Interesting that there was "0%" increase of Avg. Pubs. and less baptized in 2012 in Puerto Rico. Will be interesting to see how their numbers do this next year.
It just seems that their losing their Branch would impact their zeal.
Special Assembly in Puerto Rico Coliseum to annouce Branch Closure
by Calebs Airplane 14 Replies latest watchtower beliefs
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Aussie Oz
Its called a bad news sandwich
First they would have had a lovey dovey nice 'hi were from brooklyn and here is all the exciting developments'.
second would have been the bit about the closure
third they would have the shortened WT study all like nothing just happened
all the JWs would have gone home totally miffed.
Oz
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BluePill2
Aussie Oz. Spot on.
Gayle, you are right. This should impact the numbers. I know from personal contacts that the closing of Central american branches was a big mistake. Elders would personally visit the Branch to discuss problems. They have bad communication networks in rural areas (elders sometimes don't even have a phone) and they can't or it isn't in their culture to write letters. So it was pretty much standard to have regular visits from elders that had problems within the group or with the CO. Now with the branch gone, it will turn into internal fights and fragmentation. Wait and see.
During my time at Bethel I worked with several Spaniards, and it was always a thorn that the translation was being made in a "non castillan" country. They would always smirk and have that "poor-idiots"-smile whenever they found a strange translation. I guess the Puerto Ricans/Latin americans will be pissed now...
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RubaDub
I guess the Puerto Ricans/Latin americans will be pissed now ...
It has already been mentioned at our KH. There is definitely a different feel to the "Spain" Spanish writing style and words that are just not commonly used in North, Central and South America (exceptions are Argentiina, Uruguay an Chile).
One major difference is the use of the fimiliar plural verb form (vosotros) instead of ustedes. In "our" American Spanish, verbs are conjugated into 5 basic forms. In English, it would be 1) I, 2) you (familiar), 3) you (polite), he, she, it 4) we , 5) you (plural), they
However, in "Spain" Spanish, they have a 6th verb form, the familiar, plural you. In American Spanish there is just one verb form used for multiple people (ustedes) just as in English we just say "you" and do not differentiate whether they are friends or strangers.
It's something you notice IMMEDIATELY when a person talks. Sort of like in English, if a person says "thee" or "thou" .... we know the words but they are not used commonly by us.
It will be interesting to see if they "switch" languages in the new translating department.
Rub a Dub
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BluePill2
Rub a Dub: perfectly explained. I know that Witnesses from Spain and guys at the Branch hated to see those expressions. I think they will change this to Spains Spanish...wait and see. Spaniards can be very nationalistic and protective of the language. They refuse to use modern day words like "mouse" (computer) - other languages adopted the english word. They don't say "computer" they say "ordenador". The languages do differ.