Encounter Activity Three

For my Encounter Activity, I sat down and talked with Northwest Spanish Instructor Francisco "Paco" Martinez  I'm guessing that through this activity, our class will find that while every story of immigration is unique, there are some difficulties that almost everyone faces.  So Paco was born in Mexico City, and has been living in the U.S. for 10 years.  In Mexico, he had taught English as a foreign language and did some freelance translating, so when he moved to Missouri in 2001 he already knew the language pretty well.  However, as any of us who have studied a foreign language would know, school doesn't teach you slang.  He had to learn all of the slang and anything that wasn't in the dictionary, so that was one difficulty he faced.  He talked about how the thick Midwest accent made it difficult for him to understand people sometimes.

There were also some cultural differences he noticed that were shocking.  For one, he had never been to a place with so many white people before.  Ten years ago, there was a lot less diversity on campus.  He was also used to the big city, and in coming to Maryville he realized how little there was to do in small towns.  In big cities you can go to the mall, concerts, fine restaurants, plays, you name it.  So that was something that took some getting used to.  Another thing he noticed that seemed out of the ordinary was that there were so many old people driving.  This confused me, so I had to ask what do old people do in Mexico City?  They don't go anywhere?  He said no, they don't drive, because the traffic is so crazy down there they would just get pushed off the road.  I don't even like driving in Des Moines! So I definitely wouldn't make it down there. 



Sor Juana Inez



Then we talked about Latin American literature, and he shared with me some of the writers.  Sor (Sister) Juana Inez was a feminist poet who became a nun, and wrote poetry that gave a voice to women back in the 1700s.  I'm not a feminist, but this still sounds like poetry I would really enjoy.  Then he talked about Mexico's independence, and pre-independence stories like "Los Banditos Del Rio Frio."  He also told me about scary stories like "El Fistol (the necktie pin) Del Diablo."  This story was about people that, because of greed and sin, would somehow end up with the fistol, and this also sounds like a story I would enjoy.

When it comes to stories that go from Spanish to English, the idea and theme sometimes get lost in translation.  One Latin American movie, made by Julio Cortarzar, was "La Tia Julia y El Escribidor."  He said when Woody Allen remade it, calling it "Radio Days," everything was changed.  Another one Paco and I discussed was "Love in the Times of Cholera."  This was a Colombian love story made by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.  When it got remade in America, in English, it lost its originality and was no longer authentic.  We also talked about poetry, and how American and Latin American poetry differs.  In America, it is all about the rhythm, and when it's done in Spanish, the rhyme is more important.  When poetry gets translated it can really lose it's meaning, making it hard to do.

Then I asked Paco what he would like America to know about Hispanic culture.  He said there are some general misconceptions when it comes to Hispanics, because some Americans call all Hispanics Mexican.  I agree, that we assume way too much, and you know what happens when you assume...  We also talked about stereotypes, and how a lot of people think Hispanics are all laborers or cleaners, and that those trades should just be second nature to them.  He said truthfully, Hispanic immigrants are shy, and sometimes uneducated, but very hard working.  People think that all Mexicans want to come to America and this is another thing we misinterpret.  Usually, only one or two from the whole family come over to work and make money to send it back to their families. 

We talked about the American dream, and how it has lost its meaning.  He said in America, if you work hard you get to be someone, but he said it doesn't seem to work that way with Hispanics.  They stay invisible no matter how hard they work.  This really made me sad. We also talked about the differences in communication between Americans and Mexicans.  He said we talk about everything but nothing.  We talk about politics and our problems everything is just an agenda, when with Mexicans they talk just to talk.  They listen to each other and help each other, their friendships are like a "real Facebook," not fake.  I told him how I had noticed throughout my life that the Hispanics I had been around were almost always more open and affectionate that the average American.  With Americans we are always defending our space and want people to stay out of our bubble, and with Mexicans, or possibly Hispanics in general, they just share it.  The main point I took away from all this is that we all judge, we all assume, and we are getting it wrong, so Paco told me that in order to understand another culture, you must experience it.

Until next time,

Keri Jo