Yo no criminal ni ladron.

[avrelia]

“I am neither criminal nor thief” - in Spanish. Good for a conversation-starter. To dissolve any suspicions that someone might have had before. Not very logical, though. I mean: every thief is criminal, but not every criminal is a thief, right? Then, I could add, “Las mujeres de haora no tenemos edad”. We, modern women, don’t have an age. It could be flirtatious or friendshippy, depends.

Well, I don’t know Spanish, nor am I planning to study it soon. It just… suddenly I have a company of friends, whose first language is Spanish. They are from different places in Latin America. We have much in common (our husbands are students in the same school, for one), we have a great time together, in fact, that’s why they keep forgetting that I don’t speak or understand Spanish, so they sometimes just switch on it, leaving me to look for some familiar Latin roots. Then, of course, they would switch back and translate for me, but still I am beginning to think about getting a textbook. There my thoughts jump to my friend - she studied Spanish several years ago, and she was telling me about her progress along the way, constantly wondering about the choice of sentences in her textbook. They were all about flirt, love, beauty, crimes and death. Some of them stuck in my head. That where those phrases in the beginning came from. Which makes me wonder in turn - why I remember so many things I don’t need, while cannot keep in mind something important?

Anyway, here is the tip for living in Colombia.
Ron (some Canadian guy): So, Is life in Colombia really that bad as we hear in news?
Maria Angelica: Yes, but if you follow some rules, it’s okay.
Ron: What rules?
Maria Angelica: not walking alone in the night, wearing thick gold chains…

Comments

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Colombia, huh? Country of drug lords and corruption to us, but no doubt that there are other sides to it. Met a couple of sweet and diverse Southern/Middle Americans when in London; they are in Mexico city or the Dominican Republic now...if I could only visit them.

And Spanish's easy enough, really, much easier than French (much harder than English, though. Of course. Is there any language easier than English?? Certainly not Russian).

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Well, that's about how much I know about Colombia too, but having lived in Canada for three years, tired to explain that Russia is not the country of perpetual winter, vodka and communism, I am trying to look for that other side, to learn more than stereotypes. So, good thing about Colombia (as told by Maria) – the weather is always nice.

And wearing thick gold chains could get a person in trouble not only in Colombia; besides, it’s tacky.

As for Spanish – yes, my aforementioned friend considered it much easier than English. I studied German several years ago, and I found it easier than English too – al least closer to Russian in grammar and pronunciation.

[monanotlisa.livejournal.com]

Huh, I've never thought about the parallels of German and Russian, but at least when it comes to most of the sounds, this does make sense-- mind that I don't know more than a few words in Russian, not born in the East and not having undertaken the effort to study it...

And yes, fat gold chains should be outlawed by the fashion police. *g*

[avrelia.livejournal.com]

Hmm, I studied German for the fun of it, and because cheap lessons were available. I don't remember much of it now, beside general rules, some phrases, and one really long poem. The similarities are interesting, though. German language greatly influenced Russian in XVIII-XIX centuries. Especially in philosophical, scientific, legal, professional lexicon. Many of the words are literal translations from German.

I liked German. There is always this thought: when I wouldn't have to study English, may be, I will pick up my old textbooks and remember it...