Speaking in Spanish about my progress and 2011 Spanish Goals

Besos y Abrazos / Hugs and Kisses

An essay I recently wrote and like. My loose translation follows (how I would have written this in English). The original text had 12 errors.

Me he dado cuenta de que los saludos de los hispanohablantes son distintos de los que estoy acostumbrada. Desde niña, las únicas personas con quienes me siento cómoda abrazar son mi familia. Tengo un par de amigas que abrazo cuando no las he visto desde hace tiempo, pero aparte de estas personas, no hay más. Cuando era chica, los adultos en la iglesia me querían abrazar y besar, pero no me gustaba nada. Hoy en día suelo darme la mano con alguien al verlo, o solo digo hola. Los abrazos no forman parte de mis saludos.

Últimamente estoy en busca de hispanohablantes donde vivo con quienes pueda conversar y alternar. Hace unos pocos meses encontré un grupo Meetup de latinos donde vivo. Nos hemos reunido tres veces. La primera vez me sentí cómoda. Conocí a gente muy amable. Sin embargo la segunda vez fue algo distinto. ¡Me querían besar! Fue algo desconcertante para mí. No tenía ni idea de como me debía comportar. ¿Debe ser solo un beso cerca de su mejilla o debo realmente besar su mejilla? ¿Necesito besar ambas mejillas o solo una? ¿Beso a las mujeres y a los hombres? Esos fueron los pensamientos estúpidos que cruzaron mi mente. Me sentí muy incómoda.

Ahora me he acostumbrado a la idea de abrazar e incluso besar a la gente. Con algunos hispanohablantes con los que me escribo termino la carta con ¨un abrazo¨ o ¨un beso¨, aunque tal vez me atrevo porque es una carta. La última reunión con los latinos estuve aún más cómoda. Incluso tomé la iniciativa y di algunos abrazos. Decidí que no lo detesto, y a veces me gusta. ¡Imagínate!

¡Un beso!

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I've recently realized that the greetings of Spanish speakers are very different from what I'm accustomed to. Since I was a child, the only people I feel comfortable hugging are my family. I also have a couple friends who I hug when I haven't seen them in awhile, but that's it. When I was young the adults at church wanted to hug me, but I didn't like that at all. Nowadays, I usually shake someone's hand to greet them or just say hello. I don't "do" hugs.

Lately I've been looking for Spanish speakers locally who I can talk with face to face. A few months ago I found a Meetup group where I live. We've met three times. The first time I felt comfortable. I met some very nice people. The second time was a little different, though. They wanted to kiss me! It was very uncomfortable for me. I didn't have a clue as to how I should act. Will they be just "air kisses" or should I actually kiss the cheek? Do I need to kiss both cheeks or only one? Do I kiss the ladies AND the guys? Those were the stupid thoughts running through my mind. I felt extremely uncomfortable.

Now I've become a little more comfortable with the idea of hugging and even kissing people. With some Spanish speakers who I email, I even end the note with "un abrazo" or "un beso", although maybe I dare to do that because it's a letter. The last meeting with the Latinos I was even more comfortable. I even took the initiative and gave a few hugs. I decided that I don't hate it, and sometimes I even like it. Imagine that!

¡Un beso!

¿Intuición Materna?

Aquí hay un escrito que escribí hace unos meses que me gusta. Es una historia verdadera.

Últimamente, he estado un poco estresada a causa de mi trabajo. Esta mañana, desperté a las 4 de la madrugada. Decidí que ya que estaba despierta, haría un poco de trabajo. Fui al baño, y luego tomé un vaso de agua. Estaba a punto de sentarme en el sofá con el laptop cuando, por alguna razón, fui a vigilar a mi niña. Ella estaba durmiendo en la cama de su cuarto. Buscaba a mi alrededor por solo unos segundos cuando, de repente, se estiró. Me acerqué a su cama, y se cayó de la cama. Estaba al lado de la cama, así que la agarré, antes de que pudiera chocar con el suelo. La devolví a la cama. Ella no se despertó en absoluto. Yo estaba tan asombrada y asustada que solo pude estar de pie y verla por unos minutos. ¿Por qué decidí vigilar a mi niña en ese momento exacto?

Nota: Cuando lo escribí, me sentía muy poderosa como madre. ¡Soy vidente! ¡Puedo protegerla! Sin embargo, mi hijita ha caído de la cama unas veces despues de este escrito sin ningún daño.

I can't speak

Last night I went to a Mexican restaurant before going to the movies with a friend. My friend immediately talks in Spanish whenever she knows what to say. ("Sí", "gracias", "Buenas noches"). The waitress asks her if she speaks Spanish, and she replies, "Un poquito". She then asks me if I speak Spanish, and I say "Un poquito más que ella." Then she asks me in Spanish what I want to order, and my mind goes totally blank. I say "¿Cómo?", then she answers me in English. Why do I always get so nervous when I have to speak in Spanish? I knew she was asking me what I wanted to order. All I had to say was "un burrito con vegetales" or "un burrito con verduras". I have conversations with tutors and everything. What is the purpose of knowing that you can say "papel higiénico" if you need to ask for toilet paper (my friend needed this phrase) if you're not going to say it to someone?

I talk to myself

No, I am not crazy, but I talk to myself. I try to do it as much as I can. In the morning when I wake up, as I eat breakfast, picking out the clothes I want to wear, walking to the car. I am practicing my Spanish. How do I say "Yes, you can taste my cereal, mi hija", "Give me a hug before you leave", or "I need to remember to get gas for my car today"?

In my latest Spanish conversations, sometimes when I have to say something, I completely freeze up. My mind goes completely blank. I have absolutely nothing to say. I am pressuring myself to say the right words, in the right way. So this is why I am talking to myself now, trying to become even more used to speaking in Spanish.

Not sure if it will help or anything, but I figure it may be another thing to get me comfortable speaking in Spanish.

My first Spanish videoblogs

I want to talk in Spanish conversations, but am still very nervous when doing so. A friend from a language exchange suggested making videos of myself talking in Spanish as a bridge to real language conversations. I thought that was a great idea, so here are my first two videos.

I finally get it -- Errors don't matter

I went to Honduras last week. I had a wonderful time. I spoke a lot of Spanish, relative to what I've spoken to native speakers in the past, I spoke every day.

The first time I spoke in Spanish in Honduras, I really had to force myself to speak, and when I finally did talk, things went well. I was proud of myself, and that first day, I really tried to practice in my mind what I wanted to say before I said it, so that I could say everything correctly. Of course, that didn't last long. It couldn't. And I started to get frustrated because I was making mistakes, and couldn't talk perfectly.

Luckily I have a friend that showed me the way. Her mom is a Spanish teacher, so she picked up a little Spanish along the way, but her vocabulary and grammar are not good at all. She knows things like the days of the week, numbers, basic greetings. I would say she is still a beginner. But she has this very friendly, talkative personality. In Honduras, she spoke. With her bad Spanish. And her numerous errors. And the people loved her. When she wanted to say a word or phrase she didn't know, she would ask me. If I didn't know, she would wing it somehow. And the people didn't turn their noses up at her, they smiled and connected with her. Watching her helped me learn that I don't have to be perfect to make those connections with other people.

Here is a writing I had corrected concerning this topic:

Creo que Honduras es magnífico. Me gusta mucho. Es muy tranquilo aquí.

Tito es el conductor que nos recogió del aeropuerto. Estaba muy nerviosa porque quería hablar en español con él, pero no estaba segura de que lo haría. Después de algún tiempo, decidí hablar con él. Practiqué las frases que quería decir docenas de veces en mi mente, ja ja. Y hablé. Solo dije que su inglés era muy bueno y estaba impresionada y admiro a cualquier persona que pueda hablar una lengua extranjera. Y él estaba impresionado. Pude verlo en la cara de sorpresa que cubrió su rostro. Y me dijo que mi español era muy bueno. Y hablábamos un poco y entonces me sentía más cómoda y tenía más confianza para hablar en español. Ya he tenido muchas oportunidades para hablar en español ya que casi todo el personal del hotel solo habla español. Y es una experiencia muy buena y motivadora. Cometo errores, pero entiendo que no le importa.