Forum Reading -short articles

[Marianopolita]

Another one----

Norma,

Have they ever responded? I think it's great that you are pointing their errors out to them but I don't think that's the type of feedback they care to receive. This paper is not a high profile one and I suspect the readership does not compare to List?n D or Diario Libre . Therefore, it's not really important to the publisher of this daily newspaper.

In the first three paragraphs, Diario DigitalRD.Com is discussing in their own words “El ?xito de las relaciones se basa en la comunicaci?n”

?Te cuesta trabajo comunicarte con tu jefe y no sabes porque?

Having stated the above, it never fails. As I said before, I tried reading this newspaper a few years ago but the first day I started to read it, it had errors so I stopped shortly afterwards especially when there are so many good quality newspapers one can read online. Now it never fails. Since we are looking at this paper and discussing it in this thread, I decided to browse a few articles today. The first one I read, I see three grammar errors and these are not typos or proofreading flaws.

One is clearly an example of the Dominican vernacular, dropping the /s/ that impacts one's writing and the other is an accent error. The writer knew an accent was required in the present subjunctive verb form of evaluar which should be eval?e but wrote evalu? (which is the 1st person of the preterit tense). These are typical errors that this Dominican paper has and one is directly related to dropping the /s/ when speaking.

In the title it's the wrong form of 'why'. It should be por qu? and not porque.

La comunicaci?n es una de las herramientas m?s importante en toda relaci?n interpersonal. Por eso, debemos establecer v?nculos de confianza con nuestros entornos pr?ximos y potenciar la comunicaci?n entre todos los miembros. La comunicaci?n debe ser constante.


Una buena relaci?n de trabajo entre usted y su jefe debe permitirle desarrollar sus habilidades y conocimientos, y combinarlos para lograr una comunicaci?n correcta. Para ello es importante que evalu? los siguientes puntos que podr?an ser la causa de una mala comunicaci?n entre su jefe y usted:

“El ?xito de las relaciones se basa en la comunicaci?n” :: Noticias Empresariales :: DiarioDigitalRD.com - Noticias Republica Dominicana



-MP.

 

[Chip]

I have officialy changed my Dominican news reading to Diario Libre because I'm not interested in learning incorrect Spanish. Thanks.

 

[Chip]

Here's a nice article from Diario Libre:

Campesinos dominicanos en el Castillo Bourg-Charente - DiarioLibre.com

I had a problem with one sentence until I figured I was dealing with an idiomatic expression (my usual downfall). In this case the culprit was "divisas fuertes" which means "hard currency" apparently. The structure still seems a little odd too me but after I translated this phrase I was able to understand it:

y se inicien en la exportaci?n hacia Europa tras divisas fuertes que ya empiezan a recibir alrededor de 200 familias de nuestra deprimida zona fronteriza.

I wouldn't write in this form but I suppose it's a positive that I understand it at least. My version would probably be:

y se inicien en la exportaci?n hacia Europa que significa un ingreso importante(or simply "divisas fuertes") para alrededor de 200 familias de nuestra deprimida zona fronteriza.

I think part of the problem for me is the use of "tras" which means after. It seems to me the people should get paid after their product is sold on the market and the phrase seems to imply that the people got paid beforehand.

 

[Norma Rosa]

I have officialy changed my Dominican news reading to Diario Libre because I'm not interested in learning incorrect Spanish. Thanks.

I contacted the newspaper while I was in the DR in 2009. I discussed the use of a verb tense that was (several times) incorrectly used. The person I talked to agreed that it was incorrect.

We don't have to use that paper. I will read the article you posted.

Thanks

 

[Chip]

I contacted the newspaper while I was in the DR in 2009. I discussed the use of a verb tense that was (several times) incorrectly used. The person I talked to agreed that it was incorrect.

We don't have to use that paper. I will read the article you posted.

Thanks

So Diario Libre is prone to mistakes too?

I guess the only one anyone can recommend is Listin Diario then?

 

[Norma Rosa]

So Diario Libre is prone to mistakes too?

I guess the only one anyone can recommend is Listin Diario then?

The newspaper I contacted was Diario Digital.

 

[Norma Rosa]

Here's a nice article from Diario Libre:

Campesinos dominicanos en el Castillo Bourg-Charente - DiarioLibre.com

I had a problem with one sentence until I figured I was dealing with an idiomatic expression (my usual downfall). In this case the culprit was "divisas fuertes" which means "hard currency" apparently. The structure still seems a little odd too me but after I translated this phrase I was able to understand it:

y se inicien en la exportaci?n hacia Europa tras divisas fuertes que ya empiezan a recibir alrededor de 200 familias de nuestra deprimida zona fronteriza.

I wouldn't write in this form but I suppose it's a positive that I understand it at least. My version would probably be:

y se inicien en la exportaci?n hacia Europa que significa un ingreso importante(or simply "divisas fuertes") para alrededor de 200 familias de nuestra deprimida zona fronteriza.

I think part of the problem for me is the use of "tras" which means after. It seems to me the people should get paid after their product is sold on the market and the phrase seems to imply that the people got paid beforehand.

divisa =foreign money -divisas fuertes=strong foreign currency (euro in this case)

"tras" also means en busca de

 

[Chip]

divisa =foreign money -divisas fuertes=strong foreign currency (euro in this case)

"tras" also means en busca de

Now that you mention it "after" has the same definition too in English. Thanks for clearing that up for me.

 

[Chip]

Here is a recent article. I'm having a problem with the structure of the first sentence:

Con esas palabras el obispo Di?medes Espinal manifest? su oposici?n a los afanes pro reelecci?n del presidente Leonel Fern?ndez y critic? la corrupci?n que entiende corroe la administraci?n p?blica, opini?n que no dista mucho de la externada por otros miembros de la jerarqu?a eclesial en los ?ltimos d?as.

Shouldn't there be a semi colon after publica and shouldn't "opini?n" be preceded by an "una"?

El grito del obispo de Mao-Montecristi | Eli Heiliger

 

[Chip]

Here's a title of a news story. Is this correct?

Superintendente de Valores descarta haya nueva reforma tributaria.

 

[Norma Rosa]

Here is a recent article. I'm having a problem with the structure of the first sentence:

Con esas palabras el obispo Di?medes Espinal manifest? su oposici?n a los afanes pro reelecci?n del presidente Leonel Fern?ndez y critic? la corrupci?n que entiende corroe la administraci?n p?blica, opini?n que no dista mucho de la externada por otros miembros de la jerarqu?a eclesial en los ?ltimos d?as.

Shouldn't there be a semi colon after publica and shouldn't "opini?n" be preceded by an "una"?

It is correct as it is. It refers back to the opinion expressed by Di?medes Espinal. Same as: . . . p?blica -opini?n que . . .


It will be ok to say una opini?n, but not imperative. In fact, it sounds more eloquent without it.

 

[Norma Rosa]

Learn languages, delay Alzheimer

El Castellano: Noticias - Bilingismo retarda aparicin <br>del Alzheimer

The line:
". . . si crea . . ." should be: s? crea (it creates -accent on s?)

It should be: Biling?ismo

(Errors not just in Dominican newspapers.)

Can you find another error? We should play that game.

 

[Chip]

El Castellano: Noticias - Bilingismo retarda aparicin <br>del Alzheimer

The line:
". . . si crea . . ." should be: s? crea (it creates -accent on s?)

It should be: Biling?ismo

(Errors not just in Dominican newspapers.)

Can you find another error? We should play that game.

They fixed the article. As far as finding errors, unfortunately I have the tendency to give the papers the benefit of the doubt if it's not a real obvious error as I just assume it is something I may have not learned let. For this reason I prefer not to read newspapers that consistently have poor grammatics.

 

[Marianopolita]

Newspaper reading and reading in general----

I don't look for errors per se but if I see them consistently then it raises a red flag about the quality of the journalism and this is for any newspaper. I think it can be a worthy exercise to look for errors to test your own grammatical knowledge and understanding of the language but not every reading experience should be to look for errors.

It could also defeat the purpose and then one will start to second guess everything especially because styles vary drastically in Spanish. When I compare the writing styles of some of the papers I read, I always come away with a different perspective about Spanish and it reaffirms my belief that the language is vast. Having a broad knowledge of grammar is possible but knowing every intricacy would be really incredible (because the language is not static). Newspaper reading and any reading in language is essential if one wants to expand his/ her vocabulary, better one's understanding of sentence structure in general, improve one's grammatical command and observe the language in everyday usage- expressions, idioms, regionalisms etc.

The sport section is one of my favourites and some newspapers really have a good sports page with well written articles about the players, the sport in question and upcoming events. In the past, a poster questioned if speakers follow grammatical rules in Spanish especially the subjunctive and my answer has always been 'yes'. Grammatical errors are made by speakers just like in any language but the rules are in place and form the structure of the written and spoken language. I read this article and the correct usage of the subjunctive stood out- it's natural, very instinctive for a Spanish speaker.


Marcelo: ?No sabemos si vamos a salir a atacar o a defender? - ABC.es


Some examples from the article:

* Ojal? podamos hacerlo en Barcelona....

* pero no solo porque sea un cl?sico....

* Espero que vaya bien el partido para ?l.

Here's a title of a news story. Is this correct?

Superintendente de Valores descarta haya nueva reforma tributaria.

I am not sure why this question was not answered but anyway....


The headline is fine. Keep in mind headlines in Latin American papers are more incomplete and shortened which at times render an almost incomprehensible phrase at first until one reads the article. Every country is different but the Dominican papers are good examples of how the headline format differs drastically from some others.

To make it more complete 'que' would be inserted:

Superintendente de Valores descarta QUE haya nueva reforma tributaria.



-MP.

 

[Chip]

Thanks Norma and Lesley for the help. I am understanding that Spanish grammatical structure can be varied. This is something that can only take time to learn. However, my goal at this point isn't necessarily to be able to use these forms but to recognize them at least. I think there are some parallels of my experience learning Spanish with people learning English in that even accomplished non native speakers have problems with structure, articles and preposition, not to mention idiomatic expressions. My goal therefore would get to the point that at least I can understand or maybe infer the understanding of certain uses without being thrown off completely and speaking with an accent that does not grate on the natives ears.

 

[Chip]

Could you guys recommend a blog for me about Santiago and current events? I have been reading www.santiago30caballeros.com off and on.

 

[Chip]

BTW thanks you guys for recommending which newspapers to read. I've improved surprisingly in a matter of months by reading at least one or two articles a day.

 

[Marianopolita]

An important piece of the puzzle----

Reading is essential. There is no way around it. I have been saying this for years. What people have to realize is the results will not be gained overnight. It’s a very long process but a necessary one to grasp fundamental grammatical patterns in Spanish or any language.

With consistency it does get easier. The challenge lies when the writing style varies but in a general sense the more you read the more you will broaden your knowledge and understanding of the language. Writing is the next step or should parallel the reading practice.

I have suggested this before on DR1 which is to start a mini blog and you can write all you want in Spanish.


-MP.

 

[Marianopolita]

Nace en Brasil un perro verde----

Here is an article that caught my attention. Not only because it's a rarity but I also think the vocabulary used is useful and everyday words to know in Spanish.

Nace en Brasil un perro verde - ABC.es

-MP.

 

[Marianopolita]

?Qu? le pasa a Espa?a? by Jos? Mar?a Aznar----

'El pa?s est? sufriendo la crisis pol?tica m?s grave de su historia reciente'

Here is an interesting article for those who like to read about the economy (of any country of interest) and related issues. Jos? Mar?a Aznar, the ex Prime Minister of Spain before the current one, in power from 1996 to 2004 has some interesting comments to say about the current state of the economy of Spain. This man has always come across to me as an intellectual, thinking type person although a lot Spaniards don’t have good things to say about him when he was in power. However, what leader of a country has a near perfect presidency? In my opinion it’s virtually impossible.

Currently, Spain is one of the countries in the European Union that’s really in a financial crisis, with a high unemployment rate and a questionable future as a country in the EU. The article is insightful and a good read in Spanish. Jos? Mar?a Aznar also wrote a book about his years in power. I bought it when I saw it a few years ago because at some point in time I know I will be interested in reading it.

Here are the first three paragraphs of the article to get you going and the rest can be read by opening the link:

ESPA?A afronta una situaci?n econ?mica cr?tica. Junto con Portugal, se halla ahora mismo en el epicentro de la confusi?n financiera europea. Los inversores est?n asignando unos riesgos de impago m?s elevados que nunca a la deuda del Gobierno espa?ol desde que el pa?s entrara en la zona euro.

En el ?mbito social, la situaci?n resulta inquietante. La tasa de desempleo supera el 20 por ciento. El ?ndice de paro entre los j?venes rebasa el 43 por ciento.

Los mercados financieros no son los ?nicos que despiertan dudas acerca de la econom?a espa?ola. La Comisi?n Europea ha manifestado su preocupaci?n por la capacidad del Gobierno actual para reaccionar y poner en pr?ctica medidas econ?micas cre?bles a fin de reconducir la situaci?n. All? donde voy, la gente me formula las mismas preguntas: ?Qu? le pasa a Espa?a? ?C?mo es posible que en solo unos a?os mi pa?s haya pasado de ser el ?milagro econ?mico? de Europa a convertirse en su ?problema econ?mico?? ?Qu? le ha sucedido a la econom?a que hace s?lo unos a?os crec?a m?s de un 3 por ciento anual, incluso cuando Alemania, Francia e Italia presentaban un crecimiento cero? En la actualidad es la ?nica econom?a de los cinco pa?ses m?s grandes de Europa que todav?a experimenta un crecimiento negativo.

?Qu? le pasa a Espa?a? - ABC.es


-MP.