Or: Why it’s Important to Learn the Language of Your Adopted Country
The other day, I was standing in line at the grocery store behind another English speaker, but one who was very frustrated that the cashier, a middle-aged Sevillana woman who had been on a ladder busily restocking shelves while keeping an eye on people approaching the register, didn’t speak English. He wanted a bag for his groceries, but didn’t understand that he had to get it from the end of the line and hand it to the cashier to scan – we have to pay for plastic grocery bags if we don’t have or don’t want to use our own reusable bags. She was miming and pointing, and when I realized what the issue was, I explained it to him and grabbed a bag for him. Rather than be grateful and relieved, he was grumpy and peeved, throwing his items in his bag and stomping off in a huff mumbling about “how unnecessarily hard that was”. I’m not sure why so many English speakers expect immigrants to learn English when they move to their English-speaking countries AND expect native speakers to ALSO speak English in THEIR OWN countries.
I tell that story only to illustrate the importance of wanting to immerse yourself in your chosen culture or country when you travel rather than trying to recreate the experience of your home country in your new one. If you want to speak the same language and eat the same food and listen to the same music, just stay home! And you don’t have to be a fluent, lyrical speaker in your new language. A little goes a long way.
When I was sailing the world on the Barque Picton Castle, we were in a new country, often with a new language, every few weeks, if not every few days sometimes. It would have been impossible to be fluent in Tongan one week and then Bislama (and English-based creole spoken in Vanuatu) the next. The important thing was to try – to greet people in their own language, to thank them in their own language – to show that we knew WE were the foreigners, and we did not expect them to cater to us and our language needs. In fact, I discovered that learning hello, goodbye, excuse me, please, and thank you could get you pretty far in any basic interaction. After that, hand gestures and smiling help a lot, too.
Here, I start most interactions with, “Lo siento, mi español aún no es muy bueno. Estoy aprendiendo pero es muy despacio!” (I’m sorry, my Spanish isn’t very good yet. I’m learning but it’s very slow!) and then I’ll show them the question I have already translated on DeepL. Oftentimes they will assure me that it’s not a problem, praise my weak attempt at speaking Spanish, and then respond to my question in rapid fire Spanish of their own (Sevillanos speak VERY fast!). If the situation is such that I can’t understand the gist of what they’re saying, I’ll ask them to say it into the app, which they are always happy to do. I end by saying, “Gracias por su paciencia!” (Thank you for your patience), and I have found that people have been nothing but gracious and helpful in those moments.
Learning the language of the country you are in, whether it’s Spanish, Moldovan, or Bislama, helps immerse you in the culture, connect with the locals and makes your new country feel like home. And with all the apps, videos, and shows with closed captioning available, there’s no excuse not to try!
Ready to immerse yourself in the Spanish language? Email us to help get you and your family to Spain.
