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Words of the Week -----
Taken from our complete CD-ROM course. (Click here to for more info)

	English	Spanish
Monday	I have to	Yo tengo que
Tuesday	You have to	Usted tiene que
Wednesday	He has to	El tiene que
Thursday	She has to	Ella tiene que
Friday	to run	correr
Saturday	to the post office	al correo
Sunday	to the bank	al banco

Culture ----- El sarcasmo

In all of the Latin American countries I've either lived in or visited, the people react to "el sarcasmo" (sarcasm) very differently than they do here is the U.S.

Here in the U.S., sarcasm is very widespread and is used as a common, daily form of communication. For example, if a friend or family member purchased a new shirt that was obviously a little strange, you could tease them by saying "Nice shirt!" Of course, when you say "Nice shirt!" what you really mean is, "Wow, that shirt is a little wild or strange".

In Latin America, people usually aren't accustomed to hearing or using sarcasm with each other. For example, I was working with a native speaker who was wearing a very interesting sweater. It was definitely out of the ordinary and a little strange. I said, "Nice sweater!" He looked at me with a thoughtful look and said "Thanks". He didn't get the fact that I was using sarcasm with him. He thought I was serious and was giving him a nice compliment about his sweater.

As I lived in Latin America for two consecutive years in different countries, I began to get accustomed to this new attitude of not using sarcasm. It took quite a while, but soon I didn't use sarcasm at all. Because of the lack of sarcasm in Latin America, it seemed to me that there was generally more respect between people.

Then, after two years of living among the natives and adopting this new mentality, I met up with an American. We were put on a project where we would have to work together every day for a month or so. He had just arrived in Latin America and wasn't used to the language or culture (without sarcasm). Quite a few times, I found myself getting offended when he used sarcasm with me. I had become so immersed into the Latin culture that I found his sarcasm offensive. It took me a few weeks to get back into the swing of things and realize that he wasn't actually trying to be rude or mean. He was just using a similar type of sarcasm that I had used previously when living in the U.S.

Now, some of you may be saying, "I know some Latin people in the U.S. that are sarcastic." If you do, it's probably because they have already begun to adopt some of our cultural behaviors, just like I adopted their behaviors while I was there. Just remember that most native speakers living in Latin America itself usually aren't sarcastic.

I would love to hear from you (newsletter subscribers) in different countries to find out if you use sarcasm in your countries.

Moral of the Story: When visiting Latin America, for business or pleasure, it's important to know about their mentality on sarcasm. On the other hand, even though many Latin people living in the U.S. may have adopted sarcasm and use it frequently, be careful when talking to them, sarcasm still may offend them. Although a world without sarcasm was very different to live in and get used to, I grew to love it and found the people to be very respectful towards each other.

Sneak peek at next week: "Rest Homes in Latin America?"

¡Hasta luego! (Until later!)

David S. Clark -- President / Director
U.S. Institute of Languages
dave@learnspanishtoday.com
http://www.learnspanishtoday.com
866-9SPANISH

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