Five good reasons to learn Spanish
by Graham Pohl, Contributing Columnist
Reprinted from the Lexington Herald-Leader, August 7, 2005
Reprinted with permission of Graham Pohl.
Standing in line at Kroger one day, the guy behind overhears that my kids are learning to speak Spanish. With genuine incredulity, he says, "Why would you ever want to learn another language?"
I didn't attempt an explanation, but maybe this story will help. Eighth-graders in the Spanish Immersion Program at Bryan Station Traditional Magnet School, like several classes before them, took a trip this spring to a Spanish-speaking country.
The K-12 immersion program, the only one of its kind in the nation, has an outstanding track record for producing students who excel in every subject and emerge from the program with command of at least two languages.
This year, the eighth-graders (including my son) chose Costa Rica, a topographically rich nation that spans the Central American isthmus, as the destination for their trip in April. I got to accompany them.
For more than a week we traveled together, 14 14-year-olds, three parents, a grandparent, a teacher, our guide and his wife, and a bus driver. We shared meals, loaded and unloaded the bus, set up lodgings and looked out for one another.
It was a perfect trip largely because the kids were so extraordinary, but also because Costa Ricans, or "Ticos," as they call themselves, are welcoming and helpful, the landscape is exquisite, the food is great, and our guide, Victor Ballestero, was on intimate terms with his native country and its people.
Costa Rica's terrain includes tropical sand beaches, active volcanos, rain forests and "cloud forests" on mountains as high as 12,500 feet, all in about half the land area of Kentucky.
Ticos enjoy a vibrant Latin-influenced culture with strong conservative values. The economy is driven by tourism, coffee and bananas, but the country seems determined to beat the banana republic stereotype. The country emphasizes education and boasts a literacy rate of 93 percent. (The U.S. rate is 79 percent.)
Our reticent bus driver, Lily, was my roommate at some of our stops. Lily speaks no English. I struggle with Spanish and tried to engage him, but his shyness and complete lack of English made it difficult.
At our first rain-forest destination, we were introduced to butterfly and crocodile farms and to ants with huge jaws that slice flesh like a razor, as I accidentally discovered.
The guide had just warned us of the danger posed by these ants, but to my Spanish-ignorant ears, this sounded like so much mishmash. So I paid with gashes on a finger and a toe that took days to heal, while the kids said, "Didn't you hear what he said?"
Two answers for the disbelieving Kroger shopper: to avoid embarrassment and to avoid injury.
In some villages the first thing you hear in the morning is the cock's crow. The Costa Rican breakfast staple, gallo pinto, is fried rice and beans cooked with spices. The rice is white, the beans are black, and thus the name: Gallo pinto is also the name for a common black and white rooster.
A third answer for Mr. Kroger Shopper: Words are used differently in every language. There is great pleasure in the poetry and humor unique to other tongues.
One morning, in a small village church lavishly decorated in preparation for a wedding, I showed Lily what his name means in English. Pointing to explosive lily blossoms on a stunning floral arch, I tried: "Esta es una 'lily' en Ingles." He had never known the English translation of his name, and he was amused. By the end of the trip, I wished that I had the language skills to tell this fine man that he was aptly named.
A fourth answer for Mr. Kroger Shopper: There are wonderful people all over the world, and many of them speak not a lick of English.
Lunch in Costa Rica is often at open-air diners called "sodas," where healthy, delicious foods are made to order with fresh ingredients. There were fruits and vegetables we'd never heard of, some with flavors like nothing I'd tasted: pejiballe, guanabana, casava root and el copo, a crushed ice drink to die for.
I am an adventuresome eater with a half-century and quite a bit of travel behind me, and I was amazed to find so many new gastronomical experiences. I am convinced that with a better command of the language, even more richness would become available.
Fortunately for me, many Ticos speak English, and most of the travelers on our bus were bilingual. (There were only two of us with weak Spanish skills). The kids communicated fluidly in their second language, and we were able to dig into Costa Rica in a way that would not have been possible without the bilingualism that dominated both on and off the bus.
When Lily left us at the airport he told us (in Spanish, of course) that in 15 years of driving tour groups of all nationalities and all ages, he'd never had a group so well-behaved.
I am so proud to have been associated with these kids and this program because while they were drinking in the marvels of Costa Rica, they were leaving our Tico friends with a sense that Central Kentucky must be an outstanding place.
And the final answer for Mr. Kroger Shopper: When they visit us here, if we speak some of their language, we can be better hosts. With multilingual skills, we can confirm their positive impressions and enrich their experience of our way of life. The best way to encourage others to learn our language is to learn theirs first.
Graham Pohl of Lexington is an architect. Reach him by e-mail at graham@prparchitects.com.