Very Little? by Cara Kelly

When I made the final decision to come to Spain to study I was, by no means, relaxed about the situation. I would consider myself a pretty relaxed person but change is something that puts me on edge. I'd be leaving literally everything I knew for over 3 months across an ocean. My friends, my and anyone else I'd want to contact would only be available through Facetime....if they were even awake. One of the major reasons why I was so nervous about coming here was because of the language barrier. I would consider myself to know very little Spanish...some, but still very little. And I would tell that to Spaniards when they asked me. What I've come to learn here is that my definition of little and Europe's definition of little is very very different. I've met so many people in Seville who I've asked if they spoke any English. Their reply is almost always the same... “Just a little”. Meanwhile their having 5 minute conversations with me and using full and complete sentences. Some professions I can understand why they would need to know a second language. If you're in the customer service industry and in a touristy area, then yes, but their English is still very good! Other professions I'm completely taken back when they speak to me with so much ease and then say they they're not very good. My friend Julia and I were taking a weekend trip to Paris and had just landed at the airport. We were trying to get to our hotel and the bus was one of our only options. We didn't speak French and didn't know the area so we were having some trouble figuring out if we take the bus, if so which one, and for how long. We're convinced we figured it out and we step onto one bus. Immediately the man driving says something to us in French. The mix of looks on our faces and awkward silence, the man figured we were American. He spoke again only this time in English asking if we spoke English, with which we reply yes. He then proceeded to tell us that we needed to get off of this bus, head to our right and then take another left at the end of the building to get onto the metro. He even told us how long we need to stay on the metro for and what stop to get off at for the street of our hotel. At the end of his directions he turns to Julia and I and apologizes for not speaking very good English. We were both so shocked at his statement! There was no point in time during that entire narrative where I had trouble understanding his sentences or choice of words. This was one of the most surprising things for me in Europe thus far. Having people tell me that their English isn't very good and then speak better than I do. Not to mention how many different languages people speak in general. I don't think I've met a person here yet that hasn't spoken at least 2 languages. And here I am barley getting by with my very broken Spanish. It just amazes me how much more diverse people in Europe are than I would have thought.