Spanish as a Foreign Language

It can be quite funny, travelling around South America: you find yourself in a Spanish-speaking country, speaking to a local whose level of Spanish is barely enough to negotiate the letting of a hotel room. In these Andean countries we are traveling right now (Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia), many still speak their native indigenous tongue — such as Quechua and Aymara. And, while most also speak fluent Spanish, the further off the beaten track you get, the more likely you are to encounter somebody who doesn’t.

Funnily, though, my most memobrable such encounter happened in Aguas Calientes — the jumping-off point for world-famous Machu Picchu, not exactly off the beaten track. This kind of thing helps appreciate the quality of basic education in the western world, though. When you are speaking to a local who hardly speaks her country’s main language and you have to fill out your own receipt (because she does not know how to write), you know that she probably hasn’t seen any such education in her life.

February 24, 2007 at 01:53
Filed under Peru

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