Time to take a quiz.......🙇🏽
QUIZ:
Yes...you actually have to take it.....
Seriously.....
ANSWER KEY:
So, if you just tried to take that quiz, how well did you do? Did you get them all right? Or did you get every single one of them wrong?
The quiz I made was not intended for someone to get every single answer right. I mean if you did get every single one right, then good for you...You are really good at guessing and probably should try the lottery. This is because the quiz was meant to have a lot of different possibilities as well as not enough information to know the right answer.
I made this quiz to prove a certain point about being in Spain, and I am sure it holds true to every country around the world.
It is no secret, I have brown eyes, dark hair, and what I thought to have as tan skin. Well since I have been here "tan," is not the word my fellow Study Abroad friends have been using. Instead I am "brown."
Trust me I am not offended at all my this remark, I just find it very interesting the classifications I have been put in while I am in Spain as opposed to America.
Since I have been here I have noticed that it LOOKS like there is not a huge amount of diversity in the streets. Most girls are very thin, have brown hair, tan, and any eye color you can imagine. The men are tall, dark, hairy, and handsome. I originally got here and classified all the people on the streets as Spanish.
A HUGE news flash was that they're not. For example, my house mom, Marta, is Argentinian while her husband is Italian. When I first got here I thought I was safe to assume that they both spoke Spanish and/or Catalan. I was lucky that my assumption that Marta spoke Spanish was correct, while I found that Ricardo's first language was Italian. I did not think anything of my false assumption until recently. I mean really who was I to classify them in the masses just because they live in Spain?
Anyways, I do have my group of friends now and we are all on a safe level to joke with one another. So I am jokingly the "Brown One," due to my tan godlike glow (self proclaimed). Though I look like some sort of Hispanic, which I am, they look to me as if I am officially their Spanish Dictionary or Spanish Culture Guide. The concept some have yet to grasp is that I am just as clueless as them.
The other night, we were all walking home from our scrumptious welcoming dinner and the topic of my knowledge of languages came up. They all joked because when my room mates first met me they were apparently intimidated because they thought I would be fluent in Spanish, the group laughed together because that was the consensus of the whole group. Again, I am not and was not offended and joked back and them stating...
"Trust me my mom tried to teach me when I was little, but I struggled with English and so if Dora was not on, I was not interested in Spanish." -True Story that I wish was false.
It's an on going joke between my friend group but at times gets me into uncomfortable situations. I still get the questions about how they should go about Spanish culture and I still get the "how do you say...." questions, so I politely give them my best answer with an "I think?" promptly at the end of all my sentences as if it was my signature phrase. The parts that get uncomfortable is that when in public everyone turns to me all I once when a Spanish speaker talks to the group, as if there was a theatre rehearsal that I was unaware of. Again, I am not mad just confused.
Reasons why I am confused:
- After knowing I am not fluent they think since I look like I fit in the country, the other party will be more accepting of my mediocre Spanish.
- The others in the group are in a higher level of Spanish than me. As in they are in Advanced Spanish while I am at the Elementary level.
- Most have some sort of Spanish minor or major....In comparison to me where I have no Hispanic studies other than my mom, dad, and studying abroad.
I am not just saying my friends do this, but the people in Spain do so as well. When I am in a store with everyone, people speak to me in Spanish and automatically speak to my friends in English. I mean as I am sitting here writing, a woman looked around the room of study abroad students, looked at me, and proceeded to ask me a question in Spanish as opposed to the other 6 kids sitting in the common area. AGAIN: thanks for the practice I am flattered you picked me as one of the natives :)
My advice to all those who are studying abroad:
Do not be scared of speaking up and learning the language. It does not matter if you look that ethnicity or not because you are here to learn not to find a free English translator. Be the person in the group the speaks up and wants to learn. A very enthusiastic professor gave us important insight to always consider while abroad...
"It does not matter what you look like, there are people from all over the world the move here and become locals. For all we know, you're one of them."
- Well said Toni....well said
My room mate Alana is enthusiastic about learning and takes every opportunity to learn it. In that case I am happy to help her learn so I am not the only one speaking when in public. You get more practice if you embrace the language and everyone in the country will appreciate the effort.
Lastly when you get to your country of choice, you will assume and classify where people are from and what language they speak. I for sure did. As I meet people in my program I am now learning how "dumb," I looked in doing so. But once you open up and get to know people you will be surprisingly enlightened on where they are from and what they speak. Once you do that you not only get to practice one language but you also pick up on others form around the world.
