Visual Link Spanish Newsletter (V:1; I:38)

Why do People like Visual Link Spanish® so much?-----

Most language courses teach a lot of grammar rules, writing exercises, and verb conjugations but when people finish, they can't actually speak Spanish. Visual Link Spanish™ teaches you to build sentences, ask and answer questions, and truly converse in Spanish. Is Visual Link Spanish™ nationally known? It has been sold in all 50 states and in over 26 countries. Many individuals and corporations worldwide have used the course. Click here to go to our web site for more information or to purchase.

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Visit our Website: www.spanishprograms.com

Spanish Words of the Week -----
Words taken from the "Locations" Section of our Complete Course.

	English	Spanish
Monday	Where is?	¿Dónde está?
Tuesday	my mother	mi mamá
Wednesday	your house	su casa
Thursday	my book	mi libro
Friday	our pencil	nuestro lápiz
Saturday	her pen	su pluma
Sunday	your money	su dinero
How long have you wanted to learn Spanish?	Many of you have been waiting for the right opportunity to learn Spanish. If you keep waiting, you will never find the "right" time. Just commit yourself and do it! Click here to learn Spanish with our Complete Course.

Spanish Culture ----- "Huevitos"

There is a very unique thing in the Spanish language. They have what's called the "ito" / "ita" suffix. For those of you who have been out of high school or college too long to remember, a suffix is a word ending. In Spanish you can add this suffix to any noun (remember a "noun" is a person, place, or thing). When you add "ito" or "ita" to a noun, it means "little". For example the word "casa" means "house" and the word "casita" means "little house". The word "gato" means "cat" and the word "gatito" means "little cat". And finally, the word "papel" means "paper" and the word "papelito" means "little piece of paper".

As you can see, the "ito" / "ita" ending means "little" and is very useful. But, this fun "suffix" or "word ending" also has another meaning. I learned this in Latin America when I had the following experience.

Last week I told you about the Silva's, who are native Spanish speakers from Latin America, and how I ate breakfast and dinner with them every day for about 3 months. Well, one morning Mrs. Silva brought in our breakfast. First she brought in fresh baked rolls that she would get at the bakery every morning as well as a breakfast drink. Then she brought in a pan with eggs swimming in oil. That is how they would cook fried eggs -- they would put two to three inches of oil in a pan and then put in the eggs and they seemed to "swim" in the large amount of oil. Anyway, as she brought in the eggs, she said in Spanish, "Here are your huevitos". In Spanish, eggs are "huevos" but she used the "ito" / "ita" suffix and called them "huevitos".

As she put the eggs on our plates, I examined them carefully and said, "These aren't smaller than normal eggs, why do you call them "huevitos"? She looked at me with a strange look and said "Of course they're not smaller". I then asked again, "so why do you call them 'huevitos'"? She answered, in a sort of obvious tone, and told me it was because she made them with "cariño" which means "caring". I wanted to make sure I heard her correctly and said "So, since you made them with 'cariño' you call them 'huevitos'"? She confirmed what I had said and I found that I was at the beginning of a good culture lesson where you make things like "eggs" with "caring".

I wanted to make sure this wasn't something that just the Silva family did, so I began to listen more carefully to how others spoke. I noticed that many people would call their grandmothers "abuelita" instead of "abuela", even though their grandmothers weren't necessarily "little". I learned that "abuelita" is a way to say "grandmother" with "cariño" or "caring".

The word for daughter is "hija" and many parents would call their daughters "hijita" even though they were full grown. Obviously they weren't calling their daughters "little daughter" but "daughter" with "cariño" or "caring".

This is a neat "little" culture and language difference that I grew to love and really had a lot of fun with. I would tease Mrs. Silva in a fun way by adding "ito" or "ita" to everything for the next few days after that experience.

In summary, what I learned was that the "ito" / "ita" ending can be used to talk about "little" things, but it is also a term of endearment which shows "cariño" or "caring".

Stay tuned next week when we'll talk about cultural differences in personal space. If you want to speak Spanish, try our free Spanish lessons.

¡Hasta luego! (Until Later!)


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

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