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Little fire gives hot water
I sometimes travel to Barcelona on business, and over the years I've managed to pick up enough Spanish to get by (awkwardly, at least) in most situations. My plan is simple: I string basic words together to express complex ideas, and hope that something other than gibberish comes out. On my most recent trip, I was lucky enough to be invited to a colleague's beach house for a few days at the end of my trip. Agustina, my colleague, speaks English, but her husband Pablo does not. One morning, Agustina had gone out to pick up some things for breakfast, and Pablo and I were left on our own to figure out how to communicate. I wanted to take a shower, but I wasn't quite sure how to turn on the small gas heater in the bathroom that was used to deliver hot water to the shower. I was faced with a choice between testing the limits of my Spanish and possibly blowing up my colleague's lovely vacation home. I tried to assemble all of the basic words that might be relevant, and then I confidently went to Pablo and said, "El baño, pequeño fuego da agua caliente, ¿cómo?" ("The bathroom, little fire gives hot water, how?") Pablo paused for a second, but then he smiled and said … well, I have no idea what he said, but he got up and turned on the heater for me. He laughed and repeated "pequeño fuego" ("little fire") on his way out of the baño. So I guess it wasn't total gibberish, but I have to wonder if Pablo now thinks that Americans always talk like Tarzan, even in English. At least a few basic words (and a total lack of embarrassment) managed to get the job done. —Jack (Austin, Texas) Tags: newsletter, Spanish
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