The Vaya Blog: Just A ‘Lil NYC Spanglish!

[ We're New Yorkers Too ]

We’ve noticed that many of the return visitors in our humble little blog are New Yorkers, just like us.  When we decided to rebrand and reformulate our approach to language services, Vaya was formed with the intent to focus on the specific needs of New Yorkers, especially here in the Big Apple. The unique environment that NYC offers lends to many interesting colloquialisms and a fusion of culture. It’s hard to keep track of all the trends that affect language and culture as a whole so we’re here to add a little order to the chaos.

We love New York City and we love meeting people in the area!

[ Spanish in New York ]

Spanish is a language that can be found throughout the world. In New York, arguably the world’s biggest melting pot of culture, there are many flavors of Spanish to be found. We hope that this blog combined with the resources available at VayaSpanish.com can help you better prepare for the challenges that come to surface when these distinct linguistic styles clash in the vast cultural arena that is New York City.

Honduras, Peru, Costa Rica, Uruguay, Mexico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Ecuador, San Salvador, Colombia, Argentina, Nicaragua, Puerto Rico… There are countless Spanish cultures in New York City. When we refer to the collective Spanish culture, it is clearly not limited to all things Spain. In a city that is a known to many as the world’s greatest melting pot of culture, it easy to see just how vast Spanish influence has spread throughout the world. Even in more remote areas of New York, there are manyLatin-American communities and pockets of Spanish influence. It’s an adventure at every turn!

Recognizing the many facets of Spanish, we at Vaya Spanish wish to share the many traditions, dialects, food recipes, drink mixes, and other reflections of the spirit of Spanish in New York City. Together, we can explore things that appeal to modern-day Latinos as well as traditional elements rooted in the Spanish language and collective culture. Together, VayaSpanish.com and the Official Tatiana Masis Blog will present to you all the things that, in some shape or form, contribute to the true, complete Spanish experience.

As we hope you will see after enjoying our ongoing content and interacting with our community, the Spanish culture in New York City is a strong microcosm of the global Spanish essence. Spanish truly is a great experience, not just a mere language. We hope to open new doors and fun experiences for native and non-native speakers alike. Being native New Yorkers, we notice lots of Spanglish and contemporary Spanish in speakers at all levels. One of our goals is to bring more of an awareness of these changes to all our students, supporters, and readers, with particular focus to the little intricacies that the city life introduces to every aspect of Spanish language and culture.

[ Spanish Meetups in New York City ]

Tatiana and Yomar, the content developers for this blog and VayaSpanish.com are both natives of Hell’s Kitchen (which is essentially the Midtown West neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan, New York City). We often enjoy meeting up at a quaint little place called the Coffee Pot or enjoying one of the many restaurants on ninth avenue or near Times Square. It never ceases to amaze us how many Spanish restaurants appear and stay in the area, while other restaurants come and go. There is just so much variety in Spanish food that each of them seems to offer something worth checking out. If you’re in the area, perhaps we can grab a coffee (or tea) and platicar a bit!