I Speaks Spanglish

Coming here I knew that I had a ways to go on my Spanish… My brothers in Magdalena confirmed this :) I was often teased for the way I said things or the words I chose when I just didn’t know how to say what I wanted to. The people here are very gracious and are willing to work with my poor language to understand what I’m trying to say. I’ve been learning more Spanish every day but not without mistakes! Here’s the best of my blooper reel ;)

I wanted to describe something as “slow”. I used the word “lente” where I should have used “lenta”. “Lente” means lens.

My host family said that American girls bring a lot of clothes to Guatemala. I jokingly replied that that is because we don’t want to have to wash them. Enforcing the stereotype of American girls they get from TV, I said it’s because we don’t want to wear them. Wash is “lavar” wear is “llevar”. Oops.

Apparently old people here don’t like to be called old! The correct term for “casa para personas viejas” (old folks home) is “asilo”. I think I prefer “old folks home” over a word that means “asylum”.

“Letreras” of the alphabet? No such thing. Letreras isn’t even a word. The word is “letras”. A B C…

Muscles tight from working out? You should “flexionar” them. I was “estrechar-ing” my muscles… which isn’t possible. Typical Spanglish!

Me – “I love the tortillas ‘fresas’ here in Guatemala!” Host brother – “The what??? HAHAHA!” Yeah, I guess the idea of strawberry tortillas is pretty funny and they probably wouldn’t be as good as the tortillas “frescas” made by hand that we enjoy at meals.

Tortillas frescas

To me, Greta and I are “nosotros” (us boys) instead of “nosotras” (us girls).

I saw a procession going down the road honoring the “Virgen de Candelas” (Virgin of Candles). It was pretty interesting. My host family thought it was even more interesting to hear my account of the “Virgen de Canelas”! Anyone else celebrate the Virgin of Cinnamon? No? Just me I guess. 

Virgen de Candelas

Host Family! Silly host brothers that tease me for my Spanish!