http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/blog Updates, Tips, Tricks, and Other Language Learning Information. Thu, 19 Nov 2009 21:00:28 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en It has been said that of all the words in a language, our own first name is one of our most favorite and pleasant words to hear. We certainly all enjoy being called by our first name. Using first names is an unwritten condition of becoming good friends with someone. ... http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/blog/2009/11/culture-spanish-names/ First I'd like to thank everyone around the world for your wonderful responses to last week's blog entry which touched on poverty and the scarcity of food in areas of Latin America. You can view some of the responses below. Since there were so many responses, unfortunately we were not ... http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/blog/2009/11/culture-all-parts-of-the-cow-part-ii/ In many areas of the lower-income pueblos in Latin America, resources to purchase food can be scarce. Latin America consists of a lot developing or so called third-world countries. Because of their low economic resources, Latin people usually don't waste any of their food. In-fact, many will go to extremes ... http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/blog/2009/11/culture-dont-waste-your-food-all-parts-of-the-cow/ All cultures (at least all that I know of) value "Health", "Money", and "Love." If any of you readers out there know of a culture anywhere in the world that doesn’t value health, money, or love, I'd love to hear about it. These three words when used together form a ... http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/blog/2009/10/culture-health-money-and-love/ When I was about 10 years old, living in the United States, I went to a movie with a friend. I didn't have any money to purchase food at the snack bar, but my friend seemed to have an unlimited supply. He bought a large drink, large popcorn and big ... http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/blog/2009/10/culture-share-your-food-especially-jell-o-pudding%c2%ae/ In the United States as well as in Latin America, it is impolite to eat in front of someone else who is not eating. But, what should you do if you if you stop by someone's home while they are eating? If this happens to me, I usually say something ... http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/blog/2009/10/culture-provecho-servido-manners-while-someone-is-eating/ In English (in the United States), when we're composing a letter that will be used as an example in business or in a textbook, we usually address it with, "Dear John" or "Dear Jane." And then, at the end of the letter we usually sign it, "Sincerely, John Doe" or ... http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/blog/2009/10/culture-the-spanish-john-and-jane-doe-who-are-they/ Currently where I live in the western United States, there are many rest homes and assisted living centers nearby where elderly people go to live. Within about a four mile radius of our business, there are about five facilities with one right next door to our building. In the assisted living ... http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/blog/2009/09/culture-are-there-rest-homes-in-latin-america/ In all of the Latin American countries I've lived in or visited, the people react to "el sarcasmo" (sarcasm) very differently than they do here in the United States. In the United States sarcasm is very widespread and is used as a common, daily form of communication. Such as, if a ... http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/blog/2009/09/culture-el-sarcasmo/ Before we get into this week's subject, I just wanted to talk about some observations I received from a few of you on last week's newsletter. I talked about several words like "parabrisas" and "parachoques" which start with the word "para". The word "para" has multiple meanings in English. It ... http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/blog/2009/09/culture-how-to-instantly-learn-hundreds-of-spanish-words/