My Bilingual Journey (Part 2)

By Kimberlee Thorne-Waintraub @ Small World Language Services

It was October 1995 in Salt Lake City, Utah (USA). I was newly wed to my very handsome Argentine prince and felt like I could conquer the world. Oddly enough though, when my husband asked me if I’d prefer to live in the US or Argentina, I felt strongly inclined to live and experience life there, so that’s where we headed to start our new life together as a couple.

I fondly recall my first years in Buenos Aires, Argentina when I call on my audiovisual memories of the telenovelas (soap operas) on national TV, as they truly became my language teachers, along with the vocabulary I learned from my Argentine family and English students that would help me decipher the mystique of living in a third world country characterized by a large influx of European immigrants containing sprinkles of many metropolitan cities around the world.

Those daily telenovelas featuring such talented actors as Andrea Del Boca, Thalia and other young Argentine actors in the wonderful series “Verano de ‘98” shaped my first years while living there and it was something to look forward to every day. Then we saw Pablo Echarri in Montecristo, a true “galan” in Argentine society. They taught me the inner workings of Latin culture, the historical significance of past events, the everyday drama with which the society lives and breathes, and I learned to appreciate the culture greatly while becoming part of the mainstream population myself somehow.

My Spanish music repertoire consisted of songs written and sung by Ricardo Montaner, Chayanne, Diego Torres, Eros Ramazotti, Ricky Martin, Thalia, Alejandro Lerner, Cristian Castro, Shakira, Los Abuelos de la Nada, among others.

Those first few years held very sweet memories for me and although we experienced trying times, we stuck together as a couple and extended family and somehow made it through...

In the meantime, I was building a very successful language business consisting of English classes, text revision and light translation and editing for some of my corporate clients.

Then I watched carefully as visible signs of an eroding economy began to appear (politically, economically and morally). 

Let me take you to December 2001, just a few months after the world-changing 9-11 occurred in the US. Argentina’s government declared default on its foreign loans and there was a coup and mass looting in the streets. I remember the image of Argentina’s president Fernando De la Rua leaving in a helicopter and going into hiding for the next few years, while we were ruled by five presidents within a one-year period of time. It seemed like the country was ungovernable and there was a lot of political unrest and uncertainty and even for many, a lack of hope and deep desperation became commonplace as unemployment grew and those who had the resources and chance to leave for “greener” pastures headed back to their home countries or left in droves for countries like the US, Spain and other European countries in search of better opportunities and employment. After all, many people had lost their lifetime savings when their foreign currency was devalued and turned into Argentine pesos and their savings were unrecoverable and seized by the banks, to be the turned into local money disguised as value, with such strange names as “patacones” and “Lecop”, among others.

Since good employment was scarce and any job became a luxury item (unemployed lawyers were even driving taxis during this time), the people who could invest in training did exactly that. My English classes got so in demand that I hardly stopped even to eat, and group classes grew in demand as not everyone could afford to take private classes at that time. My students were my pride and joy, and after the most critical wave of crisis blew over, I was thanked immensely for helping many obtain better jobs and opportunities and even received letters of gratitude from some who had gone on to “greener” pastures in other countries such as the US, Germany and Finland, which was difficult for me to see in many ways, since I’d become attached to them, and I confess that I had a secret longing and desire to return to my country as well...

There was a song that became very popular during that difficult time in Argentina. It was composed and sung by Diego Torres called “Color Esperanza”. In the midst of so much despair in the country, it truly was a godsend during a time when many had lost most of their hope. It became a type of national anthem that got many through a very desperate period of time in Argentine history.

Here are the lyrics: 

Sé que hay en tus ojos con solo mirar

Que estas cansado de andar y de andar

Y caminar girando siempre en un lugar

Sé que las ventanas se pueden abrir

Cambiar el aire depende de ti

Te ayudará, vale la pena una vez más

Estribillo (Chorus)

Saber que se puede, querer que se pueda

Quitarse los miedos, sacarlos afuera

Pintarse la cara color esperanza

Tentar al futuro con el corazón

Es mejor perderse que nunca embarcar

Mejor tentarse a dejar de intentar

Aunque ya ves que no es tan fácil empezar

Sé que lo imposible se puede lograr

Que la tristeza algún día se irá

Y así será la vida cambia y cambiará

Sentirás que el alma vuela

Por cantar una vez más

Vale más poder brillar

Que solo buscar ver el sol

For interested linguists reading this article, we’d like to extend a special invitation to translate this song and those who are successful in doing so will receive a special recognition in the February newsletter, including publishing their contact info in the next issue. We are proud to say that we have a very good readership among our newsletter subscribers, so this would be a good chance to do show off your translation skills.

Part 1 can be found on this same blog, and Part 3 of “My Bilingual Journey” will be coming soon!

Thanks for all your support throughout 2012 and for all you’ve meant to us.

Happy New Year from Small World Language Services!

Photos were taken on a recent trip to Park City, Utah