I was in Spanish-speaking countries for nearly all of my first 3 months abroad.  Spain, Chile, Argentina.  Although I have had nearly 4 years of formal Spanish classes and have lived in San Diego for 7 years (bordering Tijuana,) nothing truly bridges the gap like being put in a situation where you are  forced to use another language to communicate.  My Spanish has significantly improved but I still have so far to go.

There is an interesting mindset in my family, among my siblings and myself, that we are horrible at second languages.  Each one of us has convinced ourselves that we just can’t learn a foreign tongue.  If these first three months taught me anything, it was that I can indeed learn another language.

In all my practicing, I found taxi drivers to be my niche audience for speaking Spanish.  They weren’t going anywhere.  I wasn’t going anywhere. It was perfect.  Plus most cab drives are like mini tour guides. They were proud of their city and were more than willing to rattle on and on, while I intently translated in the backseat. They typically had questions for me too:  Where was I from? Why am I traveling? What was my favorite part of the country?  This gave me ample opportunity to practice speaking in a low pressure environment.

One of the best pieces of advice I received from a friend in regards to learning Spanish was “Take it slow and use the words you know.”  AKA: don’t let myself get hung up on the fact that I may not have the exact vocabulary I need in any given moment.  This is exactly what I did. I used the words I knew even if I sounded like a complete fool. I made many mistakes.  At times totally cringe worthy mistakes.

One day, I was on a tour where we were wearing these heavy waterproof suits.  After putting mine on I yelled “Yo estoy caliente!! Yo estoy caliente!!”  I kept saying this until a kind woman informed me that the correct usage would be “Yo tengo calor.” By using ‘caliente’ I was essentially screaming “I’m so hot! I’m so sexy!”

Yikes.

Another point, I couldn’t think of the word to use for “to go” or “take away.” My friends and I were taking food back to the hotel for our friend who stayed behind. I knew the phrase was ‘para llavar’ but for whatever reason the waiter couldn’t understand what I was trying to convey.  Finally, I said to him in Spanish ‘My friend here would like to eat one hamburger in your restaurant and one hamburger in her house.”  ‘Ohhh para llavar!” the waiter exclaim.  YES!  PARA LLAVAR! It was probably the most round about way to get my message across but ultimately it worked and that’s all that really matters.

The last time that really stands out was when I was chatting with the front desk staff at a hotel. The word for ‘a drink’ is tomar, the word ‘to drink’ is beber and the word ‘to touch’ is tocar.  After a long bus ride one day I was checking into my hotel and asked the man “puedo tocar el agua en mi habitacion?”- “can I touch the water in my room?” I obviously meant “can I drink the water in my room?” I was thinking ‘tomar’ instead of ‘beber’ but said ‘tocar.’ He looked at me confused and said “Uhhh si. . .”  It wasn’t until I was up in my room that I realized my error and what I had said!

The whole experience has made me sympathize with the students I worked with on a daily basis (well, when I am working on a daily basis and not taking a year’s sabbatical.) These students have language problems for various reasons.  As a speech language pathologist I feel like I have a fairly solid grasp on the English language. I can say what I want to say when I want to say it.  To be put in situations where it is difficult to communicate can be so frustrating.

Instead of getting totally frustrated, I checked my ego at the door and talked away.