Retiring in Yelapa--Do I need to speak Spanish?

Anyone who, as a high school freshman, was caused to sit through the first weeks of foreign language class, knows well the meaning of terror. Daily vocabulary lists, regular verbs to conjugate, irregular verbs to conjugate and always looming, the Friday conversations to be composed and presented in front of the class. My high school’s offerings included Spanish, French, German and the ever popular Latin. I sense that the early slogging days in one foreign language classroom were no different than in any of the others. Unlike years later in college, you could not run to the counselor after the first class session and beg to be dropped. You were in for the year, end of discussion.

In retrospect, if you survived the first year, documented by a passing grade, you felt linguistically invincible. And in a moment of temporary insanity, and at your parent’s prodding, you agreed to return the following year for round two. The instruction seemed to make more sense. The terror filter relaxed and the weekly conversations became no big deal. Years three and four were entertaining as we delved into the various cultures of those countries who spoke the language. Fridays became a virtual play day as most of the period was spent singing folk songs. By the end of a two year stint in community college, I racked up another four classes with no intention of ever doing anything with my language skills other than being able to order food in an appropriate phonetic manner from the menu. Post script: I have employed my language skills in some manner on virtually every job, in every location in the world, and now find myself living in a country whose language and culture I studied nearly fifty years ago.

So what does my past have to do with you? You raise a good point. Yelapa is a village of roughly twelve hundred year-round Mexican residents. Americans, meaning those from the United States, have been visiting here since the 1960s. Those locals who are able, send their sons and daughters for multiple year stays with relatives along the western coast. The purpose of their journey is to learn English. Virtually anyone involved with the visiting public, speaks at least a rudimentary form of English. That’s great news for you the tourist. You can buy items in the grocery store, rent kayaks, order dinner and ask directions to the waterfall with nothing more than the language skills you already possess.

Now, having said that; wouldn’t you like to learn a short list of key words in Spanish, just to let the villagers know that you appreciate their culture? As a former teacher in a multi-lingual classroom here is the approach I suggest. Make a list in English of no more than twenty nouns that you will wish to know (i.e. beer, bathroom, beach, table, glass, shirt, pants, etc.). Purchase a basic English-Spanish-English dictionary. On a blank piece of printer paper, draw a picture of the word; across from the picture write the word in Spanish. If you are techno-savey do this on your computer and search .jfs for just the right picture. The more you work with the image and its associated label, the quicker you implant the relationship between the two. Fold the paper lengthwise down the middle. Now you can use the paper to quiz yourself. Go back and forth, picture to word, word to picture.  English should not appear on the page at all, period. Treat this as a reference sheet, carry it with you, retrieve it whenever you think of it.  Add to this list the basics of hola (hello), adios (good bye), gracias (thank you), and buenos dias/tardes/noches (morning/afternoon/night) and you are good to go. If you need to create a question using one of your listed nouns, simply raise your voice inflection following the word. For example, you want to ask Where is the beach? Simple, the noun is playa, your question becomes “playa?” When you master that page, make another based on whatever category you desire (household items, kitchen/table settings, anything).If it works, tell me and a friend; if it doesn't--tell me.

For those of you desiring more structured awareness, there are two individuals who offer tutoring type opportunities here in Yelapa. There are computer driven language programs. Some of these are free. Don’t we frequently hear that learning a foreign language in your golden years is a great antidote to “Old Timer’s Disease?” Come, learn, stay healthy!!! What’s not to like?