Visual Link Learn Spanish Newsletter (V:2; I:5)

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Learn Spanish Words of the Week -----
Words are taken from the Locations section of our Visual Link Spanish™ course

	English	Spanish
Monday	We are	Estamos
Tuesday	It is	Está
Wednesday	at the corner of Wall and Lincoln	a la esquina de Wall y Lincoln
Thursday	between the post office and the school	entre el correo y la escuela
Friday	4 blocks away	a cuatro cuadras
Saturday	15 minutes away	a quince minutos
Sunday	to the north	al norte
Spanish Review	Be sure to use these weekly newsletters to review the words you have learned from our complete Visual Link Spanish™ course.

Learn Spanish Culture ----- Regional Variations in Spanish

One of our subscribers, a few weeks ago, asked me to address the differences between Spanish in Latin America and in Spain. This week, I'll talk a little about those differences as well as a few regional differences within Latin America itself.

Most people think that Spanish in Spain and Latin America are completely different. The truth is that people from each country have different accents and there are a few basic language differences, but they can understand each other just fine.

One of the main differences is that in Spain, they use a word for "you" called "vosotros". In Latin America, they have seen the word "vosotros" and know about it, but they don't use it in everyday speech. In Spanish, there are three ways to say "you"; we'll talk more in-depth about this concept next week. In a nut-shell, "vosotros" is used when you are talking to more than one person in an informal way. For example, you would use "vosotros" in Spain when talking to a group of friends, individuals younger than yourself, or those you are on a first-name basis with.

Again, Latin America doesn't use "vosotros"; however in Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay (South America), they use a form of "vosotros" called "vos". It is basically a very casual way to say "you".

Beyond the differences in the accent, the use of "vosotros" and "vos" is probably the biggest major difference in the Spanish language from region to region.

Changing the theme just a little, there are also some differences in vocabulary from region to region. If you learn Spanish with a course like ours, you'll learn vocabulary that is pretty much used internationally. However, there are a few little differences in vocabulary that are fun to know about. I'll share a couple of them in the next few paragraphs:

The word for "soda" in Perú is "gaseosa", and in the Dominican Republic it is "refresco". The word "refresco" in Perú means "sweetened drink" or "punch".

The word for "cake" in some regions of South America, is "torta", in the Caribbean it is "biscocho" (which is "roll" in South America), and in some regions of Central America is "queque" or "biscocho".

The word for "bus" is "autobus" in Spain, "camión" in Mexico, and "guagua" in Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. However, the word "guagua" in Chile means "baby". So, if you are from Chile and visit Puerto Rico, don't ask "How's your guagua?", because instead of asking "How's your baby?", you would actually be asking "How's your bus?"

Moral of the Story: It is important to know a little about the major differences in the Spanish language so you don't get completely thrown off track as you talk with people from different areas. The minor vocabulary differences are fun to know about but know them is is not as important for your success in Spanish.

Sneak peek at next week: The three Spanish ways to say "you".

¡Hasta la próxima semana! (Until Next Week!)


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

P.S. - If you have enjoyed our Learn Spanish newsletters, please forward them to friends or relatives -- that is one of the main ways our business grows.

Responses to Previous newsletters (the "I'm in trouble" gesture)

Response #1

Hey Dave,

(that's the way we say "hello" in GA!) I'm enjoying your Visual Link Spanish Newsletter and just wanted to tell you that, after a few wrong tries, I mastered the "someone's in trouble gesture"! That's pretty cool and fun info. Now I'm going to have to look for it on Spanish-speaking TV and when I'm around native speakers. I am giving the web address for learnspanishtoday to my Spanish class tomorrow. Thanks for all the info.

Cindy
Atlanta


Other Responses

Others responded and were able to figure the gesture without seeing it. (Way to go!!!) There was one person who couldn't quite figure it out. (Keep trying!)

Thanks for your feedback! -- Dave