Yesterday, as I was about to enter the vet to get my dog’d nails cut man approached me and said, “Un momento?” I immediately expected him to ask me for money, since that seems to be what anyone who approaches me in a parking lot does. Instead he showed me his phone, pointed to some error message on the the screen and then explained very quickly in Spanish what he was trying to do.
I barely understood a word of what he said even though I had 3 years of Spanish in high school. I paused for a moment and looked at his phone. It was in Spanish.
I was about to try to say something with my limited Spanish until I realized he was having a problem with google maps. I pointed to the address on the screen and he started nodding. I looked over and saw his work truck was parked in the lot. From what I could tell, he was using WhatsApp, which I’ve never used, and when he clicked on the address there was some sort of setup or permissions required to provide directions.
Instead of trying to fumble through that with my two dogs pulling me in opposite directions, I used my phone to map the directions and pointed at it. He nodded. Then I took his phone, opened Google Maps, entered the address and plotted our directions for him. It was exactly what he needed.
He smiled, said thank you and shook my hand.
While waiting for my dogs a few minutes later I thought that I needed to learn to speak Spanish better. Many of the workers I see in my neighborhood speak Spanish. They work as laborers, grass cutters, painters, construction workers, house cleaners, etc. Even back in in 2014 when I lived here previously our painting crews were entirely Mexican.
I have a rudimentary understanding of written Spanish but my speaking skills are far from competent.
So I downloaded Duo lingo and began my lessons. Surprisingly, I tested out of the first several lessons with my pre-existing knowledge. I’ve got quite a way to go to become passably conversational.
I will likely never become fluent in Spanish but will have many opportunities to practice it in my life.
