Visual Link Spanish(TM) Newsletter - Volume 6 Issue 11

Current # of Subscribers: 159,597

This issue:
1. Testimonial
2. Weekly Spanish Lesson - “Advanced Lesson”
3. Words of the Week
4. Ask Dave Section - “Feliz Navidad #2″
5. Culture Lesson - “Are there Rest Homes in Latin America?”
6. Responses to Past Newsletters

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Visual Link Spanish(TM) Testimonial –
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Hi Dave:

Well, I have been completed with your course for about 2 weeks. I am
reviewing backwards all the lessons. I have been going through the
dictionary letter by letter and learning words that I think I might
need for our Mexico vacation. I am up to “p” right now. I have done
very well on this course and feel more confident about speaking with
my Mexican friends than ever before.

Thanks for the Culture Cheat Sheet this week. I cut that out and put
it on an index card so that I will have it and will try to learn
those rules before I go.

I have thoroughly enjoyed your course. My three year old Grandaughter
(Turned 12/9) can count in Spanish to 15. I am amazed that she
remembers what I taught her with Doras help to the number 10.

Feliz Navidad.

Lynn Warner

Bloomington, Illinois

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Weekly Spanish Lesson—Advanced Lesson
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This week’s lesson comes from the complete Visual Link Spanish™
course. Click below for Part V of your fun, interactive lesson
Sentence Building Lessons.

To check it out, click here:
http://www.spanishprograms.com/learn/advanced.htm

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Words of the Week
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Taken from our complete CD-ROM course —–

Monday / to a restaurant / a un restaurante
Tuesday / to the hotel / al hotel
Wednesday / to the pool / a la piscina
Thursday / to the office / a la oficina
Friday / today / hoy
Saturday / tomorrow / mañana
Sunday / tonight / esta noche

Click Here to login and access your free membership and lessons.
http://www.spanishprograms.com/login.phtml

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The Official “Ask Dave” Section —–
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Question

Why when wished a merry Christmas in Spanish is it said, “Feliz
Navidad” instead of “Alegre Navidad?” Feliz means happy or fortunate,
and alegre means merry or gleeful.

Greg Peck

Pitcher NY

Answer

Hola Greg,

In Spanish, they actually say, “Happy Christmas” instead of “Merry
Christmas”. Another interesting question to think about is why we say
“Merry” Christmas, but “Happy” New Year.

Hopefully that answers your question.

Gracias,

Dave

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Culture —– Are there Rest Homes in Latin America?
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Where I currently live in the western U.S., 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 around
five facilities with one right next door to our building.

In the assisted living facilities, the people that live there are
semi-independent as they usually have their meals cooked for them,
entertainment planned, and rides to go places. On the other hand,
usually in rest homes, elderly people need more constant care, both
physical and medical. Both rest homes and assisted living centers are
usually very costly.

When I lived in Latin America, I asked a lot of the locals if there
were “rest homes” in the area. It took me a while to even figure out
what the word for “rest home” was, because not many Latin Americans
were familiar with them. After asking many local friends, I finally
found out that the word for “rest home” is “asilo de ancianos”. The
interesting part of that name is that “ancianos” means “ancient” or
“elderly”, and the word “asilo” means “asylum”, “refuge” or
“shelter”. So basically, translated directly, it would be called an
“elderly asylum” or “elderly shelter”.

In all of the areas of Latin America I lived in during two years, I
only saw one rest home. Since I lived only in the mid-size to smaller
pueblos, rest homes may have been more prevalent in larger cities.

Now let’s explore some of the possible reasons why there aren’t as
many rest homes in Latin America. Their culture in regard to elderly
family members is very different from our culture here in the U.S.
Older family members will customarily live with their children in the
same house. The reason this happens, according to my observation, is
that family ties are very strong, and often the elderly person is not
financially independent. In talking to some Latin Americans
themselves, they seemed to have the mentality that parents take care
of their children when they are younger so that they will, in-turn,
take care of them when they get older.

In the U.S., people seem to have more of an independent attitude. As
soon as teenagers get old enough, or get married, their parents will
gently, or sometimes not so gently, push them out the door. When
people become elderly, they often want to stay in their own homes or
live in a rest home so they don’t burden anyone. Compared to Latin
America, few elderly people in the U.S. live with their children.

In Latin America, in addition to the elderly, it is also very common
to have newlyweds live with family members. As you can imagine, homes
could start to fill up fairly fast in just a few years as children
get married and grandparents are also living in the home.

As I have mentioned in the past, there is usually a great attitude of
respect among family members in Latin America, especially from
children to parents and grandparents. It is great to see the strength
of the family in Latin America and the respect they have there as
they all live together.

As usual, I would love to hear from our international newsletter
subscribers on this topic to hear what the culture is like in your
countries.

Moral of the Story: Even though homes can get quite crowded with two
or three generations in the same living space, I admire Latin
Americans for taking their parents into their homes and making their
twilight years more meaningful and enjoyable.

Sneak peek at next week: “The Spanish Jane and John Doe - Who are
they?”

¡Hasta luego! (”Until later”)

David S. Clark — President / Director
Visual Link Spanish(TM)
Fun, Interactive Spanish Courses
http://www.spanishprograms.com
dave_c@spanishprograms.com

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Responses to Past Newsletters
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None

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