Favors from the dead, convos with kids, and offline access

Hello friend,

We keep the Dia De Los Muertos theme going this week with the Radio Ambulante story, N.N., about a Colombian town's custom to honor the anonymous dead. Then we share a pro tip for listening to Jiveworld stories offline, highlight the difficulties of conversing with children in a new language, and round up some good reads.

Featured story
N.N.

As part of a local religious custom, people in Puerto Berrío, Colombia, "adopt" an unnamed corpse — N.N. (ningún nombre) — buried in the town. They believe the deceased will grant favors in exchange for devotion and prayers. Soundbites from the Radio Ambulante story N.N. will teach you how to describe general beliefs, the (grammatically) correct way to wonder in Spanish, and why Colombians call people monos.

Want the full N.N. story? Subscribe to unlock our entire catalog of Stories and Soundbites.

Artwork by Miguel Monkc

Jiveworld tip of the week
Offline access

Jiveworld goes everywhere you do - on your tablet, phone, or computer. If you're planning a trip and want offline access to your stories for the plane ride, add them to your Study Later queue. Offline access works best when you install Jiveworld from the web — onto your phone or directly in your web browser — as a PWA (progressive web app). This will create an icon on your home screen or computer dock like an app.

Once you've clicked Begin story or marked study Later, the story will be downloaded in the background and cached by your browser. Double-check by looking for the Downloaded icon on the main story page (where you see the list of chapters). Your browser may periodically delete cached items (or you may manually clear your cache), so check the stories you want are available before you go offline.

ICYMI: The language of children

Is it harder to understand children speaking Spanish than adults? While conversing with kids may not require you to know complex vocabulary, their normal "kid-isms" can be extra challenging for language learners. Listen to the audio clip (taken from a Speech & Accents Soundbite from the story Juego de niños) in this short video for specific examples of mistakes kids make - like swapping consonants.

What we're reading

If you have questions about Jiveworld, ideas for tips to include in these newsletters, or an article to share, send us an email. We'd love to hear from you.

Thanks for reading,

Team Jiveworld