Yo hablo un poco de Espanol
Yes it’s true…all my work is (finally) starting to pay off!
A full year (almost) after arriving in Costa Rica, I am starting to get Just enough confidence to try my wobbly Spanish on unsuspecting Ticos.
Not that I haven’t used any Spanish….I habitually say Buenas Dias, muchos gracias, de nada and por favor. It’s not much, but at least it’s Something.
However, for whatever reason, this week I decided to stop being such a coward and give it a shot more often.
I am understanding a few words here and there now, when someone speaks to me, and I warn them that I only speak a little Spanish (that’s what the phrase in the title means) but I also try to throw the phrases I can figure out into the conversation…and it’s working.
My feeble attempts are being met with big smiles and a lot of patience. Yesterday I managed to have three or four conversations, usually in a strange combination of both languages, and I felt really good about it.
I’m starting to use the phrase “como se dice _______?” which means ‘how do I say_______? sometimes they will understand enough to fill in the word for me, sometimes we skirt around the unknown word with hand waving and mime, but it’s nice to be able to talk to people, even a little, in Spanish.
Twice yesterday the poor guinea pig with whom I was conversing threw me for a loop by asking me “Como se dice _____ en Ingles?”
I asked my waiter how to say “to Go” (para ir) he asked me how to say “mucho gusto’ (it’s nice to meet you).
The car dealer we spoke to asked me how to say “esposo y esposa” en ingles, (husband and wife). We managed to learn in a strange mix of languages that he was from Brazil, and we were from Canada. He asked how long are staying here, I managed to explain that we live here now. He asked how long. I said a year…and most of that was in Spanish. YAY!
Progress is slow, but there IS progress and the more I try, the more I am willing to try…not because I’m any good at it yet, but because my attempts have been met with such friendliness and encouragement.
When we first arrived and I found out that the local language is spoken so fast as to be undecipherable to me, I was really discouraged and I stopped trying for a while. Now know that I was going about it the wrong way.
Instead of just panicking and asking “Habla ingles?” I now say “Habla ingles? Yo habls solo un poco de Espanol” and we go from there. I’m not refusing to try, I’m simply letting them know I’m not fluent and they generally slow down to help me out.
It shows me once again what a kind-hearted group of people I have chosen to live amongst. If I’m brutally honest, I don’t think I have been nearly as patient or helpful when, over the years, someone approached me speaking a different language. It’s a little unnerving not to be able to understand someone who is speaking to you in a foreign tongue, so I have to give them credit for being so accepting of us.
I’m going to go practice some more…
Toodles for now and Pura Vida!