Precerpt from My 20th Language: L3 Spanish - Puerto Rico
Puerto Rico
The first time I got a chance to experience Spanish in its
native environment was when my Army reserve unit was sent to Puerto Rico to
fill in for a group of soldiers who had been shot in separatist activity (this
was the 1980s, and there was some friction there). I was able to use Spanish
everywhere I went, and my proficiency shot way up. What had been latent – quite
a lot—quickly became active. Most places I went did not expect me to speak
English even though Puerto Rico is completely bilingual. My skin tanned up
nicely since I was working night shift and spending days in the sun where the
dollop of Native American blood in my body took over and protected me from burning.
Whenever I went somewhere to eat with my unit, most of the
soldiers being white as white can be, the reaction from the wait staff was
pretty funny.
“What would you like?” they would ask my buddies.
“Que quiere?” they would ask me, assuming that I was a
Spanish speaker, given my browning-up-nicely skin and dark features. Of course,
I only reinforced their assumption when I responded in Spanish, “Hamburger doble
carne” or whatever my stomach had a hankering for that day.
At one point, we all decided to go to Luquillo Beach. After
some sun and surf, we were relaxing on the beach when some townies came to play
volleyball. It did not take long before one of the balls came bouncing our way
and, as luck would have it, hit me in the head. I smiled and handed the ball
back to the townie. He looked around, seemed puzzled, and then asked in
Spanish, “What are you doing with all these gringos?”
Of course, I had to tell him, “Soy gringa,” which may not have
computed well for him.
I wish could have stayed longer. I love Puerto Rico—a place
where people drive on the sidewalks, the pina coladas have fresh pineapple and
locally grown coconut, and Spanish is surround-sound, perfect for a language
learner.
For more precerpts from My 20th Language, click HERE.
For more posts about language learning, click HERE.
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