Comments on: Culture: Health! Money! and Love! http://www.spanishprograms.com/blog/2009/10/culture-health-money-and-love/ Spanish Learning Updates, Tips, and Tricks Tue, 15 May 2012 21:49:15 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: Jo Ann B. http://www.spanishprograms.com/blog/2009/10/culture-health-money-and-love/#comment-13285 Jo Ann B. Tue, 09 Aug 2011 19:31:34 +0000 http://www.spanishprograms.com/blog/?p=197#comment-13285 Hola. I am an American in Los Angeles. I majored in English, teach ESL, and have many friends from different parts of the world. I found this topic interesting so I wanted to share a little about why English speakers say "bless you" instead of "health" as it seems most countries do. There are different ideas concerning why but the short answer is superstition. Some people believed a long time ago that when you sneezed your soul would come out and could be attacked by demons. Others believed that when you sneezed demons could enter your body. Either way saying "bless you" was a way to protect the person from being attacked by demons. If anyone wants more information you can go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bless_you http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/respiratory/sneezing.htm Hola. I am an American in Los Angeles. I majored in English, teach ESL, and have many friends from different parts of the world. I found this topic interesting so I wanted to share a little about why English speakers say “bless you” instead of “health” as it seems most countries do. There are different ideas concerning why but the short answer is superstition. Some people believed a long time ago that when you sneezed your soul would come out and could be attacked by demons. Others believed that when you sneezed demons could enter your body. Either way saying “bless you” was a way to protect the person from being attacked by demons. If anyone wants more information you can go to:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bless_you

http://health.howstuffworks.com/human-body/systems/respiratory/sneezing.htm

]]> By: Boryana http://www.spanishprograms.com/blog/2009/10/culture-health-money-and-love/#comment-3370 Boryana Thu, 18 Feb 2010 10:24:14 +0000 http://www.spanishprograms.com/blog/?p=197#comment-3370 Hola, amigos internacionales! :) It is so useful and fun at the same time to get to know so much about Spanish / Latin American and North American culture through the Spanish learning programs provided by Dave Clark and the newsletters. Me gustan mucho! :) I am from Bulgaria and in my country we also wish 'Health' to the person who sneezes. We say "Наздраве" (in Bulgarian - in Cyrillic) which is actually also used (as is the case with Ireland obviously - seen from the above comment of James) when we make a toast with drinks. Bulgarian culture seems to have a similarity with the Chinese culture as well as we very often believe that when one is sneezing someone is mentioning or thinking about this person. I really find a lot of similar things between my own culture and the Latin American - a good example is the attitude towards the elderly family members - we normally look after them when they are retired and especially if they have serious health problems, they live with us or separately but we make sure that they have enough food and all the bills are paid, etc. So the family ties are very strong with us as well, but I would refer this to the fact that we (the Slavonic peoples) are defined as collectivistic societies, unlike, for example the USA, which has an individualistic society. It is very enriching and much necessary to be aware of these cultural differences so that a person can be open-minded and tolerant in his/her communication experiences with people from other cultures, especially in our constantly globalizing world. Hola, amigos internacionales! :)

It is so useful and fun at the same time to get to know so much about Spanish / Latin American and North American culture through the Spanish learning programs provided by Dave Clark and the newsletters.
Me gustan mucho! :)
I am from Bulgaria and in my country we also wish ‘Health’ to the person who sneezes. We say “Наздраве” (in Bulgarian – in Cyrillic) which is actually also used (as is the case with Ireland obviously – seen from the above comment of James) when we make a toast with drinks.
Bulgarian culture seems to have a similarity with the Chinese culture as well as we very often believe that when one is sneezing someone is mentioning or thinking about this person.
I really find a lot of similar things between my own culture and the Latin American – a good example is the attitude towards the elderly family members – we normally look after them when they are retired and especially if they have serious health problems, they live with us or separately but we make sure that they have enough food and all the bills are paid, etc. So the family ties are very strong with us as well, but I would refer this to the fact that we (the Slavonic peoples) are defined as collectivistic societies, unlike, for example the USA, which has an individualistic society.
It is very enriching and much necessary to be aware of these cultural differences so that a person can be open-minded and tolerant in his/her communication experiences with people from other cultures, especially in our constantly globalizing world.

]]> By: James Bredin http://www.spanishprograms.com/blog/2009/10/culture-health-money-and-love/#comment-3282 James Bredin Sat, 13 Feb 2010 22:02:32 +0000 http://www.spanishprograms.com/blog/?p=197#comment-3282 The Irish only say "health" which is "shlainte" in Gaelic and they still say shlainte when they have a drink in their hands. The Irish only say “health” which is “shlainte” in Gaelic and they still say shlainte when they have a drink in their hands.

]]> By: Manuela http://www.spanishprograms.com/blog/2009/10/culture-health-money-and-love/#comment-2183 Manuela Fri, 27 Nov 2009 06:06:02 +0000 http://www.spanishprograms.com/blog/?p=197#comment-2183 It is so interesting. Thanks, Dave. I'm a Chinese. Now am introduce something about how Chinese react when people sneeze. First, if someone sneezes particularly for kids, parents always say 'Baisui', which in English means wish someone can live longer, till 100 years old. that's simply because many years ago China was a poor country. People starved. Many people and kids died of disease and hunger. So when people sneeze, we say 'Baisui' to wish he can be whelth, to live longer. this is quite similiar with Latin American people. Another one is when people sneeze, they would say 'oh, who is missing me ?or who is cursing me ?' people think if someone is missing somebody or cursing somebody, he can feel that and get this feeling through sneeze. But nowadays China absorbs western culture so much, like you can hear 'oh, my god' in China everywhere. so now if people sneeze, we say 'bless you' naturally. but now i can say Salud, Dinero and Amor as well. hehe It is so interesting. Thanks, Dave. I’m a Chinese. Now am introduce something about how Chinese react when people sneeze. First, if someone sneezes particularly for kids, parents always say ‘Baisui’, which in English means wish someone can live longer, till 100 years old. that’s simply because many years ago China was a poor country. People starved. Many people and kids died of disease and hunger. So when people sneeze, we say ‘Baisui’ to wish he can be whelth, to live longer. this is quite similiar with Latin American people. Another one is when people sneeze, they would say ‘oh, who is missing me ?or who is cursing me ?’ people think if someone is missing somebody or cursing somebody, he can feel that and get this feeling through sneeze.
But nowadays China absorbs western culture so much, like you can hear ‘oh, my god’ in China everywhere. so now if people sneeze, we say ‘bless you’ naturally. but now i can say Salud, Dinero and Amor as well. hehe

]]> By: Oksana http://www.spanishprograms.com/blog/2009/10/culture-health-money-and-love/#comment-2145 Oksana Sat, 21 Nov 2009 10:10:12 +0000 http://www.spanishprograms.com/blog/?p=197#comment-2145 Hi!!!!! I am a Russian girl. And I teach English. It's always interesting to get to know how people express themselves in other languages. In Russian we also say "Be healthy! to someone sneezing! I think that Russian mentality is close to the one of the Spanish. And it's Poles apart from English! Hi!!!!!

I am a Russian girl. And I teach English. It’s always interesting to get to know how people express themselves in other languages. In Russian we also say “Be healthy! to someone sneezing! I think that Russian mentality is close to the one of the Spanish. And it’s Poles apart from English!

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