The word “barbecue” came into English from Spanish —barbacoa— BUT it is not originally from Spanish either. Enter the Taino, the native inhabitants of Puerto Rico. Let’s talk about the Spanish language in Puerto Rico and we’ll end the episode with the most Puerto Rican of all Spanish words —although, it’s not a safe word to say in all environments!…

Puerto Rico has never been independent in modern history —except for a couple of months; yes, just a handful. It went from being controlled by Spain to being controlled by the United States of America. In the present, this means that Puerto Ricans live under the influence of two major cultures —or three? maybe four?-- and two major languages: Engli…

What this state and relevance of the Spanish language in science? ‘Tiny Vampires’ vs. ‘Vampiritos’, what sounds better to you? This episode is part 1 of my conversation with Raquel Montañez-González, Ph.D., born and raised in Puerto Rico and currently a Visiting Assistant Teaching Professor at University of Notre Dame, Indiana, USA. Raquel is also …

Hint: Swedish and Spanish share that sound! Also, the ‘invisibility’ of Central America, the general geography of the Spanish-speaking world, what is Chilango, the biggest historical figures in the Spanish world, the most famous current showbiz figures of the Spanish world (reggaeton, anyone?). This is part 3 of my conversation with my guest from S…

What are the Spanish variations? Are Latin American laughter and Spaniard laughter the same? Hint: No! Home many native speakers of Spanish in the world? What do you mean Spanish is 12-25% longer than English? And you will also find out who is the most Spanish-like of all Swedes. Hint: Zlatan! This is part 2 of my conversation with my guest from Sw…

My guest today is from Sweden. Useful, curious, and funny things related to the Spanish language and culture come up in this series of conversations with people who are not from a Spanish-speaking country. And, at the same time, we also learn useful, curious, and funny things about how the Spanish language and culture are seen from the outside. Han…

Nerea Torres lives in the South of Mexico, and in part 3 of our conversation we talk about: - The historical influence of Spain in Latin America and how that looks today. - Netflix and its current role in the representation of diversity in the Spanish-speaking world. - Racism: Is there a white-Latin-American privilege? - Lazy Spaniard conquerors fo…

Nerea Torres lives in the South of Mexico, and in this episode we talk about: - The origin of the word ‘chocolate’ —Not English, not Spanish! - What Spanish version to use when marketing to Latin American countries. - How we met through Gary Vaynerchuk —GaryVee! - Mexicans in the United States. - Stereotypes for Central America, Argentina and withi…

Mexico is the most populated of all Spanish-speaking countries, by far! How does a Mexican native see Spanish as a language and their role among 560+ million native speakers? Nerea Torres lives in Mérida, in the South of Mexico, and we talk about: - The weight Mexico carries in the Spanish language. - Influence of Mexican indigenous languages in to…

Michael Jenkins is a journalist from the United States, long-time student and lover of the Spanish language, lived in Costa Rica for 16 years and is currently back in the US working as Accounts Manager for The McCalmon Group. In this third and last episode of our conversation, Michael speaks about his experience leading the localization of their ma…

What can you learn about the Spanish language from a guy that arrived in Costa Rica knowing zero Spanish and lived there for 16 years? And yes; he did learn Spanish. Michael Jenkins is a journalist from the United States, long-time student and lover of the Spanish language, currently back in the US and working as Accounts Manager for The McCalmon G…

How a two-week vacation to Costa Rica turned into a stay of 16 years and an eternal love for Costa Rica’s culture, people, food, and the Spanish language. Michael Jenkins is a journalist from the United States, long-time student and lover of the Spanish language, currently back in the US and working as Accounts Manager for The McCalmon Group. This …

The "personalities” and accents in Spanish-speaking countries. Are people from Spain always angry? Obviously not. Then, why do Latin Americans might sense anger when people from Spain speak? We get the answer from a native of Spain who lived in the United States for five years and learned this and so much more sharing with Spanish speakers from all…

Clara González Tosat is a journalist native of Spain who spent five years in the United States teaching Spanish and also working with Instituto Cervantes at Harvard University doing research about the usage of Spanish in the US, with her particular focus on digital news and radio stations. How and when did she --born raised in Spain-- discover that…

This is an episode about stereotypes about and from Paraguay; and we also touch on the subject of teaching Spanish. How do Paraguayans see themselves and how other countries see them? What do Paraguayans think about Argentinians? What do Argentinians think about Paraguayans? These and other insights come up during the second part of my conversation…

Paraguay, right in the middle of South America, is a country with two official languages: Spanish and Guaraní. We’ll find out how that particularity has affected the way the Spanish language is spoken in Paraguay and how Alejandra Acuña, my guest today, manages that when teaching Spanish at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. In this episo…

This is part 2 of our approach to Spanish language and culture from Argentina looking out with Barbara Tartabini. Spanish dubbing, how media influences language, how Argentinian mothers know their kids might be watching too much TV and also the very mysterious case of Sesame Street! Bárbara Tartabini is an Argentinian immigrant in A Coruña, Spain. …

Argentinian Spanish is it's own thing; how? How different is it from neutral Spanish? (If such a thing exists!) In this conversation with Bárbara Tartabini we talk about the differences between the way Argentinians and the rest of Latin Americans speak; how that so called "neutral Spanish" is less foreign to Argentinians that we might believe --the…

How a wrongly chosen hashtag that no one caught can make you a trending topic --in the worst of ways! How can such a blunder happen when Kamala Harris, democratic vice presidencial nominee as of August, 2020, has Spanish-speaking members in her team --or so everyone thought! Alicia Civita, seasoned journalist, expert in Latin American culture insid…

This is the most interesting and the most dangerous part of my conversation with the journalist Jose Baig, who has lived and worked in 10 different countries, most of them Spanish-speaking countries, but also in the US, the UK and the Netherlands. We talk about stereotypes and cultural differences among Spanish-speaking countries and how those diff…

This is part 2 of a very revealing conversation with Jose Baig, a Venezuelan journalist who has lived and worked in 10 countries so far and among several very relevant positions, he has been an international correspondent for the BBC. Also author and creator of La Cocinita de Papá; Dad’s Little Kitchen. The conversation delves into something we don…

Are there different types of Spanish? How different? Today I've got for you José Baig @JoseBaig; who has lived and worked in 10 countries; from Uruguay to Mexico, Spain, Colombia, Argentina, the United States, Venezuela, the United Kingdom, Bolivia and currently in The Netherlands --at least as of this recording. Someone who’s been international co…

In part 3 or our opening series, we take a look at the language itself, meaning past and current use of Spanglish --the mixture of Spanish and English--; the evolution of that into something we can call The Switch, the appearance of the term Latinx and we also talk about a bat, yes, a bat, the animal, in Spanish it’s a “murciélago” and how that “mu…

What's the relevance and approach to Spanish in US showbiz today? From Selena Gómez to Michael Peña, Diane Guerrero, Bad Bunny, J Balvin and Julián Castro. Yes, some sports and politics too --showbiz is everywhere! This is part 2 of a very revealing conversation between José Erre --Spanish We Do founder-- with Alicia Civita (@AliciaCivita), a very …

What is the current state of the Spanish language in The United States and how has it changed over the last 25 years? This is part 1 of a very revealing conversation between José Erre --Spanish We Do founder-- with Alicia Civita (@AliciaCivita), a journalist from Venezuela who moved to the US in 1994 and has worked since for the Spanish news servic…