So you think you know Spanish????

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OK, so here’s the deal. Just when you think you’ve almost arrived at that Golden Gate Bridge which takes you over that crevice of the language barrier between English and Spanish, here’s what happens to snap you back to the real world.

You sit on your balcony, overlooking the pool below, and it occurs to you that you are not the only one who enjoys the same vantage point. To wit, there are other similarly situated condos facing the same pristine view.

The down side to this is that with four buildings forming a quadrangle with the pool in the center, there is a tad of an echo effect on those rare occasions when there are numerous condos occupied at the same time.

On this particular evening, when the occupancy of these buildings has swelled to near maximum capacity, and a party mood prevails, I am shaken back to the reality that the Spanish I thought I knew is little more than pure fantasy.

Now, granted, I can manage to pretty much figure out how to say what I need to convey to get where I need to go and get what I need to purchase. But, listening in on a group of Ticos all chattering simultaneously.  It is pure madness.

You get a dozen Costa Ricans ALL talking at the same time and it is like trying to make a sentence out of alphabet soup in a blender. We’re talkin’ pure mush here. It’s not unlike an orchestra tuning up just prior to performing a symphony.  If only one of them would speak at a time, slowly mind you, I might, that is MIGHT, be able to catch most of it provided the speech was slow and distinct. But, you get all 12 of them yapping at the same time somewhere close to ninety miles an hour.  It’s like a a half dozen Beatles records being played backwards simultaneously.

I’m amazed even THEY can comprehend what is being said, shouted, sung, or whatever. This is when I realized, that the Spanish I thought I knew…well, it’s right up there with the Latin I aced in high school and promptly forgot the day I graduated.  Or the French I thought I learned in college. Mystery mush.

So, just about the time you get a tiny bit cocky thinking you’re just a little bit cool because you thought you’d “gotten it” in another language….come on down to Playas del Coco and see what really goes down when you eavesdrop on the native speakers.

It might be just enough to send you packin’with your tail between your legs. REALMENTE!