The Official 'Ask Dave' Section ----

Question

Hola Dave,

Last year I purchased the full course and l enjoyed it and excelled with my spanish. This winter I purchased the Add-on verb course and do not seem to be doing as well with it.

I give this to the fact that material on the cd's make the difference as I walk daily for 1 1/2 hours which gives me much more time to listen to my spanish than I actually have time to spend on the computer...

Another question I have, is I spent a short period of time In Cuba this winter and picked up that when they answer the telephone there ,they answer "dime" rather than bueno or alo, is this just a local custom or is it used in other latin american countries as well.

Thank you

Eugene

P.S. I would be scared to tell you how much money I spent on spanish courses before I stumbled on to yours on line. Again thank you.

Answer

Hola Eugene,

“Dime” is a fairly regional way to answer the phone. However people from other countries use it in every-day conversation. It means “Tell me” as in “What’s happening?” or “Tell me how things are going”. When a friend approaches another friend in every-day life, sometimes thy will simply say “Dime”.

For more on telephone vocabulary, go to section "11. Telephone" in your complete Visual Link Spanish™ course. If you don't have the course, click here for our current sale!

Hopefully that helps to answer your questions.

Gracias,

Dave

If you don't have the Complete Visual Link Spanish™ Course, Don't waste any more money on other courses that don't work, click here to order it today!

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Words of the Week -----
Taken from our complete CD-ROM course. (Click for a discount)

Weekly Spanish Lesson ----

For this week's lesson, click below to learn some basic Spanish colors. You'll hear María from Mexico and learn with a fun, interactive format.

To check it out, click here: www.learnspanishtoday.com/learn/colors.htm

P.S. - If you don't have the Complete Visual Link Spanish™ Course, click below and get free shipping through the newsletter!


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Culture ----- Provecho / Servido - Manners While Someone is Eating

In the United States as well as in Latin America, it is impolite to eat in front of someone else. But, what should you do if you if you stop by someone's house while they are eating? If this happens to me personally, I usually say something like, "I'm so sorry, I didn't mean to interrupt your dinner", or "Sorry to bother you during dinner time."

This type of interruption doesn't seem to happen as much in the U.S. as in Latin America. This seems to be because just about everyone in the U.S. has a telephone and people frequently call each other before stopping by. In many Latin American regions, especially the lower-income pueblos, a very small percent of the population owns a telephone because of the cost involved. Phone calls are charged by the length of each call whether local or long distance. In the U.S., a set monthly phone bill gets you all the local calls you want, regardless of the length, for free. However, extra fees are incurred for long-distance calls. Because of the scarcity of people with telephones in Latin America, people frequently stop by acquaintances homes unannounced and sometimes during mealtime. I assume that because of this practice, and because of the Latin American emphasis on food, there has been a Spanish word invented for this exact situation.

If you stop by someone's home while they are eating but you aren't, you should say either "¡Provecho!" or "¡Buen provecho!" which means "Enjoy your meal!" The word "provecho" literally means "profit" or "benefit", and "Buen provecho" literally means "Good benefit" or "Good profit".

People usually say this phrase with a light-hearted attitude almost as if to say, "Go ahead and keep eating and don't worry about me". To continue the scenario a little farther, if you are eating and someone says "¡Buen provecho" to you, you can answer them by saying "Servido" which means "Served". By saying "Servido", you are basically saying, "Feel free to take a seat and have some if you'd like." Although that is the real meaning, I don't think I ever saw anyone in this situation ever take someone up on the offer and sit down to eat with the family after they had already started a meal.

Remember, the next time you see Latin-American people eating and you are not, be sure to say "¡Provecho!" or "¡Buen provecho!" to them. Also, if you are eating, and someone says "¡Provecho!" to you, be sure and say "Servido" to them, and be ready to offer them food; just in-case they take you up on your offer.

Moral of the Story: A large part of Latin American culture is based on food. Without a lot of instant food available to the people in the lower-income pueblos, they spend a lot of time in food preparation. Because food is such a big part of their lives, it's important to learn proper mealtime etiquette. Just remember, "¡Provecho!" or "¡Buen provecho!" and "Servido".

Sneak peek at next week: "Share your food - especially Jell-O Pudding®"

¡Hasta la vista baby! (This is actor Arnold Schwarzenegger's famous line meaning "Until I see you again baby!")

David S. Clark -- President / Director
Visual Link Spanish™
Fun, Interactive Spanish Courses
http://www.learnspanishtoday.com
dave@learnspanishtoday.com

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Responses to Past Newsletters:



Note: Formatting on responses may have been changed to fit your screen.
Response #1

Hola Dave,

Spanish is my first language, since I was born and grew up in Puerto Rico. I was used to hear people answer back to their name with the word "Dime" in regular conversations, as a way to say "Tell me, I am listening." But never heard it as a way to answer the phone, so it must be quite a regional custom in Cuba. However, there is another regional way to answer that seem to be common among mexicans. If I call their name, they say "Mande", as if expecting a command from someone in authority.

I guess there is always something new to learn about our many latinamerican ways.

Magali

Response #2

Thank you for your wonderful course. I too have spent a lot of money on other courses, and this has been the best and the one with the quickest results. Thank you once again.

Judit Z

Response #3

'DIME' means talk to me in cuba when they answer the phone i have been there 15 times there dialect and accent is quite unique

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