There Are So Many Hots!May 6th 2005 |
5 |
Check out the new pictures for this month!!
The talleres (workshops) for Photoshop and Web Development in this semester at Shalom have switched out with new students, and so I am teaching the introductions again. I was so excited because I taught for 2 straight hours in Spanish without an outline or anything! Of course every now and then, I would have to ask Antonio how to say something, but other than that, at least the kids said they understood everything I said. In the Photoshop workshop, every time I would say the Spanish word for �background� all the kids would start to giggle. After about 3 or 4 times of this, I looked at Antonio who had a big grin on his face and he told me I was mispronouncing the word for background. Apparently, the Spanish word for �background� is really close the word �butt,� which I didn�t know.
Also, yesterday in the Web Development workshop, I was describing how colors are displayed on the web. Of course, like with the word �background,� every time I would say the Spanish word for �color,� the kids would giggle. Then Antonio informed me that I was saying �hot� instead of �color.� I laughed and mocked myself by fanning my face with my hand and dramatically saying, �Oh, there are so many hots!� Well, the class exploded into laughter. Here�s a lesion in linguistics for you; you see, I thought it was funny because it doesn�t make any since; well, in English that is, but they thought it was hilarious because apparently that phrase that I said made perfect since in Spanish and had a sexual meaning. Oh well, you live a little; you learn a little. I am just glad they understand I am a gringo who doesn�t really know what he�s saying.
Although I was able to teach for so long all in Spanish, I am still unable to communicate in the way I wish to communicate. There are many different ways of saying the same thing, so when I really want to say for example, �We will see how this works in just a minute,� with the limited vocab I have committed to memory, I have to say something like, �We are going to see this work in one moment.� Even though that�s what I wanted to communicate, it�s not HOW I wanted to communicate it. I hope soon, I can speak how I want to.
We finally got the windshield of the car fixed yesterday! Yeah, it looks like it�s being held on with tape at the moment, but it�s just until the glue dries or whatever. I am going to try and upload some pictures today, so check back soon.
Comments
It's so good to see pics of you Sam. You look so handsome!
You just keep on trying and when those words come out wrong the kids love it and you learn. Plus I'll bet they are listening closely to everything your saying. Just don't get so fluent that you forget English. ;)
Mom
posted at 1:31 AM on May 7th 2005
Hey Sam, why isn't there a Guatemalan version of me?:weeping:
Jcarr
posted at 11:09 PM on May 6th 2005
Samwise, el Photoshopo Experto! Well, that is until I go down and visit Guatemala! WOW, that didn't sound egotistic one bit did it?
Frith
posted at 7:42 PM on May 6th 2005
That's it, Sam. You make an army of little spanish-speaking design nerds down there. Rock on, dude.
Peter
posted at 5:22 PM on May 6th 2005
Hey Sam, you may have indeed become so fluent in Spanish that you've forgotten English. I mean, what in the world is a lesion in linguistics?! (hehe) Anyway, that was a funny story. :-)
Oh, and in case you also forgot German (and really also for the benefit for those readers who can't read German) here is what I was trying to say the other day:
"Studying German is a very good idea. Yes, and many programmers in Germany write code in PHP and MySQL. That is very cool! I am having fun reading your website!"
So...there you have it. :-)
--Andy
P.S. It was really neat to see my website get hits from Guatemala!
Andy Warmack
posted at 8:37 PM on May 7th 2005