"If you cannot speak Spanish, you will never live in Mexico. You may reside in Mexico, but you will never live there."
That is how I started a post (key to culture) last July following my visit to Melaque. On the list of most-commented posts for 2008, it came in fifth.
But this is undoubtedly the most important thing I need to do before I head south (and to continue after I am there) -- I must learn to speak Spanish for two very good reasons.
First, I need to learn Spanish to survive in Melaque. Melaque is not Puerto Vallarta or Cancun. Even though it is a beach resort town; it is a Mexican resort -- for Mexicans. This is one of the beaches people from Guadalajara come when they need to soak their toes in the briny Pacific. Shopkeepers do not need to know English to survive. Customers need to know Spanish to eat.
Is it possible to get by without learning Spanish? Of course. There are bilingual folks willing to be blessed with our dollars as a tax on our own ignorance. But that approach strikes me as the height of intellectual sloth. Why pay for something that not only can be learned, but can also be fun to learn?
Second, every society communicates with language. Until a visitor can speak that language, he will miss out on everything that people say. Until the visitor can think in that language, he will miss what people really mean.
I doubt that a person raised in one culture can ever truly understand another culture. However, there is no possibility of learning basic Mexican culture without the ability to think in Spanish.
I am not yet there. I have bought some of the best language programs. I have listened to movies in Spanish. I have tried conversing in Spanish with my Mexican friends at church.
The result? I swear I know less now than I did six months ago. But I am going to persevere by sticking to my schedule of reviewing my Spanish lessons. And, of course, I will continue to read Mexico Bob.
It is impossible to pick up a language merely by being around it. I laugh when I hear people say "I'll just pick it up" -- as if Spanish were a quart of milk or the flu, rather than a language.
Three months is not enough time, but I can also continue to study in Melaque.
That is how I started a post (key to culture) last July following my visit to Melaque. On the list of most-commented posts for 2008, it came in fifth.
But this is undoubtedly the most important thing I need to do before I head south (and to continue after I am there) -- I must learn to speak Spanish for two very good reasons.
First, I need to learn Spanish to survive in Melaque. Melaque is not Puerto Vallarta or Cancun. Even though it is a beach resort town; it is a Mexican resort -- for Mexicans. This is one of the beaches people from Guadalajara come when they need to soak their toes in the briny Pacific. Shopkeepers do not need to know English to survive. Customers need to know Spanish to eat.
Is it possible to get by without learning Spanish? Of course. There are bilingual folks willing to be blessed with our dollars as a tax on our own ignorance. But that approach strikes me as the height of intellectual sloth. Why pay for something that not only can be learned, but can also be fun to learn?
Second, every society communicates with language. Until a visitor can speak that language, he will miss out on everything that people say. Until the visitor can think in that language, he will miss what people really mean.
I doubt that a person raised in one culture can ever truly understand another culture. However, there is no possibility of learning basic Mexican culture without the ability to think in Spanish.
I am not yet there. I have bought some of the best language programs. I have listened to movies in Spanish. I have tried conversing in Spanish with my Mexican friends at church.
The result? I swear I know less now than I did six months ago. But I am going to persevere by sticking to my schedule of reviewing my Spanish lessons. And, of course, I will continue to read Mexico Bob.
It is impossible to pick up a language merely by being around it. I laugh when I hear people say "I'll just pick it up" -- as if Spanish were a quart of milk or the flu, rather than a language.
Three months is not enough time, but I can also continue to study in Melaque.
