You think you know Spanish when...

It is so funny how one minute I feel like I am really understanding Spanish well and then all it takes is one person speaking at normal speed (fast) with the use of a little bit of slang or specific words that I do not know (there are plenty of them, especially with the detailed technical tours we have been on) and I suddenly feel like a dunce.

I had the wonderful opportunity to talk with my sister on the phone tonight and I was explaining to her what this experience feels like, so I thought I would share it with the entire blog community as well.

For example, tonight I had a very nice dinner with my host family. The parents have four kids, three sons and one daughter. One of their sons is married so his wife was also at the dinner. Like many of your family dinners, the conversation was very lively and fun with the use of a lot of slang, inside jokes and reference to stories from the past. Occasionally, I would have the pleasure of "getting" a small part of what they were talking about, like the child birth of their oldest son, but for the most part, the entire conversation passed me by. I could also tell that the kids were making fun of their mom in a jesting kind of way, something my sister and I probably take too much pleasure in from time to time. This made me miss home and also realize that the culture differences were not so extreme. All of the GSE group members have commented at one time that family dinners in Argentina are very loud and lively as well as fun. I only wish I could understand better.

It is a very different experience, both good and bad to be a part of a conversation that you only understand part of. For me, it is very good in that it reminds me to slow down in life and not take for granted my English language skills. It also reminds me of the many immigrants and visitors to the US who people often look down upon because they do not understand what is going on and may not be following directions, or doing what is accepted as the cultural norm. I challenge you next time you see such a person to instead of becoming irritated because they are slowing you down or cutting in line or whatever it may be, to instead, in slow English, share with them what they should be doing or help them if they need it. Sometimes, in another country whose first language is not your own, it is so much easier to just do something and wait for someone to tell you it is wrong rather than try and figure out how to ask what is correct, in their native tongue. This is something that is hard for me because I do not enjoy being told that what I am doing is wrong, but again that is another growing experience.

Back to the dinner...and many other meetings, tours, instructions in Spanish. I find it very exhausting to try and keep up with a fast Spanish conversation especially when more than one person is talking at a time. I focus all of my energy on what is being said and trying to decipher the meaning of the message. If my mind drifts off for even a second or if too many words that I do not know the meaning of come at once, poof, I am instantly out of the conversation and have to mentally begin sprinting to catch up.

Let me tell you, this gives casual conversation a whole new meaning.

Today was a vocational day for all of us, so we all had quite different experiences. I spent the day with the lovely Cecelia who we have come to know and love. She accompanied me to a consulting firm who writes eLearning tools for large companies such as Pfizer. It was very interesting to see how one company has incorporated the core competencies of teaching, technology and business to help other companies to be successful. It was very refreshing to see some actual R&D being done in Argentina since the other technology places I have been to more just market a product made somewhere else in the world to Argentina.

The second meeting was with Bryan and Jen at an Engineering "club." We met with the President of the club as well as the District Governor of Rotary for about an hour and a half. When the President's cigarette was not smoking directly in my face, I enjoyed the conversation. It was definitely one of those conversations where it is hard to keep up with the Spanish, but I think, between the three of us, we got the jist of it.

Tomorrow, Jen and I are going to try running in the morning and then later we have a tour of the churches of BA and then a RC meeting at 9pm. I have still not been able to get the pictures from San Juan up but I have not given up hope yet.

Anyway, I wanted to share these thoughts with you.

Alecia