When I hear foreigners talk about Dominicans in terms of health, it’s often to talk about what they think we lack or need to change. They come armed with statistics about diabetes, heart disease, and cholesterol. Yet as “holistic health” becomes a buzzword in the “developed” world, here natural medicine is and always has been …
When I was a child I was taught about how Christopher Columbus, or Cristóbal Colón for hispanoparlantes, discovered America. It wasn’t until much later that I would learn that not only did he not discover America (as there were already inhabitants there), but also there was nothing benign about his encounter with these indigenous people. For centuries …
DECOLONIZE: Lanugage- “Spanish Words” with Indigenous Roots Read More »
Now that I have your attention you’ll have to forgive the intensity of my title. This subject is close to my heart as a person who lives in a tourist community but has the privilege to survive with or without tourism if I had to. But there are many locals who can’t so here are three things travellers …
The “@” sign signals words that could end in “a” or “o.” Prim@: is the word for cousin. Primo-herman@ is specifically for first cousins; literally translated it means cousin-brother or sister. This speaks a lot to how family is structured in traditional latino families. The possessive adjectives (my, your, our) become plural in Spanish. (e.g. mi …
The following graphics are to give you some furniture vocabulary. Each major room in the house: living room, bathroom, bedroom, and kitchen has its own graphic with all of the important words along with their articles (so you’ll know right away if the noun is masculine or feminine). Two options given (separated by a “/”) …
Today we’re going to talk about dominicanismos or the words, expressions, and phrases that are common and unique to Spanish spoken in the Dominican Republic. Like any language, Spanish is subject to regional peculiarities, in the Dominican Republic we’ve adopted Taíno (indigenous) and African words and we’ve also repurposed Spanish words in some pretty interesting …
DOMINICANISMOS: Words That Don’t Mean What You Think Read More »
YIELD: Serves 6 | ACTIVE TIME: 40 minutes | INACTIVE TIME: 15 minutes | DISH TYPE: Vegetarian In Dominican culture whenever anyone drops in during a mealtime we say ¡a buen tiempo! (meaning the person has arrived just in time), we serve an extra plate, and invite them to join us. Food is a family/community affair. Dominican food is traditionally meat heavy. Personally I love …
One of my best friends likes to describe communities as ecosystems—a delicate balance between locals and their land, economy, government, each other… Introducing new elements (i.e. tourists) into the ecosystem, much like in nature, can upset this balance. For a community in a developing nation these new elements or people can create a booming economy …
This preterite tense is otherwise known in English as the simple past. In layman’s terms: I sat, I ate, I went, I did (these are examples of the simple past in English). For UVB students going through the cultural and language immersion curriculum, the preterite tense is the first time venturing outside of the comfort …