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…)