Spanish for Success

Hello

Bon Jour Hola Buon Giorno Guten Tag Namaste Shalom KonnichiwaSalam Alekum AlohaZdravstvuite

Topics in Question Why study Spanish? Where is Spanish spoken? What other languages/dialects are spoken in

Spanish-speaking countries? What politically correct terms are to be used

for ethnicity and race in reference to Spanish-speaking cultures?

What are some successful memory techniques?

Why study Spanish?

It’s official. Latinos have overtaken African Americans as the largest minority in the US (Nov. 2003). Numbering 38.8 million, Latinos now make up 13% of the nation’s demographic total. Latinos have more than doubled their presence in the US in the past 2 decades and added 3.5 million since the 2000 census. Over 350 million people speak Spanish worldwide, making it one of the largest markets for businesses and one of the most useful languages in the world for travel. In the past, learning Spanish used to be a way to open doors, but now it is a necessity.

Why study Spanish Employers are seeking applicants who can

speak Spanish in nearly every profession (medical, government, legal, journalism, finance, education, sales, etc.).

A large body of literary work is written in Spanish and Spanish-language films continue to receive praise from the film industry and viewers. At last count, there were more than 16,000 Spanish publications, 250 Spanish TV stations and 5,100 Spanish radio stations.

Why study Spanish Learning Spanish can help you learn the other

Latin-based languages such as French and Italian. These languages all have Indo-European roots and share some characteristics (such as gender and extensive conjugation) that are present in Spanish but not English.

Because of its Latin roots, nearly identical alphabet and pronunciation rules, Spanish is one of the easiest languages for an English speaker to learn.

Why study Spanish Knowing Spanish can make your travel

experiences more enjoyable. It is estimated that U.S. citizens spend more travel time in Spanish-speaking countries than in any other foreign country (excluding English-speaking countries).

Spanish is the official language in 21 countries and an official language in the European Union, UNESCO, GATT and many other international organizations.

Why study Spanish A Spanish concentration gives you the opportunity

to develop language proficiency while expanding your knowledge of Hispanic cultures and literature. Many Spanish concentrators combine their studies with fields such as political science (pre-law), pre-med, American culture, organizational studies, communications, psychology, and economics.

If you are majoring in another field, a Spanish minor gives you the opportunity to complement the knowledge gained in your principal field while focusing on linguistic competence and acquaintance with the culture and literature of the Hispanic world.

Where is Spanish spoken? Spanish is the most widely spoken of the Romance languages, both in terms of number of speakers and the number of countries in which it is the dominant language. Besides being spoken in Spain, it is the official language of all the South American republics except Brazil and Guyana, of the six republics of Central America, as well as Mexico, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico. Additionally it is spoken in the Balearic and Canary Islands, in parts of Morocco and the west coast of Africa, and also in Equatorial Guinea.

Where is Spanish spoken? In the United States it is spoken in Texas,

New Mexico (co-official with English), Arizona, and California, in New York City due to large Puerto Rican population, and southern Florida due to Cuban population. A variety of Spanish known as Lad mo is spoken in Turkey and Israel by descendants of Jews who were expelled from Spain in 1492.

Historical perspective

The purist form of Spanish is known as Castilian, originally one of the dialects that developed from the Latin of the common people (el latín vulgar) in contrast with the aristocratic Latin of the clergy. This Latin dialect developed after the Roman conquest of Hispania in the 3rd century A.D. After the disintegration of the Roman Empire, Spain was overrun by the Visigoths, and in the 8th century the Arabic-speaking Moors conquered all but the northernmost part of the peninsula. In the Christian reconquest, Castile, an independent kingdom, took the initiative (under the auspices of the king, Alfonso X) and by the time of the unification of Spain in the 15th century, Castilian had become the dominant dialect.

Historical perspective

The various dialects of Spanish spoken in the Americas relate to the dialects in Spain for historical reasons. In the highland areas (Mexico City, Cuzco, Quito, Bogotá, La Paz) the dialects have elements evolved from the Spanish of the conquistadores, most representative of the Spanish spoken in Extremadura around 1520. The Spanish spoken in the coastal and Caribbean areas likewise have elements evolved from the Spanish spoken by the merchants from the Andalusian area, perhaps 50-75 years later.

Variety of dialects of SpainCurrent co-official languages of Spain:Galicia – gallego y castellanoCataluña – catalán y castellanoPaís Vasco (Basque Country) – euskera

y castellano

Variety of dialects of pre-conquest Americas

Inca – quechua Maya:

– words were in hieroglyphics, each picture with its own meaning

– Only nobles % priests knew the whole language– Examples: Hi, How are you? = Bix (sh) a belex (sh).– I am ok. = Maloob. Thank you. = Yum botic.

Aztec – náhuatl

Definition of termsOrlando is from Buenos Aires and

has white skin, blue eyes and blonde hair. Is he Hispanic, Latin or white?

Pls. copy the following list of terms and skip a line. With pencil, write a short definition of each term as you understand it. OK, so take a second to compare with your classmates!

Terms latin (latino/a) America American (americano/a) North/Central/South

America Caribbean Islands Latin America Latin American

(latinoamericano/a)

Spanish (Hispanic) America

hispanic (hispánico/a)

Spaniard (español/a)

lndigenous Native American Chicano

Revise your definitions as necessary The terms hispano and latino are confused with other

racial terms such as indigenous/native, of color, white, Asian. The terms hispano and latino are not based on racial differences but rather on cultural differences. Latino describes those persons who speak any of the romance languages or those languages of Latin origin, such as Portuguese, French, Italian, Spanish. The term latino is as much cultural as linguistic in nature. The hispano is an inhabitant of the ancient Roman province of Hispania, today known as Spain.

Coming to Terms Latino and hispano carry no racial

connotations since there are white, Asian and indigenous hispanos as well as hispanos of color. Latino is an abbreviation of latinoamericano, a term that includes the hispanos, the Brazilians and the Haitians. It excludes native inhabitants who do not speak Spanish or Portuguese and are not considered latinos. Neither hispanos nor mexicanos speak Mexican; both speak Spanish.

Coming to Terms Latinoamérica and Hispanoamérica are

geographic-cultural terms. Latinoamérica includes all of the countries speaking Latin-based languages with their corresponding cultures while Hispanoamérica is composed of the 19 Spanish-speaking countries with Hispanic cultures. North, Central, South America and the Caribbean are strictly geographical. In Spanish, the term América refers to the continent that stretches from the Arctic to Tierra del Fuego.

Coming to TermsBecause the word estadounidense is

too formal and burocrático and because norteamericano includes Canada and Mexico, by default, the term americano has an implied reference to the people of the United States. Chicano refers to people of Mexican heritage.

Coming to Terms Geographically, Latinoamérica includes

Canada, Mexico, Central and South America (including Brazil), and the Caribbean Islands. Hispanoamérica includes 19 Spanish-speaking countries but excludes Canada, Brazil, Haiti, British and French Guyana. Only the Spanish-speaking Spaniards are hispanos. The Spanish citizens of Spain are NOT latinoamericanos (latinos, for short) nor hispanoamericanos because they are European Spaniards, not americanos from the Américas.

Un americano es . . .norteamericanocentroameericanocaribeñosuramericanoestadounidensecanadiense

How would you “label” the following people?

Some may have more than one category:A. latinoamericano (latino)B. hispanoC. hispanoamericanoD. americanoE. does not apply

Exercise:___1. Canadian who speaks native French.___2. Mexican American who speaks native Spanish.___3. Spaniard who speaks only native Galician.___4. Brazilian who speaks native Portugues.___5. Spaniard who speaks native Spanish.___6. Chilean who speaks native Spanish.___7. Spaniard who speaks only native Basque (not a

Latin-based language)

___8. Mexican who speaks native náhuatl (Aztec language)

___9. Puerto Rican who speaks only native English__10. English-speaking U.S. student learning Spanish as

a second language

Answers:AD 1. Canadian who speaks native French.BD 2. Mexican American who speaks native Spanish.E 3. Spaniard who speaks only native Galician.AD 4. Brazilian who speaks native Portugues.B 5. Spaniard who speaks native Spanish.ABCD 6. Chilean who speaks native Spanish.E 7. Spaniard who speaks only native Basque (not a

Latin-based language)

AD 8. Mexican who speaks native náhuatl (Aztec language)

AD 9. Puerto Rican who speaks only native EnglishD 10. English-speaking U.S. student learning Spanish

as a second language

Power of the human mind:Power of the human mind:

The paomnnehil pweor of the hmuan mnid. Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoetnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be at the rghit pclae. The rset can be a total mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

Amzanig eh?

Memory Flow ChartMemory Flow Chart

The flowchart for the theory of memory indicates that all incoming information first passes through Sensory Memory (SM) before it enters Short Term Memory (STM). There it can be maintained by rehearsal and either successfully encoded for storage in Long Term Memory (LTM) or forgotten. In retrieval, the information passes from LTM back to STM, where it enters our consciousness. A summary of the characteristics of each stage of memory follows.

Three Stages of Memory

MnemonicMnemonic

'Mnemonic' is another word for memory tool. Mnemonics are methods for remembering information that is otherwise quite difficult to recall. The basic principle of mnemonics is to use as many of the best functions of your brain as possible to store information.

Use Your Whole Mind To Use Your Whole Mind To RememberRemember

By coding language and numbers in striking images, you can reliably code both information and the structure of information. You can then easily recall these later.

You can do the following things to You can do the following things to make your mnemonics more make your mnemonics more

memorable:memorable: Use positive, pleasant images. The

brain often blocks out unpleasant ones Use vivid, colorful, sense-laden images

- these are easier to remember than drab ones

Use all your senses to code information or dress up an image. Remember that your mnemonic can contain sounds, smells, tastes, touch, movements and feelings as well as pictures.

Mnemonics continued . . . Mnemonics continued . . . Give your image three dimensions, movement

and space to make it more vivid. You can use movement either to maintain the flow of association, or to help you to remember actions.

Exaggerate the size of important parts of the image

Use humor! Funny or peculiar things are easier to remember than normal ones.

Similarly rude rhymes are very difficult to forget!

Symbols (red traffic lights, pointing fingers, road signs, etc.) can code quite complex messages quickly and effectively.

AssociationAssociation Because memory works by association,

we actively work to create an association between two bits of information. For example, for the plane that we need to catch at 2 P.M., we can imagine the plane in our mind, and notice that it has 2 wings. Two wings, 2 P.M. There's an association by means of a visualization. We are now ten times more likely to remember the take-off time long after it has faded from our short-term memory.

AssociationAssociation When pieces of information are not obviously

related in any way, however, we have to be a bit more creative in linking things together. But it isn't as hard as it seems. Most of us learned rhymes and acronyms in school that helped us remember things. Do any of the following look familiar to you? – i before e except after c, or when sounded like a as

in neighbor and weigh (rule for remembering ei or ie)

– ROY G. BIV (colors of the rainbow) – All Cows Eat Grass; Every Good Boy Does Fine

(notes of musical scale)

Association exerciseAssociation exercise

To demonstrate how effectively this works, look at the following list of words, and try to come up with an association between the left word and the right word of each row. Some will be easy; others may be harder. As an example, for the first pair, you might want to imagine a mouse that has a long, wavy tail that is in the shape of the letter S.

Association exerciseAssociation exercise

mouse S fur R train bridge moat boat popcorn chair elephant pancake toothbrush canal umbrella triangle

Association exerciseAssociation exercise

After you have formed the associations, cover up the right side of the list and then try to name the word associated with each word on the left. If you formed vivid, clear associations, you may be surprised at how quickly and easily you were able to remember everything!

Association exerciseAssociation exercise

mouse fur train moat popcorn elephant toothbrush umbrella

Law of RecencyLaw of Recency

A list of 20 words will be read. Your job is to remember as many of the words as possible. Write down the words that you can remember immediately after reading the list.

List of wordsList of words

cat apple ball tree square head house door box car king hammer milk fish book tape arrow flower key shoe

Concrete Words, Abstract Concrete Words, Abstract Words and “Foreign” Words Words and “Foreign” Words The ability to recall a word depends on

how meaningful the word is to a person. Along with the meaningfulness of a word, the "concreteness" of a word is important for memory. Concreteness refers the ability of a word to form a mental image. A word with high concreteness is easy to "see"; a word with low concreteness (an "abstract" word) is difficult to visualize.

Concrete wordsConcrete words

Here are three lists of words: concrete words, abstract words and nonsense words. See which list is easier to memorize. You could also read these lists to other people to see how many words from each list they remember.

Concrete wordsConcrete words

alligatorapplearrowbabybirdbookbutterflycarcornflower

hammerhouselemonmicroscopeoceanpencilrockshoestablewindow

Abstract wordsAbstract words

angerbeliefboredomchanceconcepteffortfatefreedomgloryhappiness

honorhopeideainterestknowledgemercymoodmoraltheorytruth

““foreign” wordsforeign” words

amorfondoluegococinahastacabezanaranjacenanartillomariposa

sillarelojcohetecasaheladotijerasmanzanahermosomoreno

Short Term Memory Short Term Memory TestTest

Directions: You are about do a small short

term memory test. A few letters will flash on your computer monitor for 3 seconds. Your job is to write down as many letters as you can remember after they disappear.

U MU M

T Z L DT Z L D

KXCEJOKXCEJO

AVCYISEHAVCYISEH

LBFQRPMAUXLBFQRPMAUX

ZQECTBUMONRVZQECTBUMONRV

STM exerciseSTM exerciseTrial #letters Total letters # your

letters% your letters

1 2 UM

2 4 TZLD

3 6 KXCEJO

4 8 AVCYISEH

5 10 LBFQRPMAUX

6 12 ZQECTBUMONRV

STM exerciseSTM exercise

How did you do? Compare your results with the table on this page. How many letters from each trial did you remember? Is there a "pattern" to the letters that you remembered? For example, did you remember the first few letters better than the middle letters? Did you remember the last letters?

Law of VividnessLaw of Vividness

We are much better at remembering pictures than we are at remembering words and names. When subjects are asked to recognize a small set of photos that they saw the previous day from a larger set, they typically recognize around 97%.

Short Term Memory Test - Short Term Memory Test - PicturesPictures

Draw a 4x4 grid of boxes.Look at the objects that you

should remember. The objects will stay on your screen for 30 seconds. Then write down the names of all the items you remember inside the appropriate boxes.

Here are the pictures . . .Here are the pictures . . .

Picture testPicture test

How many objects did you remember?

Were the objects that you remembered also placed correctly on the grid?

What categories of objects did you remember: animals, food, building, animated objects, piano

Interference: The Stroop EffectInterference: The Stroop Effect

Don't read the words on the right--justsay the colors they're printed in, and do this aloud as fast as you can.

You're in for a surprise!

redyellowgreenblueredblue

yellowgreenbluered

The famous "Stroop Effect" is named after J. The famous "Stroop Effect" is named after J. Ridley Stroop who discovered this phenomenon Ridley Stroop who discovered this phenomenon in the 1930’s.in the 1930’s. If you're like most people, your first inclination

was to read the words, 'red, yellow, green...,' rather than the colors they're printed in, 'blue, green, red...'

You've just experienced interference. When you look at one of the words, you see

both its color and its meaning. If those two pieces of evidence are in conflict, you have to make a choice. Because experience has taught you that word meaning is more important than ink color, interference occurs when you try to pay attention only to the ink color.

How to Improve Your How to Improve Your MemoryMemoryThere are many things you can do

to improve your memory, among them the use of certain mental techniques, as well as special care with nutrition and medicines.

To stimulate memoryTo stimulate memory

Use your memory to the utmost. Challenge a novelty. Learn new skills. If you work in an office, learn to dance. If you are a dancer, learn to deal with a computer; if you work with sales, learn to play chess; if you are a programmer, learn to paint. This could stimulate your brain's neural circuits to grow.

Pay attentionPay attention

Don't try to memorize all the facts that happen, but focus your attention and concentrate in what you consider more important, avoiding all other thoughts. Exercise: take any object, such as a pen, and concentrate on it. Think on its various characteristics: its material, its function, its color, its anatomy, etc. Don't allow any other thought to occupy your mind while you are concentrating on that pen.

RelaxRelax

It is impossible to pay attention if you are tense or nervous. Exercise: hold your breath for ten seconds, then release it slowly.

Associate facts to Associate facts to imagesimagesLearn mnemonic techniques. They

are a very efficient way to memorize large quantities of information.

Visualize imagesVisualize images See figures with the "eyes of your mind". Use a

visualizing technique to learn the following translations for “S/he is cool!”

Chile: Es genial. Venezuela: Es chévere. Costa Rica: Es taunis. Ecuador: Es bestial. Perú: Es mostro. España: Es chulo. Ella es maja. Mexico: Es genial, padre, chido (not

polite).

FoodsFoods

Some vitamins are essential for the proper working of memory: thiamin, folic acid, and B12 vitamin. They are found in bread and cereal, vegetables and fruits.

WaterWaterWater helps maintain the memory

systems working, specially in older persons. According to Dr. Turkington, lack of water in the body has an immediate and deep effect on memory; dehydration can generate confusion and other thought difficulties.

SleepSleep

To be able to have a good memory, it is essential that we allow the brain to have enough sleep and rest. While sleeping, the brain disconnects from the senses, and proceeds to revising and storing memory. Insomnia would produce a chronic fatigue and would impair the ability of concentration and the storing of information.

MedicationMedication

Some medicines can cause loss of memory: tranquilizers, muscular relaxants, sleeping pills, and anti-anxiety drugs, such as valium. Some medicine for the control of high blood pressure (hypertension) may cause memory problems and depression.

AlcoholAlcohol

Alcohol interferes specially with short-term memory, which impairs the ability of retaining new information. Studies have shown that even the ingestion of low quantities of alcoholic beverage during one whole week will interfere with the ability of remembering.

SmokingSmoking

Studies have shown that, when compared with non-smokers, individual smokers of one or more packs of cigarettes a day had difficulties remembering people's faces and names in a test of visual and verbal memory (Turkinaton 1996)

CaffeineCaffeine

Coffee and tea have a very positive effect to maintain attention and to end sleepiness, but the excitation promoted by these drinks may interfere with the memory function.

Practice Practice improves memory, but how you

practice also affects it. The same amounts of practice, but distributed in the one case and massed in the other, lead to different outcomes. – Distributed practice is when practice is spread out over

time. For example, you may study a total of 12 hours for a test but you did so over 6 days.

– Massed practice is when practice is done all at once. For example, you study 12 hours the night before the test.

– Many studies have confirmed that the first strategy is the better one. Subjects remember more and for longer periods of time when they distribute their practice.

OverlearningOverlearning Overlearning is when practice is

continued beyond the criterion of one error-free trial. Actors overlearn their lines. They will rehearse far beyond the time necessary for the criterion above. In the military, drills constitute overlearning. In all of the cases above, overlearning helps to negate the negative effects of stress on memory. Overlearned items can be recalled under higher levels of stress than can items that were not overlearned.

How many of these associations do How many of these associations do you remember now?you remember now?

mouse fur train moat popcorn elephant toothbrush umbrella

In conclusion . . .In conclusion . . .

For the most part, memory does a magnificent job for us. Every time you spell a word, drive a car or pick up a

telephone and recognize your mother's voice, it's a wonder.

Success is at hand . . .Success is at hand . . .