DO YOU SPEAK SPANISH?

With a slight chuckle, a patient of mine this morning (reminder that I am a dental hygienist) asked if I speak Spanish?  In twenty-eight years of practicing dental hygiene, I have never been asked this question.  I am in Virginia.  The United States.  Why would I necessarily speak Spanish in a city with 9.5% being Hispanic or Latino (75% White according to 2011 numbers)?  Now she did chuckle, so I know she was a bit nervous.  And I wasn't put out in any way by her question, it was just odd to me.  Then I realized we do have one Spanish speaking dental hygienist in the office (not that this one has ever treated her before though), and the dentist she sees in the office speaks Spanish (he is from CA).  So her question then made a little sense.  And also, as Ray reminded me, when we have traveled to Mexico, Spain and Panama, we have often asked "do you speak English"?  Mostly because we have needed to know if we needed our daughter to speak for us, to take our translation guides out or use a lot of hand gestures.  In Panama, in the interior, we learned quickly not to even ask anymore.  There is limited English even with the policemen.

 Back to the job--the fun part for me was to actually try and answer her a bit and communicate with her in Spanish.  But then I froze.

Here is the scenario at ten am.
Patient:  Do you speak Spanish?  Chuckle.
Me:  Oh, no.  Chuckle.  Un poquito (A little, I bravely try and say.)  Despacio, por favor.  (Speak slowly, please.)
Patient:  Bueno, bueno. (Good, good).

The worst thing someone can do, of course, is let the other think they know their language.  Because then they just let it all go!  And it is just so fast.  So I have set the patient back in the chair now and I tell her that I am going to Panama in three weeks.

Me:  Voy a Panamá en tres semanas.  (Or I might have said "¡Vamos!"--as in "Let's go!"  lol  I think that is the word I used instead--ooops.)
Me:  Aprender espanol.  (learn Spanish)  I don't know how to say "I am trying to learn Spanish again".
Patient:  Nothing.  Her mouth is open.  She can't say much and that's good!

At the end of the appointment I cheated a bit, signed onto Google Translate and told the patient that Dr. X was coming into see her next.  Oh, and I tried to ask her if she taught Spanish or ever did intercambios with people interested in learning Spanish while she learned English.  That didn't go over well.  She spoke in English and answered me, but I couldn't even understand what she replied.

Dr. X came into the operatory to perform the exam.  In Spanish, I know that he asked her how she was, how her teeth were (dientes), and then they chatted.  I gathered the word "solamente" (only) out of her mouth.  She rolled her tongue a lot (she is from Honduras--another dialect naturally), they laughed (I wondered what he really understood), and she spoke so fast!

At the end of the appointment, I did manage to tell her I would "veo que in seis meses" (I cheated on the 'see you' part but knew 'the six months' part--meaning "see you in six months") and made her appointment "de agosto a las 10 am" (on a certain day in August at ten am).  I am so going to knock her socks off at that visit.
Okay.  Probably not.  I will just speak English which is something I know quite well.  It might be best for both of us.   It just really woke me up to how much I want to learn the language and how difficult it will be.  I still have time.