Monday, September 24, 2007

You never know

I suppose when people look at me they don't automatically think to themselves, "I bet she speaks Spanish." In high school, I used to battle with friends and other students trying to convince them that yes, in fact, I was fluent in Spanish. Well, just recently a couple of events have happened which point to the notion that perhaps you shouldn't just talk about someone right in front of them in another language. They could understand you!

The first incident was at work. I was there late as usual and it was trash day. Now typically they come by, empty your trash can, and vacuum your office (if you're not there). If you are there, they ask if you want your office to be vacuumed. Of course, this assumes that you are in an office, which I am no longer, but you'll have to wait until the next post to hear about that one. So, back to the story. There was quite a bit of scrap/trash in the hallway because everyone was cleaning out their offices. Three people come by to pick up the trash that day. Does it really take 3 people to do this? Anyway, they sort of ask if the pile in the hallway is trash. Three of us in the offices right around there respond yes. But for some reason they look at me as if I am the one deciding this. I repeat (in English), yes this is trash. So what does the little crew proceed to do? They look at each other and one of them says in Spanish, "she doesn't know what she's talking about. That's not trash." Now at this point, I was already seated back in my chair. If I were a bit more confrontational or cared at all what these people thought, perhaps I could have shot back, "Si, yo se de lo que estoy hablando y eso es BASURA." But no, Holy Spirit in charge, I held my tongue. Personally, I think it was an easy out that resulted in less work for them. But what do I know?

Now lets shift the scene to the car wash place. It was a beautiful Friday afternoon. I got the afternoon off and decided to run some errands. It was so nice to sit outside while I waited for my car to be washed. Once the two ladies drying my car were done, they waved the towel in the air and beckoned me over. I soon got up and started walking toward them. I look at the one extending a receipt toward me and smile big. I get a smile in return while at the same time she says to the woman next to her, "Asi quiero estar yo. Quiero estar haci de flaca." Translation: "That's how I want to be. That's how skinny I want to be." Now while this comment about me was more flattering than the previous, why do they assume that I won't understand what they're saying???

It's really a strange thing. I suppose that it would be less probable walking into a nail salon and expecting to understand the Vietnamese flying around me at record pace. But Spanish is a pretty common language. And even if you're not from a Spanish-speaking country or have parents that are, there is still a good chance that you speak it. So, my little advice to those out there. Be careful of what you say. You never know who understands what you are saying.