¡Despierta, América!

Question

Hola! For listening practice I watch some of the TV program, ¡Despierta, América! (Wake Up, America!) most mornings. It's kind of a Latino spin-off of Good Morning America, and the program is based in Nueva York, with a wide variety news & human interest stories about the USA. At this point it's mainly to get used to the way Spanish sounds to my ears. It's pretty entertaining even though I can only understand parts of it (for now!). One thing the presenters do often during the show is break into song & dance, which cracks me up.

I enjoy the Spanish versions of familiar commercials as well. I feel lucky that there are so many current Spanish shows to choose from here in the American Southwest. Does anybody (who has access to these) have any favorites that they enjoy watching? Which are the best for learning? Do you find it easier to watch regular Spanish shows, or dubbed-over films - since they tend to speak a little slower?

Answer 1

I enjoy watching Telanovelas. You can usually understand what they are saying with contextual clues if you don't understand. That and the story is basically always the same no matter which soap you're watching.

Answer 2

By saying ¡Despierta América! they are telling someone to awaken America. I wonder if this is what their producers had in mind.

If they want to copy the title "Wake up America," it should be ¡Despiértate/se, América!

Despierta - Imperative, sounds welll in spanish - Anormal, May 13, 2013

The SD translator said it was, "Wake up, America" (all three times) :) I'm not sure what they mean it to be. - Findy, May 13, 2013

I think with what you have there (¡Despierta América!), you are correct in saying that it is possibly telling someone to wake America up, however, with the addition of the comma it should be grammatically correct for "Wake up, America". - Vida_de_Scott, May 13, 2013

I agree, Vida. A comma can make all the difference! - Findy, May 13, 2013