“I have this great idea.” Luis groans but the right corner of his mouth quivers slightly upward which crinkles the corresponding eye and so though he’s wanting to communicate sternness … my ideas typically mean work for him … the quiver and the crinkle betray the fact that he loves my ideas despite the pain [...]

In the Post Pregúntale a Joan/La historia de Andy – Ask Joan/Andy’s Story I responded to some questions that an online student of ours had written regarding a budding love affair upon which she was embarking.  She’s a Canadian and he is a Peruvian and they met through an online chat language exchange site thingy [...]

I was at a Juvenile Detention Center yesterday for a discharge staffing for one of my adolescent clients.  Present were my 13 year old client (bilingual Spanish/English) and her mom and dad (monolingual Spanish), the County Social Worker, 3 Staff from the Detention Center (all monolingual English), the Interpreter, and me, the outpatient Psychologist (bilingual [...]

I went out to the reception area and greeted them; mom, step-dad and their 17 year old son.  I shook each hand in turn, Christopher’s (not his real name), last.  He looked away from me, first one way and then the other, much as if he were about 2 years old and trying to make [...]

Luis and I being married in Lima, Peru, January 13th, 2002. It happened again just a few minutes ago.  Luis and I had another really lively conversation about how each of our native languages sets up the way we see our world and as a result, how we interact with it …. he, obviously through [...]

By now, many of you know that we are selling our home…. here are some photos….. and though these miss some of the great spaces - like for instance another breath-taking, show-stopping bathroom and the bedrooms and the outdoor space, these photos give you an idea of an ambiance that is dramatic and striking …. I show you these here to make a [...]

Huh!  That would be an example of what Luis was talking about recently in our Free Video Classes.  That at times words in English and Spanish will sound very similar, “tomate – tomato” was the example he used.  But here in the title of my entry we have it again, sort of, ”exhibit”.  At least it’s spelled the same in both [...]

Carmen Castillo Cisneros (the pretty one on the right) from Mexico is one of our amazing writers for La Casa Rojas - the magazine.  She is a Social Anthropologist and she is shown here …. at work!  Great job, huh? One of Luis’ students wrote us about an article and accompanying comment that she’d come across.  I [...]

Makes one wonder….”Have I stumbled on to the wrong blog?  What the heck does this have to do with the process of learning Spanish?”  Oh my fellow reflector (as in person who reflects), all things are connected … hang-in a few paragraphs more…. At the risk of dating this entry, I will begin to make my [...]

After re-reading my title, I fear it may give the impression that this post portends to posit something massively contributive to the field of linguistics or to that of  social anthropology.  It portends to do nothing of the sort - and after pausing for an insecure second, doubting the wisdom in posturing with such airs -  I decided to go forward with it anyway.  [...]