The Pitfalls of Trying to Learn Spanish
Trip Start
Oct 22, 2008
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29
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Trip End
Jul 31, 2009
San Jose, Costa Rica
Saturday, January 3, 2009
The scene: We are in the grocery store. I am planning to make mulligatawny for dinner and need some shredded coconut but don't know what to ask for. My first inclination is to ask Neal but he tells me that I need to ask someone else. So, I go to the produce section, pick up a coconut and walk over to a man who looks friendly. (Neal here - this method has worked quite reliably for Annette over many years).
"¿Cómo se dice en Español?" I asked.
With a very puzzled look on his face, he replied, "It's a coconut."
"It's the same in Spanish as in English?" We both started to laugh. (Neal SMIRKED). We both had assumed the other one was Costa Rican. However, a real Costa Rican would have known from my accent that I wasn't costarricense! Luckily, he did know Español and was able to answer my question.
(Neal here) - It's "coco". I looked it up.
The ONLY thing positive about not being fluent in Spanish is that our boss does not allow teachers to speak any Spanish in the classroom. "No hay problemo . . ." (Oops!)
