As I walk around Madrid, I find myself wanting to apologize to everyone for not speaking Espanol. Two years of Latin and two years of Japanese, but not even one semester of our sister language. Looking at signs and billboards reminds me how weird it must feel to be illiterate. It’s not like going to Chinatown where the utter foreignness of the alphabet just makes it sort of recede into the overall background. No, when I look at signs written in foreign Romance languages, I feel kind of…stupid. It’s like, “Man, I feel like I should know what that means.”
I’ve gone into a couple of stores and after making stilted one-word, caveman-like grunts in what I think approximates Spanish, the people quickly switch to English, no matter how broken or minimal. They really try to accommodate my inherent arrogant-American ignorance. Gracias mi amigos.
A few observations about the place: just like Toronto, I could eat off the subway tracks here if pressed (WTH is wrong with New Yorkers that our subways look like they’re connected to the garbage disposals of the apartments above ground?); going to the fx kiosk is demoralizing--I changed a few hundred bucks and I swear that netted me like twenty euros and a handful of peppermints (although this did prompt me to try public transportation from the airport which turned out to be a great idea--two euros and no hassling with a cabbie who might try to stretch a fare); this city seems like it was designed by a blind drunkard (these streets are not linear!); also what do the Spaniards have against street signs? You have to look up on the sides of the corner buildings for these tiny placards. Would it hurt to put a pole in the ground with a metal sign attached? Your streets ain’t that pretty, amigo.
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| Booked this for $100 US the day before. Not bad. Heart of the city, too. |
P.S. - The title of this post comes from my extremely handy and entertaining Spanish phrasebook. It really does its best to give you the appropriate words for any given situation you might find yourself. According to the book, the title translates as: "I'm sorry, I can't get it up." Pity the poor bastard who has to pull that one out. Hiyo!
4 comments:
It's an amazing thing to be in a foreign country that's not Canada. Not understanding the local language is truly humbling. What a business God did bringing down the Tower of Babel!
Don't take it too hard, though. Yours is a thoughtful, intelligent American's response: you feel bad. But don't feel bad. The Spaniards are likely hugely appreciative that you're trying their language and don't expect you to know much more. (The French, alas, can be another story.) Other Europeans travelling within Europe use English, too, and don't feel bad about it! It is, er, the lingua franca of the world. Maybe some existential gratitude that we grew up speaking English is in order... But I don't think you need to berate yourself for not knowing Spanish. I warrant no one else there is.
The NY subways are a dirty mess because they run 24-hrs a day. Most every other transit system in the world has hours off.
I love your reaction to much older, non-grid cities where you have to strain to find signposts sometimes. Your reports will be jolly fun.
Enjoy it, man!! And if you're looking for street signs, you may want to try another continent cause many Europeans cities are like that.
As Eric said, most people appreciate your effort to speak their language and will gladly meet you half way - even in France! lol
Keep us updated!
Great read! "Siwatu the Explorer". You should have a cartoon series. And you should have taken French in high school, if not Spanish. They are so very similar. Having taken French, I am functionally literate in Spanish, strictly from my travels.
Remember hand gestures are universal! lol
enjoy
I like this because I feel like I never notice/remember the little details of places I'm traveling to they way I feel like you do. I have wandered around several countries thinking of nothing but some fight/random dating situation/big historical idea and never got around to documenting my surroundings. Which is why it would realllly not be a good idea for me to write fiction or even memoir. Glad to see things through your goggles!
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