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What Language Lessons Reveal about Culture

April 3, 2015 •

I’ve been work­ing my way through the Liv­ing Lan­guage Span­ish course. It’s a fas­ci­nat­ing peek into Latino cul­ture, based on what the course design­ers have cho­sen as the most essen­tial con­cepts, phrases and vocab­u­lary for begin­ning stu­dents to mas­ter.

These lessons remind me of the impor­tance of fam­ily to Lati­nos and Span­ish speak­ers, through fre­quent exer­cises and quizzes to rein­force the Span­ish words for: grand­par­ents, cousins, nieces, broth­ers-in-law, etc.

Red-Phone

Today’s les­son also reminds me of how much has changed in tech­nol­ogy and telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions, even if the vocab­u­lary lessons lag behind.

When I visit Mex­ico later this month, how many of these words will I need to remem­ber in Span­ish? And how many young Amer­i­can stu­dents even under­stand what these words refer to, unless they’ve seen these peo­ple or objects in vin­tage movies?

  • Oper­a­tor
  • Switch­board
  • Tele­phone booth
  • Yel­low pages

El móvil (cell phone), yes, of course — but tele­phone booth?

Thank good­ness the next les­son will include words for com­put­ers, net­work­ing and com­puter acces­sories.

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Reflec­tions on life, travel, books, and yoga. Think­ing out loud about the pur­suit of mind­ful­ness and well-being.

Learn­ing how to recover from the loss of a beloved spouse, and then to find a trans­for­ma­tive path for­ward.

About Me

Semi-retired marketing exec, transitioning from a career in high tech. Now "managed" by two Tonkinese cats. Missing travel and friends on the West Coast. Avid reader and foodie. Staying active with long walks, biking, kayaking and yoga.

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