Visual Link Spanish Newsletter (V:1; I:28)

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

	English	Spanish
Monday	He wants	El quiere
Tuesday	You want	Usted quiere
Wednesday	to revise	revisar
Thursday	to write	escribir
Friday	a message	un recado
Saturday	a message	un mensaje
Sunday	a letter	una carta
Hear Newsletter Words!	Buy our Complete Spanish Course which has around 1,000 words with audio/visual lessons and then read our newsletter each week to review!! Learn Spanish with our Complete Course.

Spanish Culture ----- Nueva York (New York)!

Last week I challenged all of you to find a native Spanish speaker to practice your Spanish with. Here is one of the responses I received from Nicole in Oregon who took the challenge.

Dave,
I just came in from doing exactly what you challenged us to do. I live in a predominately Spanish-Speaking apartment complex in Oregon. Today, I went outside and began to converse with some of my neighbors. They were very interested to speak with me (one even asked if he could wash my car) and were extremely helpful with words I did not understand. Most of them even knew a little bit of English. I hope others will have a similar experience.

Nicole

Thanks for your reply Nicole!

Now on to this week's topic...

Many of you know that I had the opportunity to learn Spanish in Latin America for two years among native Spanish speakers . During that time, I had the opportunity to live in the Dominican Republic for three months. It is a large island in the Caribbean between Cuba and Puerto Rico. All three of these large islands are off Florida with Cuba being the closest. The Dominican Republic shares its island with Haiti where they speak Haitian Creole (which, is a type of French).

So when I was living in "la República Dominicana" (the Dominican Republic) I lived in a city called La Romana. I lived among the natives and went to visit many of them as a missionary for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Most of the people we visited in La Romana lived in small homes made with cardboard walls that were supported by a few pieces of wood. Metal roofs were placed on top of the homes to keep off the torrential rains.

As I met people in La Romana, they would inevitably ask me where I was from since I stood out with my blond hair. I would tell them I was from Utah and they would ask, "Where's Utah?" I would then explain that it was in the western part of the United States. Then they would look at me as if a light turned on in their heads and say, "So, what part of New York is that?" I would then try to clarify that Utah was a state just like New York and that it is a 4 day drive to get from New York to Utah. They would then look at me, with a puzzled expression, and ask "So Utah is a suburb of New York?" I would then again try to explain that Utah and New York were both different states within the United States. They would then look at me with a disbelieving look -- as if I was trying to trick them.

I don't think I was ever truly successful in helping anyone in La Romana of the Dominican Republic understand what or where Utah really was. The closest I came is when I would tell them about the Utah Jazz professional basketball team. They would then say "Oh yeah, I've heard of them!" (in Spanish of course).

If you newsletter readers from New York wonder why there are so many Dominicans there, now you know! -- To many of them, New York IS the United States, and places like Utah are just "suburbs" of New York.

 

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¡Hasta la vista! (Until I see you next!)


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