Photo by Orin Optiglot (CC: BY-SA)

In South America, people say: “We are the good; you are the neighbor.”

But not in 40°43'N 74°00'W.

Quite unexpectedly, Nueva Ciudad is the only place on this planet where

Bolivar's dream came true.

Because in here, the questions who is good, and who will be the neighbor –

up to the landlady.

Everyone feels that the transition period is about to be over.

Very soon Hispanics will move their smartest individual into the Gracienda and set their rules of the game.

Not for a very long time, of course. The South-Asian Super-Achievers already breathe them in the neck.

What is important, we are lucky to live in NYC in these particular decades and have these kinds of archetypes.

It's hard to explain why there are no such things as Portuguese-philes.

They seem like the same people, live on the same peninsula, have an elegant capital, a stable homogenous nation, but – no national character at all.

Other Spanish neighbors do have a national character, but as all Europeans complain: “There is something very Vichy about it.”

Anyone who dreams of visiting Paris, should not forget that this city is populated with at least two million Parasites.

But forget about all of them.

The important question – is that legendary Spanish largeness of spirit such a hard act to follow?

Ethnological studies are saying this spirit is made of three basic components: Gothic Pride, Moorian Melancholy, and Sephardic Superstitions.

Which means that anyone who has Jewish, Arabic or German blood in its veins may already consider himself partly Spanish.

But nobody can become the 100% Real Thing without knowing what they all know.

La Lengua.

It is not just one of a tool to learn the world or a way to accelerate your career.

In the First City of the World it's a sign of being cool.

The good thing is that Spanish is a quite easy tongue, especially for New Yorkers.

An old Peninsular proverb is saying: “When the God wished to punish the devil,

he made him study Basque for 7 years.”

But according to Leo Tolstoy, any average person can learn any language

in three months.

Even that bizarre Caucasus-related remnant of the cavemen vernacular, a.k.a.

The Most Difficult Tongue in the World.

With one particular condition: The language you study has to be a Language of Love.

Photo by Felix Francis (CC: BY)

Maybe this is why according to the Gotham statistics, the old NY phenomenon – IBM (Italian By Marriage) is now being replaced by the newest NY factor –

LBD (Latino By Dating).

In other words, anyone who wants to be a real hip XXI-century Gothamist has to study Spanish. Or at least help somebody in doing that.

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