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New Spanish Pronto Reading PracticeWelcome to the New Spanish Pronto Reading Practice!
This and future issues will discuss a real Spanish-language article, then suggest 10 useful words from the article for you to learn, depending on your current level of Spanish (beginning, intermediate, or advanced). You can read the full article, in Spanish, at: http://www.semana.com/noticias-relaciones-exteriores/ultimas-puntadas-acuerdo-militar-estados-unidos/127325.aspx. ¡Suerte! (Good luck!)
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Wednesday, August 12, 2009
The United States and Colombia are expected to sign an agreement this week to allow U.S. military and civilian personnel to use seven military bases in Colombia. This will be a ten-year deal that extends Plan Colombia, an agreement involving financial aid and military and technical cooperation between the U.S. and Colombia. The new agreement allows the U.S. greater access to Colombian military bases, now that Ecuador has asked the U.S. military to leave Manta Air Base in Ecuador. Colombia’s neighbors, most especially Ecuador and Venezuela, but also other South American countries, are concerned that the new United States-Colombia agreement will represent a threat to their countries, and that it will increase the likelihood of wars between South American countries. The U.S. and Colombia insist that the agreement is focused on combatting drug trafficking. The current tensions and suspicions can be traced, most recently, to the 2008 Andean Crisis, in which the Colombian military crossed into Ecuador to kill rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and, less recently, to the long history of involvement by the United States in Latin America. More information about the new agreement between Colombia and the United States can be found in the following Semana (Colombia) article: Últimas puntadas a acuerdo militar con Estados Unidos. If you are just beginning to learn Spanish, here are a few terms, appearing in the article, that are common enough for you to learn them already:
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*In English, "Americans" means people from the United States. In Spanish, "americanos" (not capitalized in Spanish) means people who live in the continent of "América" (which we in the U.S. call the continents of "North America" and "South America")—a clear example of how Spanish speakers and English speakers, very literally, have different "world views." To say someone is an "American" (in the English sense), you would say "Es estadounidense." MOST COMMON OR INTERESTING QUESTION RECEIVED RECENTLY ABOUT AN EARLIER READING PRACTICE: None received so far, so just to make one up: In the first reading practice (http://www.spanishpronto.com/spanishpronto/readingpractice0001.html), why were teachers who were looking for work required to take a national test? Teaching jobs in Mexico are given to the highest scorers on the national teacher test. This is to avoid past problems where, according to the article, the teacher’s union used to sell teaching positions to interested candidates, among other corrupt practices. As part of the teacher test, interested citizens and parents are invited to come watch the teachers take the test, to help make sure everything is done properly. If you are an intermediate student of Spanish, you may not yet know these useful terms from the article:
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**There is no "i" in "millón." Notice that "46 million dollars" is "46 millones de dólares." This is true anytime you use millions in Spanish; it is always "X million(s) of..." "One million people" would be "un millón de personas." Even advanced students of Spanish will find many words in the article that might be new to them:
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You can read the full article, in Spanish, at: http://www.semana.com/noticias-relaciones-exteriores/ultimas-puntadas-acuerdo-militar-estados-unidos/127325.aspx.
The following books are the best of their kind: The Collins Spanish Unabridged Dictionary is all the Spanish-English/English-Spanish Dictionary you will ever need, but at over 6 pounds, it is quite heavy. English Grammar for Students of Spanish and 501 Spanish Verbs are recommended for beginners. Breaking Out of Beginner’s Spanish is for intermediate students. A New Reference Grammar of Modern Spanish and the Diccionario Clave will be most helpful to advanced students and teachers (and virtually incomprehensible to meaningless for beginners).
The previous reading practices can be read at:
http://www.spanishpronto.com/spanishpronto/readingpractice0002.html, and
http://www.spanishpronto.com/spanishpronto/readingpractice0001.html.
For more Spanish information and resources, see the Spanish Pronto! main page.
URL:http://www.spanishpronto.com/spanishpronto/readingpractice0003.html