Visual Link Spanish(TM) Newsletter - Volume 6 Issue 20

Current # of Subscribers: 171,313

This issue:
1. Testimonial
2. Weekly Spanish Lesson - “Advanced Lesson”
3. Words of the Week
4. Ask Dave Section - “Basic Needs - is - question”
5. Culture Lesson - “Spanish Names - Part II”
6. Responses to Past Newsletters

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Visual Link Spanish(TM) Testimonial –
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Hi Dave,

I would like to congradulate u for gathering such an amazing program.
My name is Maha. I am from Iran but living in Toronto. I don’t know
what happened to me but I decided to learn another language, the same
day I saw a link to your website while I was searching on the
internet. I ordered your program, and guess what?

I love it. Spanish is not an easy language but your program
interested me enough to spend time every day to listen to audios.

I love your program

mucho gracias

Maha

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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 / Hello / Hola
Tuesday / Good morning / Buenos días
Wednesday / Good afternoon / Buenas tardes
Thursday / Good evening / Buenas noches
Friday / What is your name? / Cómo se llama usted?
Saturday / My name is ______. / Me llamo ______.
Sunday / Good bye / Adiós

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

Hi Dave,

I’ve only gotten through the “Basic Needs” section so far, and I’m
starting new sections. I’ve noticed a few different translations for
the English word “is” and would like to know how to use them properly
and what the differences are. Such as:

El gusto es mío.
The pleasure is mine.

¿Dónde está el baño?
Where is a bathroom?

¿Qué hay de nuevo?
What’s new?

(My computer keyboard doesn’t allow me to type accents.)

Hope you can clear it up for me! The program is awesome and has given
me a lot of confidence that I can really learn Spanish.

Thanks,

Kim

Answer

Hola Kim,

In sections 7 and 9, you will learn that there are two main ways to
say “is” in Spanish. The “Grammar” section (section 4) also covers
another option that is very limited.

The first one “es/ser” is used to describe permanent characteristics
like “She is smart”, “He is tall” and so forth. For purposes of
language usage, anything that is a characteristic for more than 3-4
days at a time is basically considered a permanent characteristic and
should use “es/ser”. In saying “the pleasure is mine”, it is
basically considered a permanent characteristic because in 4 or 5
days, that “pleasure” would still have been yours. By the way, “ser”
is the unconjugated or “infinitive” form of the verb. It means “to
be”. The word “es” is a conjugated form of “ser” and means “is”.

The verb “está/estar” also means “is” but is used for locations and
temporary characteristics. For example, “She is here” would be “Ella
está aquí” and “He is angry” (temporary characteristic) would be “El
está enojado”. Like the previous example, “estar” is the unconjugated
or “infinitive” form of the verb. It means “to be”. The word “está”
is a conjugated form of “estar” and means “is” for temporary
characteristics.

Again, to learn it a lot better and become fluent in it, go to
sections 7 and 9 in your manual. Remember, the more you repeat a
section, the more fluent you become.

Now, for the phrase, “¿Qué hay de nuevo?” or in English “What’s
new?”. This phrase is sort of an exception. The word “hay” literally
means “there is” or “there are”. For more on this phrase, see
“Section 4 Grammar” of the Complete Course.

To address another concern, here are instructions to create the
accents and symbols on a PC in Spanish.

Press the “Alt” key on your keyboard and while keeping it pressed,
type the combinations of numbers below. The numbers must be typed on
the keypad or the letter won’t work. The keypad is on the right of
your keyboard (NOT above the letters on your keyboard.)
“Alt” + “0225″ á
“Alt” + “0233″ é
“Alt” + “0237″ í
“Alt” + “0243″ ó
“Alt” + “0250″ ú
“Alt” + “0252″ ü
“Alt” + “0241″ ñ
“Alt” + “0191″ ¿
“Alt” + “0161″ ¡
“Alt” + “0193″ Á
“Alt” + “0201″ É
“Alt” + “0205″ Í
“Alt” + “0211″ Ó
“Alt” + “0218″ Ú
“Alt” + “0220″ Ü

Hopefully that answers your questions.

Gracias,

Dave

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Culture —– Spanish Names - Part II
=====================================

Last week we took a look at first names in Spanish - “nombres de
pila”. And, this week, we’re going to learn about Spanish surnames
(last names) - “apellidos”. There is a verb in Spanish that is used
to ask someone’s last name. It is “apellidarse”. This is a verb that
does not exist or translate directly into English. For example, if I
asked “¿Cómo se apellida?” [co-mow say ah-peh-ye-thaw], it would
literally mean “What is he (or she) last named”. If I said, “Me
apellido Clark” [may ah-peh-ye-though Clark], it would literally mean
“I am last named Clark”.

Unlike English, since last names are a little more complex in
Spanish, the King of Spanish (fictitious character) who invented
Spanish, created a whole verb that goes along with last names which
is “appellidarse”.

Now I’ll explain how last names work in Spanish. Everyone in Spanish
has two last names, the first one is from their father (paternal),
and the second one is from their mother (maternal). Let’s say I was
born into a Latin home and my “nombre de pila” was “Juan”, and my
segundo nombre (middle name) was “Gabriel”. So far my name would be
“Juan Gabriel…”. Next, if my father’s name was “Felipe Paco Garcia
Lopez”, his paternal last name - “Garcia” would be added on as my
initial or paternal last name. I would now be known as “Juan Gabrial
Garcia…”. Finally, if my mother’s name was “María Juana Fernandez
Martinez”, I would take her paternal last name - “Fernandez”, and add
it on as my final last name. My official name would now be, “Juan
Gabriel Garcia Fernandez”.

In the above scenario, women generally don’t change their last names
when they get married; however, they sometimes add their husbands
paternal last named after the word “de”.

You may be asking why they have or use two surnames in Spanish. To be
honest, I’m not sure; if anyone knows, please enlighten us. However
it can sure make things a lot less confusing for some people. For
example, there are three people in my city named “David Clark”. One
even has the same middle initial as me. People have confused us
before, but if I used my mother’s maiden name after my last name,
like they do in Spanish; it would help eliminate the confusion.

One of the challenges Latin people have, when moving to countries
like the United States, is what to do with their last names. On forms
and official records, we only allow one surname. As a solution, some
Latin families choose the father’s paternal surname as their “U.S.”
surname, and others may hyphenate both of their surnames:
“Garcia-Davila”.

Now, to wrap up our lessons on names, let’s take a look at the top 20
Spanish surnames, according to pdom.com/spanish_names.htm:

Rank / Name / Population

1 / Garcia / 744,000
2 / Fernandez / 503,000
3 / Lopez / 451,000
4 / Martinez / 433,000
5 / Gonzalez / 433,000
6 / Rodriguez / 432,000
7 / Sanchez / 405,000
8 / Perez / 404,000
9 / Martin / 247,000
10 / Gomez / 232,000
11 / Ruiz / 186,000
12 / Diaz / 171,000
13 / Hernandez / 160,000
14 / Alvarez / 159,000
15 / Jimenez / 154,000
16 / Moreno / 144,000
17 / Munoz / 123,000
18 / Alonso / 115,000
19 / Romero / 97,000
20 / Navarro / 90,000

Moral of the Story: Although figuring out Spanish surnames can appear
confusing, once you get the hang of it, it’s not that bad - it’s just
different. In some cases, like for me personally in the U.S., the
extra last name would help avoid confusion.

Sneak peek at next week: “The Cold-Fish and Forearm Handshakes”

¡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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Response #1

Hello,

A very strange and uncommon female Hispanic name is Monserat.
Personally, I dislike this name and would hate being teased for being
a Monster Rat! But, as you said we should all respect Some more
uncommon names include:

Pancracio

Panfilo

and of course the fictional Fulano de tal xD

Christa

Response #2

Hi Dave,

I am a Jamaican who visits the US quite often and find myself
surprised at times when my American friends are surprised that we
Jamaicans eat the “strangest” things. Just like Latin America,
Jamaica eats not just every part of the cow, but every part of the
chicken (including the feet), pig and goat (in America, you eat
lamb/sheep). We stew, curry, fry, steam and bake all our meat kind.
Most parts that are not meaty, we boil for soup. We don’t drink the
blood but rather drain the blood out before we cook the meat. We also
have our national fruit, the Ackee, which is highly poisonous if
eaten raw or not cooked properly! Rice, whether steamed or mixed with
peas, is mostly the side we eat with our meals.

It’s not disrespectful to not finish your meals but as a child, you
are told that if you don’t eat it off, you will get a beating or some
form of punishment. Some people would even say to their children, “Do
you know how many people don’t have anything to eat right now?” So it
is fair to say that Jamaica is similar in many ways to Latin America.

Keep up the great work.

Lesley.

Response #3

Hi

The “bless you” expression makes more sense when you know the ancient
motivators behind the expression.

Ancient man believed that his breath was also his soul or “essence of
life.” A rapid expulsion of that breath–a sneeze–is the same as
expelling life from one’s body. Also, they thought that it leaves a
vacuum in the head into which evil spirits can enter. So, the term
bless you is to ward off those evil spirits.

Additionally, during a plague in Rome, citizens regarded the sneeze
as a sure sign of approaching sickness. Pope Gregory insituated the
use of the phrase “God bless you” to shield sneezers from any ill
effects.

So, even though science has disproved all of those suppositions, we
still carry on the tradition. Frankly, when I say it, I know the
reasons for it are not valid. But I say it anyway just to preserve
the tradition and to acknowledge the mild discomfort of the sneezer
and to put the sneezer at ease for having interrupted the calm with
created such a loud explosive noise.

Regards,

Frank

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