| Subject: Learn the lingo |
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Hi Ziners,
Happy New Year to all. When we were first married my husband
was stationed at Torrejon AFB. I had taken high school
French but knew very little Spanish I would sit in our
apartment trying to learn new words everyday and thought I
was doing quite well so my husband always had me talk when
we went shopping or out to eat. We went to El Corte Ingles,
the large department store in Madrid looking for sleeping
bags for our upcoming camping trip. They spoke no English in
Madrid so I had to do all the communicating. The man showed
us a red bag and a blue bag. I asked "Cual est mujer?"
Trying to say "Which is better?" He looked at me strangely
and asked if it was for la senora? I kept asking him the
same thing since my Spanish was very limited. We wound up
buying one of each since we couldn't get anywhere with him.
When I got home I looked up the word mujer and found out it
meant woman and I meant to say mejor. They were so similar
to me. He must have thought I was a strange person. I had
American friends visiting Madrid and they would ask for
helado (icecream) for their water when they meant hielo
(ice). People look at your strangely and don't realize you
are trying to say a similar word. We've hosted many exchange
students and a Swedish boy had learned British English and
he sounded so odd here. Talked about his pantaloons and
eating flesh and needing a rubber for school.
Carol Mueller in San Antonio TX |