Speaking Spanish/Finnish (Spinnish?)
I went to my colleague's house for dinner tonight. This colleague is a Spanish guy married to a Finnish girl, and they have an adorable 4-year-old son who speaks both Spanish and Finnish. The little boy is too young to have learned much English yet, although he apparently fakes like he speaks English sometimes by walking around jabbering and littering his jabber with the only English words he knows: "chicken" and "fish."
My Finnish is only at the level of a 1 month old baby, but my Spanish is decent enough to carry on a conversation with a 4-year-old. So this little boy and I became fast friends.
When we were in the house, he wouldn't talk much. He mostly just pointed and giggled at me, giggled at the toys he brought in to show me, at his coloring book, whatever. But when we got in the car so they could give me and Leslie a lift to the metro station...the little boy suddenly became very chatty.
After arguing with him in Spanish for 10 minutes on why he shouldn't open the door while the car was moving, he took off his glove and held it in my face. This conversation ensued:
Boy: "íCómelo!" ("Eat it!")
Me: "Ew, ¡no!" ("Ew, no!")
Boy: "íCÓMELO!" ("EAT IT!")
Me: "No. Tiene el olor de....stinky." ("No, it smells like...stinky.")
Boy: "Chicken?" ("Chicken?")
I had begged him all evening to say his English words to me, and as it turns out, all I had to say was "stinky" and he would be ready to talk about chicken.
My Finnish is only at the level of a 1 month old baby, but my Spanish is decent enough to carry on a conversation with a 4-year-old. So this little boy and I became fast friends.
When we were in the house, he wouldn't talk much. He mostly just pointed and giggled at me, giggled at the toys he brought in to show me, at his coloring book, whatever. But when we got in the car so they could give me and Leslie a lift to the metro station...the little boy suddenly became very chatty.
After arguing with him in Spanish for 10 minutes on why he shouldn't open the door while the car was moving, he took off his glove and held it in my face. This conversation ensued:
Boy: "íCómelo!" ("Eat it!")
Me: "Ew, ¡no!" ("Ew, no!")
Boy: "íCÓMELO!" ("EAT IT!")
Me: "No. Tiene el olor de....stinky." ("No, it smells like...stinky.")
Boy: "Chicken?" ("Chicken?")
I had begged him all evening to say his English words to me, and as it turns out, all I had to say was "stinky" and he would be ready to talk about chicken.
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