Speaking Spanish: Fun . . . or Just Funny?

I started writing this as a short reflection about something "important" that I've learned here for the unstructured portion of my reflection I have to do for IU. But it became this LONG entry and it's pretty funny!

One of the most important things I have learned in my time here is how much I absolutely love speaking Spanish with other people. It is often very difficult. Sometimes I even feel lonely and left out because of all the Spanish around me that I don’t understand. But whenever I have a conversation with someone in Spanish, I just feel so invigorated. I feel cultured. I feel like I am doing something special. The longer I’m here, and the more I study the language, the easier it gets to converse with people, and the better I feel about it. On top of this, there have been a few times where I have actually translated what people have said in Spanish so people who only speak English can understand it. This made me feel very good about my ability.
I just relish every time I speak Spanish. Even the smallest things like “¿Cómo está?” [How are you?] and “¡Qué calor!” [It’s so hot!] are fun to say. Even the most mundane conversations are enjoyable. For example, today I went into a store to look for new sandals, since mine are falling apart. I had a short conversation with the salesperson about how they didn’t have my size and asked if there were any other stores with sandals. She didn’t know. But, just being able to talk like this made me feel great. At times it can be scary to go out into the world of a foreign language, but it’s worth it for the times that you really are able to converse with another person, even if it’s in jumbled language.

One more thing: it’s amazing how important pronunciation and accent is. As I have said before, accent is very important. It’s amazing the confusion pronunciation and accent can cause, even if all the right words are there. I’ll give one or two examples from each side of the language barrier.

From my side of the language barrier:

There was a fútbol game this Wednesday between Costa Rica and El Salvador. A few days before, I asked one of the brothers, Max, in my host family if El Salvador was playing (since I wasn’t sure at the time). He responded by saying, “No, está al Miercoles” [It’s on Wednesday]. I was VERY confused as to why he said this. We went back and forth a few times until I finally realized what the problem was. He thought I said “Sábado” [Saturday] when I said “El Salvador” because I didn’t pronounce the country’s name quite right.

Another example happened the same night. Max asked me, “¿Por qué la bola rueda?” I had ABSOLUTELY no idea what he asked me. But then he said, “Porque está sucia,” which I know means “Because it is dirty.” But I didn’t understand the question at all so I asked him to repeat himself. He did. I still didn’t know what he asked me. So I asked him to repeat it again. I STILL didn’t know. This went on for about five to ten minutes. I felt very embarrassed that I didn’t know what he said, but he was mumbling the words so much! When I realized what he was actually saying, I STILL didn’t understand because I didn’t know what “rueda” meant. But finally, I realized a few things. First of all, it was a JOKE that he was telling me. Second, mumbling was actually important part of the joke. Third, I realized it was a joke because of a double meaning. Now, this was just so difficult for me to understand because I didn’t even know ONE meaning, let alone TWO. After much breaking down of the sentence and awkward, difficult explanation in Spanglish and Engspan, I FINALLY understood. The original question means, “Why does a ball roll?” The funny part is that in the lazy drawl of a mumbling Costa Rican, the question also sounds like, “¿Por qué lavo la rueda?” which means “Why do I wash the wheel?” to which the answer, “Because it is dirty” makes sense. YES! And then, after about fifteen minutes of analysis and awkward discussion, I laughed at my first official Costa Rican joke. Man, that’s gotta be one of the longest delayed reactions to a joke that short on record.

From the Spanish side of the language barrier:

A few nights ago, I was watching Die Hard 2 with Max. We were watching for a while when suddenly, Max said something that sort of sounded like, “Very junk.” I didn’t understand why he said this, so I asked “Junk?” He tried to clarify it by saying, “He is very junk.” I was still confused but I thought perhaps Max didn’t like Bruce Willis as an actor. I asked again and he accentuated the word and I finally realized what he meant: “He is very young,” to which I replied, “Oh! Yes he DOES look young in this movie.”

This next story actually has more to do with grammar than accent, but it’s still funny. I was sitting in the living room with one of the other brothers of the family, Javier. Most of the time, I am wearing my flip-flops (99% of the time, actually). However, this night was a rare occasion where I was actually chilly, so I had my sneakers on. Javier looked at me, pointed at my shoes and said, “I like his shoes.” I thought this was a little strange, but thought that maybe mine were similar to Max’s, who was in the other room. Or maybe he didn’t really mean to point at my shoes. But I asked him what he meant and he pointed at my shoes again and said the same thing again! Here’s a basic rundown of what was said (it’s like a Costa Rican version of the “Who’s on first?” routine):

Javier (pointing at my shoes): I like his shoes.
Me: Huh?
Javier (pointing again at my shoes): I like his shoes.
Me: Whose shoes?
Javier: Huh?
Me: Whose shoes do you like?
Javier: I like his shoes.
Me: You like Max’s shoes?
Javier (pointing at my shoes with a bit more force): No, I like HIS shoes.
Me: OH! You like MY shoes!!! Thanks!

After that encounter, I explained that he should have said, “I like your shoes.” All the confusion was fixed and we laughed about it. I realized the problem: in Spanish, “sus zapatos” can mean either “your shoes,” “his shoes,” or “her shoes.” He probably just got this mixed up and as a result, said “his” instead of “your.” Man, I love all the funny confusing stories. The best thing is that they happen on both sides of the language barrier, so it doesn’t make me feel really stupid. The most important thing is to laugh about it!