Like the German oma and the Italian nonna , the Spanish abuela is a well-known name for a grandmother. It is sometimes shortened to a buelita , which literally means "little grandmother" and is often used as a term of affection. Abuelita is sometimes shortened to lita or litta. More informal terms that may be used include tata and y aya. In the Spanish language, many words use the -o ending for males and the -a ending for females. Plurals usually take the -o ending. Thus a grandson is nieto , grandchildren are known as nietos , but a granddaughter is nieta. Although Spanish is the most widely spoken language in Mexico, it is not recognized as an official language but instead is a national language, a status it shares with dozens of indigenous languages. The United States has the largest number of Spanish-speaking people after Mexico. Go to a page where you can hear the pronunciation of abuela.

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A group of elderly women from a village in northern Italy have long dreamed of seeing the sea. They tried posing for a calendar to raise the funds - but unlike in the film, it didn't work. Then one of their grandchildren came up with what seemed like an even more far-fetched idea. Everyone loves a real-life fairy tale, especially when it has a genuinely happy ending. The protagonists of this story are rather more mature than traditional princesses, although they do have names to rival Rapunzel, Cinderella and Aurora. Erminia, Iolanda and Armida are the leaders of a posse of grandmas and great-grandmas, who have just embarked on their first ever trip to the seaside. They call themselves the funne pronounced FOO-neh , which in their dialect means "women". Their average age is 80, many are widows, and the majority have never seen the sea.
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Nina Gualinga, Sarayaku resident and international activist on indigenous rights, traveling on the Bobonaza River, Sarayaku, Ecuador. Patricia Gualinga stands serenely as chaos swirls about her. She is adorned with earrings made of brilliant bird feathers and a thick necklace of yellow and blue beads. She has come here from Sarayaku, a community deep in the heart of the Amazon rainforest in Ecuador. Behind Gualinga, , people are in the streets calling for global action to stop climate change. Beside her, celebrities Leonardo DiCaprio, Sting, and Mark Ruffalo prepare to lead the historic march alongside a group of indigenous leaders. She motions to the throngs around her.
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