A Love-Hate Relationship

19 ~ Spanish Lessons

Tuesday, January 4th

I showed Johnny a picture of a hippo, the Spanish word printed on the back. I would always start with the easy ones and go up to the more difficult words.

"Hipopótamo," he said, though he pronounced it wrong.

I laughed at his accent, but didn't correct him. It would take more practice to fix the American pronunciation. Though he was doing much better at speaking Spanish than before.

"Correct." I put it down and opened another box of cards, deciding to start with the challenging ones.

Words like hippopotamus were easy to translate; they were spelled similarly and the pronunciation wasn't that different. Others were simple enough to memorize. But there were so many words that were completely different.

"Okay, how about this one?" I held up a picture of a pillow.

"Uh..." He looked down, tapping his fingers on the table. "Almuda?"

I chuckled. "Almohada." I pronounced the word clearly so he could remember.

"Al... mo..." His tongue twisted.

"Al-mo-ha-da."

He repeated the syllables separately.

"Good." I put down the card.

He sighed. "These words are hard."

"Don't worry," I said. "You were close on that one. Don't beat yourself up about it." I held up a picture of a barn.

He stared at it, pressing his tongue against his cheek. "I... I know this one."

He shifted in his seat, his fingers circling his mouth as he tried to remember. His muscles tensed in frustration and he slammed his palm on the table. "Come on, I know this one!"

"I'll give you a hint. It starts with a g."

"G... letter g..."

He mulled over the word for a little longer before giving up. "I don't remember."

I sighed, putting the card next to the cards he got right.

"What was it?" he asked as I took out another card.

"Granero," I answered.

"I thought that was the word for 'farmer'."

"No, granjero is for farmer."

He sighed, rubbing his hands through his hair. "This is so confusing."

"Relax. Just a couple more for the day."

I showed him a picture of a brain.

"Cerebro."

I nodded and showed him a whiteboard.

"Uh... pizza?"

I blinked in confusion. "What?" I started to laugh.

"It had pizza in it!"

"Pizarra," I said through my laughter.

"You see, it mentions pizza!"

I shook my head and kept laughing, my stomach hurting.

"Very funny." He blushed, probably feeling embarrassed, but laughed along anyway.

"Este necesita un montón de trabajo, porque..." I decided to keep my spoken thoughts in Spanish so he wouldn't know what I meant.

Unfortunately, he'd learned more than I thought.

"Trabajo means work," he said, leaning towards me. "What do you mean by that? And necesita? Need?"