Espanglish

One of my motives for extending for a third year was to improve my Spanish language skills. Happily I report that they have improved, if only slightly. Finally my statements elicit appropriate responses. People have even been heard to laugh when I’m joking and this laughter, while not riotous, is distinct from the awkward “haha…” which really means, “I have no clue what you just said but I’ll laugh, albeit awkwardly, because you’re laughing.” I have, however, given up on sarcasm which typically fails to translate and usually provokes a matter-of-fact “No” followed by a polite explanation of why what I just said was indeed incorrect.

My comprehension has also improved which basically means that I can now attach meaning to the non-distinct noises made by my fellow campesinos. Furthermore, I now understand most Reggaeton lyrics which, given their tendency for repetition and lewdness, makes it even more embarrassing to admit that I continue to be a big fan of the genre. I say most lyrics because some still remain just outside my grasp of understanding. For example, I have nearly convinced myself that one of the most popular songs of the moment is titled “Tu eres varicela” which translates as “You are chicken-pox.” Doubtful, eh?

Am I ready to be a UN interpreter, you say? Probably not. Half of the local slang is still lost on me and I still make frequent errors. Just the other day, with an unfortunate slip of the verb fallecer in place of fallar, I implied that my counterpart had not failed me but rather that he had died on me.

Of course, all improvements in the Spanish language department have come at a price. I am well aware that I have developed some major deficits in my command of the English language. Spelling in English has become a distinct challenge and I empathize with anyone trying to learn it as a second language. Literally seconds ago I had to look up the word bureaucracy in my Spanish-English dictionary (mind you, I had to look it up in Spanish) because the computer was telling me that I had spelled it incorrectly. My spelling, which I’ll provide here for your amusement (beaurocracy), was so far off that the computer could not even provide me with the correct spelling.

In my defense, the Spanish language makes much more sense, at least in terms of spelling. Take, for example, the word committee. In Spanish, it is spelled comité. What’s up with the extra m, the extra t, and the extra e in the English version?! Just a bit frivolous if you ask me. I won’t even get into what I think of the word bureaucracy.

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For anyone truly interested in the latest reggaeton lyrics, the mysterious chicken-pox song was all so elusive precisely because the key word is a Spanglish word. The word which I thought was varicela is in fact partysera, a spanglish word which means partier.