Visual Link Spanish(TM) Newsletter - Volume 6 Issue 18

Current # of Subscribers: 168,094

This issue:
1. Testimonial
2. Weekly Spanish Lesson - “Becoming Acquainted”
3. Words of the Week
4. Ask Dave Section - “Asian Student Questions my Dear Welcome Home”
5. Culture Lesson - “All Parts of the Cow!!? - Part II”
6. Responses to Past Newsletters

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Visual Link Spanish(TM) Testimonial –
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Hi

I am amazed at how well your system works and how much fun I get out
of doing the lessons. You guys did an awesome job. Well done!!! You
very quickly got me to the point of making sentences and from there I
can practice and progress. Your system is so natural and I (at last)
feel that I may achieve my life long dream of speaking a second
language somewhat fluently.

Thankyou, I will tell as many people as possible about you and how
well your system works.

Glen

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Weekly Spanish Lesson—Becoming Acquainted
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For this week’s lesson, click below to learn some basics to becoming
acquainted. You’ll hear María and watch a fun, interactive lesson.

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

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

Monday / Why? / ¿Por qué?
Tuesday / Where? / ¿Dónde?
Wednesday / (to) Where? / ¿Adónde?
Thursday / What? / ¿Qué?
Friday / When? / ¿Cuándo?
Saturday / because / porque
Sunday / and / y

Note: The differences between the words “¿Por qué?” and “porque” and
“¿Dónde?” and “¿Adónde?” are explained in the Complete Spanish
Program.

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

Hello Dave,

I am an asian student for spanish from the last three months. I want
to know about a few phrases in spanish.
1. Hello dear (for my wife only)
2. A Happy marriage.
3. Welcome to my home.
4. I love you.

Thanks,

FSL

Answer

Hola FSL,

Here is how to say the phrases:

1. Hello dear (for my wife only) - Hola mi amor (Hello my love) -
Note: There are many “pet” names in Spanish used between husband and
wife, if you (our subscribers) know some good ones and would like to
share, please write in.
2. A Happy marriage - Un Matrimonio feliz
3. Welcome to my home - Bienvenido a mi casa
4. I love you - Te amo (for spouse. For children, it is very common
to say “Te quiero”.)

Hopefully that answers your question.

Gracias,

Dave

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Culture —– All Parts of the Cow!!? - Part II
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First I’d like to thank everyone around the world for your wonderful
responses to last week’s newsletter which touched on poverty and the
scarcity of food in areas of Latin America. You can view a few of the
responses below. Since there were so many responses, unfortunately we
weren’t able to publish everyone’s response.

We talked briefly last week about eating different parts of the cow
so no food is wasted. This week I want to tell you about some of the
interesting things I ate while living in Latin America. If it makes
your stomach week, just realize that you are only reading about it; I
had to actually eat them.

As I have mentioned previously, when eating at someone’s house in
Latin America, as I did 3 meals a day for two years, you should eat
all of the food your host/hostess serves you or they can become very
offended and hurt. I quickly realized, by painful experience, that I
couldn’t even give the food to a friend and have them eat it - I had
to eat it all myself. As I learned more about Latin American culture
regarding food, I made one food rule for myself that helped me get
through the culture shock. The rule is, “when eating an unrecognized
food, don’t ask what it is”. Sometimes I implemented a slight
variation to this rule, “Don’t ask what it is for an hour or two
after eating it”. This rule helped keep my mind focused, my stomach
less weak and my plate empty.

Here are just a few of the interesting things I ate in Latin America
that I wasn’t accustomed to. We often had cow stomach. To me, it
tasted a lot like edible rubber. It was usually cut into little
pieces about the size of a coin; on one side it was smooth and
rubbery, and the other side had fibers similar to those on a towel.
It took me a few times of eating it to get used to it, but then it
was tolerable. We also frequently had cow heart, liver and other
interesting looking meats that I never dared ask what they were.

We had soup almost every day for lunch during the two years I lived
there. It was hot soup even though it was around 100 degrees outside
with no air-conditioning inside. Often the soup had an actual
chicken’s foot in it! The first time I saw a chicken’s foot in my
soup, I was shocked and thought it must be a joke until I saw
everyone else eating their chicken’s foot.

Now I’ll briefly educate you on the fine are of chicken-foot eating.
You pick up the chicken foot in both hands, and then nibble the
skin/meat around each bone. This process can take quite a while, so
if you get chicken’s feet in your soup, be sure to plan your time
accordingly if you have time constraints. The great thing about
chicken’s feet is that if you’re watching your figure, you don’t have
to worry; you can have as many as you want without having to worry
about calories - there isn’t much to a chicken’s foot.

While we’re on the topic of chicken, in Latin America I learned to
eat every bit of chicken from the bones; then I learned to bite the
bones in half and suck out the marrow. When I first got married (back
in the U.S.), and my wife saw me do this. She thought I had gone
crazy and was about to send me to a psychotherapist. I really had to
convince her that I was okay and explain why I bit the chicken bone
in half and was sucking out the marrow.

A few other interesting things I ate were guinea pig, pig’s feet and
pig intestines stuffed with shredded pork cooked in boiled pig’s
blood. Even though the cultural differences in food were difficult to
get used to, I came to enjoy these differences and soaked it all in.
For me, it became a culinary adventure!

I loved every bit of culture learned in Latin America. Now, on to you
- please let me know about some of the interesting foods available in
your region of the country or part of the world. Write to
dave@spanishprograms.com.

Moral of the Story: Some cultural differences can seem strange or
even weird, but they are just that - differences. Remember, just
because someone does things different or eats different things, it
doesn’t make them “weird”. Instead of saying, “Wow - that’s weird!”
try saying “That is different.”

Sneak peek at next week: “Spanish Names”

¡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

Hi Dave,

Thanks for another interesting newsletter - keep up the good work.

About sneezing: People say “Bless you” when you sneeze because at the
time of the Black Death and other plagues in merry olde England, when
you sneezed, you were probably going to die.

Here in Spain they say “Jesus”, (haysus) but I rather like the
“Salud”, “Dinero” y “Amor” from Latin America.

A friend told me his version of saying “Bless you” when someone
sneezes. When a person dies, their last breath out, or death rattle,
is said to be the spirit leaving the body. When you sneeze, your
breath leaves the body at such a great pace that the devil may slip
in and “take over”. To ensure this doesn’t happen you bless the
person.

However, my version is nearer the truth!

Regards,

Colin

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