Friday, August 17, 2007

A "YES" Could Cost You

A lot of local folks in Boquete don't speak English. This is good for us. It forces to continually improve our Spanish comprehension and conversation.

We were out with our friend and realtor Arturo recently. He is a native Spanish speaker now completely fluent in English. He recounted a story to us about being "lost in translation" that we found quite hilarious.

Arturo went to the States years ago for college and specifically asked to room with four American guys so that he'd be surrounded by English speakers, thus learning faster. One day, none of his roommates were home and the phone rang. He answered it and said "Yes" numerous times to things he didn't understand (I find myself doing this a lot) and gave the person on the other end of the phone his name and address and ended up ordering a $200 set of Encyclopedias! He was on a strict budget so it was a costly mistake for him that he certainly couldn't afford. He said that he was petrified to talk on the phone for months and months afterwards. Poor Arturo! I hope we are lucky enough NOT to lose $200 as we stumble down the road to fluency.

2 comments:

Dodd said...

That is hilarious! Your blog is Great! Makes me feel like I'm there with you guys! I miss you two, and am looking forward to seeing both of you when you return for the holidays! :-)

w said...

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