Friday, March 17, 2006

F is for Friday

I was intercepted by a woman in red and white stripes this morning. She cornered me in the middle of a plaza with her microphone and her cameraman and I stood bewildered as she spoke to me rapidly in Spanish. "No hablo español muy bien (I don't speak Spanish very well)," I stammered. She smiled and rephrased her question. "¿Viniste a Sevilla con una agencia de viaje? (Did you come to Seville with a travel agent?)" "No..." and she looked puzzled, so I continued, "Estoy aquí con una agencia... programa de estudiar... en otro pais (I'm here with an agency... a study program... in another country)." She gave me a weird look and said "Muchisimas gracias" and moved on to her next victim.

That was pretty much the worst sentence i've ever formulated in Spanish. I could have said so much to make her think twice about ever stopping someone on the street again, assuming they're a tourist. But instead I floundered like the foreigner I am.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

This lesson is a good one to remember if you ever find yourself on the other side of the microphone.