14th
¿No o No?
Though I am a self-confessed multi-linguist-illiterate, I have been shocking most of the locals here in Spain.
Every 18 months or so, Phileena and I cash in some frequent flier miles (we tend to rack them up pretty quickly) and max-out our alloted vacation time. The past 5 years we´ve spent our vacations poking around some of the more dreamy cities, as well as the chillest little villages and towns, across Spain and Portugal.
So, this month Phileena and I are spending 3 weeks in Porto, Salamanca, Ávila, Toledo, Santander, San Vicente de la Barquera, Santillana del Mar, Bilbao, Islares, Haro, Estella, Pamplona, Tremp, Andorra le Vella, Roses, Cadaqués, Barcelona and Lisbon.
Now, even though I never properly learned Spanish, I made a linguistic commitment when staying with the Forcattos for 7-8 months in Lima back in 2000. And, I´ve held true to that commitment.
That promise was to ONLY use the Spanish word for “No” when speaking English.
Yes, as you can imagine, it´s pretty hard for people to follow me—going in and out of 2 languages all day long is personally exhausting, but also a lot to ask for people who don´t know any Spanish at all. And, somehow I snuck it past my editor and he didn´t even realize that my book is packed full of the Spanish word for “No.”
As Phileena and I spend our afternoons and evenings checking out all the local tapaz bars here in Spain, the people usually can´t follow my broken Spanish, but they know when I say, “No.” And they know I mean it.
