Culture: Visita personal – Part II
Vocabulary for this week to help you learn Spanish:
una cosa – one thing
diferente – different
ersona – person
gente – people
hace unos meses – a few months ago
años – years
diferencias culturales – cultural differences
probablemente – probably
puerta – door
mencioné – I mentioned
miles – thousands
la oportunidad – the opportunity
amigos – friends
cultura – culture
hombres – men
esposas – wives
hogares – homes
interesante – interesting
esposos – husbands
un mes – a month
aquí – here
la semana pasada – last week
¡Te has engordado! – You have gained weight!
delgado – skinny
pueblos – poor small cities
dinero – money
comida – food
As I mencioné la semana pasada, when I lived in Latin America, I had la oportunidad to visit many, many miles of gente in their hogares. As a consequence of this, I learned a few interesante and fun cultural bits of information while visiting gente.
Una cosa that really shocked me and still seems very diferente was how many of hombres referred to their esposas and vice-versa. If an hombre answered the puerta and we wanted to visit with both him and his esposa, he would usually yell something similar to “¡Ven acá gorda!”, which means “Come here ‘chubby’ or ‘overweight’”. The way he referred to his esposa really surprised me. Esposas also talked this same way to their esposos.
In the U.S., if I ever were to call my esposa “gorda”, I would most likely have to sleep on the couch for at least un mes! This is something that culturally we just don’t do aquí in the United States.
Many native Spanish speakers will nickname their amigos “gordo”. As I started to become more integrated into the cultura, I started to understand that the names “gordo” and “gorda” weren’t as insulting as I first had thought. In many of the pueblos, when the gente earned more dinero to buy better comida, they would start to gain some weight and become somewhat “gordo”. So, in somewhat of a round about way, being called “gordo” or “gorda” is more of a compliment which means that the persona has enough dinero to buy better comida and become “gordo” or “gorda”.
Hace unos meses, a few Latin American amigos I hadn’t seen for años came to the United States to visit me. When they first saw me, they said with a surprised tone, “¡Te has engordado!”. Although I know the cultura well, I couldn’t help but become a little bit self conscious. And – just for your information, I am not very “gordo” (at least I don’t think I am – I usually ride my bike about 40-60 miles each week). I might have filled in a little but I really don’t think I’m considered “gordo”. I was just more delgado when I had known them years before.
Word to the wise: Although people within the Latin culture call each other “gordo” and “gorda”, I recommend avoiding using those names just to ensure people don’t get offended.
Moral of the historia: Diferencias culturales are real! If you ever travel to Latin America and someone happens to call you “gordo” or “gorda”, don’t be offended by this, just realize that it is probablemente a kind of compliment!
Sneak peek at next week: ¡Salud a tu mami [maw-mee]!
¡Hasta la próxima semana! (Until Next Week!)
David S. Clark — President / Director
I love the way you weave Spanish with English. It’s really a great way to learn Spanish as you read it within the context of English. I love it.
Thanks
I really like the mixing of Spanish and English in the story. It somehow help me understand the words better and faster.