Español

I’ve brought this subject up a few times but want to clarify it from my point of view. I’m probably wrong but am going to say it anyway cos it’s my blog.

We run into all assorts of Norteños who speak Spanish…. but they don’t, well… kind of… but not really. They try that’s the important thing.

When I see someone trying to teach Mexicans french

I thought that I had a handle on the language as we’ve been coming here for nearly twenty years. I know perhaps thousands of Spanish words, but do I speak Spanish… No! The ability to pull a complete, understandable sentence out of the maelstrom of your brain is very difficult. I often get it right but by the time I’ve vocalized it the conversation has moved on and I’m left thinking WTF. I do have a library of common sentences though and rely on them a lot.

First thing in a sentence, is it masculine or feminine? Next, the adjective comes after the noun. That’s easy if you know what an adjective and a noun are. What’s the difference between pero (but) and perro (dog)? How about por que (why) and porque (because)? And my favourite what about por and para (both mean for)? It can drive you crazy, or, you can find out what it’s all about and enjoy the language.

We were in Papa Gallo’s and I told the new waitress who spoke no English that I wanted a vino blanco and Rosalie wanted a margarita. A little later Rafa came to our table to confirm that I had ordered a margarita for Rosalie and a margarita with a glass of wine for me. We straightened him out and got our drinks. Later, I apologized to the waitress for my bad Spanish. “Lo siento señorita mi espanol es mal.” (Sorry señorita my Spanish is bad.)

Speaking the language is one thing but understanding it when spoken to me, is a whole new challenge. I try to concentrate on what people are saying and am finding that I can pick out individual words and figure out what is being said. one of the things holding me back is that they may talk back and I don’t understand. I try to have Rosalie with me most of the time to help me out but that’s not always possible so I have to wing it. Rosalie is great with this as she holds back and gives me time to try to figure it out for myself and only corrects me if I ask her to.

Omar is a great help. He speaks slowly and clearly and also has a little English. We think he has a lot of English but isn’t letting on. He was by a while ago, so we waved a can of cerveza at him and he visited for an hour or so to talk to us. As usual, I mostly sat back and listened to Rosalie chat with him and interpret for me. Two things happened: first I found that a lot of the time I didn’t need the translation as I got the gist of the conversation. Secondly, I found myself talking to him in full but small sentences and he understood me. I said what I had to say without thinking too much about it. Also, a few times I had to help Rosalie out. I even corrected her once but won’t do that again as she punches pretty hard.

And I think Spanish is confusing.

It’s a slow process and Mexicans say “Poco a poco” ( little by little.) As a lot of Mexicans here don’t speak English, I think it’s important that as visitors, we have some obligation to at least try to learn their language. We can get embarrassed sometimes by our misinterpretations But other than that, It’s a lot of fun.