No Comprendo

"¿Puede tomo sus bolsas?"
"Uhh... Yes, I mean, sí gracias", I replied to the man offering to take my bags.
We had just landed in Acapulco, Mexico and were retrieving our bags from the luggage claim. For two weeks, a group of fifteen other students and I were going to be living in the most deprived area of Acapulco. We were going to be working with the Casa Hogar orphanage spending time with the children, cleaning, doing construction, and sharing the word of God.

After having three years of Spanish classes in high school, I assumed that the language barrier would be no problem at all for me. However, I figured out rather quickly that I crack under pressure. When it came time for me to translate or carry on a conversation, I froze. I had been trained for hours and hours on how to understand and reply to anything spoken to me in Spanish. Understanding was not the problem, fumbling to piece a response together was. Over the course of a few days I became more relaxed and less nervous when put on the spot to speak to a native Spanish speaker. Though my grammar was as bad as nails on a chalkboard and my accent wreaked of East Tennessee, they could somewhat understand me. I realized that hand gestures and motions really helped too. Sometimes the children would giggle and laugh at my pathetic attempt to converse. Especially when I would accidently say "buenos dias" as they were going to bed. Hearing other people in my group speak so fluently and efficiently to the native Spanish speakers made me so jealous. Why couldn't I just understand and respond like they could? I studied so hard to be able to accomplish the very thing I could barely do.

As I would attempt to speak to the Hispanic children, they would get so frustrated when I couldn't understand or when I was unsure of how to respond. To them it was my fault that I could not communicate fully. They expected me to be able to speak as well as them and I just couldn't.

I then realized that the way I was feeling then is probably how non-English speakers all over the world feel. Americans travel places every day expecting everyone there to understand them and respond to them regardless of their native language. For example, English speakers are usually learn one or two words when travelling to a Spanish speaking country. Those words usually being baño or cerveza. We travel to these non-English speaking countries and expect everyone to be able to communicate with us using English in stead of their native language. To Spanish speakers, their language is of highest status. They respect their language and it is a valued part of their culture. For someone to barely attempt to undertand it and then try to speak it is almost an insult to them.

I have heard so many people complain about having to deal with a Hispanic person here in the States. "I can't even understand him!", "Send them back to where they came from!" they would shout. Most Americans find zero patience when it comes time to attempt to understand someone of another culture. I highly doubt that when we completely butcher a Spanish phrase as simple as "¿hola cómo son usted?", Spanish speakers suggest we high tail it back to "where we came from."

Being thrown into a culture I was unfamiliar with taught me so many things. Spanish culture is completely different than American culture. Hispanic people love their language and they love to utilize it to share with each other and appreciate each other. I have never seen people that care so much about one another and use their words to show it. I learned from this experience to respect other cultures, especially the language portion of it. For the most part, Americans could care less about how our language is used, but to other people in other cultures it is different. Their language is what their beliefs and culture is founded on. Learning to appreciate all language is what we must do to be respectful and careful of others.