La comida en cada región de cada país es distinta, por supuesto. Yo soy peruana, y la comida peruana es considerada una de las mejores del mundo, en particular por ser tan variada. Perú tiene tres regiones: la costa desértica, la sierra, y la selva, y cada región tiene su tradición culinaria. También tenemos herencia española, afroperuana, indígena, y de los inmigrantes, en particular de Italia, Alemania, Japón, y China. En Estados Unidos, fuera de los centros urbanos, es difícil encontrar restaurantes peruanos. Si quieres probar la comida peruana, hay muchos recursos en el internet. 
       Yo quiero compartir una receta de mi tía, que hemos compartido entre toda la familia: el alfajor. Alfajor es un tipo de galleta con relleno, a veces una grande (como en la foto a la derecha), y a veces galletitas individuales (como en la receta abajo).

​Manjar Blanco
Lo primero que necesitarás es manjar blanco, o dulce de leche, como lo llaman en otros países. La manera más fácil de conseguir manjar blanco es con una lata de leche condensada. Simplemente pon la lata en una olla llena de agua. Hierve por dos horas, mirando de vez en cuando y añadiendo agua para que la lata siempre esté cubierta. Esta parte es muy importante, porque si no está siempre cubierta de agua, puede reventar violentamente y el manjar blanco se pegará en todos los rincones de la cocina. Después de dos horas, yo dejo la lata en el agua caliente hasta que se enfríe, y la pongo en el refrigerador. Debes sacarla del refrigerador una hora antes de usarla, para que no esté muy dura.

Alfajores
1 taza de harina
1 taza de maicena
6 cucharadas de azúcar en polvo
2 palos de mantequilla, menos un dedo

• Calentar el horno a 175° centígrados (350° fahrenheit).
• Mezclar los ingredientes secos.
• Cortar la mantequilla en trocitos y cortarla en los polvos.
• Amasar hasta que se forme una masa. Cuidado con amasar mucho porque la consistencia se puede poner grasosa.
• Espolvorear una superficie limpia con harina.
• Con un rodillo, estirar la masa hasta que mida un centímetro.
• Cortar en formas redondas (o en corazones).
• Estirar la masa que queda, y cortar otra vez hasta que se use toda la masa.
• Poner los círculos en una lata en el horno por 10-15 minutos, hasta que se doren ligeramente (no se ponen muy dorados).
• Con una espátula, cuidadosamente sacar las galletas de la lata y dejar que se enfríen.
• Una vez frías, poner un poco de manjar blanco en una galleta, y cerrar con otra para formar un pequeño sándwich. Acabar con todas, y espolvorear con un poco de azúcar en polvo. ¡Cuidado al rellenarlas, porque son muy delicadas!
• ¡Disfrutar con familia y amigos!

***Noten que las instrucciones las escribí en infinitivos. Eso es porque en las recetas en castellano, nunca usamos el imperativo--siempre es el infinitivo. 

Este año es el centenario de la Copa América, y el anfitrión es los Estados Unidos. La Copa América es un campeonato que incluye todos los países de América.  Si no sabes mucho sobre el deporte más popular del mundo, mira este video de Lionel Messi, jugador argentino reconocido por ser el mejor futbolista del mundo. Estos son los tres goles que marcó contra Panamá en Chicago. 

Para una lista de vocabulario del fútbol, pueden ver este blog anterior. Miren partidos de la Copa América todo el mes de junio, y la final es el 26 de junio a las ocho de la noche. Para practicar el castellano, busquen canales para ver los partidos en este idioma. Además es muy divertido escucharlos gritar ¡GOOOOOOOOOOL! O, si pueden, busquen entradas para ver un partido en persona (¡e invítenme a mí!).

       Recently the Washington Post published an article entitled "The Wrong and Right Way to Learn a Language," by Stephen Krashen. Among other things, Krashen proposes that the best way to expand vocabulary and develop language is to read. I would add that to expand vocabulary, one must read worthwhile things. This might seem obvious, but I have had students who resist real reading and insist that looking at their text messages constitutes "reading" (I swear, a student actually said this to me with a straight face), from which I would presume that reading an entire e-mail is taxing, and reading a blog entry or a newspaper article a considerable task. The problem with this perspective is that the more effort you make to read, the better reader you become and the easier and more enjoyable reading is. Educators at every level also know that effort equals learning, and that the less effort a student makes, the less that student will learn, no matter what the educator does. As a result, there are literally thousands of articles about how to get your students to put in more effort (because educators are experts at taking on undeserved guilt, we take it on ourselves to motivate you to study, come to class, do your readings, turn things in--it's exhausting, trust me). So we go back to reading. You should read worthwhile things. It's good to read high-quality, reputable newspapers and magazines in order to know what's going on in the world. It's also important to read fiction because it gives you a window on cultural perspectives, it develops your imagination, and it tends to contain more complex, figurative language and ideas, and it's more fun. There are arguments about the value of fiction versus non-fiction reading, but since I spent my all of my undergrad and graduate education studying literature, I will advocate for the beauty and joy that is fiction. 
       If you are going to read for fun and to improve your Spanish (please do), I recommend starting with short stories and poems. They are not necessarily easier than novels, but you don't need the level of persistence that is required to read a novel. You will need to look up words, use contextual clues, and read things more than once, and you still might not get 100% of the meaning. It's okay if you don't understand everything, but try (we're back to the importance of effort)! Here are some tips for reading in Spanish.

      There is a wonderful web site full of many, many authentic short stories called "Cuentos cortos latinoamericanos," which would be a good place to start. There is also a page in "Palabra virtual" that lists poems by many authors and has recordings of them reading those poems. Since poetry is meant to be read out loud, this is a terrific resource. If you'd like to have an actual book with pages to turn, on which you can write notes and underline things, I strongly recommend Seymour Menton's El cuento hispanoamericano: Antología crítico-histórica. There's also Arturo Ramoneda's Antología del cuento español: Siglos IX-XX, if you're interested in Spanish short stories. I use both of these in my literature courses and they have something for every taste. Poetry is more difficult because anthologies really reflect the taste of the editor more than anything else. I would stick to twentieth and twenty-first century writers because as a second-language student you probably want to avoid archaic language so that you don't end up picking up expressions that people haven't used in two hundred years. ​
       Finally, if you would like to read current events or other reputable news media, here are many good options listed by LANIC (the Latin American Network Information Center of the University of Texas). There is also the very well regarded Spanish paper El País, which covers both Europe and Latin America. I hope you're inspired to start your summer reading. Please let me know in the comments if you have questions or if you have other reading suggestions to share.

Los traductores automáticos, tales como "Google Translate," representan una tentación para el estudiante de idiomas, especialmente cuando ese estudiante tiene poco conocimiento del idioma y se ve obligado/a a escribir para clase.

Automatic translators such as Google Translate are a temptation for a language student, especially when that student is a beginner who has weak skills and now finds that he/she has to write something for class.

El problema es que los traductores electrónicos resultan en errores que el escritor débil no puede anticipar. Por ejemplo, las expresiones idiomáticas generalmente no son las mismas en distintos idiomas, pero la computadora muchas veces las traduce tal cual las lee. 

Electronic translators result in errors that a weak language student can't anticipate. For example, idiomatic expressions are different in each language, but computers frequently translate them word for word. Compare this translation of the above paragraph, done by a human (me), with the same excerpt in Google Translate and you'll find that there are important nuances missing.
 
Los traductores automáticos tampoco son capaces de entender diferencias de registro, lo cual es particularmente importante cuando se traduce del inglés, un idioma relativamente directo, al castellano, con sus muchos y variados niveles de expresión. El castellano también utiliza oraciones más largas, con más comas y otras pausas, que el inglés, cosa que puede parecerle algo estrambótica a un angloparlante. El robot que te traduce tu texto no sabrá diferenciar entre los estilos lingüísticos. Además, GT no sabe las normas de la puntuación y lo copia todo directamente del original, resultando en un estilo que puede sonar extraño en el idioma al que traduce.

Automatic translators are also not able to distinguish differences in register. This is particularly important in translating English (a relatively direct language) to Spanish, since Spanish has such a variety of levels of expression. Spanish also uses longer sentences with more commas and other pauses, which would seem excessive to an English speaker. The robot that does your translation won't know the difference between these linguistic styles. In addition, GT does not know the quirks of punctuation that are native to each language, so it copies everything as is, resulting in a style that can seem strange in the language into which it is translating.

Finalmente, GT decepciona al que no sabe escribir bien en su propio idioma, ya que deja los errores de ortografía en el original, como una banderita de color que anuncia el engaño del tramposo escritor. Recuerda que usar un traductor automático para hacer trabajos de clase también es una forma de plagio.

Finally, GT will disappoint those who don't write well in their own language, since it leaves spelling errors in their original form, like a little colored flag that announces to the world the deception of the cheating writer. Remember that using an automatic translator to do your class work is also a form of plagiarism.

       The language you are studying is properly called castellano, and it originates in the region of Castile (Castilla) in Spain, although in English it's called Spanish and in Spanish it's frequently called español. It is the official language of the Spanish government and is spoken throughout that country, although it is not the only language in Spain (the officially recognized regional languages are Catalán, Gallego, Euskera or Basque, and Valenciano). Castellano is also the language that the Spanish exported to America, therefore it is the main official language in all Spanish-speaking American countries. Other languages are also spoken in many of those countries, and if you're interested you can look at my previous blog on that topic.
       The reason for this blog entry is that a friend recently mentioned casually that Mexicans wouldn't be any better off in Spain than here in the US because they wouldn't be able to communicate due to their different "dialect." It was a well-meaning statement said out of concern for immigrants, but since he doesn't speak Spanish and since he was voicing a commonly-held misconception, I decided this would make a good blog topic. Since I am not a linguist and since the topic of what is a dialect is hotly debated, I will only say that there are minor regional differences in language between Spanish-speaking countries, but we all understand each other. I have traveled in seven countries in which Spanish is spoken, and I have been mistaken for a local in all but one (the one in which it's not a mistake to take me for a local). The greatest and most obvious differences would be in accent, but even with accents there is certain solid common ground; the vowels. English has such a mishmash of vowel sounds, each vowel having the potential to make many different sounds depending on placement within a word, proximity to certain consonants or other vowels, and the country or region of the speaker. In Spanish each vowel has exactly one sound, and there is no geographic difference in the way those vowels are pronounced. This lends a certain structural solidity to the pronunciation of the entire language that is not shaken even when certain consonants sound a bit different.
       The greatest difference in language is in the vocabulary, where you can find the influence of historical situations such as indigenous cultures, immigration, regional influences, war, slavery, etc. These are most evident in things like clothing or food, but obviously also in slang. An easy example is the word for "sweater," which in Spain and many other countries is suéter or jersey or pulóver, depending on what kind of sweater. These words obviously come from English, a result of the vast influence of American media on world cultures. However, in much of the Andean region the word for "sweater" is chompa, which is also derived from English, but from the word "jumper."  Another good example is the word aguacate, which in Mexico, Central America, and Spain, means avocado (the English word is derived from the Spanish in this case). Since this fruit was not known in Europe prior to the conquest, the Spanish adopted the indigenous word, in this case the Náhuatl word ahuacatl, which means testicle in that language because the Mayans had a sense of humor and thought the fruit resembled testicles hanging on the tree. In South America, however, the Quechua word palta is used, without any changes in pronunciation.
       There are some gramatical differences between countries and between regions within countries, as well. These are things such as the tú/vos and ustedes/vosotros differences, which will require a separate blog post, or "leísmo," which is explained beautifully by Always Spanish. 
       The important question is if these differences cause communication problems between people from the countries where those words differ. No, not more than they cause confusion when Americans say "sweater" and the English say "jumper." In other words, there might be a brief, temporary hiccough in the conversation as you realize that you're using different words for the same thing, but it does not essentially impede communication, and it can actually make conversation more interesting and enriching as you learn about each other's cultures.

     So...bueno...em...every language has "filler words," or words that fill spaces while the speaker is thinking. In Spanish these are called muletas, or "crutches." If you're speaking and you don't want to break your flow, these words can come in handy. I've separated these words into categories for you below.

Okay
     To assent: ya, bien, bueno, está bien, claro (as in "of course"), vale (Spain), cheque (Honduras), pura vida (Costa Rica), órale (Mexico), de acuerdo, sí, okey (it's Spanglish, but in some places people do use it), ándale (Mexico)
     To start a sentence: bueno, a ver, entonces, ya, bien, pues, che (Argentina)
     Enough!: basta, ya, no más (these three are often used in combination--¡Basta ya!, ¡Ya no más!,  ¡Basta--no más!

There's a good list for "okay" in Span¡shD!ct, with some of the ones I list above and a few different ones.

Um...
     Este is the top word used for this, usually drawn out, like esteeeeeeee... and sometimes followed by an m (esteeeeeeemmmm). It just means, basically, "I'm thinking--don't interrupt."
     Bueno is sometimes used as a filler, just like "um," and does not necessarily mean "good." It just fills space.

So...
    Then... (you're following a train of thought): entonces, o sea, o sea que, así que
     Therefore: por lo tanto, por lo cual, por consiguiente
     To an extent (I was so glad to be there that I forgot to eat): tan
     So what?: ¿Y? , ¿Y qué?
"So" is a multipurpose word in English, and I've only given you a few very common uses for it. If you'd like a more complete list of ways to use translate "so," there's an excellent list in Word Reference.

Hey
    To get someone's attention: ¡Oye!, ¡Eh!, ¡Ei!, ¡Oiga! (more formal, but still kind of rude)
     To object: ¡Oye!, ¡Pero oye!, ¡Hombre!
     To greet someone: ¡Hola!


Oops
     ¡Uy!, ¡Ay!, and sometimes ¡Uyuyuyuy! or ¡Ayayayay! A lot of times these expressions are accompanied by the shaking of a hand up and down with the backs of the fingers facing the speaker's audience. 


     Use these expressions correctly and you'll sound like you know what you're talking about. Even better, they will help you avoid using English, since the place where most second language learners fail to stick to the second language is usually with these sorts of expressions. If you stick to just Spanish in your communication, you'll be less likely to derail your train of thought. If you think of other expressions you'd like to know, ask in the comments and I'll be glad to help you out.

¿Sabías que se habla español (castellano) en veintiún países? ¿Sabías que en Sudamérica hay cuatro países donde no se habla castellano? Hay un país en Africa donde el idioma oficial es el español, y uno en Centroamérica donde el inglés es el idioma oficial. Aquí tienen juegos donde se puede aprender sobre las distintas regiones donde se habla el castellano.

• Mapas Interactivos de Didactalia sobre México
• Mapas Interactivos de Didactalia sobre Centroamérica
• Mapas Interactivos de Didactalia sobre Sudamérica
  
• Mapas Interactivos de Didactalia sobre España 
• Una perspective distinta sobre el mapa de América.
  
• ¿Cuáles son los territorios en disputa de América Latina? (del BBC en español)

Summer is a time to empty your brain of everything you've been studying, relax, make some money, travel, and refresh. However, a language is something you can't give up entirely for months on end and expect to be able to pick up where you left off. So...we have this blog. Here you'll find suggestions, activities, materials, and fun things to do to keep up your Spanish. I'll be traveling, so I don't guarantee consistency with my posts, but check back regularly and I'll do my best to keep good stuff in here to help you over the summer. To start, here's Zambobazo's summer packet, which always has great activities and resources for the summer. The price has gone up this year to $8.95, but the folks who put this together put a lot of work into it and I believe that they should be paid for it! Here's the link: http://zachary-jones.com/zambombazo/summer-spanish-2014/
I'll check back with all of you soon!

Since this blog is meant to help you continue your connection to Spanish over the vacations when you're not in classes, we're going to suspend posts for now. Have a great semester, and we'll see you back here later! 

One thing you have to know how to do at every level of language development is description. Here are some tips for describing things that will make your writing more interesting and will likely raise your grade on assignments. Practice this over the break and you'll be an expert by the time you get back to classes!

• Keep it simple. Don't try to say things you don't know how to say. It's better to review the vocabulary you know or have partly forgotten than to look up words you aren't comfortable using and then forget them after only one use. Stick to polishing the grammar you know rather than trying to contrive complicated things you don't know how to say.
• Avoid lists. Keeping it simple does not mean simplistic. A description of your family should not be something like this (which I frequently get from students): "Mi mamá es alta. Mi padre es inteligente y trabajador. Tengo dos hermanos. Mi hermano se llama Tyler. Tyler es atlético." This is BORING and it shows very little effort on your part. Link sentences using linking words, and think of more complete descriptions. For example: "Yo soy muy alta como mi mamá, pero ella no es muy atlética. A mi mamá le gusta el arte y trabaja en un museo. Ella sabe mucho sobre los artistas modernos." Each sentence has some relation to the one before it, therefore it flows better. Also, a description does not necessarily mean that everything has to be adjectives--you can see that I've used verbs to describe the mother, explaining what she likes, what she knows well, and what she does for a living. 
• Be creative. Have a little imagination--make things up or look things up. If you are describing a scene in Spain, you might want to find a little cultural information to add to the interest. You can make up a story about the people. Your professor will appreciate reading something a little more original.
• Avoid careless errors. This seems obvious, but the number one mistake that students make on their essays is agreement. That's an easy thing to avoid if you simply proofread specifically for agreement errors. I recommend proofreading twice--once just for agreement, and a second time for general errors.
• Do your own work. You can get a tutor to help you go over your mistakes, but you don't learn diddly from having someone else do your work.
• Do not translate. This is related to "keep it simple." Use the structures and vocabulary you have already learned in class, and you won't need to translate from English. If you use an online translator your professor will spot it a mile away. Not only do they do a notoriously terrible job of translating so that the result is meaningless gobbledigook, but it is also a violation of the honor code because, once again, this is not your work! Do not use a dictionary unless you are looking up something you learned but have forgotten, or if your Spanish is very advanced and you have learned how to use a dictionary appropriately.

Here's an example of a description that follows all the above rules. The assignment is to look at this photo from Alicante, Spain and write a description. I've written it as an intermediate student might write, using the preterite and the imperfect, but of course a beginning student would do something simpler and an advanced student might develop this more. Notice that I vary the verbs and adjectives I use.

Now you try it. Describe the scene as you see it, and think of a way to make it interesting. While my little story above is not great literature, it is a good little description of a moment, and has a nice variety of vocabulary and grammatical structures.
Some good review of descriptive adjectives:

• http://www.colby.edu/~bknelson/SLC/adjetivos.php
  
• http://www.drlemon.com/Grammar/adjagree.html#.UfqaTGTF3CE
  
• http://spanish.about.com/cs/grammar/a/whereadjective.htm