Cinco de Yuca
Today is Spanish Friday so this post is in Spanish. If you participated in Spanish Friday on your own blog, leave your link in comments. Scroll down for English translation!
Tener el pelo largo significa que tengo que buscar formas creativas para atarme el pelo, especialmente en invierno cuándo mi pelo está mojado después de bañarme y me da frío sentirlo tocando mi piel. Usualmente hago un moño desordenado pero a veces trato algo diferente, incluyendo trenzas.
La única cosa es que Carlos se pone un poco raro conmigo cuando me ve con dos trenzas. Su rostro se ve como cuando nos conocimos, sus mejillas cambian a color rojo y sus ojos brillan. “Te ves tan bonita”, me dice, tirando las trenzas. Pensé que me veo un poco ridícula con trenzas. Yo ni siquiera salgo a la calle así, pero si Carlos le gusta, me decido a aceptar sus piropos.
El otro día, cuando tenía el pelo en dos trenzas, Carlos actuó de la misma manera, y luego me llamó su “cinco de yuca”.
“¿Cinco de yuca?” dije, “¿Qué es eso?
Carlos me enseño un video, “La Cinco de Yuca” por Los Caballeros del Sabor.
Ahora sé por qué se pone tan tontito sobre las trenzas!
[ENGLISH TRANSLATION]
Having long hair means I have to find creative ways to tie it back, especially in winter when it’s wet from the shower and it makes me cold to feel it touch my skin. I usually do a messy bun but sometimes I try something different, including braids.
The only thing is that Carlos gets a little weird with me when I wear my hair in two braids. His face looks like when we first met, his cheeks turn red and his eyes sparkle. “You look so pretty,” he says, pulling my braids. I always thought I look a bit ridiculous with braids – I don’t even go out in public like that, but if Carlos likes it, I decided, I will accept his flirtations.
The other day, when I had my hair in two braids, Carlos acted the same as he’s been acting, but then he called me his “cinco de yuca.”
“Cinco de yuca?” I said, “What is that?
Carlos showed me a video, “La Cinco de Yuca” by Los Caballeros del Sabor.
Now I know why he gets so silly about the braids!
Do you want to rent a movie?
Image source: Eddie Does Japan
More arguments at Casa López start with this seemingly innocent question than I would like to admit. Here is a transcript of what happened this past weekend when Carlos uttered those 7 little words.
Carlos: Do you want to rent a movie?
Tracy: Yeah, sure.
{We both sit down in front of the computer to see what’s new in RedBox.}
Tracy: How about Saving Private Perez?
Carlos: That looks stupid.
Tracy: It’s supposed to be stupid, that’s why it’s funny.
Carlos: No, pick something else.
Tracy: How about this?
Carlos: What’s that?
Tracy: Snow Flower and the Secret Fan.
Carlos: What’s it about?
Tracy: Let’s watch the trailer.
Carlos: No! Just read the description, just tell me.
Tracy: Why would I just read the description when there’s a trailer right here and you can see with your own eyes? {clicks play}
Carlos: {sighs}
{trailer ends}
Carlos: I still don’t get it. What’s it about?
Tracy: It’s about women in China who have a special friendship. The cinematography is so beautiful, don’t you think?
Carlos: Um, yeah, but it looks depressing. Can we get something with a little more action?
Tracy: Fine… How about this?
Carlos: Which one?
Tracy: A Better Life.
Carlos: What’s it about?
Tracy: A father and son who immigrate to the United States and the difficulties they face. There’s probably a little action in it, I’d imagine.
Carlos: I lived that, I don’t need to watch it.
Tracy: Carlos, come on. This looks like a good father, son story. Look. {clicks play}
Tracy: {starts crying}
Carlos: You’re crying! I’m not renting this! You’re crying already! This is just the trailer! This movie is depressing!
Tracy: Why are you yelling at me?!
Carlos: Because you’re crying and you don’t want to rent anything good!
Tracy: Fine, you pick but I don’t want to watch anything with aliens or explosions or war, or the end of the world, or exploding aliens ending the world, or—
Carlos: How about Fast Five?
Tracy: Or car racing! You’ve seen that three times already!
Carlos: Well I like that one!
Tracy: Come on! Pick something we haven’t seen!
Carlos: Xmen.
Tracy: Ew, no.
Carlos: Captain America?
Tracy: Dude, we saw that when we were in El Salvador.
Carlos: But we saw it in Spanish.
Tracy: It’s the same movie! … What’s with you and super heroes anyway? No super hero movies either.
Carlos: You’re being so picky!
Tracy: You’re the one whose being picky! There are a bunch of movies I’d love to watch and you won’t watch them. It’s not like I’m asking to watch Jane Eyre or some other girly movie. The worst part is I told Redbox they should have more documentaries and foreign films and now you never want to watch them with me so they’ll probably stop stocking them.
Carlos: {laughing} They put them in there just for you?
Tracy: I told them to! I tweeted them!
Carlos: {sighs}
Tracy: So what are we renting? Are we renting anything? … We’re going to end up renting something like Dolphin Tale.
Carlos: I’d watch that.
Tracy: Seriously, Carlos?… The dolphin needs a tail so Morgan Freeman and a little boy help the dolphin get a tail, the end. I’m not watching that.
Carlos: So, are we not renting anything?
Tracy: I guess not… maybe they’ll have something we can agree on next week.
Erase or Embrace the Accent?
When I made the “Shit Salvadorans Say” videos, I never once worried while filming that my accent would be so gringo as to be a distraction – but apparently some thought it was.
Initial response to the videos was overwhelmingly positive and I was happy to have made people laugh – but then came the first negative comment about my accent, which, more than hurting my feelings, kind of left me dumbfounded.
“That lady doesn’t even sound like she’s Salvadorian, that’s the funny part,” read the YouTube comment.
I responded that I don’t sound Salvadoran because I’m a gringa. (I refrained from typing “duh” at the end of that response.) I chalked it up to one person obviously having a bad day and taking it out on me, however before I could shake it off and move on, more comments came in.
“Y’all don’t got the accent.”
(At least I “got” good grammar I retorted in my head.)
“I think the gringa was right on the money in what to say, but I can’t get passed the whole gringa accent,” said another.
Nice. A back-handed compliment. And then…
“The accent isn’t there.”
“Lo siento esto es una gringada! Cero Salvadoreño!”
“OMG! I’m Salvadorian and this is NOT how my family or I talk lol what part of El Salvador are you from?”
“She sounds white lol maybe she’s first generation American and didn’t learn Spanish well lol.”
“Sorry y’all sound too gringo.”
Every time I’d get an E-mail notification that a comment had been left, my heart would start to race – will it be a positive comment, (for there were an equal amount of people who loved the videos) – or a negative comment? Will it be more of the same or will they find something even crueler to say that will crush me? I finally decided to disallow comments on those YouTube videos because I started to obsess.
Now, YouTube comments are famously horrendous, and I’ve kept that in mind, but I’d be lying if I said it hadn’t made me self-conscious about my accent. I’ve been studying Spanish for twenty years now and I’m still not fluent. I make grammatical mistakes all the time, but my accent is one thing I thought I had conquered.
Although I knew I didn’t sound “Salvadoran” and that I wouldn’t be mistaken for a native speaker of any Latin American country for that matter, I never worried that I sounded “white” or “gringa” — at least not in recent years.
“You told me I don’t have an accent!” I said to Carlos after receiving yet another Youtube comment, and Carlos insisted very sincerely that I don’t. Perhaps he’s blinded by love, but then I think back on all the people over the years who have so enthusiastically complimented my Spanish – did they just mean it was good compared to other gringos?
“Wow! Your Spanish is so good!” I’ve been told in both Spanish and English – but what is “good” Spanish? Does the fact that I can do more than ask where el baño is make me a success?
Do I speak better than the white “abogados” and used car dealers on local Spanish-language channels whose mispronunciations make me cringe? Better than college girls who go to Cancun on Spring break and get drunk while wearing over-sized sombreros? Better than Dora the Explorer or Erik Estrada? What standard have I surpassed exactly?
As I read Roque Dalton poems aloud to Carlos in bed last night, asking him to rate my accent on a scale of one to ten, he asked me why I continue to sweat it. “Your accent is cute,” he said, taking the book from my hands and pulling me to him. I eyed him suspiciously, for “cute” is very different from “fluent” or “beautiful” or even “good.” A puppy chasing its tail is cute. A baby babbling gibberish is cute.
“Your accent is perfect,” he amended, and I noted his accent in English, the one I love so much, the one he makes no attempt to refine but which causes misunderstandings for him at fast food drive-thrus.
In the end, I realize, I have a decision to make. I can continue to try to erase my accent or I can embrace it. I’m not sure yet which way I’ll go.
What is your experience with having an accent? What is your native language? What is your second language? How do native speakers of your second language react to your accent? Do you embrace your accent or try to erase it?
Bloopers & Behind the Scenes
Today is Spanish Friday so this post is in Spanish. If you participated in Spanish Friday on your own blog, leave your link in comments. Scroll down for English translation!
Un hecho sobre mi es que me encantan los “bloopers.” Cuándo vamos al cine siempre somos los últimos en salir porque insisto en quedarnos hasta que estamos seguros que no van a enseñarnos “bloopers” de la película.
Honestamente, habido días que gasté en YouTube viendo “Bloopers” de Seinfeld.
Por esta razón, que me encantan tanto los “bloopers” – les presento los “bloopers” que hicimos durante la grabación de “Shit Salvadorans Say.”
[ENGLISH TRANSLATION]
A fact about me is that I love “bloopers.” When going to the movies we are always the last to leave because I insist on staying until we’re sure they will not show “bloopers” from the movie.
Honestly, there days I’ve wasted on YouTube watching “Bloopers” from Seinfeld.
For this reason, that I love “bloopers” so much – I present the “bloopers” that occurred during our recording of “Shit Salvadorans Say.”
Shit Salvadorans Say 2
Apparently Salvadorans say a lot of shit, because we had enough material to make another video – “Shit Salvadorans Say 2″ – Chécalo, bichos!
I think I’m finished playing with this meme, (except for a possible blooper reel) – but Carlos, the boys and I had so much fun that I think we’ll be doing other types of videos in the future. Vamos a ver.
Links:
Shit Salvadorans Say (the original)
For “Shit Cubans Say” and other fun, check out my friend Carrie on the Tiki Tiki!
Árbol de Chanclas
Today is Spanish Friday so this post is in Spanish. If you participated in Spanish Friday on your own blog, leave your link in comments. Scroll down for English translation!
Recientemente mis padres fueron en un viaje a las Islas Gran Caimán. Estoy empezando a pensar que mi madre es mucho como yo, (o mejor dicho que yo soy mucho como ella, porque llegó ella primero.)
Primero, descubrimos que las dos nos encanta tomar fotos de los perros callejeros.
Ahora mi madre me mostró fotos que sacó ella de un árbol cubierto de chanclas.
Bueno, no tengo una foto semejante en mi colección, pero sin duda yo hubiera tomado fotos si encontraba un árbol así en mis viajes.
(Gracias a mi madre por permitirme compartir sus fotos aquí! Si quieres saber la historia del árbol, visita UnCommonCaribbean.com.)
[ENGLISH TRANSLATION]
Recently my parents went on a trip to the Grand Cayman Islands. I’m beginning to think my mother is a lot like me, (or actually, that I’m much like her, since she came first.)
First, we discovered that we both love taking photos of street dogs.
Now my mother has showed me photos she took of a tree covered with flip-flops.
Well, I don’t have a similar photo in my collection, but certainly I would have taken photos if I had encountered a tree like that in my travels.
(Thanks to my mother for letting me share her photos here! If you want know the history of the tree, visit UnCommonCaribbean.com.)
Shit Salvadorans Say
The latest meme to sweep the internet is “Shit Girls Say.” Dozens of videos have since been made for everyone from black guys to Sri Lankan mothers. I had way too many ideas for a Salvadoran version to ignore, so here it is – “Shit Salvadorans Say.”
“Pass the Vacuum” and other Carlos-isms
Carlos "passing the vacuum"
If you’ve raised a child, you know that as they’re learning to speak, they make a lot of really cute mistakes. It could be a grammatical error, or a word misunderstood and used inappropriately, but for someone like me who adores everything about linguistics, it’s one of my very favorite things about childhood. (Raising bilingual children means one gets a double dose of these sweet slip-ups!)
At some point though, your children get older and their language abilities improve. The mistakes become few and far between so when they make one, maybe, just maybe, you don’t correct them. You can’t stop them from growing up, but you can selfishly make it last a little longer.
I still remember years ago at the table. My younger son asked what we were having for dinner.
“Enchiladas,” I said.
“Lavas? I hate lavas,” he responded, crossing his little arms over his chest.
My older son, ever the know-it-all, corrected him, “Not LAVAS! EnchiLADAS!… Geez, if it was lavas you’d burn your mouth all up!”
But that was about eight years ago. At thirteen and ten years old, my boys are growing up and those days are fading fast. Fortunately, I still have Carlos.
Don’t get me wrong – Carlos’s English is fantastically proficient these days, but there are still a few words and phrases that I haven’t really corrected over all these years. Here are a few I wrote down the past couple weeks. (It took me a couple weeks to listen to him in daily conversation and compile the list because at this point, some of this phrasing is starting to sound normal to me!)
Wings – Carlos never uses the word “underarm” or “armpit” – instead he uses, “wings.” … In Spanish, it is accepted slang to refer to them as such. (At least in El Salvador.) And so he’s just directly translated “alas” – the Spanish word for “wings.” This one has even caught on with my Anglo parents. When they heard him use it with our first son as a baby, they couldn’t resist adopting its use into their own lexicon.
Example: [Said to one of our sons before they shower] – “Don’t forget to clean your wings! You smell a little stinky.”
Pass the vacuum – This is another direct translation. In Spanish there isn’t a verb for vacuum. You say “Pasar la aspiradora” (or more common in the United States, the Spanglish version, “Pasar el vacuum.”) Because of Carlos, the kids actually say “pass the vacuum” in English and think it’s totally normal.
Example: “I’m going to pass the vacuum. The boys got dirt on the carpet.”
Joke hard – I’m not even totally sure about this one because I’ve started to use it over the years, too. What is meant by ‘joke hard’ is to joke around with someone and tease them in such a way that you’re almost crossing the line into making them angry.
Example: “That guy likes to joke hard with people, but he doesn’t like it when others make fun of him.”
You passed me your insert illness! – This might be acceptable in English although I would say we only use it to refer to cold/flu germs. Whenever Carlos falls sick or has any sort of injury though, you can be sure he will be blaming family members left and right, telling them that they ‘passed’ their illness onto him, whatever that illness might be.
Example: “My back hurts. You passed me your back problems!”
They exaggerate too much! – In Spanish, it’s common to say “los precios son exagerados” – (the prices are exaggerated) – so I think that’s where he got this one from.
Example: “Are they kidding? Ten dollars for that?! They exaggerate too much!”
Your shirt looks like a cow chewed on it. – Carlos has no patience for wrinkled clothing. Wrinkled clothing is totally unacceptable. This weird phrasing is the direct translation of “Parece que la vaca masticó tu camisa” – which apparently is a perfectly normal way to make fun of someone’s wrinkled shirt in El Salvador.
Example: “You can’t wear that to school! Look at it! It looks like a cow chewed your shirt!”
Respect the table! – If the boys are being rude at the dinner table, it’s not tolerated. Like Carlos, I expect good manners, but when Carlos shouts, “Respect the table!” – it is terribly difficult to keep a straight face. The boys also want to giggle, but they don’t dare. “Respeta la mesa” is a normal request in Spanish but in English it would be better to say, “Mind your manners!”
Example: Hey. HEY! Respect the table! I don’t think you want me to take off my chancla.
I know a word in Spanish!
Today is Spanish Friday so this post is in Spanish. If you participated in Spanish Friday on your own blog, leave your link in comments. Scroll down for English translation!
Image source: Robert Francis
Parados en la linea por reentrar a los Estados Unidos después de nuestra visita a El Salvador, una pareja gringa empezó a placticar con nosotros. Era una día largo y sentí rendida. Sólo quería recoger mi equipaje, ir por la casa, y dormirme pero esa pareja gringa estaban super felices, super despiertos, y super habladores. Por unos minutos nos contaron sobre su visita a Ecuador, y luego, empezaron a preguntarnos sobre nuestro viaje.
“¿Y son tus hijos?” me preguntó la mujer en inglés, indicando los niños.
“Sí, son nuestros hijos,” respondí.
“¿Y hablan español?” preguntó la mujer.
“Sí, son bilingües,” dije.
“¡Qué bien!” dijo ella, “Yo hablo un poco de español. Conozco las palabras más importantes, como ‘cerveza’,” me dijo, riendo.
“¡Yo conozco una palabra en español!” dijo mi hijo menor. “¡Borracho!”
La mujer me miraba con expectación pero no lo traduje.
Agradecidamente, eso fue el final de nuestra conversación.
[ENGLISH TRANSLATION]
Standing in line to reenter the U.S. after our visit to El Salvador, a gringa couple started chatting with us. It was a long day and I felt exhausted. I just wanted to retrieve my luggage, go home, and go to sleep but that gringa couple was super happy, super awake and super talkative. For a few minutes they told us about their visit to Ecuador, and then they began to ask about our trip.
“Are those your children?” the woman asked me in English, indicating the boys.
“Yes, these are our kids,” I answered.
“Do they speak Spanish?” she asked.
“Yes, they’re bilingual,” I said.
“That’s great!” she said, “I speak a little Spanish. I know the most important words, like cerveza, [beer],” she said, laughing.
“I know a word in Spanish!” said my youngest son. “Borracho!” [drunk!]
The woman looked at me expectantly but I didn’t translate.
Thankfully, that was the end of our conversation.
Resolutions + Perspective
I don’t really do New Year’s resolutions, but this year it became a time of self-examination and a clear starting point to make some changes. The changes I’ve made have been a long time coming – some once, (or many times), attempted and abandoned, others have been bouncing around in my head waiting for me to give them importance – still others have only come to me recently, as if they knew now was the moment I would welcome them.
I don’t like to call them “goals” or “resolutions” because I prefer to think I spend every day of my life stepping toward the self-actualized version of myself – Admittedly it’s a two steps adelante and one step atrás sort of thing.
Like many others, one of my “resolutions” (for want of a better word), is to take my health more seriously. I’m starting to feel my age and that – even more than wanting to look like a bikini chica in a Pitbull video, may be enough to scare me straight. My back hurts when I wake up. My knees ache when it rains. It’s too early to consider retiring to Miami so maybe, just maybe, I need to put down the Bubu Lubus.
When my dedication to working towards these “resolutions” wavers, (as it always does), I need to try to remember that my “problem” – my “struggle” – is only difficult from my perspective.
Think about this with me. Think about the ridiculousness of the challenges we face. Some common complaints:
• Food is too accessible and abundant. I can’t get away from the temptations.
• It’s too cold out so I can’t [leave the warmth of my house to] get some exercise.
• I’ve become bored with my workout. I don’t feel motivated.
• Food blogs tempt me with delicious photos of flan and burritos.
(Okay, that last complaint is mine.)
These are what you call “first world problems.” If you just shift your perspective, you may start to laugh at the once mountainous obstacles that seemed insurmountable.
This should shift your perspective. I took this photo in El Salvador – but what does it have to do with anything I’m talking about here? Let me explain.
While we were in El Salvador we went to visit family in Chalatenango. It was a long drive from San Salvador in an unairconditioned microbus. On the way back to the city, the traffic became thick. We shoved at the already open windows to let more air into the vehicle which now moved at a crawl. We fanned ourselves, watched beads of sweat roll down the sides of each others’ faces.
At some point, we came to a stop in front of a public well just off the highway. There I watched women and children washing laundry and scooping water over their heads – bathing fully-clothed with no privacy. I tried not to stare, didn’t want them to feel self-conscious, but Salvadorans are famous starers and I was probably the only one on the highway trying to watch without being obvious about it.
The laundry now heavy and wet, was put back into large plastic tubs, balanced on sturdy heads, and walked home, who knows how far, to be hung to dry.
…Something to remember next time taking a walk around my quiet suburban neighborhood seems too difficult.
