When I first arrived here in Spain, I understood about half of what my host mom said.\u00a0 Often I would sit and smile, laugh when she laughed, say thank you when she served us food, and ask her questions about Spain (knowing that she would likely embark on a twenty minute telling of the Alhambra, the Albaic\u00edn, etc).\u00a0 After a week and a half, I\u2019ve worked myself up to seventy percent comprehension, which makes me both happy and relieved.\u00a0 Now, when my \u201cmadre\u201d asks me to unplug the heater, she doesn\u2019t have to demonstrate the action.\u00a0 Or when she tells me that the floor is wet, I will understand and not walk on it three seconds later.<\/p>\n
Walking on the streets is a lot more fun, because I can overhear people\u2019s conversations about novios (boyfriends), children, or the beautiful weather we\u2019ve been having.\u00a0 In a way, I feel like I\u2019ve cracked a code.\u00a0 Whenever I understand a passerby, I want to turn and say \u201cHa! Your language isn\u2019t that hard! I know what you\u2019re saying! I\u2019ve been kept in the dark for nearly twenty-one years, but I finally understand all you Spanish-speakers.\u201d (This would all be said in perfect Spanish, of course.)<\/p>\n
However, I thought I\u2019d share a story or two about some instances when I didn\u2019t quite speak correctly, or understand correctly for that matter.<\/p>\n
As some of you know, my bags were lost for a week and a half, so when I first arrived I had to wear the same smelly clothes (minus the few articles that I bought) for several days. One time, I was at a bar with my same smelly clothes, and the only purse I brought was a HUGE leather-like shoulder bag.\u00a0 The bartender came over and commented on my big purse, and I told him my luggage was lost so it was the only thing I had to carry around my stuff.\u00a0 (I brought a smaller purse, but it was in the lost baggage).\u00a0 He said he was sorry, and asked if I wanted a free Guiness shirt.\u00a0 Of course I said yes, because a) I would look kind of hard-core in a Guiness shirt (I hate Guiness, it\u2019s too strong for me) and b) I was really getting tired of my airplane clothes.\u00a0 So, he gave me the shirt, I said thank you and that was that.
\nMy host mom had been very worried about my bags and always asked if I\u2019d heard anything from the airline.\u00a0 So, when I returned home from the bar, I attempted to tell my madre that \u201cthe nice shopkeeper at the bar gave me this free shirt\u201d. I didn\u2019t know how to say \u201cbartender\u201d so I figured she would understand if I said \u201cshopkeeper\u201d.\u00a0 Apparently I didn\u2019t know that word either.\u00a0 The word for shopkeeper is \u201ctendero\u201d, but instead I said \u201ctenedor\u201d, which means \u201cfork\u201d.\u00a0 So my sentence came out like so: \u201cA really nice fork at the bar gave me this shirt\u201d.\u00a0 She laughed and patted my arm, saying \u201cbueno mi hija\u201d. I didn\u2019t realize what I\u2019d said until my roommate, Mary, began hysterically laughing next to me.<\/p>\n
Last night, my host mom was talking about how mine and Mary\u2019s Spanish is very good, and that she\u2019s been doing this for over twelve years and some girls who come and stay with her don\u2019t know a word of Espa\u00f1ol.\u00a0 We smiled, and thanked her for the compliments, as she continued to talk about our \u201cnivel alta\u201d (high level) of Spanish, and how it wasn\u2019t very hard for us to understand her, or for her to understand us.\u00a0 We politely argued to the contrary, as she told us how our Spanish was just going to improve with time.\u00a0 Ironically, during her entire speech about our language skills, she kept using this one word over and over that neither Mary nor I understood completely, throwing off our comprehension of the conversation.\u00a0 Of course we understood most of what she was saying, we understood the sentiment, but that one word kept springing out of her mouth, and striking us in the face with an ironic confusion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I first arrived here in Spain, I understood about half of what my host mom said.\u00a0 Often I would sit and smile, laugh when she laughed, say thank you when she served us food, and ask her questions about … Continue reading