Sobre Puerto Rico - About Puerto Rico

Can your Spanish be grammatically correct and still sound rude? Jim shares a recent moment when he forgot to greet the security guard, and we use that experience to explore seven everyday situations where tone, context, and small gestures can change how your words are received in ...  Show more

Would you say se petateó when someone tells you their uncle died? Probably not. With Día de Muertos approaching, we explore ten ways to talk about death in Mexican Spanish, from the straightforward morir and more formal fallecer to euphemisms and very informal expressions like co ...  Show more

The haphazard response to Hurricane Maria has underscored the tricky, in-between space that Puerto Ricans occupy. They're U.S. citizens — although nearly half of the country doesn't know that. But those who live in Puerto Rico don't enjoy many of the same privileges as citizens o ...  Show more

Sandy beaches, amazing wildlife, Caribbean blue seas—Puerto Rico is known as the Island of Enchantment for a reason. But it’s also one of the oldest colonies in the world. And as a U.S. territory, Puerto Ricans have very little say in the U.S. government. The island has a complic ...  Show more

Puerto Rico became a U.S. territory in 1898 and for much of the next fifty years Puerto Ricans fought fiercely about this status. Should they struggle for independence, or to be a U.S. state, or something in between? In this episode, we look at Puerto Rico's relationship with the ...  Show more