English to Spanish

When I first moved to Madrid, I didn’t really know Spanish. I thought I knew Spanish, but I really didn’t. And even when I did know the language, I still didn’t always use the right words. I’ve seen hubby go through the same exact thing as he’s learned English. Making mistakes are part of learning. And learning to laugh makes it easier to keep from getting frustrated. Here’s a few of our innocent, yet fun mistakes:

English -> Spanish

1.       I was leading a class at church, and I told them that “I want to bless you.” One of the boys in our class stared at me and asked if I was allowed to do that. I meant to say “I want to welcome you.”

2.       On a picnic with a bunch of friends, one of the girls asked if I had ‘vasos’ (cups) and I handed her ‘pasas’ (prunes)

3.       When I was teaching children a song for church, there was a phrase: Cayen los grillos. I knew grillos to be a cricket, so I taught them that it was about falling crickets. Turns out grillos can also be shackles, which makes a lot more sense to the song.

4.       I also taught the children that the foolish man from the Bible built his house on oatmeal instead of sand.

Spanish -> English

1.       We were talking to a friend who was going home after an extended time away, and he said that he was excited to go, but sad to leave. Hubby placed a hand on his shoulder and said “it’s sour cream, isn’t it.” He meant to say bittersweet.

2.       Whenever someone does something impressive, hubby’s first response is “Excuse you!” it’s a phrase they use in Spanish, to show that you’re impressed. Now, it’s kind of our family’s catch phrase whenever we want to congratulate someone.

When we were teaching Sunday School to a bunch of four year olds, hubby was supposed to give directions, and since he has a thick Spanish accent, he tends to put an ‘e’ in front of words that start with ‘s.’ He was trying to get one little boy to go forward, and started yelling “Go e-straight, go e-straight!” and of course, the poor kids, who didn’t understand his accent, yelled “go e-straight” right along with him.

How about the rest of you? Any fun stories about learning another language and making mistakes along the way?

First Date with Electronic Translator

Today I’m going to tell you a love story. It’s my own.

I moved to Spain almost immediately after I graduated from High School. I lived there for two years while I studied international nursing. I was determined not to fall in love or get married until after I finished college. Famous last words, right?

Within my first few weeks in Madrid, I met a tall Bolivian. 

Unfortunately, we weren’t so impressed with each other. I thought he was making fun of my very poor Spanish (which he claims he wasn’t) and he thought I was way younger than I was, and thought I was trying to sneak into the older Sunday school group.

As we got to know each other, even though we didn’t speak the same language, we realized we definitely had a connection. We could make one another laugh without speaking. Finally, he worked up the courage to ask me on a date. Except, since he sent me a text, and I had to translate it, I thought he wanted to meet. I didn’t even realize we were dating until a few weeks later.

The first time we met, we went to a beautiful plaza in Madrid, called Plaza de España. Since he didn’t speak English and I didn’t speak Spanish, we had a very fractured conversation, consisting of mostly typing into an electronic translator and transferring it back and forth. After a few hours, we walked into the palace gardens where there was an abstract art show, and being the helpful person he is, my husband insisted on making me describe what I thought each piece looked like, in Spanish.

It took us several weeks before we could have a semi-fluent conversation and even longer before we could converse without difficulty. Because of the language barriers, we learned how to read body language and expressions very well.

It was slow, and sometimes tedious, but it was worth it. When we moved back to the US, we went through the same process as he learned English. Except I was much less patient with him as he attempted to learn English.

It’s amazing how some people think not speaking the same language is a hinderment to communication. There’s so much more that goes into communication, often words can be ineffective. I’ve found that when speaking, I don’t know the right words, and find myself stumbling. Maybe it’s better to focus on the nonverbal cues, so we can get to really know a person.