Culture —– Visita personal
Vocabulary to help you learn Spanish:
padres – parents
porque – becuase (”por que” – with a space – is “why”)
técnica – technique
-mente – -ly (this is a suffix or word ending; “mente” at the end of a word means “ly” in English)
besito – kiss
abrazo – hug
cortés – courteous
gente – people
muy amable(s) – very friendly (plural)
misionero – missionary
casas – homes
niño – child
puerta – door mencioné – I mentioned
una persona – a person
amigos – friends
visita personal – personal visit
boletín – newsletter
diferencias culturales – cultural differences
mujer – woman
hombre – man mami (maw-mee) – child’s word for “mother”
papi (paw-pee) – child’s word for “father”
Let’s talk about a few of the diferencias culturales when visiting someone in Latin America.
Like I mencioné in previous blog posts, if you are visiting una persona in which you are relatives or good amigos with, and you are a mujer greeting another mujer or hombre, you would probably give them a besito on the cheek. When hombres greet hombres, they will customarily give each other a handshake and usually an abrazo. The Latin culture is a very polite and cortés culture and the gente are generally muy amables.
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to visit Latin America as a misionero for two years and visited literally thousands of gente in their casas in a few different countries. One of the things that really intrigued me is when we would knock on a puerta to visit a familia, usually a small niño would answer the door. We would then ask the niño, “¿Se encuentra tu mami?” or “¿Se encuentra tu papi?” (Is your mom or dad home?). In every region I traveled to, the niño would always say “No está” (He or she isn’t here). What fascinated me, was that they would say this even if their “padres” WERE home.
I was really frustrated at first porque in the U.S., usually, when someone comes to the puerta, if the padres are home and available, the child will say that they are home and get them. (Of course there are always exceptions.)
I knew I had to figure out some way to visit with the parents. Here is what I did. When a niño would answer the puerta, I would say, “¿Se encuentra tu papi?” and the niño would say “No está”. Then I would quickly say to them “¡Tráelo rápido!” (Hurry and get him!). The niño, sin pensar (without thinking) would automaticamente run fast and get his dad (or mom). After I started implementing this new técnica, getting in to visit people changed from drudgery to almost like a juego divertido (fun game). I really loved visiting the Latin people!
Moral of the historia: The Spanish culture is interesting and fun. It is wonderful to get to know the culture and adapt yourself personalmente to it.
Sneak peek at next week: Other funny things people say at the door.
¡Hasta la próxima semana! (Until Next Week!)
David S. Clark — President / Director
I enjoy this lesson very much. I understand the moral of the story and it is indeed a lot of fun.