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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.lavozdegalicia.es/sociedad/2009/08/25/0003_7927514.htm. ¡Suerte! (Good luck!)
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Tuesday August 25, 2009
This article, from Galicia, in the northwest of Spain, talks about American astronaut José Hernández, who is scheduled to be part of the space shuttle Discovery mission currently expected to launch today. As a child, Hernández used to dread summer vacations, because that was when he and the rest of his family worked long days in the fields. His father is quoted here, talking to them about their fieldwork, as saying "Si no estudiáis, esto es lo que os espera para siempre." Given that his family is Mexican, it is doubtful that his father would say "If ye studieth not, this is what awaiteth thee forever," which is what this Spanish way of speaking—employing the vosotros form—sounds like to Mexicans and other Latin Americans. So although José Hernández’s father did apparently say words to this effect, they would not have been those words. 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 Spanish, one does not capitalize languages ("español," "inglés," "chino," etc.) or nationalities ("mexicano," "mexicana," "estadounidense," "chino," "china," etc.). MOST COMMON OR INTERESTING QUESTION RECEIVED RECENTLY ABOUT AN EARLIER READING PRACTICE: None received so far, so just to make two up: What has happened with the "media crimes" bill in Venezuela? What is the latest on the U.S. military agreement with Colombia? Although the Venezuelan Attorney General proposed the idea of being able to prosecute reporters and media outlets for "media crimes," there never was an actual legislative bill. However, there still appears to be some support for the idea of a new law to allow the prosecution of people who use freedom of speech too freely. In the meantime, the plan is to use current laws to do that. The U.S. and Colombia have reached a ten-year agreement for U.S. military use of seven bases in Colombia, but it has not yet been signed. In the meantime, the president of Colombia is meeting with other South American presidents, in the Argentine resort city of Bariloche, to respond to their concerns that this agreement might increase the chances of war, and also of U.S. military intervention, in their countries. The U.S. has chosen not to send a representative to this meeting. If you are an intermediate student of Spanish, you may not yet know these useful terms from the article:
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**Also often spelled without the "n" (el trasbordador espacial). 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.lavozdegalicia.es/sociedad/2009/08/25/0003_7927514.htm.
Reviews for all of these helpful books (except the 501 Spanish Verbs book) can be found at http://www.spanishpronto.com/spanishpronto/spanishtools.html#bibliography.
Purchases made through product links below benefit:
The previous reading practices can be read at:
http://www.spanishpronto.com/spanishpronto/readingpractice0003.html, and
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/readingpractice0004.html