Visual Link Spanish™ Newsletter

Holiday Edition - #2!

Current # of Subscribers: 16,436

New Years Resolution Time!

New Year's Resolutions are often joked about -- "You make 'em so you can break 'em". In studies, researchers have found that one of the keys to keeping a New Year's Resolution is "Commitment". If you are truly committed to learning Spanish this year and have it as a New Year's Resolution, your chances for success are much higher. Click here to go to our web site for more information or to purchase our Spanish course. Remember, the complete Visual Link Spanish™ course contains:

• 2 Computer CD-ROM's with over 200 interactive lessons:
  • 48 interactive learning lessons
  • 28 Vocabulary Review Lessons
  • 37 Review Games
  • 46 Verbal Quizzes
  • 13 Written Practice Quizzes
  • 28 Pronunciation Lessons
• 10 Audio CD's to review in your car or CD player
• Conversation Manual
• Travel Case for the CD's.

Please e-mail us with any questions at: info@spanishprograms.com

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Holiday Words of the Week -----
Here's a short list of holiday words.

	English	Spanish
Monday	Snow	Nieve
Tuesday	Party	Fiesta
Wednesday	Games	Juegos
Thursday	Relatives	Parientes
Friday	Friends	Amigos
Saturday	Dance	Baile
Sunday	Dance Hall / Club	Discoteca / Sala de baile
Bonus (review)	Happy New Year!      (they literally say      "Prosperous New Year!")	¡Próspero año nuevo!
New Year's Resolutions	Time to start thinking about New Year's Resolutions. Learning Spanish is a popular one which is reflected in our usual sales increases in January. Click here for purchasing information.

Culture ----- Baile y año nuevo

With the New Years Celebration only a few days away, I've decided to forego our regularly scheduled topic and share some information about New Years culture and baile (dance) among the Latin people.

If you turn on the T.V. in the United States on New Years Eve, you'll probably see Dick Clark, the Apple dropping in New York, hoards of people in Times Square making as much noise as possible, famous singers, and some people dancing.

If you turn on the T.V. in Latin America, or in the United States to a Latin channel, you will see dancing, dancing, and more dancing. The Latin people love to dance. We talked briefly about Latin music and dancing in a newsletter earlier this year, but I want to spend a little more time on it today. Latin music is rich in culture; there is Salsa music, Meregue music, Tango music, and other types of wonderful types of Latin music. The most popular and widely danced are probably Salsa and Merengue. They have a wonderful sound and beat. Unlike in the U.S. where you just move your body around to music (I'm exaggerating a little), dancing to Latin music usually takes a little more practice. As I mentioned in an earlier newsletter, Latin parties (fiestas) always have dancing. If there is a Latin party without dancing, it is simply not called a "fiesta" (party).

When and if you turn on the T.V. this "Año nuevo" (New Year's Eve), be sure to spend at least a few minutes watching the Latin channel(s) so you can get a good taste of Latin music, dancing, and culture. I personally love to watch and listen to Latin music. Trying to dance to it can also be very fun. For "Año nuevo" in the past, I have gone Latin dancing with my wife and some Latin friends and we loved it. They had a big buffet-type dinner first with Latin food, and then we danced for hours. I have to say, I'm not a great Latin dancer but I loved trying to dance and being surrounded by the Latin culture.

I would be excited if some of you, after reading this newsletter, decided to go Latin dancing for "Año nuevo". If you do, please drop me a line afterwards and let me know how it went. I'd love to hear from you.

For those of you who to dance and really want to get a taste for Latin culture, dancing, and to get some extra Spanish practice, I highly recommend enrolling in a Latin dance class; if it were me, I would choose Salsa dancing. Like learning Spanish, enrolling in a Latin dance class can be a great New Years Resolution!

¡Próspero Año Nuevo! (Happy New Year!)

Sneak peek at next week (for real this time): Water - Drinkability, Customs, and Beliefs.

David S. Clark -- President / Director
U.S. Institute of Languages
dave@spanishprograms.com
http://www.spanishprograms.com
866-9SPANISH

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