The Spanish Language

You must be wondering how the language is affecting us all, in our first few days here.

Lee has already been able to fit in, give a couple eye exams in Spanish and buy us new cell phones.  There are some times where we run into a mode of speaking that is different than Mexico that throws him off, but he is able to move about quite fluently.

 

As for me, I was very encouraged in church.  The first time I went to church in Spanish was when I was 16 and a foreign exchange student in Mexico for a month.   After the first hour my head was splitting and I had no idea what was going on.  Days later I figured out that the meeting was about the Law of Tithing.  Though my first experience at church here was really very encouraging.  I not only understood the theme, but also many of the different accents of people.  I would say that I am understanding near 80% of what is said.  I am still afraid to go out, everyone talks so fast and they use vocabulary that is not my standard church stuff that I know. At least I have been shopping a couple times.

Kaela is learning quickly, though often I am not sure how much she understands, it is probably more than I give her credit.  I’m not sure, because she won’t actually speak any Spanish.  She will say that she is thirsty and I will ask, “Quieres agua o leche?” (Do you want water or milk)  and she will look and me and say, “Milk”.  Or yesterday I asked, “Tus manos tienen frios?” (Are your hands cold?) and she responded, “They will warm up by themselves.”   She was a real trooper to be in nursery all by herself, all in Spanish.

I have a lot of things to learn.  For example, Lee had me go shopping by myself, so I could brace the waters and gain confidence.  I was looking for some detergent that was a for sensitive skin (both girls respond badly to strong soap) and I found something that said, “con agentes suavizantes” and I thought it meant with ‘gentle agents’ but found at home that it means ‘softening agents’.  Close, but not quite.  And I saw some orange juice, but when I got home, Lee told me it was ‘Refresco de naranja’ not ‘Jugo de naranja’, which means it is kind of like Tang or Sunny Delight and not orange juice.

There are some words that are different: bathroom is Aseo, not bano; peach is melocoton, not durazno.  I can’t think of many more because I really haven’t been talking with many Spanish yet.

Yesterday we walked by a sign that said, “Prohibido fijar carteles aqui” and I couldn’t figure out what it said.  I knew that something was prohibited, but ‘carteles’ sounds like drug cartels and I didn’t think they were saying it was illegal to sell drugs right there.  But today we walked by again and I realized that it meant you can’t post advertisements there.  So, in two days difference, things are making a little more sense.