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This morning I'm fascinated by Brazilian history and the sound of the Portuguese language. It must be winter.
There is a cleaning woman at work who is insisting on my developing my Spanish skills so we can talk. It feels more challenging than anything else I do all day at my job. Linux, shell scripting, database error diagnosis? Easy. Writing polite emails, filing defects? Simple. Telling someone why I'm not planning to get blotto just because it's Friday in a language I have never formally studied? Muy dificil.
I keep starting to say things in French since I can, then make those into guesses at Spanish. "Je ne bois guère" (I hardly drink) becomes... hmmm, beverage, I'll guess 'bevar'... no bevo? Wait, that doesn't explain the hardly part. This leads to such brilliant statements as:
"Uno boisson (hand gesture of knocking back a beer) pero no mas."
Cripes, I have no clue what the word for "a drink" is. Sure, the French will do for a woman from... honestly, I don't know where she's from. New assignment: learn enough Spanish to ask "Como tu vienes, qual es tu nacion de... naissance?"
Is it presumptuous to use 'tu' with her, considering I barely know her and she's the teacher? In Latin American Spanish, I'm told Usted is saved for "y'all", that vosotros and ustedes (the second-person plurals for familiar and formal, respectively) are deprecated. That would be fine with me, since I have a moral issue with saying "Your Grace" ("vuestra merced", the Latin words that got smashed together to make Usted) in a republic. Then again, she probably gets shit all day long (she does clean the toilets) and may not mind being someone's formality for two minutes.
The more Portuguese I read and hear, the more I like Portuguese over Spanish. However the Americas speak Spanish and I want to connect with that -- eventually.
I gotta hop in the shower and help![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
fangirl715 schlep Jezebel for a nail trimming. It's Somerville time and I'm running late! Tchau...
-the Argentines just call everyone 'vos' because everyone is a dude, Dante
There is a cleaning woman at work who is insisting on my developing my Spanish skills so we can talk. It feels more challenging than anything else I do all day at my job. Linux, shell scripting, database error diagnosis? Easy. Writing polite emails, filing defects? Simple. Telling someone why I'm not planning to get blotto just because it's Friday in a language I have never formally studied? Muy dificil.
I keep starting to say things in French since I can, then make those into guesses at Spanish. "Je ne bois guère" (I hardly drink) becomes... hmmm, beverage, I'll guess 'bevar'... no bevo? Wait, that doesn't explain the hardly part. This leads to such brilliant statements as:
"Uno boisson (hand gesture of knocking back a beer) pero no mas."
Cripes, I have no clue what the word for "a drink" is. Sure, the French will do for a woman from... honestly, I don't know where she's from. New assignment: learn enough Spanish to ask "Como tu vienes, qual es tu nacion de... naissance?"
Is it presumptuous to use 'tu' with her, considering I barely know her and she's the teacher? In Latin American Spanish, I'm told Usted is saved for "y'all", that vosotros and ustedes (the second-person plurals for familiar and formal, respectively) are deprecated. That would be fine with me, since I have a moral issue with saying "Your Grace" ("vuestra merced", the Latin words that got smashed together to make Usted) in a republic. Then again, she probably gets shit all day long (she does clean the toilets) and may not mind being someone's formality for two minutes.
The more Portuguese I read and hear, the more I like Portuguese over Spanish. However the Americas speak Spanish and I want to connect with that -- eventually.
I gotta hop in the shower and help
fangirl715 schlep Jezebel for a nail trimming. It's Somerville time and I'm running late! Tchau...-the Argentines just call everyone 'vos' because everyone is a dude, Dante
