Spanglish-Italiano-What?

Coming to Spain/Catalonia, I was nervous about handling the language barrier. I didn't trust my knowledge of Spanish to be good enough to get around, much less having any kind of knowledge of Catalan, the language local to Barcelona. Before leaving, I was quite focused on my initial week in Spain, thus, Italy was not really on my mind – much less learning or understanding the Italian language.

When I arrived in Barcelona, I found early on the language to be a struggle, but I could form sentences. Surprisingly, I was able to understand about 20% of Spanish at "regular" speed, and around 50-80% at a slower speed or with repetition, even more. I felt a combination of embarrassment that I didn't know or understand more, and pleased that I obviously knew more than enough to get around, ask for and understand directions, order meals, make purchases, and have very basic conversations. I have to say I tried hard and I think I was respected a bit for it, though those that I was speaking to would usually switch to English when they heard my broken Spanish… This was a relief, but I also wasn't crazy about the switch since it didn't force me to understand as much. Before the week was over, I remembered how to do past tense and present perfect (the "-ings") – neither of which I could remember prior to heading over there.

Then I got to Italy.

Italy was a bit different. I have no background whatsoever in Italian, though I can manage a handful of words; Hardly enough to get around the city. I should have been more prepared. I did pick up a few words here and there that I didn't know before (to manage directions and meals, primarily) since English is not as prevalent in Rome as it is in Barcelona. Still, I understood a few things fresh off the boat (plane, whatever) – A guy asked me if I needed any help (in Italian) while I was getting myself and Amy lost attempting to find our hotel. When I said "No, grazie", he persisted with much more Italian than I could handle… Haha. I appreciate his attempt at helpfulness, but I didn't know how else to respond except with the same "No, grazie". At that point, he realized my Italian was limited nearly to those two words.

[Note to Self: It does not make someone very effective at getting around if all you can say is "No, thanks". And, ok, I knew a bit more: Buongiorno, ciao, vino, and a few choice words/phrases that may not have been the best way to start a conversation in Italian, but not nearly enough to be convenient or liked.]

Getting back to my story… So he realizes I'm clueless when it comes to Italian. I'm responding with Si and some warped combination of what little Italian I do know, Spanish, and when all else fails, English. It was really more of a Spanglish-Italiano mess. I cannot imagine this was particularly useful to me or anyone attempting to speak with me, but when flustered, I was just going with the words I knew in the language closest in proximity to where I was. So, Italian first, Spanish second, and English third. I'm not sure what I was thinking. Fortunately, "yes" is "si" in both Spanish and Italian! One more word to add to my list of Italian words I understood! But at the beginning, I did only think my "si" was Spanish… And I think English is a more common language here than Spanish, but again, that flustered thing would come into play….

But again, I digress. What I did get in response to him was obviously a displeased lecture. And although I don't know Italian, I did pick up that he thought that I should know Italian if I was in Italy and leave the Portuguese (?) and English to when I was in the appropriate country. I'm still not sure where the Portuguese came from, but that's neither here nor there. I was lectured for not knowing Italian within an hour of being in the country. Lesson here: Know at least some of the language prior to entering a country.

Now that I'm nearing the end of my trip, I have managed to pick up directions and can order a few things off of a menu in Italian. I know I can get around pretty well in Spanish and understanding Spanish wasn't a problem. Reading is probably the easiest form of communication in both Spanish and Italian - I can read to you the advertisements and billboards I passed on all my bus rides! Definitely an improvement from where I started, at least in Italy.

Two goals have resulted from this experience:

Learn a second (third, fourth?!) language fluently. Most probably, my second will be Spanish, noting where I currently reside.

Make sure I know enough of the language to at least get around a bit, next time I visit a foreign country.