New and very excited I found this site.

danini?aporDios

New member
Feb 8, 2012
4
0
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Hi, my name is Dani and I am from Clearwater, Fl. I am going to be going into missionary work in Honduras and potentially the DR. I have two sponsor children in the DR whom I love very much. They have become my own children. I have been trying for years to get the hang of Dominican Spanish, but have been unsuccessful. I want to write my my children in their own language, but I'm afraid that if I write in the Spanish I was taught that they may not understand, or I say something offensive unknowingly. So I have come here to learn and to get help. Thank you for having me.

Dani
 

Taino808

Bronze
Oct 10, 2010
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There is no such thing as "Dominican Spanish", if you could speak to the Hondure?os; you could speak to Dominicans as well. Spanish (castellano) is Spanish world wide, sure there might be some differences with some words otherwise known as regional dialects, but then again, this is also common with the English language as well. Oh and welcome to the board.
 

AlterEgo

Administrator
Staff member
Jan 9, 2009
23,097
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South Coast
Well Taino, I think she's referring to possibly using a word that might be very offensive in one country and normal in another. What comes to mind is when our son was at Rutgers he took a class in Latin American history. The professor was discussing the English speaking blacks who lived in DR, and our son responded "Yes, cocolos." The professor became outraged and started berating him for using such a word. Son learned that day that in some Spanish cultures the word cocolo is tantamount to calling someone the N word. Prof calmed down after some other Dominican students chimed in. Guess they all learned something that day.

Just one example, I know there are a lot more.
 

Chip

Platinum
Jul 25, 2007
16,772
429
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Santiago
Dani,

Welcome aboard and thanks for doing such important work!

As an American living in Santiago I would recommend using standard Spanish and your sponsored kids should understand you. Yes Dominicans have many slang words but so does every country and it isn't really necessary to learn them in order to communicate. As an example the DR has a tradition of having many Spanish priests throughout the years and nobody has a problem understanding them.
 
Jan 17, 2009
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Welcome to DR1, Dani! I'm a native Spanish speaker but not Dominican. Your Dominican children will understand your written Spanish. Don't worry about that! Conversationally, it is a totally different story. Even I have problems understanding what Dominican say at times, and many times they have no clue of what I'm saying. My American husband, who speaks almost perfect Spanish, thinks he understands 100%. Yet, quite often he doesn't. I have traveled to almost to every country in South America (except for Chile and Ecuador), have worked with co-workers of every country, and while we all use "localisms", it's poor diction mostly that affects understanding.
 

Criss Colon

Platinum
Jan 2, 2002
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yahoomail.com
Dominicans love it when even the most "Linguistically Challenged" gringo tries to speak to them in broken Spanish!
I'm sure the kids will feel the same about your letters.
Just the fact that you tried,and are interested in them,will bring a smile to their faces.
They will more than likely show everyone they know those letters!
If you can visit,they will explode with happiness,and pride.
And "Welcome to DR1"!
Cris Colon
 

sayanora

Silver
Feb 22, 2012
1,621
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Well Taino, I think she's referring to possibly using a word that might be very offensive in one country and normal in another. What comes to mind is when our son was at Rutgers he took a class in Latin American history. The professor was discussing the English speaking blacks who lived in DR, and our son responded "Yes, cocolos." The professor became outraged and started berating him for using such a word. Son learned that day that in some Spanish cultures the word cocolo is tantamount to calling someone the N word. Prof calmed down after some other Dominican students chimed in. Guess they all learned something that day.

Just one example, I know there are a lot more.

Calling black people cocolos even in the DR is pretty darn offensive.
 
May 29, 2006
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Dominican Spanish is just like anywhere else?? Well, maybe if you're a native or very fluent Spanish speaker. I was in a bar once in Estonia and I watch a guy from Lubbock, Texas talk to a guy from Liverpool, England. There was this Estonian guy and he asked me how they could understand each other when they were speaking different languages. He couldn't believe either of them were speaking English. Spanish covers a lot more ground and more countries. I'm from Upstate NY and I can barely make out what people are saying from some of the NYC boroughs.

Dominicans often use one word for a whole sentence, like saying "como?" when they want to know how much something costs. Sometimes they don't even say anything and just point with their noses.

I was just talking to a Puerto Rican girl the other day and asked her about concon the slightly charred rice in the bottom of a cooking pot. She said they had a different word for it in PR.
 

Chip

Platinum
Jul 25, 2007
16,772
429
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Santiago
Dominicans often use one word for a whole sentence, like saying "como?" when they want to know how much something costs. Sometimes they don't even say anything and just point with their noses.

That's only used as a response by the buyer spoken to the vendor to repeat the price and is more generally "a como". "A como es/son" is the phrase to ask for the price from the beginning.
 

zoomzx11

Gold
Jan 21, 2006
8,367
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Think twice about Honduras as its one of the most dangerous countries on Earth with the highest murder rate per capita. There are plenty of needy in the DR for you to help.