The Language

Before coming to Honduras I was talking with my parents about the language and how long it would take for me to adjust and become fluent. 

I think we pretty much agreed that it would take about 3 months.

It has now been 3 1/2 months.

In High School I took 4 years of Spanish, followed by more semesters in college and I ended up getting an associates in Spanish.  After university I didn't have a whole lot practice keeping up with the language until I met Marco.  He and I speak mostly Spanish to each other, but it is more of spanglish than true Spanish, a spanglish that we're accustomed to. 

When Marco would talk on the phone to friends or family in Spanish I had NO idea what he was saying.  I could pick up an occasional word here and there, but it was not the Spanish that I had learned in school.  A million miles a minute, slang thrown in there, words slurred together.

When I first got here I was pretty lost.  I constantly had to ask people to repeat themselves, or to slow down, or to use different words (ones that I knew). Some did, while others said the same thing, at the same speed, and I just smiled and nodded, clueless as to what they were repeating over and over again. 

One time some kids were talking to me and I said something back to them, one of the kids said to me that no one understood what I said.  I told him, and I think he understood, that I rarely understood anything that they ever said.too.

Fast forward 3 months... how are things going??

I hate Spanish.

Actually let me rephrase that.... Spanish makes me frustrated & depressed.  And I hate those feelings.  Ok.... maybe it's not THAT bad.  I definitely don't feel that way all the time, and I am learning lots of new words like "carne molida de res" which means ground beef.  Most of my new vocabulary involves going to the grocery store, or has to do with my kids... "gatear" means to crawl, which Cooper is all over.

When Marco talks to friends or family now I understand almost all of the words...

It's just making those words into sentences that is difficult.

When we were at Karla's in Tegucigalpa I would turn the TV to the news channel and read the ticker tape.  My goal was to read the words and form the sentences before they were gone from the screen.

The ticker tape repeated itself so I had multiple opportunities to figure out what was being said, so eventually I ended up understanding.

One of the most frustrating things for me is when the family is all gathered together and they are laughing and having a good time and I am completely lost, sitting there smiling like an idiot.  That's hard.  They are having such a good time and I wish that I could be a part of that, instead all I want to do is go and hide because my head hurts from trying to put all the words together into sentences.

Things aren't all bad.  Things are improving, and most of the people that I have met now know to slow things down for me, and if I look completely confused they'll try to explain in different words.

(In my high school Spanish class if we did not know the word we would have to use different words do describe our way around the word we did not know.... ie Birthday Cake - a sweet desert that you eat to celebrate the day that you were born.)

Maria & Spanish

Maria is a pretty amazing little girl.  Ahh... so wonderful and precious and adorable and smart etc, etc, etc.

I think she understands quite a bit of Spanish, I think she still knows more English, but her Spanish is definitely progressing.

Here are some words that she uses regularly:

salud = bless you (after someone sneezes)

venga = come on

vaya = get out of here

mira = look

bomba = balloon

Abuela/ Abuelo = Grandma/ Grandpa

zapato = shoe

nino = boy

agua = water

gracias = thank you

luz = light

oscuro = dark

Isn't she so super cool!!

I think so.

Here are some pics of her from a couple weeks ago...  She didn't have any bottoms on so that's why these are all of her tops.