Have you ever tried to learn a new language as an adult? In High school I took German instead of Spanish. I can still understand some German and remember some words and numbers and letters. I so wish I would have taken Spanish instead.
I’ve been listening to Spanish tapes in the car, reading through translation books, and listening to Spanish music. I have short-term memory as I can usually remember things as I am practicing but ask me later in the day or tomorrow and I won’t remember. Is that typical with age? Am I just getting senile? My hope is that when I get to Panama I will absorb it a little more since it will be spoken most frequently.
The last time I was there I was sitting at the bar having a margarita with my dinner and the bartender only knew Spanish. There was a waiter or host there that knew a little English so while I was eating dinner we brought out our phones and we all started trying to communicate through Google translator.
While I was trying to teach them English and they teach me Spanish, we laughed at each others mistakes. I said the word “yellow” (the straw was yellow) and he thought I was saying “hello” so he kept saying “Hola”.
The people were very friendly and very eager to learn English. I’m sure it will be a fun and interesting experience to try to communicate when I get there. I’m definitely going to need a cell phone with a lot of data!