Thursday night we attended Spanglish Exchange. I don’t know when or how this originated, but it is an excellent idea. It is like language exchange, speed-dating style (don’t be mistaken, it has nothing to do with dating). You sign up ahead of time and give your name and language. Everyone meets at a local bar and you pay $30 pesos, which includes one drink. Each person is assigned a table and the fun begins. Each table has two people- a native English speaker and a native Castellano speaker (Spanish speaker). Once you are both seated, conversation begins in whichever language comes flowing out. After about 5 minutes one of the organizers comes around and lets you know it is time to switch languages. Then, after another 5 minutes or so, the coordinator comes around and instructs you which way you should go and you switch tables and start all over again. For those of you who are preparing to laugh at my Argentine accent, I want you to know that I have already had plenty of people give me strange looks about my Mexican/Costa Rican/American Spanish. I like to focus on the person who thought I was from France because my accent was so nicely mixed-up. However, the normal response has been more of- where did you learn your Spanish? Mexico. Yeah we could tell because you keep saying “pues” and “mande.” Apparently not only do I need to learn a new accent and tons of new vocabulary, but my default words need to change to “bueno” and “como.” Oh the poor people who have to talk to me in the future when my Spanish has become a mixed up mess of Mexican/Costa Rican/Argentine/American Spanish!
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