LearnSpanishToday.com Blog

Vocabulary This Week To Help You Learn Spanish

útil – useful
una situación social – a social situation
todavía lo hago – I still do it (todavía=sometimes, hago=I do, lo=it)
tal vez – maybe
significa – means
se abrazan – they hug each other
persona – person
pasar – to pass by
parientes – relatives
padres – parents
otros – others
otra vez – again
o – or
mucho más – much more
muchas regiones – many regions
Me acostumbré tanto a – I got so used to
mano – hand
manera – way
hoy – today
grupo de gente – group of people
gente – people
frase del día – phrase of the day
formal – formal (same spelling in both languages)
el cual – which
de hábito – out of habit
cultura latina entre – Latin culture among
cultura hispana – Spanish (Latin) culture
cultura – culture
cuando – when
conversación – conversation
conmigo – with me
casual – casual (same spelling in both languages)
casi siempre – almost always
aquí – here
amigos latinos – Latin friends
amable – friendly
algo – something
adultos – adults
a veces – sometimes

The cultura hispana is generally very polite and more formal than the cultura in the U.S. — el cual has a tendency to be a little more casual. As I have mentioned in the past, when amigos latinos o parientes greet each other (women greet women or women greet men), they normally kiss each other on the cheek. When men greet men, if they are amigos o parientes, they will generally shake hands and/or se abrazan. They usually shake hands when greeting each other and otra vez before leaving una situación social.

Me acostumbré tanto a shaking hands when both greeting and leaving gente that todavía lo hago sometimes aquí in the United States de hábito. I get some pretty interesting looks a veces from gente cuando I extend my mano to shake theirs mucho más than they’re used to.

Let’s move on to our frase del día. In muchas regiones of Latin America, when a group of gente are in a conversación and one persona needs to leave, they will say “con permiso” [con pear-mee-so] which significa “excuse me”. Gente do the same thing aquí in the United States but it is not as common in casual circumstances. In Latin America however, gente casi siempre say “con permiso” when leaving a group in both formal and casual situations. It adds a pleasant touch to social situations and is algo that grew on me enough that I decided to bring it back conmigo. I todavía say “excuse me” — the English version of “con permiso” — now that I am back in the United States when I need to leave a grupo de gente.

The words “con permiso” are also used if there are gente blocking your path and you need to pasar. It’s a nice and short manera to say “I need to get by, would you mind moving?” As you can see, the phrase “con permiso” is very útil and good to know. Tal vez you can also memorize it and start using it hoy!

Because of frases like “con permiso” and otros, I found the gente in Latin America to be very amable, polite, and respectful. Children are normally very polite to their padres and other adultos, and gente in general were usually very polite with each other. I wish I was still living in the cultura latina entre native Spanish speakers sometimes! It is a fantastic cultura.

Moral of the Historia: Learning about different cultures is fun, expands our vision, and helps improve our view of the world. The next time you need to leave a group of gente latina, be sure to say “con permiso”.

Sneak peek at next week: Fun Spanish Words

¡Nos vemos! (We’ll see you!)
David S. Clark — President / Director

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Learn Spanish, Spanish Culture, Spanish Words by Brandi