How to have fun learning Spanish by watching football.
Watch the Super Bowl live or football videos for your favorite teams in slow motion and with subtitles.
Whether you’re learning just for fun, learning to use at your job or for travel, you can learn vocabulary and improve comprehension, even if you think you’re no good at it.
Read MoreNot serious about learning Spanish? No hay problema (no eye puh-dough-BLEM-ah). Watch Bad Bunny on Saturday Night Live. Bilingual comedy gold.
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Spain, 1983. I had taken a year of high school Spanish and a year of college Spanish, yet I had no clue what this fellow was saying at the end of his sentences.
Maybe I “learned” the verb entender but forgot what it meant. Or maybe it wasn’t in the Spanish books we used.
Read MoreWhere else would you meet a Chilean singing along to the accordion player’s rendition of “Cielito Lindo”? Ay ay ay, it’s a bakery in Quebec City. Learning another language offers rich rewards.
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Fostering Love and Learning
Mom and Dad (a.k.a., Marty and Jim Dwyer) never became proficient in Spanish or Portuguese.
Even so, they opened their doors and hearts to strangers because they were fluent in the most important language: love.
My parents taught me how to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion—long before DEI or the internet was a thing. But after the advent of color television and NBC’s Today Show.
Curiosity about other languages and cultures. Where does it come from? How has it developed? How can we apply what we learn about others and ourselves to open doors to common ground. To open our hearts?
August 14 was my mom’s birthday—or it would have been. I learned that it was also Father's Day in Brazil. Neither of my parents became proficient in Portuguese or Spanish, but they fostered kids from other countries and and adoption of diversity, equity and inclusion—long before these terms or even the Internet were in fashion but after the advent of color television and NBC’s Today Show.
As a youngster and teenager, I was sometimes afraid of change. I was at times unkind and grateful. But the lessons my parents were trying to teach me all along have stuck with me.
Now, all these years later, I’m putting the puzzle pieces together—a powwow, a Laotian refugee, the Hebrew word meaning peace, a Russian tea, the Vietnamese foster brothers and sisters, becoming a Spanish teacher, learning Portuguese..
in the last two weeks and prompted by a post about Father’s Day in our Brasil-Boston Interchange WhatsApp group, I’ve been re-connecting with my brothers, sisters and cousins, as well as Bob Dotson, author of American Story: A Lifetime Search for Ordinary People Doing Extraordinary Things.
Read MoreWhat’s your name? Ever had someone mispronounce it? Are you sure you’re pronouncing names like José or Manuel correctly. What about Jaime? Name nerds or anyone who wants get insights on pronunciation and cultural assimilation: Listen up.
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Where Are You, A Grande Abóbora?
It’s the Great Pumpkin, Charlie Brown is my favourite Peanuts show. I figured I’d be able to find a video clip in Portuguese so I could practice my listening skills.
You see, many Brazilians have complemented me on my Portuguese vocabulary and pronunciation. After 18 or 19 months of learning it—from meditation, Language Salad, a great teacher and other means—I still have trouble understanding conversations between two or more native speakers. To continue improving, to get off this plateau I’ve been on, I must put in the practice time—more than once a week—and listen to conversations I enjoy.
Read MoreIn March 2020, I decided to go all in on learning Portuguese. It would be easy because I already spoke Spanish. Yeah, right. Lots of bumps in the road, and lots of joy, geography, food and people that rock. What kind of commitment did it take? Five to ten hours a week. It was more about time than money because there are so many free resources that helped me find my happy places in meditation and music. I even transcreated and sang and played Melim’s “Meu Abrigo”. Want to learn Spanish, Portuguese or English but not sure of what you really want or how to go about getting it? NewMeadowUno can help.
Read MoreHow musicians, such as Andrea Bocelli and Ed Sheeran, can expand their audience by way of collaboration and transcreation.
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Stepping outside my comfort zone. Photo courtesy of JC.Dwyer ©2020
How purpose, persistence, patience (and stepping outside your comfort zone) can deliver expected and bonus ROI for those who want to learn a second language.
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