pass by
persona – person
se abrazan – they hug each other
significa – means
tal vez – maybe
todavía lo hago – I still do it (todavía=sometimes, hago=I do, lo=it)
una situación social – a social situation
útil – useful

The cultura hispana is usually very polite and more formal than the cultura in the U.S. — el cual has a tendency to be a little more casual. Like I have mentioned in the past, when amigos latinos o parientes greet each other (women greet women or women greet men), they usually kiss each other on the cheek. When men greet men, if they are amigos o parientes, they will usually shake hands and/or se abrazan. They generally shake hands when greeting each other and otra vez before leaving una situación social. (more…)

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…)