Visual Link Spanish(TM) Newsletter - Volume 6 Issue 13

Current # of Subscribers: 161,397

This issue:
1. Testimonial
2. Weekly Spanish Lesson - “Greetings”
3. Words of the Week
4. Ask Dave Section - “Yo vs Mi”
5. Culture Lesson - “Provecho / Servido - Manners While Someone is
Eating”
6. Responses to Past Newsletters

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Visual Link Spanish(TM) Testimonial –
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Dave,

The 4.0 Course and Verb Module are excellent. I am very happy with
them during the little time I have been using them so far.

I also subscribe to the Think Spanish magazine. It is also excellent!

Thank you for the excellent products & service!

Ken Kreis

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Weekly Spanish Lesson—Greetings
=================================

For the weekly lesson this week, click below to learn 7 basic Spanish
greetings with audio. You’ll hear María from Mexico model each.

To check it out, click here:
http://www.learnspanishtoday.com/learn/greetings.htm

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

Monday / I can / (Yo) Puedo
Tuesday / He can / (Él) Puede
Wednesday / She can / (Ella) Puede
Thursday / You (formal) can / (Usted) Puede
Friday / (to) read / leer
Saturday / the book / el libro
Sunday / the magazine / la revista

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

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The Official “Ask Dave” Section —–
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Question

Hola Dave

Could you clarify the use of «yo» as opposed to «mí»? I know that you
use «mí» with pronouns such as «para mí, conmigo..» However, for an
expression like «It`s me = Soy yo». There are a lot of expressions in
English / French that use «me» but «yo» en español instead of «mí».

Gracias,

Ramona

Answer

Hola Ramona,

Anytime in Spanish that you use “yo” or “tú” after a preposition in
Spanish, they turn to “mí” and “ti” respectively. Here are just a few
of the prepositions in Spanish: en (in, at, on), para (for), por
(for, because of), sobre (on), de (of, from, about), con (with), sin
(without), a (to).

Examples:

Es para mí / It is for me

Dependo de ti / I depend on you (In Spanish, they say “I depend of
you” instead of “I depend on you”)

Ella va sin mi / She is going without me

Es por ti / It’s because of you

Exceptions: When you say “with me” or “with you”, you add “go” at the
end: “conmigo” and “contigo”

For the last question, in Spanish, instead of saying “It is me”, they
say “It is I” or “Soy yo”. It is simply an exception you have to
memorize.

Hopefully that answers your question.

Hasta luego,

Dave

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Culture —– Provecho / Servido - Manners While Someone is Eating
==================================================================

In the United States as well as in Latin America, it is impolite to
eat in front of someone else. But, what should you do if you if you
stop by someone’s house while they are eating? If this happens to me
personally, I usually say something like, “I’m so sorry, I didn’t
mean to interrupt your dinner”, or “Sorry to bother you during dinner
time.”

This type of interruption doesn’t seem to happen as much in the U.S.
as in Latin America. This seems to be because just about everyone in
the U.S. has a telephone and people frequently call each other before
stopping by. In many Latin American regions, especially the
lower-income pueblos, a very small percent of the population owns a
telephone because of the cost involved. Phone calls are charged by
the length of each call whether local or long distance. In the U.S.,
a set monthly phone bill gets you all the local calls you want,
regardless of the length, for free. However, extra fees are incurred
for long-distance calls. Because of the scarcity of people with
telephones in Latin America, people frequently stop by acquaintances
homes unannounced and sometimes during mealtime. I assume that
because of this practice, and because of the Latin American emphasis
on food, there has been a Spanish word invented for this exact
situation.

If you stop by someone’s home while they are eating but you aren’t,
you should say either “¡Provecho!” or “¡Buen provecho!” which means
“Enjoy your meal!” The word “provecho” literally means “profit” or
“benefit”, and “Buen provecho” literally means “Good benefit” or
“Good profit”.

People usually say this phrase with a light-hearted attitude almost
as if to say, “Go ahead and keep eating and don’t worry about me”. To
continue the scenario a little farther, if you are eating and someone
says “¡Buen provecho” to you, you can answer them by saying “Servido”
which means “Served”. By saying “Servido”, you are basically saying,
“Feel free to take a seat and have some if you’d like.” Although that
is the real meaning, I don’t think I ever saw anyone in this
situation ever take someone up on the offer and sit down to eat with
the family after they had already started a meal.

Remember, the next time you see Latin-American people eating and you
are not, be sure to say “¡Provecho!” or “¡Buen provecho!” to them.
Also, if you are eating, and someone says “¡Provecho!” to you, be
sure and say “Servido” to them, and be ready to offer them food; just
in-case they take you up on your offer.

Moral of the Story: A large part of Latin American culture is based
on food. Without a lot of instant food available to the people in the
lower-income pueblos, they spend a lot of time in food preparation.
Because food is such a big part of their lives, it’s important to
learn proper mealtime etiquette. Just remember, “¡Provecho!” or
“¡Buen provecho!” and “Servido”.

Sneak peek at next week: “Share your food - especially Jell-O
Pudding®”

¡Hasta luego! (”Until later”)

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

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Responses to Past Newsletters
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None

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