Bolivia

Ana Duarte nº3

Samuel nº20
11ºB
Introduction
 Good morning everyone!
 For this oral presentation, the country we chose to speak about is
Bolivia.
 More precisely, we’ll try to teach you the way the society works is
Bolivia, the things you should and shouldn’t do, as well as roles of
men and women and history of this country.

City of Sucre, capital of Bolivia

About Bolivia
 Bolivia is a country of west-central South America.
 It is a multicultural country, and there’s estimation of almost 11
millions of people being multiethnic, including Africans, Europeans
and Asians.
 It was once the centre of the ancient Tiwanaku (Tiahuanaco) empire,
and from the 15th to the early 16th century it was a part of the Inca
empire. After the arrival of the conquistadores, Bolivia was
subsumed within the Viceroyalty of Peru, and it provided Spain with
immense wealth in silver.

Isla del Sol, Bolivia

Greetings
• The customary greeting is a handshake. Shake hands when meeting and departing.
• Close male friends may embrace.
• Female friends embrace and touch cheeks.
Socialising rules
 It is unacceptable to try to sleep with your date after the first night
out.
 It is not polite to be drunk in public and there is a new law that
forbids drinking in public places.
Gestures and Taboos
 Avoid using a finger to point, it
is best to use the whole hand
or just nod your head in the
direction your are referring to.
Gestures
 Putting your thumb in between
your middle and index finger
while making a fist is an
obscene gesture.
Taboos
Dress codes
 Men: conservative, blue, gray and/or brown colored suits with white
or light blue shirts and conservative ties.
 Women: suits, dresses, skirts and blouses.
 Jeans and shorts are usually not acceptable in the workplace.
Male and Female roles
 Machismo is very strong in Bolivia, and women are considered
subordinate. This puts severe restrictions on women's social and
work behavior.
 Men do the heaviest works and have access to better education than
women, allowing them to achieve better and superior works in
comparison.
 Women and girls are expected to do all tasks at home.
Time perception
 Bolivians tend to place more emphasis on people and relationships
than to the strict adherence of set schedules.
 Transportation services, such as buses, trains and even planes, are
often not on time.
Class rules
 The school year begins in February and ends in November. There are
winter vacation in July and summer vacations December-January.
Bolivia’s national holiday is Independence Day on August 6th.
 Grades are given on a scale from 1-100. A failing grade is less than
51 points.
 There are many different types of evaluations depending on the field
of study, the university and the professor.
Gift giving
 A gift given sincerely will be appreciated regardless of the value. The
intention is what counts.
 The recipient may not open gifts until after the giver has left.
 Don't give yellow or purple flowers, because they have negative
connotations.
Language
 There’s so much more than Spanish in Bolivia! And even the Spanish
that’s used in Bolivia has a lot of unique vocabulary and expressions
that you won’t find anywhere else.
 Here are two common Bolivian slang phrases:

“¡Anda a moler agua!” “Está pintudo.”

It means “Screw you!”, althought it It means “That’s amazing/great.”
literally means “Go grind water!”
Conclusion
 Having approached these informations about the society in Bolivia,
we can come to conlusion that the bolivians do have gestures and
taboos that don’t differ at all from those we portuguese people have,
and others that to us are normal and irrelevant but to them it can be
offensive. They also have some laws that imply somewhat a type of
strictness related to living in society and transmiting a good image
to others. Bolivians have, naturally, their own expressions, and also a
different schedule (to which they don’t pay much attention to) since
they live in the other side of the world, of course.
 Thank you for your attention!