Last Thursday, I started working with an ESL program (English as a Second Language), and I had the opportunity to teach some very patient Hispanic men. I spent most of the evening learning everything I forgot from high school and teaching the guys important English words. I taught Faustino how to pronounce “brush your teeth”, Tino learned how to respond to “Are you married?” and Marcos finally understood that his gold chain is “bling bling.”
However, prior to breaking the ice and social barriers I was a bit intimidated. It’s nerve-wracking when you sit down at a table and say, “What up homies, are you ready to roll up in this hizouse? Dog, you keepin’ it real! Fa shizzle!” and you get nothing but blank stares. I was overwhelmed that I couldn’t communicate, so I was ready to do anything. Even if it meant blowing off the dust on that old Espanol 1&2 knowledge from my freshman year in 1996. In the beginning, they asked me if I knew Spanish, and while I did take two years of it, I couldn’t figure out how to say, “I suck at the only language you know.” So I mustered a few Spanish words together and in an attempt to say, “I know very little”, I managed to say, “Yo soy muy pequeñ¯®¢ Roughly translated, “I am very small.” This is a very difficult thing to correct. In retrospect, “No es pequeno en el pantalones, mis homies” would have been a perfect solution.
I remember in high school Spanish when we had to put on little plays using vocabulary words. My group always ended up doing something about drugs or wrestling. I don’t understand.
Hey Greg, I can identify, I worked for the last two semesters in Chinatown with a 40-year old grad student (he has a grad degree in Engineering both here in the States and in China) tutoring him namely in American culture. THAT was intimidating… He would ask me stuff like how to parent his 14-year old son and why catch-22 and between a rock and a hard place mean the same thing. By the end my favorite two things he learned were how to say my name (no J or TH in Chinese) and the gospel. I feel your pain, Greg, but have fun, be their homie, and you should dig it after a while.
well shizzle bizzle, watch what ya sizzle! you takin my game to the vatos, i get up in yo fizzle! you dont wanna see a nigga get loco
pizzle bizzle
If you sat down in front of me and said the “What up homies…” line I think I would also give you a blank stare. Not because I don’t understand it but because I’d think you are on some sort of drug.
hey man, if friendship is a drug, i smoke it daily