[exchpaypalgold]

the thing is, where are you supposed to pick up proper spanish in the dominican republic? i learned spanish in the dr, mostly from attending school and hanging out with my classmates. except for some of them, they were not street and came from higher middle class and upper class families but still, dominican spanish has a particuar pronounciation and lots and lots of words which are used nowhere else in the spanish speaking world, or which have a different meaning in other countries. furthermore, the rich youth loves speaking dominican slang and considers it part of their identity. i remember a friend of mine talking to his mom and when she greeted him and said "como tu estas" he replied something a long the lines of "no prive en vaina, on this island we say "como tu ta". some people try speaking "proper spanish" when talking to a foreigner, but apart from news anchors, journalists and during academic discussions, i haven't seen many people speaking properly in the dr. so needless to say, while people considered me "aplatanado" in the dr, back home my spanish teachers looked at me in horror when i opened my mouth. they managed to straighten most of it out, but from time to time some dominican spanish slips thorugh, especially in my pronounciation. i've had dominicans abroad pinpoint the exact city where i learned spanish after speaking to me for a couple of minutes.