English no, Communication si.

[Rosina Lila]

Hi Rebekah,
It has been my experience that most Gallegos who claim not to speak Castilian
will understand most of it if the need arises, particularly if it is in
writing.  Besides, I expect that those with whom my relatives may need to
communicate will mostly be in stores, restaurants, etc.
Most people who travel with multilinguists who translate for them are,
indeed, lucky; but I wonder if they realize that their fortune is an unwelcome
imposition on the translator who must interrupt his/her trend of thought and focus
of attention to attend to someone else's.  I do not know anyone who enjoys
serving as a translator when traveling; one of my closes friends is from Granada
and married to a monolingual American, another is an Italian-Brazilian
married, also, to a unilingual American; neither travels with her husband when they
go to Spanish, Portuguese or Italian speaking countries because having to
translate all the time "ruins" the trip for them.  I understand all too well: one
may be lost in reverie, contemplation, introspection and so on, of one's own,
and being asked to translate for others is an intrusive interruption.....
translating a few times when the need arises is ok.... but doing it all the time
for a constant companion is a real pain.
Also, the world is getting too small for anyone with any cultural or growth
ambitions to speak only one language.  Don't you think so?  And just as one
learns to swim by being thrown into the water, I intend to let my relatives
pretty much on their own, with their little translators; maybe they'll profit by
it.
Besides, I've got a whole lot of serious praying and meditating of my own to
do.
Big hug!
Rosina

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