Once we actually arrived in Argentina and managed to settle in to our hotel, it was back to business. In my case, that meant that I had to help train some of my coworkers on some technical work. There were actually a few of us that went on this trip, because several heads are better than one. The in-country coworkers hadn't seen this particular technology before, so we were just there to show them the ropes. However, this also led to the interesting fact that I had to communicate with these coworkers about software development stuff.
In my case, this presented a bit of a dilemma. I had two languages to choose from. Now, I am fairly fluent in Spanish, but I think about my day to day job in English. English is clearly the easier of the two languages for me to communicate in when it comes to my day job. Of course, the exact opposite was true for my coworkers. They were far more comfortable with Spanish to discuss the work at hand. Sure, they could understand me if I spoke in English, but it'd be more of a struggle for them. Before we even arrived, this thought was bouncing around in the back of my head.
As it turned out, I needn't have worried. The question was resolved on my behalf when the rest of my team had their flights delayed. This left me alone in the room with all of the Argentinian coworkers. Well, that meant that I had no excuse, and the locals figured that we could take advantage of the circumstances: Spanish it was.
However, this very quickly led to the realization that my Spanish is different than Argentinian Spanish. As with other languages, there are some very real regional differences. Combinations of words that would be perfectly valid at my parents' house can draw raised eyebrows in Argentina. As a case in point, I grew up using the word "machucar" to mean "push" or "press." Given that we were talking about clicking on links and pressing buttons on the screen, this word popped up a few times.
My coworkers, on the other hand, used a totally different word for that motion. For them, they used the word "apretar" to mean to press. To them, the word that I used meant "to crush" or "to squash." The mental image is totally different, so my coworkers would giggle every time I used that word. I actually didn't notice at first, but after the third or fourth time that someone stifled a laugh, I caught on. They eventually fessed up and explained why it was so funny to them, and we all had a good laugh about it.
Now, it's entirely possible that my parents would also be appalled by my diction, but for whatever reason, that's the word that sticks out in my head as the translation for "press." I actually tried to catch myself, but habits die hard. Despite my best efforts, I would still say "machucar" every now and then, and then we all would laugh as I realized my mistake. Best of all, it became a running gag, and the joke lived on past those first few days. Spanish sure can be fun.
In my case, this presented a bit of a dilemma. I had two languages to choose from. Now, I am fairly fluent in Spanish, but I think about my day to day job in English. English is clearly the easier of the two languages for me to communicate in when it comes to my day job. Of course, the exact opposite was true for my coworkers. They were far more comfortable with Spanish to discuss the work at hand. Sure, they could understand me if I spoke in English, but it'd be more of a struggle for them. Before we even arrived, this thought was bouncing around in the back of my head.
As it turned out, I needn't have worried. The question was resolved on my behalf when the rest of my team had their flights delayed. This left me alone in the room with all of the Argentinian coworkers. Well, that meant that I had no excuse, and the locals figured that we could take advantage of the circumstances: Spanish it was.
However, this very quickly led to the realization that my Spanish is different than Argentinian Spanish. As with other languages, there are some very real regional differences. Combinations of words that would be perfectly valid at my parents' house can draw raised eyebrows in Argentina. As a case in point, I grew up using the word "machucar" to mean "push" or "press." Given that we were talking about clicking on links and pressing buttons on the screen, this word popped up a few times.
My coworkers, on the other hand, used a totally different word for that motion. For them, they used the word "apretar" to mean to press. To them, the word that I used meant "to crush" or "to squash." The mental image is totally different, so my coworkers would giggle every time I used that word. I actually didn't notice at first, but after the third or fourth time that someone stifled a laugh, I caught on. They eventually fessed up and explained why it was so funny to them, and we all had a good laugh about it.
Now, it's entirely possible that my parents would also be appalled by my diction, but for whatever reason, that's the word that sticks out in my head as the translation for "press." I actually tried to catch myself, but habits die hard. Despite my best efforts, I would still say "machucar" every now and then, and then we all would laugh as I realized my mistake. Best of all, it became a running gag, and the joke lived on past those first few days. Spanish sure can be fun.
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