Adventures in Fractured Spanish
News from the Honduras Bay Islands and North Coast
19 December 2000
By Pierre Renaldo, The Coastwatcher©

Our world now is the Bay Islands and the North Coast of Honduras. Though English is spoken by many native islanders you are most likely to encounter Spanish speaking people on the mainland. And no wonder, since that is the official language of the Republic of Honduras. All business transactions and contracts are required to be conducted and written in Spanish.

Now comes the fun part. We hear some very amusing things from our Spanish friends here, usually amusing because the incidents were really misunderstandings of words or ideas. This happens on both sides of the language barrier. We hear some very funny words or phrases from our Spanish-speaking friends when they try to express themselves in English, and we in turn say hilarious things to them when we venture into their native tongue.

One incident, which I thought was very entertaining, happened to me when I first came to Honduras. I had been asked by one of my clients to accompany them to La Ceiba, to look for furniture. So being the big macho hotshot who knew his way around the country and the language, I arranged with my favorite taxi driver to take them on a tour of the furniture stores in town.

My friend the taxi driver is a little hard of hearing, and knows very little English, and I am a little hard of hearing and know very little Spanish. But I was confident that everything would work out fine.

I have to mention a few words here so you can get the gist of what actually transpired on this exciting shopping trip.

First is the Spanish word for furniture; MUEBLES, pronounced , mu-ay-blays. Then another Spanish word; HUEVOS, pronounced, way-vos, which means eggs.

Are you with me so far? Okay. I pronounced the word for furniture may-bles like the woman's name, Mable, only with an 's' on the end of it. Of course I said this with a Yankee accent so as we were driving around and around the same part of town, I began to wonder why Israel, our taxi driver was circling these buildings. These were definitely not furniture stores. I looked at him with a big question mark on my face, and asked, "May-bles?"

"Si, way-vos." We were stopped in front a of a building that looked like a market. I could see stacks of eggs all over the place, and then the light went on. We were stopped in front of the local egg packing plant. "Way-vos" he repeated. "Way-vos." Everybody began to laugh, my friends especially. Their macho Spanish speaking guide had mispronounced the word for furniture. To this day, whenever we meet, they thank me for the interesting side trip to the egg factory.

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In the aftermath of Hurricane Mitch my wife was involved in helping some islanders and people along the North Coast with reconstruction of their homes, schools and churches. She was questioning many people as to what was needed most. Much to her dismay, several reported that they lost their sinks due to Hurricane Mitch.

After the sixth person complained about losing her sink, Gloria was sure that some looter had a thing for sinks and began to inquire as to how many kitchen sinks had been stolen. The response was a glassy eyed stare. What is with this Gringa, was the question on their faces.

It took a little explanation, and then her light went on too. They were trying to say zincs. That is the corrugated, zinc coated, sheet metal used for roofs on many building in the tropics. The roofs had been blown away by the hurricane and they wanted to replace the sheet metal, the zincs.

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Living on an island causes many people to be involved in a past-time they never dreamed of before coming to live on Roatan. We find ourselves waiting for the "next boat," which is nearly a fable at times. Everything is on the next boat, it is the standard excuse for why something you are desperate for is not available, and you can get old waiting for it.

We were waiting for our cabinet order, long overdue, and the big bottleneck for completing a building project. My foreman is Spanish and although he speaks fairly good English, I sometimes get in a quandary over something I think he is talking about, only to find the subject matter to be far removed from my understanding.

I was getting very antsy about the missing cabinets and so Rolando, my foreman, began a daily search for the overdue boat. It was being held up in Puerto Cortes due to very rough seas but we were having perfect weather on Roatan and did not know of the problems affecting the Bay of Honduras. Everything seemed dandy.

When we had our morning meetings he began to complain about not being able to find the "chip", and I never really understood why he was telling me about a "chip". I didn't even know he had a computer and could not imagine, even if he did, what a missing "chip" had to do with me. Then on the day the "ship" arrived it all came together. You see? I listened to loud music for too long in my youth. I should have realized he was trying to say ship. I taught him the difference between a ship and a boat. Now we talk about the 'next boate', and I am not thinking about computers.

If you have any questions or comments please write to me at: elouis@globalnet.hn I will personally answer you.

You can also preview excerpts from two informative construction oriented books on my web site, free of charge or obligation. My Christmas gift to my readers. Just click below for your copies.

http://www.eroatan.com/pierre/books.html

More next week. Ho! Ho! Ho! and Jingle! Jingle!

Regards Pierre

By Pierre Renaldo, Mountain Coastal S.A,. General Contractors, Construction Management and Construction Consultants.