The Big News

Finally I am in sight of living a personal dream. Ever since the first time I went to Mexico I wanted to go to a language school in a Spanish-speaking country. My professors have always told me that the only way to become truly proficient in speaking Spanish is by studying abroad.

I have tried several times to arrange a trip, but either the money wasn't there or I could not arrange it with the university. But recently I got permission from my job and the university agreed to give me credit for the trip. That means I can put the trip on my student aid, which is sort of important. I will be going to Costa Rica, to a town called Nicoya near the Pacific Ocean, (look at the red arrow on the map).

Here's the website for the school:Instituto Guanacasteco de Idiomas

I will be leaving in the middle of July and coming back in the second week of August. Besides the four hours of Spanish classes Monday through Friday, I will be living with a Costa Rican family, and yes, I am going to go to the beach at least once....

Because the University will be giving me credit, I will have to keep a journal-which I would do anyway. I'm planning on keeping it here-that will keep it safe for the time being. I picked a great time to go,(although it will be hot)-there will be two huge festivals while I am there, a religious one and a week-long patriotic one.

So what are my goals for this trip? Well, besides the obvious one of speaking Spanish better and losing some of my accent there are some other goals. I want to finally feel more at ease around Spanish-speakers. I want to learn those social lessons that can't be learned in a book. I want to get rid of some of those remaining,vague feelings that they are the "other". I know that sounds bad, but if we are honest with ourselves we know thats part of learning language and culture. Truly identifying with a group of people does not come about simply because you can speak their language-there is so much more.

While in some way I wish I could go all around the country and check all of it out-I don't like being a tourist like that, that's the way to get road-ugly and just fill up your camera while only talking to people in restaraunts and hotels. I'm looking forward to being around long enough I can make real friends and really understand this part of Costa Rica.

I've already bought my ticket and my new passport will be here any day-more updates as they become available.

Juanito

Next Costa Rican Entry:Feeling Nervous About the Trip

¿Por qué se va?

Here's a very short story I wrote as part of a composition in Spanish Literature class. What's different about this is that I wrote it in Spanish first and then translated it to English. I think it sounds better in Spanish. It also feels more Spanish, if that makes sense. Click the comments for the English translation...

En mi vida ella era el sol. Cada día se me aparecía, brillante y cariñosa, lista de hacer cualquier cosa que fuera necesario para satisfacerme. Me sentía como un rey, y ella era la sujeta única de mi reino. Ella me cubría con besos, abrazos y se me daba a comer cualquiera comida que me gustaba. Después de un año con ella, pensaba que mi sol saliera cada día para siempre. Como muchos reyes en mi placer y contento me olvidaba que la lealtad de los vasallos no estuviera garantizada.
“Querido, salguemos a un restaurante esta noche, estoy cansado, no quiero cocinar.”
“¿Qué? ¿Piensas que soy un rico? ¡Cállate chica!”
“¿Por qué me tratas así?”
“Te trato en cualquier manera que lo que quiera-eres la mujer, soy el hombre.”
En sus ojos, las lágrimas comenzaban de fluir. Ella me miraba fijamente. No dije nada. Después de cinco minutos que pasaban como un año, ella se fue para siempre. Ahora el rey vive solo con su orgullo y nada más…

-John

Parent Teacher Conferences

Wednesday night I was asked to translate at a parent teacher conference at a local junior high school. It was a great experience, a real down-in-the-trenches translating job. Some of it was very hard, and some of it easy. Telling parents their kids are doing good in school felt good, but explaining to them how their hijos were failing to do their work felt kind of uncomfortable. It was such a change from the world of academic Spanish. I wasn't talking about "larger ways of defining the world around me", but the more everyday things like homework, tests and paying attention to the teacher.

Three or four times a week I get people who call the call center but don't speak English, but I don't get as much opportunity to speak to real native speakers every day as often as I would like, not like I did when I worked ten hours a day with native speakers.

On my way to the event tonight, I felt a little nervous. I was thinking,"It's been about six months since I did something like this, I hope I do ok." When I have doubts like this, I remember the only way anyone gets better at translating is to simply do it. Sure,you can go to school and drill verbs and vocabulary for hours on end. But unless you put yourself in situations where you have to stretch yourself, situations where there is a real possibility that you could end up looking dumb, without that kind of stress, you will always be stuck at the same level.

I think it's that fear of looking dumb that keeps many of us from improving beyond what I call, "Restaurant Spanish", ("¿Donde está el baño?" and "Más cerveza por favor"). As uncomfortable as it feels at the time, there is no substitution for real conversation. It's messy, it's a little confusing at first and it can be uncomfortable, like the times I had to tell parents why their child wasn't a good student, but even that was rewarding in a way. It was rewarding because they understood what was expected of them and their children. It was rewarding because my translation helped them to be a part of their child's education. I remember one lady I spoke to, she had a look that came over her face when she realized that her son had been less than truthful to her when he said he had no homework. This sly little smile that came over her face that unmistakably said, "Now I understand what's going on around here, and things are going to be different!" The look on her face made all the other uncomfortable feelings worth it.

-Juanito

"Dear Native Spanish Speaker"

Dear Native Spanish Speaker,

I'm almost afraid to write this. I don't want to hurt your feelings. You were one of the main reasons I decided to learn Spanish in the first place. I remember when I worked with you in the frozen warehouse at Troyer Foods in Goshen,Indiana . I remember memorizing all of the words for chicken and chicken parts in Spanish, pecho, costillas,piernas . I remember sharing lunches with you and the other guys in the lunchroom. You were a such a kind and patient Spanish teacher, except for the time you gave me a Habanero pepper and told me, "¡cómelo-es como un tomate!". I think my stomach lining has finally grown back from that day when I felt like I needed to swallow a fire extinguisher...

I remember the first time I went to Mexico and how everyone was so patient with me and helped me learn more. I always felt like you were happy that I was trying to learn your language and about your culture.

It's been about 10 years since that first trip to Mexico. I know a lot more Spanish, but my accent is still a little rough. I realize that many of you are second-generation immigrants from Spanish-speaking countries. I know many of you are as proficient in English as I am.

But I have noticed something negative about you lately that I need to tell you about. I've noticed this on more than several occasions, so I know I'm not just being over-sensitive. When I come into your place of business where Spanish is spoken, you will only answer me in English when I speak Spanish to you. When you call the call center I work at, and you hear I'm not a native and have an accent, you will only speak broken English to me. You know, it's ok to mix the two languages in order to communicate, no matter what our Spanish and English teachers told us. Some of you have as thick of an accent in English as my accent in Spanish.

Now I know my Spanish is not perfect, but it is understandable. I've interpreted for groups and even spoken before groups of people without an interpreter and have been understood. This is not just the rant of a bruised ego. I expected that you would know what its like to want to learn a new language and have people talk down to you when you try to communicate in your new language.

I can identify with your desire to not be pigeon-holed as only a Spanish-speaker. You have every right to be proud of your accomplishment in learning Enlish. I truly understand that it took a real effort to learn a language that has more words than other languages, is not phonetic, has hundreds of rules and a thousand more exceptions. That said, only speaking to me in English is leading to a different problem.

How will America ever become a multi-cultural society if we only speak English in public? More specifically, if no one is willing to speak to Gringos with less than perfect Spanish,(or Mandarin or Vietnamese or whatever), how will we ever change? How will White America ever change from the culturally-myopic society if you only speak English to us? Gringos will continue to tell everyone "y'all need to speak Amahericuhn only, y'hear?" as long as they are able to walk through their day-to-day world only hearing English as the only language spoken.

The fact that many immigrants only speak their language with each other only helps this ethnocentric ideal of a one-language-one-culture country. Many people in the rest of the world regularly speak two or three languages. They can comprehend more ways of speaking, thinking and seeing the world. If other Gringos were to start hearing their fellow Caucasians speaking something besides English-maybe they would start to doubt this idea. Maybe they would start considering that speaking more than one language is important for everyone, not just academics.

I know this is idealistic, but that does not make it any less true. Real social change in the dominant ideas of a society are not always changed by some large government program. Sometimes the government is the worst way to fix society's problems. The idea that each of us can be the change we want to see in society is still valid. The changes in how individuals relate to one another on a micro-level will eventually cause changes to society on a macro-level.

Sociological gobbledy-gook aside, we need to break down these walls between us and relate like we are all Americans, no matter what language we speak. America is like any physical organism, our diversity will make us stronger and more vital. That diversity is what makes us a great culture. Don't cut off the rest of America from participating in all that the Latino cultures have to contribute to our nation.

Su Amigo,

Juanito