Nice job!

I welcome any and all corrections you might have- as I was working on this there were plenty of things I just couldn\'t understand, but wrote them down as I heard them anyway. It was a great exercise, one I highly recommend  to everyone. (I constantly have one of last year\'s Spanishpod jingles going through my head- \"Make 2008 the year you finally learn Spanish!\" I didn\'t make it last year, but I\'m hoping this year is the one. : )

Cheers,

jb

Muy interesante, es importante que ustedes nos cuenten sus experiencias. Creo que hay toda una cultura muy propia del México Americano, especialmente en L.A. Por eso se me hizo muy interesante hablar con Pedro. Espero poder invitarlo a otro show o a personas que comparten el mismo background.

At the time that I post this, conversations page says that lili posted the above notice 2 hours ago. but the time listing on this page says it was posted 9 hours ago.

I also noticed the same thing when I posted about the parrot. It immeadiately said I had posted the story 7 hours ago.

ergo. when you post, the program looks at the clock and says well, this was posted 7 hours ago, so s/he can\'t edit it anymore.

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On the subject of heritage spanish speakers in the US that were short-changed on read\'n and writin\'  spanish  by lack of decent language classes in US schools.  Quite by chance I discovered a wonderful text book, written in the US for just such people.

It was written as a catch up on your grammar and culture book, a college entry level class in spanish usage and grammar.  I don\'t think you can beat the interactive sort of experience here, but if you are looking for a book to keep in the john, or study at the beach. . .  Check out \"De Una Vez!\"

This is not a newbie level book, if fact it assumes quite a bit of spanish, it is all in spanish except for a few footnotes comparing languages.  Intermediate/upper intermediate level sort of stuff here.

The lessons are a lot like those the Spanishpod team do. Taking short interesting stories or situations and building the lesson around them, breaking down the grammar and the usage.

It organizes the book around the various spanish speaking groups in the US, discussing the heritage of each, offering up some of the jerga especial para las comunidades. It builds lessons around successful spanish speaking artists in each community. Which is how I found it. My friend Rocio was the one chosed as an example of a successful mexican artist.  I heartily recommend it.

As an added benefit for me at least, Lili, Esti and Leo read me the stories in my minds ear, and somehow all the grammar comment sounds like JP.

Me gustó mucho este capitulo de 'del taco al tango'. Yo soy mexican-americano tambien como Pedro y me creci en un pueblo como una hora fuera de los angeles.

Soy como el amigo que Liliana hablo de en que cuando yo era nino, hablaba nada del espanol y me di mucha pena tambien porque yo no podia comunicar con mis abuelos. Lo loco es que ellos hablaban nada salvo el espanol.

Speaking of Malinche, I did a report about Malinche.  I found an obsure bit that said, today, Mexican feminists think that Malinche could be responsible for some of the spousal abuse of Mexican women.  

I'm not sure if this is true or not, but I thought it was interesting.