In the last two or three years, I have been practicing more Spanish, a language I began learning as a child. Although I have a master’s degree in Spanish and I taught it for five years, I haven’t taught since 2016, and to be honest, I’ve never felt like I’ve totally had command of this beautiful language, despite having studied a lot. The hard part for me is vocabulary, especially that of everday and familiar conversation. Therefore, recently I have written a lot of words on digital flashcards to memorize them.
I have noticed that there are many words that I associate with a person or a distinct event. That is, when I see the word, a particular person comes to mind, generally the person who taught me the word, even if they never realized it. It could have been a very trivial conversation, but I remember it, because it was in that conversation that I learned the new word.
I’m going to give some example, but I will remove names to protect the innocent.
Calefacción (heating) — This word always brings to mind a Cuban professor, since one cold morning he mentioned something about his heater. I don’t remember what he said specifically, only that he used this word.
Calcetín (sock) — I will always associate calcetines with my first Spanish teacher, a man from America but who lived in Mexico for a while during his childhood. He taught me this word one day while he was helping me put on a pair of socks.
Nalgas (buttocks) — I associate this word with a Peruvian man I know with spinal muscular atrophy who used it while talking to me about strategies and problems with positioning in a wheelchair.
¡Qué chévere! (How cool!) — A Venezuelan colleague taught me this phrase when I asked her how to say “cool.”
Cocodrilo (crocodile) — On one occasion, a classmate from Spain asked me a question while I was giving a presentation. I don’t remember the question, but it had something to do with a crocodile, a word I didn’t know and that confused me considerably.
Exacto (exactly) — Another Venezuelan colleague taught me this word for confirming something that has been said in a conversation. Very useful and I use it too much.
Cuídate (Take care) — A colleague from Ecuador used this phase with me one day. Although I had heard the expression before, it wasn’t something I used that much because it just didn’t come to mind a lot. But ever since then, it has served me well for saying goodbye and is another phrase I’ve adopted many times.
There are many more words that I associate with various friends, but those are all I can remember for now. In another post, maybe I will share more words and the good folks who taught them to me.