Weekly Bilingual News

Dear Friends:

Hello! Welcome to the fourth Weekly Bilingual News of May 2011 with a brief analysis about how the globe was running during the last few days.

From the perspective of our comments posted in blogs in important online publications, you will have different images than normally you catch from TV or newspapers. The chapter of bilingual Vocabulary will help you in your conversation in Spanish and English.

NEW TECH BUBBLE: Journal Community of WSJ posted the following question for its members: "Does LinkedIn's successful IPO signal a new tech bubble?"
Our Comment: "We think LinkedIn is a new tech bubble, but we are not sure the enthusiasm is merited. The professional-networking companies are very important today. However it is not easy to value them for one IPO. We cannot measure the services of Linkedln using the classic algebra of 1 + 1 + 1… because its business model is a combination of different math equations. This makes more difficult the evaluation of its success or failure from the perspective of the external observers that want to count how many users it has, how much money could earn by connection, and what will be the time and resources requested by any kind of connection." (2011/05/22)

ARAB SPRING: Journal Community of WSJ posted the following question for its members: "Do you support or oppose increased U.S. economic aid to Middle East countries"
Our Comment: "Is the economy of U.S. overflowing in gold and precious minerals? Do we have money to sow everywhere despite all the economic problems of our country? We know Middle East and North Africa live a terrible moment, but these people will not solve their problems with a charity program. First of all, they have to learn to use their own resources and integrate themselves with other nations in harmony and peace. Second, we cannot teach the principles of democracy by buying the heart of rebels and protesters. We didn't buy the friendship of the Pakistanis despite the billions of dollars we sowed through the nests of the Taliban and al-Qaeda." (2011/05/21)

ISRAEL - PALESTINE: Journal Community of WSJ posted the following question for its members: "President Obama supports a two-state solution based on Israel's 1967 borders. Do you agree?"
Our Comment at the Journal Community: "From 1967 until now, a lot of events happened between Israel and Palestine. Who can erase 44 years of history by mandate? We think before the endorsement of the 1967 borders, both parts deserve a new constructive dialogue." (2011/05/20)
Our Comment at NewsHour of PBS: "We think both states – Palestine and Israel - have the right to have the own land, but we understand the argument of Benjamin Netanyahu. The Israeli borders before the Six Day War are indefensible." (Posted in the blog sector of the PBS Report "Netanyahu, Obama Meet Amid Disagreement on Path to Middle East Peace", May 20, 2011).

SYRIAN BLOODY SCENE: Wall Street Journal posted a story titled: "U.S. Imposes Sanctions on Syria's President" (2011/05/18) about the international punishment against the Syrian's regime due to the bloody repression of the street protesters.
Our Comment: "The situation of Syria is worsening. The blood stains its government institutions and leaders. Meanwhile more people emigrate from the Arab world to the western countries. But Europe and U.S. cannot assume the role of the "police" everywhere. The Libyan's civil war continues. In addition, the events from Yemen to Egypt show a very complex international panorama." (2011/05/18)

The main indexes of Wall Street closed the week in the negative territory. Dow Jones Industrial Average went down 83.71 points or 0.66% to 12512.04, while Nasdaq Composite fell 25.15 points or 0.89% to end at 2803.32. This was the third consecutive week that Dow Jones declined.

In summary, during the week the sexual scandal of Dominique Strauss-Kahn, former head of the International Monetary Fund was news everywhere. European and American politicians and economists asked themselves about the future of the IMF and the countries – Greece, Portugal, Ireland, Spain… - that need its financial assistance. Some French politicians feel "it is too much about nothing".

Across the world, the Arab Spring showed new dramatic pictures of the repression in the streets of Syria, the bombing of most important ports of Libya, new protests in Yemen and Bahrain, the borders dispute between Israel and Palestine, and the religious persecution of Egypt.

In the technology environment and the Wall Street's aisles the initial public offering (IPO) of LinkedIn shook to the observers. The stock of this young company opened at US$83 on the New York Stock Exchange, up 84% from its initial public offering price of $45, and giving to the company a market valuation of nearly US$ 9 billion.

LinkedIn is a professional social network company founded by Reid Hoffman in December 2002. In May 2003 it introduced its first English web pages in the United States. Now its services are available in Chinese, English, French, German, Japanese, and Spanish. It has more than 100 million users in 200 countries. In the fiscal 2010 year, it posted revenues of US$243 million and a net income of US$15 million.

In other news, the political campaigns for the U.S. 2012 presidential elections brought more announcements from the Republican arena. While Mitch Daniels - current governor of Indiana – said he will be out of the campaign, Tim Pawlenty, - former governor of Minnesota – announced his Republican candidacy for president. Another candidate: Herman Cain, businessman, author and talk radio show host, announced he is running.

Best regards,

Domingo

Domingo A. Trassens
Spanish-English Club
Electronic mail: domingo.trassens@gmail.com
URL: http://spaengclub.blogspot.com/

Questions - Preguntas:

1) From your point of view, what was the worst news for the week?
1) Desde vuestro punto de vista, ¿cuál fue la peor noticia de la semana?

2) And what was the best news from the week?
2) ¿Y cuál fue la mejor noticia de la semana?

Vocabulary - Vocabulario:

- aisle, aisles = pasillo, pasillos
- author = autor/a
- Bahrain, Bahraini = Bahréin, bahreini
- borders = fronteras
- bubble = burbuja
- businessman = hombre de negocios
- candidate, candidates = candidato/a, candidatos/tas
- dispute = disputa
- founded = fundado/a
- globe = globo, mundo
- governor = gobernador/a
- headlines = titulares
- market valuation = valuación del mercado
- net income = ingreso neto
- Palestine, Palestinian = Palestina, palestino/a
- persecution = persecución
- professional = profesional
- regime, regimes = régimen, regímenes
- repression = repression
- revenue = ingresos, ventas
- scandal = escándalo
- social network company = compañía de redes sociales
- spring = primavera
- stock = acción, papel bursátil
- talk radio show host = locutor de radio

SPECIAL VOCABULARY - VOCABULARIO ESPECIAL

Arab Spring = Primavera Árabe: The awakening of democratic movement across the Arab countries. Till now the main countries involve in the Arab Spring are Libya, Egypt, Syria, Yemen, Iran, Iraq, Tunisia, Bahrain, Jordan, Algeria, and Morocco. Some political observers also include in the group: Saudi Arabia, Sudan, Djibouti, Kuwait, Oman, Western Sahara and Mauritania.

IMF: International Monetary Fund = FMI: Fondo Monetario Internacional.

IPO: Initial Public Offering = OPV: Oferta Pública de Venta: First sale of stock by a private company when it is going to be a public company.

Six-Day War = Guerra de los Seis Días: The Six-Day War took place between June 5th and June 10th,1967. After a strong and fast offensive, Israel defeated to armies of Egypt, Jordan, Syria, and Iraq, and took effective control of the Gaza Strip, West Bank, East Jerusalem, Sinai Peninsula, and the Golan Heights.


MEMBERS AND LIBRARY CORNER

Thanks to Ann, Bob, Gaby, Erika, Lucy, Paul, Stephanie and Susan your messages about the previous Weekly Bilingual News.

 Geography of the Arab Spring: A mosaic of countries, regimes, cultures and history.
Geografía de la Primavera Árabe: Un mosaico de paises, regímenes, culturas e historia.