Back to being a student

So no actual teaching yet (tomorrow!) but today I was in a classroom nonetheless: as a student. As part of our program we get to take a Spanish class twice a week if we want to. Since I've been feeling quite insecure about my Spanish abilities since I've gotten to Chile, I jumped on the opportunity.

We spent today's class talking about precisely what has been making me feel ashamed to say I've taken Spanish for more than ten years: Chileans VERY distinctive (and quite difficult to get used to) version of the language.

I won't go into the linguistic aspects, for fear of losing anyone who doesn't speak Spanish, but I'll leave it at this: the things you learn in the classroom from your (most likely) Mexican teacher about pronunciation, probably don't hold in Chile. "S's" are being dropped left and right. Entire syllables disappear. And letters that you thought had distinctive sounds...well, apparently, they are interchangeable. These things coupled with Chileans' mile-a-minute speaking speed, and their arsenal of jargon and slang that puts American rap culture to shame, and I guess I can start to forgive myself for the countless times I've had to ask people to slow down or repeat.

And when I thought the reason for my communicative failings had been explained, our teacher began to explain the most interesting and subtle feature of Chilean speech of all: basically, he said, Chileans, as a people, don't always quite say what they mean. What? You mean, that's a cultural trait? And you can actually see it in their speech? Our professor seemed to think so.

Let me say, I don't think any of this--talk about all the things his country's speakers "do wrong" with "official" Spanish--was easy for him, and, though he was a little sheepish about admitting this last fact, it didn't come off as something entirely negative at all. In fact, I found it completely endearing.

He said, "Chileans don't ever use the word 'no,' it's ugly to them." So, when you ask someone on the street if they know where something is, they are never going to come out and tell you that they don't, even if that is the case. They are going to say "Well...let me think...that's two blocks that way...wait, wait...no, no...it's going to be over there...ask again when you get that way...but yes, yes, it's over there"

And if you invite a Chilean to a party? No "regrets" here. It's going to be "de ahi vemos" (we'll see), or "if I get some of these things done I need to do, then yes, yes."

And a famous one, he said, is an expression you'll hear if you're applying for a job in Chile. You hand in your resume to a business, and you ask them when you should expect to hear back. You better hope they don't tell you "nosotros lo llamamos" (we'll call you). Because, guess what, they're not going to.

I can see how this cultural "persona," let's call it, of wanting to please and be helpful, not wanting to be confrontational or appear rude, would bother some people. Especially Americans who are seemingly always saying exactly what's on their minds in a very direct, blunt, no-reading-between-the-lines-necessary kind of way. But, for better or for worse, I'm more Chilean than American on this. Lucky me, I'll fit right in.