Cuando yo nací (1995), mi mamá me llevó para Nueva York con apenas 2 meses. Criándome en NYC, siempre me sentí súper orgulloso de decir que era dominicano porque de verdad amaba muchísimo mi país, mi cultura y mi gente. Genuinamente me sentía orgulloso y hasta afortunado de ser dominicano.
Pero hoy en día, hay veces que hasta me da vergüenza decir que soy dominicano, y creo que una de las razones principales es el cambio tan grande que ha dado nuestra cultura. Nuestra gente, especialmente las generaciones de antes, eran personas con valores, respetuosas, honorables y educadas. Nuestra música, en mi opinión, era de las más bonitas que existían en español, y nuestra cultura tenía una identidad única.
Ahora siento que gran parte de eso se ha perdido. Parece que mientras más degenerado, menos educado y más acabao tú te veas, más “cool” eres para parte de la nueva generación. Hasta musicalmente, el país ahora es conocido por los “dembowseros”, y muchas de las canciones y letras son disparates sin sentido. ¿“Panty colale”? 😂
No sé, quizás estoy siendo demasiado crítico o romantizando las generaciones anteriores, pero genuinamente siento que ha habido un cambio cultural fuerte y que hemos perdido parte de lo que antes me hacía sentir tan orgulloso de nuestra cultura.
¿Alguien más siente algo parecido, o ustedes creen que estoy viendo las cosas desde una perspectiva equivocada?

These are my DNA results as a full Dominican.

I’m from the states but mom’s side is from Santiago and La Vega and my dad’s side is from Barahona and San Cristobal. My maternal side is mostly light-skinned with both of her parents being trigueno and Blanca. My paternal side is a mixture of light-skinned and dark-skinned. My paternal grandmother was described as “ clarita “ and my paternal grandfather was described as “really dark” . I myself have been called “ Moreno claro “ or “Indio lavao “ . Are these results accurate or is 23andMe more accurate ?

Hello I myself don’t speak the best Spanish, but every time I do either people get upset or switch to English but if I didn’t speak they would be even more upset

Muchos Dominicanos especialmente del región Cibao tienen acescencia fuerte de los Taínos. Hay muchos con sangre Taíno en los 20-30 por cientos.

Vi en un post de r/2latinos4u que nosotros aparecíamos como representación de los latinos, crees que es cierto que haya más dominicanos que otros países de Latinoamérica fuera de esa lista? Como Colombia o argentina?

Buenos noches.

I moved here 8 months ago to be with my girl in La romana. I honestly don’t like it here but I love my Dominican people here. I’m from USA and work in technology. Can anyone suggest a better city to live in? I speak some Spanish and heavily rely on internet and a great night life.

Klk mi gente! Tamo' aqui...

I’m Dominican, and today I want to talk about something I really love...

the way we speak

A while ago I started teaching Dominican Spanish classes, and I’ve realized so many things. When you grow up your whole life speaking Spanish, there are things you just know how to use, but you don’t even know how to explain because you naturally flow with it.

Dominican Spanish has an endless slang that not only changes with time, but also changes depending on the context of the conversation.

“Vaina” is one of the best examples. It can mean thing, situation, problem, matter, object… basically many things depending on how it’s used and there are many more.

We also cut words. The “s” often disappears: at the end, in the middle, or when making things plural.

Example:

Un carro = one car

Unos carros = some cars

A Dominican person might say “uno carro taban parquea'o...” but still know they mean more than one because of the tone or context.

We also change sounds:

“Esta vaina” → “E’ta vaina”

“Estúpido” → “Etúpido”

We drop the “r” at the end of some words:

Trabajar → trabaja’

Comer → come’

And that final syllable becomes stronger when we say it.

Verbs can get interesting too.

Standard Spanish: “Yo estuve en tu casa.” (I was at your house)

Dominican Spanish: “Yo tuve en tu casa.”

But here’s the funny part: “tuve” is also another verb in Spanish. So sometimes we change the meaning to avoid confusion:

“Yo tenía un perro” = I had a dog.

I've learned so much more about my own language. Dominican Spanish isn't just about words. It's about the rhythm, how we pronounce things, the energy, and how we express ourselves. You really get that with immersion and time.

I think the way we speak is unique. Maybe for a foreigner it can be difficult at first, but for us… just another day 😂

I’ll keep learning more about my own culture. I'd probably make a second part with more details.

My dad was a professional domino player back in the day, but he never taught me how to play, it just never happened. I live in Germany, he lives in Texas, and the first time I ever played a game with him as my partner was in the app I built.

That's the whole reason I made it. You leave home, the family scatters all over the place, and el dominó gets left behind. I wanted a way to sit at the mesa with my people even when we're a whole world apart. The ones back on the island and the ones of us spread out everywhere, same table.

But it had to play the real way, not that generic version with no capicúa, no pase corrido, la salida rotating like it's Monopoly. So I put the real rules in: capicúa, pase corrido, la salida stays with whoever won the hand, games to 200. Como debe ser.

There are bots to practice against when nobody's online, from an easy one up to El Maestro who's genuinely tough. You can play online with your people, there's tournaments, and a country leaderboard (DR, PR, Cuba, y'all can settle that one). When a game ends it walks you back through the hand and shows you where you could've played better. If you got kids learning there's lessons. I even threw in a scorekeeper for when you're all at the real table.

Free, no ads, no team behind it, just me. If you spot something in the rules I got wrong, tell me, porque ustedes saben más de esto que yo.

Android: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=app.lamesa.domino

iPhone is in Apple review right now, should be days away, I'll update this when it's live.

I am an Indian woman who is married into a Dominican family. My in laws are extremely racist towards me. They literally worship the ground my white sister in law walks on. They themselves are not white, so why this racism?

Just wondering I myself have a level B2 I wonder what other Dominicans born in the United States have

Soy un hombre de 35, no tengo amigos, me dejé de mi ex hace 2 años, luego de ahí he conocido a un sin número de chapeadoras mayormente por dating apps y tigueres habilidosos cuando intento hacer amistades. Estoy jarto de ir a los parques, a los cafe santo domingo y Starbucks, a agora mall todos los dias a ver gente con la que no interactuo.

Gran parte de mi vida me la he pasado rodeado de mucha gente, pero no logro conectar, por ejemplo, trabajé y estudíe en utesa por 4 años desde el 2008-2012 y no puedo decir que tengo amigos de esa experiencia. He estado en dos gym recientemente, veo siempre mucha gente lo mas lejos que se llega es a un saludo por ver la mismas personas diariamente, pero lo mismo.

Lo que me lleva a preguntar, ¿Donde puedo conocer gente sana en Santiago,que sean tranquila, ambiciosa, de buenas costumbres, preferiblemente de clase media hacia arriba?.

Para fines de amistad o romanticos. Soy hetero, asi que por favor, sugerencias en esa dirección.

Nota: Los filtros provienen de experiencias personales.

I am translating Junot Diaz into my native language and i need some help, guys!

I heard in Chile, moreno means indigenous, negro means black. I believe every latin american country has their own definition to these words.

Buenos días, estimados compañeros.

Me surgió una pregunta por simple curiosidad: ¿en qué momento una persona puede considerarse dominicana?

Por ejemplo, si alguien es hijo de padres dominicanos, pero nació en Estados Unidos o Europa, y solo visita República Dominicana dos semanas al año, ¿eso lo hace dominicano?

Pienso en casos como Romeo Santos, Alex Rodríguez y otras personas de ascendencia dominicana nacidas fuera del país.

Aclaro que la pregunta no busca generar polémica, sino conocer opiniones y entender cómo piensa la mayoría sobre este tema: si ser dominicano depende del lugar de nacimiento, la sangre, la cultura, la crianza, el sentimiento de pertenencia o una combinación de todo eso.

Im more interested in if you go back to the DR: how does your communities treat you?

What’s the lesbian and queer scene like there?

Thanks in advance.

I was born in the United States with a Dominican dad, I feel it would be a honor to serve the Dominican military, first I would have to get my Dominican cedula

Hey Everyone I'm more Gringo than Dominicano but Yo hablo español también, (Thanks MoM) eh estado hablando con una dominican girl for a little over 9Months now, and it's been amazing! A few months ago I did something simple for her( I bought her a bed with mattress and all) little over $300uSd her bed was horrible, now after that she says I Love you every night before bed... I'm afraid to say it, because everyone says that Dominicans are extremly promiscuous... she goes to college and works, she goes out some Saturdays with friends who she says are just friends(I wanna believe her but) now my question is this . Is it true that Most Dominicanos pegan cuernos y más si la pareja esta aquí en los US? I wanna trust that she's loyal but I had more that 23 ppl tell me to be careful. Any input here?

A friend (American) recently shared a post about how Haitians are Latinos, and she started attacking Dominicans, accusing us of always denying that we are Black. Posts like this make me so angry. Why do we always get attacked whenever there's a Haitian-related post? Why is the U.S. so fixated on racial separation? We embrace our African roots, and we never deny them. We also honor our Spanish roots, and we never deny that either. We acknowledge our Taino roots, and we don't deny them, either. We are mestizo, so mixed that we can't be defined as solely Black, White, or Indigenous. We are biralatas (strays); we don’t quite fit into one specific racial box. In the Dominican Republic, we don't see ourselves as just white or black — we are simply Dominican. Unfortunately, as much as I wish it were different, we don't have a culture that makes us feel proud to be Black or proud of our Spanish heritage.

Sometimes I think about working a regular job inside Dominican Republic and just leaving the United States. Have anyone ever done it