Cultural Trivia (or Conversation Starters)

True or False (See below for answers)

1. In France, cheese and salad are always served before the main course, which is then followed by fruit, nuts and dessert.

2. Mandarin Chinese has 6 tones and is somewhat like music.

3. Standard Italian did not become widely spoken in Italy until the invention of the television.

4. In France, coffee is customarily served with milk for all meals, and espresso is served with dessert.

5. The Puerto Rican flag was designed after the Cuban flag, with the colors inverted as a sign of solidarity with Cuba

6. A German man founded the sports company “Adidas”.

7. Paella, the traditional dish of Spain, was originally made to serve at the weddings of Royalty to show their wealth since seafood was so rare and expensive.

8. The word "toast", meaning a wish of good health, started in ancient Rome.


If you want to know more about any of the Trivia information, the instructors at YLC are very knowledgeable. The following information was provided by instructors:
May Westlund (Chinese), Janet M. Tamburro (French), Henry Hallock (Italian, Greek, French), Bruce Sperber (German), Fiorella Spidaliere (Italian) and Michelle Salinas (Spanish, ESL).


1. False. In France, salad is served after the main course followed by cheese, fruit/nuts, and then dessert.

2. False. Mandarin Chinese has 4 tones (1st, 2nd 3rd 4th), it is somewhat like music. If you change the tone, you may change its meaning. For example, "fei/1st ji/1st (（飞机 - airplane）vs. "fei/2nd ji/1st" (肥鸡 - fat chicken).

3. True. The invention of the television broadcast it more easily into homes across the country. Regional dialects were and are still spoken in all parts of Italy, with some estimating that more than 200 exist. Standard Italian was based off of a mixture of dialects, not the other way around; most Italian dialects came directly from Latin.

4. False. Coffee is customarily served with milk only at breakfast and expresso is served during the day and evening.

5. True. The Cuban flag came first and Puerto Rico's flag was designed after the Cuban flag. The colors are inverted or switched - for example: the triangle in Cuba's flag is red and the stripes are blue and white. In Puerto Rico's flag the colors were switched, a blue triangle and red and white stripes.

6. True. A German named Adolf Dassler founded the company. A nickname in German for "Adolf" is "Adi". Mr. Dassler combined his nickname with the first half of his last name to come up with ADIDAS, now one of the most recognized names in sports equipment!

7. False. Paella was originally a laborers' meal, cooked over an open fire in the fields and eaten directly from the pan using wooden spoons. Seafood is rare in the fields of Valencia, which is why they used chicken, rabbit, duck and snails. Snails were the most commonly used meat as they were cheap; for special occasions rabbit or duck would be added and the well-off would have chicken. Anyone that tries to tell you that the original paella was a seafood dish is wrong.

8. True. The word "toast", meaning a wish of good health, started in ancient Rome, where a piece of toasted bread was dropped into wine

Language Learning for Families

Are your children ready for an introduction to a language spoken by millions of people worldwide? Learning Chinese or Spanish today may be one of the best investments you can make in your child’s future. Chinese is swiftly becoming one of the world’s most important languages. Spanish is now considered the second language of the United States. The economic significance of learning one or both of these languages can translate into expanded future career opportunities for your children.

Learning a foreign language as a family is one of the very best ways of preparing your children for a new, global society. Your Language Connection makes learning a new language interesting, active, and fun. We involve the entire family in learning about not just the words of another language, but also about the culture.
Starting young is the key to acquiring true fluency.

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