talk about violence Firstly I’d like to talk about what it is meant as juvenile violence. Obviously we can easily recognise juvenile violence in the form of fights or riots, but beyond this evident way of violence, we shouldn’t forget other kinds of aggression such as psychological violence, bulling, as well as sexual violence among teenagers, which not always shows up so clearly. Having said tha, and focusing on the underlying causes of this violence. One important part of them has a lot to do with the familiar and social context in which young people has grown up. Nevertheless, I think that sometimes that social background is systematially blamed of all violent behaviours forgetting that young people are indeed a cocktail of hormones looking for its place in the herd as in many species and often that kind of violent behaviours have much more to do with that animal dominant behaviours rather than educational deficiencies. Secondly I’m going to talk about some other reasons that usually are considered to be behind some types of juvenile violence. They are violent films and video games. I don’t totally agree with that idea, as I believe that in general, young people can perfectly tell the difference between fiction and reality. Of course, I think that young people are excessively exposed to violence on TV and videogames, that’s evident, but I strongly believe that most of the frustrations and feels of anger in young people come from being constantly bombarded by films and adds telling them that they have to be, they have to be winners, or telling them that they have to be perfect and good-looking because otherwise they would be losers. And that drives me to talk about what could be done about the matter. As I see it, young people need to develop their personality on their own, facing and struggling with problems and trying to work them out . However they also need a kind of guide and some personal references to lean on. Moreover sometimes they have to learn that there are some red lines that mustn’t be crossed, I’m thinking about respect. On the other hand society and companies shouldn’t keep considering youth just as a lucrative market. We should protect youth from the pressure of fashion and physical standards. Society and economy should decide whether it’s worth it to reduce economical benefits in return for a better development of young people. In my opinion, great companies and governments are not willing to do this, being youth market such a big business.

can tell, can't tell, tell apart and distinguish Hello everybody, I would appreciate if any of you could help me with those expressions. I'm looking for the most accurate synonym for "distinguish". What would it be the difference in terms of meaning between all these sentences? Once I got to that town I could distinguish the cultural differences between the different neighbourhoods Once I got to that town I could clearly tell the cultural differences between the different neighbourhoods. Once I got to that town it was easy to tell apart the cultural differences between the different neighbourhoods. My main doubt in fact is about the difference in affirmative between can tell and tell apart, since I've seen "can tell" more as a synonym of "to notice" rather than "distinguish" so I'm not fairly sure when using either. Thank you very much in advance for your time.

Just say thank you.

Hello everybody.

I'd like to comment one little feeling that I'm not sure whether happens only to me or is a bit more general. The fact is that I'm realising that when I write an answer to a question  in "answers" the less and less I can read a "thank you" for it.

As far as I'm concerned, I always appreceate that time that unknown people spends just to help me when I put a question, so I always say "thank you very much for your time or for your help". Even thoght sometimes that help mght be useless, anyway the important point for me is the time that those people gives me freely.

Of course I'll keep on trying to help people with their Spanish, I'm not going to be offended because the "thank" custom seems to be dying away for some people, but I think it is a real pity, mainly because writing  "thank you" has only took me 2 seconds. 

amenities, premises, facilities and installations Hello everybody. I'd be really grateful if you could help me to differenciate the use of this words that I sometimes find as synonyms. In this particular case I was looking for the most suitable word to define the set of parts which form a sports pavilion in the following sentence: I think it would be considered as a priority to renew all (????) of our pavilion including the gym and changing room. As I said at the beginning if you could tell me the different nuances between them it would be really helpful for me. Thank you very much in advance for your time.

Experiences and tips when tackling a language exchange

Try to prepare your interchange, ask for the need of your partner, and fit in their needs, of course that needs time to work but take your time.<o:p></o:p>

Make clear what you need about of an interchange, that is not just “improving a language”, think what kind of skills you need to improve, what’s the aim of your study: work, business, academic, travelling?, it is not the same practicing for an certification exam, for a work interview of just for getting by when travelling. That information might be quite useful for your partner.<o:p></o:p>

Be polite, and have empathy, it is a good way to make feel your partner confortable to think about what would you like was the behave of your partner with you.<o:p></o:p>

Fit the kind of content of your interchange to your level, I mean, just with an elementary  level I don’t think it is a good idea to try and do a rambling chat as you’ll constantly faced with vocabulary and expressions that you don’t know which unavoidably lead you to those hateful pauses and silent moments.<o:p></o:p>

In those cases I think it is a good idea to prepare a situation in advance and try and perform that situation after having had a look at some useful expressions and vocabulary.<o:p></o:p>

Don’t hesitate to explain what you need to your partner, even you can feel you’re giving your “rule list” and make you seem a bit stupid, do it tactfully of course, but if you don’t want your partner being constantly interrupting you in order to correct you, just say it.<o:p></o:p>

Don’t forget that the feeling of being making the fool of yourself when straggling with other language you are not fluent in is quite usually reciprocal, and the point of hanging around a place like this is that your not fluent in a language, obviously.

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Well, this is just a bit introducction so that we can have a starting point, therefore if you have experiences and advices that you think might make more profitable, amusable and confortable ther exchanges don't hesitate to give your point of view.

technology and education Could you please have a look on this text? Thank you very much in advance for your time. Hello my name’s _________ and I’m going to talk about education and technology. A couple of months ago, I read on the paper about the director of a school complaining government not having accomplished the promise of supplying with computers every single classroom at his school and considering that breach , as an unacceptable situation which according to him might be harmful for the future of students education. I must say that I wondered how everyone having studied before computers generation were able to get by without computers, I mean, how we could studying a degree, how we could become doctors, engineers, biologists? Of course this is a bit of sarcasm, but that piece of news made me thought about the actual necessity of computers at school. And how we might be being dragged by the quote “the new is the best, we need the new”....

Points in profile

As I see my profile I notice that I have 720 point. Do you know what those points are for?  Do they have any usefulness?

Thank you. 

audio libro: Don Quijote de la Mancha

Dado que este año se está celebrando los 400 años de la muerte de Cervantes, por si algún curioso de la literatura española le pudiese interesar, dejo un enlace a una excelente narración del famoso libro en formato mp3.

Hay que tener en cuenta que hay a menudo vocabulario sobre instrumentos o herramientas que no son habituales en la actualidad, pero en general la narración se realiza en un español muy claro y bien pronunciado.

http://www.educaragon.org/arboles/arbol.asp?guiaeducativa=41&strseccion=a1a68