Incompetente
Today, I woke up feeling great, ready to face the day. I made my train on time, guzzled a giant iced coffee from Intelligentsia, and got to work. Sometimes I amaze myself with my productivity and my pseudo-lawyerly skillz.
My Spanish class starts in half an hour, so I suppose I should be writing this en espanol para practicar antes de la clase. Yes, only thirty minutes stands between me and awesome fluency! I wish. It's great to be in this class with my coworkers, though, because we present our cases to each other in Spanish, to the occasional befuddlement of our instructor, Felix (not his real nombre!). Take for instance, this exchange regarding a domestic violence case:
Coworker:"Okay, so yo tengo un caso en que el esposo de mi cliente...um...?como se dice 'hit her with a wrench?'"
Felix: "No se. ?Que es un 'wrench'?"
Class: Spends 15 minutes explaining the concept of "wrench" until someone has the genius idea of drawing a picture.
Similarly, legal phrases and concepts that are common in the U.S. are not necessarily common in Felix's homeland of Mexico. Sometimes I pity poor Felix, who must be alternately fascinated and bored by our legal tales. Although, thanks to me, he now has a rudimentary understanding of the U.S. pension system, such as it is. Public service, hurrah!
I feel about 50% incompetent in Spanish class. Sometimes, I'm rattling away con fluidez, and then things are suddenly blanco en la cabeza. Como se dice, "durr" en espanol? My clients don't seem to mind my occasional difficulties with their language, and I've even laughed about the language barrier with a few of them who don't speak English at all. Others, however, end up speaking more English than they initially let on. I've had people call and ask if I speak Spanish, only to launch into elaborate stories en ingles. It works so far, amigo.
My Spanish class starts in half an hour, so I suppose I should be writing this en espanol para practicar antes de la clase. Yes, only thirty minutes stands between me and awesome fluency! I wish. It's great to be in this class with my coworkers, though, because we present our cases to each other in Spanish, to the occasional befuddlement of our instructor, Felix (not his real nombre!). Take for instance, this exchange regarding a domestic violence case:
Coworker:"Okay, so yo tengo un caso en que el esposo de mi cliente...um...?como se dice 'hit her with a wrench?'"
Felix: "No se. ?Que es un 'wrench'?"
Class: Spends 15 minutes explaining the concept of "wrench" until someone has the genius idea of drawing a picture.
Similarly, legal phrases and concepts that are common in the U.S. are not necessarily common in Felix's homeland of Mexico. Sometimes I pity poor Felix, who must be alternately fascinated and bored by our legal tales. Although, thanks to me, he now has a rudimentary understanding of the U.S. pension system, such as it is. Public service, hurrah!
I feel about 50% incompetent in Spanish class. Sometimes, I'm rattling away con fluidez, and then things are suddenly blanco en la cabeza. Como se dice, "durr" en espanol? My clients don't seem to mind my occasional difficulties with their language, and I've even laughed about the language barrier with a few of them who don't speak English at all. Others, however, end up speaking more English than they initially let on. I've had people call and ask if I speak Spanish, only to launch into elaborate stories en ingles. It works so far, amigo.
posted by turalura at Wednesday, July 25, 2007
1 Comments:
I am enjoying your return to the blogosphere, even though that is one of my least favorite words pretty much ever. The Land o' Blogs, perhaps? We'll work on that.
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