Before I started on the World Race, one of my goals was to speak Spanish fluently. Now, 3 months into the World Race, my Spanish has improved, but I need to learn so much more. It has been frustrating some days to communicate with people. What I mean is that my Spanish is still basic. There were times I wanted to ask a deeper question to get to know people, but I couldn’t. Or there were times where I spoke the wrong word in Spanish and had some good laughter. The people in Central America are honored that you would try to speak the language. They welcome it so much. They might laugh, but are willing to help you correct your sentence.
Here are a couple stories / bloopers of learning a new language.
- Uber Car:
My teammates and I were leaving the mall in an Uber. As we got on the road, I wanted to make conversation with him. So I asked questions: how are you?, how long have you been a taxi driver?, and do you have a family? These questions were all in Spanish. As the conversation continued, we learned about his family and his son. He also had family in the USA. He wants to come to USA to visit his sister. Then we got talking about beaches and which one was better. CA or FL. Then, while talking in Spanish, I kept confusing beaches with plates. The Spanish word for beach is la playa. The Spanish word for plate is el plato. Similar, but different. My teammates had to correct me because the taxi driver looked a little confused. No wonder! I was telling him the plates in CA were better than Florida. Then I told him that he is a good dad because he cares so much for his son. Well somehow I spoke the wrong thing and he said “My dad is in heaven.” Oops! I felt so bad. He was fine with it and busted out laughing. All in all it ended well.
- Translation at the Barrio:
We were going out into the neighborhood to talk to the Transforma women and pray for them. Due to circumstances, a translator was not available. This gave a couple of us to a chance to step out in faith and speak Spanish with the ladies. Jamie, Gabby, and I worked as a team to translate English to Spanish and Spanish to English. Now I understand more Spanish but still struggle to speak it well. Jamie and I would translate Spanish to English. Then, Gabby would tranlate English to Spanish. At one house, I decided to step out and start asking questions in Spanish. I was trying to ask her, “How are the classes at Transforma coming?” Don’t really know what I said. The lady had a very confused look on her face. I tried to fix it and just confused her more. Finally we all just laughed and went onto the next thing.
These two were just a few of many stories where I was stepping out in faith and trying to speak the language. Then by stepping out and having conversation in Spanish, this has caused my Spanish to really improve. Will I make more mistakes? Yes, but learning a language is like learning to ride a bike-the more you practice the easier it comes. I am just thankful for the culture in Central America and the patience they have with me as I learn their language.
