It takes a lot of courage to release the familiar and seemingly secure, to embrace the new.
But there is no real security in what is no longer meaningful.
There is more security in the adventurous and exciting, for in movement there is life, and in change there is power.
Alan Cohen
"Outside of a dog, a book is a man's best friend.
Inside of a dog, it's too dark to read."
Groucho Marx
The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live.

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Habla Español ? Castellano?

Do you have any idea how annoying it is  to have people ask if we speak Spanish? 
When we are speaking it ... or so we thought.
Strangely enough, the taxi drivers understand me.

Waiters understand me .. sometimes we even josh around like old pals !

The housekeeper understands us .. or she is a totally good faker.
 The best was when we had plumbers here and they were trying to tell me what was wrong and what they were going to do.
 I had a little trouble keeping up .. so Nely would help ... she thought she was translating ? ... but she would repeat to me what they said .. in Spanish. 
I said,  "Nely, habla English?  and we would all have a  good laugh.

But we  understand each other ... somehow... and I am sure my skills at mime are now phenomenal. 
I guess if we ever really hit hard times, my husband can put me out on the intersection and while everyone sits at the red light, I can do a mime act with Pup.

Pup speaks Spanish just fine. He puts me to shame.

So we took lessons. 
We started out learning verbs and tenses and we didn't even know the words yet. 
It was torture and she went too fast ... maybe not for "normal" people but she would sit there with us for an hour and after she left, I would try to remember what we were talking about .. 
Thank God for my husband, he takes better notes than I do .. 

But even notes don't help, I can't pronounce things that well, I know the word but no one can figure it out,  until I have said it , oh, say , 10 times ? then all of a sudden, they repeat it back to me ! 
Yes !! that is what I said !! Ohhhhhh ....

I want to be able to go to the movies, not the English speaking ones!
I am reading Spanish much faster, my hope is that while I still have eyesight and some wits about me, I can someday go to see a French film and read the subtitles ( in Spanish) .. yes, I can dream ..

Of course, I can speak pretty good Menu and Grocery and Shopping.
Other than that ... I am pathetic.. although, I do give some people a laugh and what is better than making people smile?


A mother mouse and a baby mouse are walking along, when all of a sudden, a cat attacks them.
The mother mouse goes, "Bark!" and the cat runs away.
"See?" says the mother mouse to her baby. "Now do you see why it's important to learn a foreign language?"














3 comments:

  1. I loved your little joke at the end!

    Some of us, I honestly believe, have a more innate ability to learn languages than others. The reason I chose my high school was because when I toured it, they had a language lab I saw, and I fell in love immediately, despite the fact I'd never studied foreign languages before! I went on to take 4 years of French AND a year of German while in high school. For spoken/conversational stuff, I would rely heavily upon listening to recordings. But having said that, we all learn differently, so what works for me might not work for you! Sorry!

    ReplyDelete
  2. After 20 years in USA I still have the same problem!!! LOL!!!

    ReplyDelete

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