Visual Link Spanish Newsletter (V:2; I:15)

Spanish Words of the Week -----
Words are taken from the Becoming Acquainted section of our Visual Link Spanish™ Course

Spanish Culture ----- Con Permiso!

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

The cultura hispana is generally very polite and more formal than the cultura in the U.S. -- el cual has a tendency to be a little more casual. As 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 often shake hands and/or se abrazan. They usually shake hands when greeting each other and otra vez before leaving una situación social.

Me acostumbré tanto a shaking hands when both greeting and leaving gente that todavía lo hago sometimes aquí in the U.S. de hábito. I get some pretty strange looks a veces from gente cuando I extend my mano to shake theirs mucho más than they're used to.

Now on to our frase del día. In muchas regiones of Latin America, when a group of gente are in a conversación and one persona needs to leave, they say "con permiso" [con pear-mee-so] which significa "excuse me". Gente do the same thing aquí in the U.S. but it is not as common in casual situations. In Latin America however, gente casi siempre say "con permiso" when leaving a group in both formal and casual situations. This adds a nice touch to the situation and is algo that grew on me enough that I decided to bring it back conmigo. I todavía say "excuse me" -- the English version of "con permiso" -- now that I am back in the U.S. whenever I need to leave a grupo de gente.

The words "con permiso" are also used if there are gente blocking your pathway and you need to pasar. It is a nice and short manera to say "I need to get by, would you mind moving?" As you can see, the phrase "con permiso" is very útil and good to know. Tal vez you can even memorize it and start using it hoy!

Because of frases like "con permiso" and otros, I found the gente in Latin America to be very amable, respectful, and polite. Children are usually very polite to their padres and other adultos, and gente in general were usually very polite with each other. In some ways, I wish I was still living in the cultura latina entre native Spanish speakers! It is a great cultura.

Moral of the Historia: Learning about different cultures is fun, expands our vision, and helps improve our outlook of the world. The next time you need to leave a group of gente latina, be sure to say "con permiso".

Sneak peek at next week: Fun Spanish Words

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¡Nos vemos! (We'll see you!)


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

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