Wednesday, January 25, 2006

Igualmente

I have noticed, and yes this is just a theory, that there is a way to distinguish between native speakers of Spanish and those who have been born and/or raised in the United States.

"Igualmente."

Los que hablan español como su primera lengua siempre usan "igualmente" en repuesto de "que tenga un buen día" or something similar. Pero, los who have been raised in the US seem to use "Y tu también."

And I'd have to research further, but I believe that for native speakers the "y tu tambien" is a little bit "rougher" or more coarse than "igualmente" (or maybe that's just how it sounds to my ear.) Regardless, "igualmente" seems much more natural, and "y tu tambien" simply sounds like English translated directly into Spanish. In English, "You too," is . . . well, igual to "igualmente."

And that's the problem in being raised - you may have hispanohablante parents but if you're raised in an English speaking culture the words and the formation of words and the implicit meaning - the "shades" of difference behind the words may get lost in the translation.

It's really a fascinating field of study, I should think. If I had the brain power to capture fully two languages (or if I had a boatload of grant money!) I believe that I would embark on such a venture.

As it stands, have a good day everyone!

And you all reply



IGUALMENTE!!!





VG

Tuesday, January 24, 2006

Me necesito mejorar mi español

Estoy muy preocupado porque he estado estudiando esta lengua por dos años y todavía no puedo entendor la mayoría de las conversacionnes acerca de mi. Me siento que puedo leer bastante bien, pero la lengua hablada, no. Desafortunatamente.

Pero, me gusta ver más noticias y periódicos en español en mi pueblo. Y no he olvidado mi sueño, que los dos lenguas entralazarán . . . hasta hablan nuestros nietos una "hybrid" de los dos lenguas maravillosas!

Si podría ver ese día!!!

Wednesday, January 11, 2006

Alborada (telenovela)

Mi esposa está poca addicted to Alborada, una nueva telenovela en Univision. Ella no puede esperar a verlo cada noche, y después de trabajo no habla de nada más que Don Luis.

Should I be preocupado de este?

Hmm . . . .

Or should I simply download photos of Lucero and paste them all over the place?

I wonder . . .

VG

Wednesday, January 04, 2006

Thoughts Upon Studying Aztec and Mayan Mythology

I have a theory that one of the reason why it was so easy for the Spaniards to conquer the New World was that the indigenous tribes had all their consonants and vowels clumped together in unruly masses, whereas the European languages have theirs relatively evenly dispersed in very efficient and mellifluous forms.