We all know soap operas to be incredibly cheesy and funny to watch. But what most people don't know is that Argentina made soap operas popular, one could say they created the genre. America tends to focus on family problems or business problems, mainly because American soap operas are censored, so curse words are not allowed and sex scenes are prohibited.
Soap operas in Spanish-speaking countries refer to SO's as Telenovelas. One main difference between Telenovelas and SO's is that they come to an end and new stories are created, almost like a series (as apposed to chapters). Also, there are not as many constraints, so scenes can be more explicit and/or dramatic. Plots tend to go along the lines of teen drama and twisted romance (such as Chiquititas or Belíssima. Though places like Brazil, who create more realistic and historical dramas, Chile and Colombia focus on comedy, everything usually depends on the countys' culture.
In America, SO's have become less and less popular, but with that, Telenovela has become increasingly popular, especially in Mexico. Most shows revolve around romance and the conflicts between two sides, so there's always a villain. One of the most popular is Los Ricos Tambien Lloran, which actually become popular is other counties, like Russia. Mexican SO's have made a comeback since the 70's, mainly because they can also reflect reality, but in a more entertaining way.
http://www.tripadvisor.com/Travel-g187427-c69822/Spain:Some.Truths.About.Spanish.Stereotypes.html
Many of the general stereotypes that are applied to specific group of people are far from being the truth. Others may have some ties to the past which may lead to the ideas being perpetuated. I decided to pick a spanish speaking country in which many stereotypes are displayed in movies. Americans are generally displayed as a people who are lazy and incompetent. The people of Spain are also displayed as being lazy and love to party. While it can be said that many spanish love to party and part take in the consumption of alcohol, there economic status disproves the "lazy" portion of the stereotype. Also, they are sometimes grouped into the category of being rich and snooty. While some may have the money to flaunt and poor attitudes as well, this cannot be said for an entire country as a whole. It is true that Spain has become one of the more expensive countries to visit , and that they ship quality products, which has helped them become one of the highest rated gross domestic products.
The bull fighting that was once at the heart of Spanish culture, is losing its importance among the people of Spain. Its easy to take something an exaggerate , for films and other media , which leads to more misrepresentation. Many of the people of Spain believe that the bull fights are bad, and that they really shouldn't be continued. In some areas, bull fighting is actually prohibited.
Last week was about understanding dating in Spanish speaking countries and now it is all about marriage. This week I talked to a 35 year old teacher from Colombia who was very willing to talk to me about marriage. To help understand my conversation, there are a list of vocabulary below.
Vocabulary
Casamiento/Matrimonio - marriage
Pareja- partner/ pair
Vigencia- validity
Cédula- identity card
Juzgado- court
Reclamar- to claim
llenar- to fill out
Coincidir- to coincide
Catolicos- Catholic
Pedir- to ask
Vendidas- sold
Tribu- tribe
Entregado- Selfless
Marido- husband
Summary
If the conversation was to difficult to understand I can give a quick summary.IM and text talk has become increasingly more popular in this generation. For the most part, people are very lazy, and decide not to type out full words or sentences. Personally, I type out full words and sentences when I talk to people online, but abbreviate everything when I text people. My research questions were, "Is there a difference between IM talk and text talk? What are the popular abbreviations?" I talked to a 20 girl, Fatima, from Spain to get her outlook.
Isabella T: Is there a difference between instant messaging and text messaging?
Fatima L: not really. it is all kind of the same.
Isabella T: What are the most popular abbreviations?
Fatima L: a10 and a2 are usually used to say "adios" and aki is used to say "aquí"
Fatima L: numbers are usually used in abbreviations. it is also popular to say b7s which is "kisses". which is said instead of adiós/goodbye.
Isabella T: Haha, that's interesting. In english, people usually shorten words, but it seems like in spanish words are abbreviated by the way the words actually sound. Such as "aki" or "bn"
Fatima L: yeah, that is true. other ones are like "exo" (hecho) or "fsta" (fiesta).
Isabella T: Are there any weird abbreviations?
Fatima L: yeah i guess so. por favor is usually "xfa" and hasta luego is "hl".
Most people don't know that texting and instant messaging started or became popular in Europe before anywhere else. I did find it interesting that they use numbers as apposed to just using letters.
