It’s been almost a half of my stay here. Time passes so fast when you experience new things every day. Besides enjoying the views and the culture. The thing I enjoy the most is meeting new people.
While meeting new people the language is a necessity and I do have some thoughts about that. It is obvious that Spanish is way more similar to Portuguese than English. I’ve learned the hard way that I should first try to communicate in Portuguese than in English and at the end in Spanish. Cause people treat me way better when I speak English than Spanish. I know it’s caused by history and culture.
Before coming here I knew I was gonna be surrounded by at least 3 languages Polish, English and Portuguese. But it turns out is way more. While living here I noticed it’s not that unusual for people living here to don’t speak Portuguese. It made me concerned about how is that possible by I think I might know the answer. It’s the community. I’ve heard about polish people who lived in the USA for 5 years and don’t speak English almost at all and people always tell about that in a derogatory way. But I don’t think it’s necessarily a bad thing. That means that they were able to find a community so far away from home in which they can discuss their struggles with others who may share similar views on life in general.I saw a pefect example of that while helping with organisation of portuguese lessons for refugees and immigrants.It’s not only a lesson is way more.
The language skills aren’t that important when it comes to basic communication, The most important thing is if both of the parties want to communicate cause if they want they will get thru the language barrier. It might take more time for me to order Vietnamese food from a lady that runs a family business and doesn’t speak Portuguese or English very well but there are so many more ways to communicate than words.
A simple smile can make a big difference.
