Making Connections

My Jr. High Spanish teacher was probably cringing in her classroom during my entire vacation.

Why?
Because I was attempting to remember those two years of Spanish I was gone lol.
*exhales*
Unfortunately. Since it's been forever since I've taken those classes....
I don't remember much.
I mean, random words will come to me.
And short phrases.
But it's not like I can hold more than the "Hi, How are you?" "Good how are you?" "Good." conversations.

Yet, that didn't stop me from attempting to. lol.

I mean, there's a point where you kinda just....have to roll with it.

Especially when the conversation goes: (sorry
"Hola!"
"Hola."
"Coma Estas?"
"Bien y tu?"
"Bien! Habla Espanol?"
"Muy pequita"

And...that's where I would get into trouble.

I think with how naturally I responded with. "Good and you?" got a lot of the locals asking me. "You speak Spanish!"
To which I was like "Very little"
After all. It's Jr. High Spanish. lol.

O.o But for some reason the "Very little" seemed to translate into "Speak more to me!"
Because then the locals would start speaking Spanish to me.
And I'd give them the deer in the head lights look ()_()
"Lo Siento" I would say. (I'm sorry)
"No comprende" (I don't understand)

So they'd ask again in English "Where did you learn Spanish?" Or "Where are you from?"

To the first I'd reply "Escuela, Secondary Escuela" (School, Secondary School ((aka Jr. High)))
:S lol no idea if that's the proper way to say Jr. High...but I was trying lol.
A little bit of explanation with more mangled Spanish would help lol.

Yah....basically I ended up saying "Como se dice" (how do you say?) to help me learn the words I was trying to find, a lot.
That, and just used a mixture of Spanish and English.

Overall the locals didn't seem to mind my mangled attempts at conversation.
I think they appreciated that I was trying to communicate in their native tongue.
;) The guys there were for sure, complimentary on my speaking skills. lol. Either I was doing well enough that they didn't mind it. Or I was pretty enough that they didn't mind it. haha.

But. Ugh. *head in hands* Guys. Do you know how hard it is to try and explain a concept in a language you barely know? It's super hard.
Especially since I'm waaaaay more proficient in American Sign Language and so if I couldn't explain it in English what I wanted, and couldn't find the word in Spanish...I'd then try resorting to ASL to get my point across.
lol. Don't think it helped.

Still, somehow, at some one point I ended up becoming the Interpreter between my family and the locals as we haggled over prices in their stores. lol.
Good thing most of the Lingo was numbers. At least I can still remember numbers. heh. Still the conversations would drift into a mixture of Spanish and English from that point.

It also helped a bit, I suppose, that I spent all of college training to become an interpreter. So at least...I could gather information and try and explain back without becoming overwhelmed.

But yah.
I had a ton of fun. :) I really enjoyed talking with the people there and brushing up on my Spanish.

Really, it's inspired me to consider trying to relearn Spanish.
Perhaps with two languages under my belt already....it will make the stepping stones of becoming more proficient in Spanish easier than it was when I was 13....

Guess we'll see. ^^

Until you next read these words;
I'll be watching the leaves.
Enjoy the day!

-Sarnic Dirchi