Apparently Costa Rica is becoming the India of the Spanish-speaking world, as Amazon opens up a new call center there. The call center is the next step in Amazon’s increasing efforts to woo Latin American customers.

If you ever had one or two years of Spanish, French or German in high school, you may recall that these languages have two ways to say “you” – one formal way for people you do not know well and one informal way for friends, family and children. While speaking English in Europe you may never realize that this distinction exists, but it is important to understand the concept nonetheless.
Indeed the general concept applies also to Asia where, for example, whole sentences in Japanese will be different, depending on what level of politeness you need to use. Remember that old …read more