Change Must Come

I don't think that the title to my blog is working. Since I don't see any way of changing the name of my blog, I am going to transfer over to a new one. Saying LATIN WORLD isn't attracting the people that I wanted, English speakers that are interesting in deepening their understanding of Spanish. It may take me a while to create a new blog, then delete the old one. Patience, please.

This Place Is A Big Help!

As I struggle my way through "La Tia Julia Y El Escribidor" (Aunt Julia And The Scriptwriter), I find myself enormously grateful to spanishdict.com for helping me to cope with all of the vocabulary stumblings. I recommend this site to all who want to read Spanish/Latin American works in their own language!

http://www.spanishdict.com

All That Vocabulary!

A major stumbling block for those trying to imbibe another language is vocabulary, vocabulary, vocabulary. Spanish is especially prone to causing frustration in this area because there are many, many dialects; reading literature from different Spanish Speaking areas exposes you to an enormous number of words that are vital for understanding. This causes me to read a book in Spanish much more slowly than I would read the same book in English. It takes incredible patience to attain true knowledge of the Spanish language because after you put aside the first basic textbook, you realize that nobody in the world speaks or writes (real books) in Standard Spanish.

I am planning to start a blog where I write almost everything in Spanish, but I am not naive enough to believe that I can do it without making mistakes and scrambling lots of meanings. I hope that people will politely point out my mistakes to me. Laugh if you want! It is not my fault that I was not born a native speaker, but I am very optimistic that I can come close.

Joyful Reading!

I love reading AUNT JULIA AND THE SCRIPTWRITER (La Tía Julia Y  El Escribidor) by Llosa! What an enjoyable book. I'm going to spend a lot of time with this work of wonderful literature before moving on. Pedro Camacho is a name I'm remembering as I work thriugh this book.

Llosa versus Màrquez

I absolutely LOVE reading AUNT JULIA AND THE SCRIPTWRITER! My first Llosa reading. Can it be that I will like Llosa better than Màrquez?

I am thinking of creating a second blog where I write in Spanish, and use this one for English. If I choose to do so, I know that I will make plenty of mistakes using the Spanish language, for it is not my native tongue. But it will be fun, and I may get that much closer to native ability.

Solitude for Latinos?

In EL AMANTE DEL TEATRO, Lorenzo O'Shea wants to take time from work so he can sit all day and watch this woman across from him move around in her apartment, sometimes with the curtain drawn, sometimes with it open, but never in communication with her. How can anybody spend day after day doing that?

Here are Carlos Fuentes' words in this story: "La soledad no espanta a los hispanos. and "Ningùn latino se ha muerto de soledad." He is saying that solitude doesn't scare hispanics and that no Latino ever died from being alone.

Understanding La Latindad--Or Trying To!

En Fuente's EL AMANTE DEL TEATRO, I catch something of the Latino mindset..at least I think.  When Lorenzo falls in love with the woman across from him by watching her through his window, he thinks nothing of going to a Spanish doctor (there in la Gran Bretaña) and requesting a fake certificate of illness so he can sit and wiatch this woman for a month without going to work. Why would an otherwise honest Spanish doctor in Great Britain do this? Because AMOR comes first, before all other causes. Also because it is a great way to "get back" at snooty British who feel themselves so superior. For those of you who read Spanish, consider these lines:

"Oponerle obstàculos al amor es un delito superior a extender un falso certificado de enfermidad."

"La Latindad, cuando no es ejercicio que perfecciona la envidia, es complicidad nutrida por el sentimiento de que, siendo culturalmente superiores, recibimos trato de segundones en tierras imperiles."


These lines are from Carlos Fuentes' El Amante Del Teatro or The Theater Lover. I hope I'm not breaking any laws by quoting them.