Things I've Learned from Non-Americans

I did not come to Chile to speak English, however, not surprisingly, my native tongue has still been a major part of my communication since I've spent a good deal of time around Americans. We can understand each other. We can joke, have fun, explore, etc. But, more and more and more I've been spending time with people who aren't from the U.S. Many of these people are Chilean, obviously, but there are also quite a few students from other countries studying in Chile at the same University as I. Since they don't speak English and I don't speak their native language, all we have is Spanish. They say it is extremely important for us, as people trying to learn a language, to practice it in every day situations. They tell us that that is how we learn the most. Well, through my talks with some Non-Estadounidenses (Spanish for American), my Spanish has improved, but I've come to understand some very interesting things:

1. I don't speak Spanish with an American accent. I'm not quite sure how this can be true, but on numerous occasions, Chileans and other non-U.S.-ers have commented that I don't sound like other people from the States. I sound more like someone from Germany. Something about my R's. As Americans our R sound is very flat (Rrround the rrrough and rrrugged rrrrocks, the rrragged rrrascal rrrrrudely rrrrran), but in Spanish, the R is pronounced as either a rolled R (imagine a cat purring if you don't know what this sounds like), or, the more common version of the R is a sort of soft "flipped R" which sounds more like a gentle D (if you're confused, welcome to my life). Apparently, it's very difficult for most Americans to make this distinction and to reproduce it in their speak, especially early on. However, I have been told that I have it down. However when you remove that aspect of the American accent, but keep many of the other features of it, it results in what can be confused as a German accent. I guess. I don't really understand it to be honest, but my host family, an older Chilean woman who shared a collectivo with me, a group of French students, an even a German student have commented that they thought I was German. So...yeah. Weird, right?
2. Americans think that everyone else thinks more poorly of them than people actually do. I, for some time now, have been given the impression that all other countries look down on the United states. However, in my talks with non-Americans, I've found that, generally, that is not the case. Now, it IS true that we could use a little PR help in some aspects of our image. There is  a strong impression that Americans don't know geography, which, for many is probably at least sort of true. (Wanna prove me wrong? Point to Burundi on an unlabeled map. I dare you.) There's also a stereotype that we are too trusting in our government, also probably mostly true. Also, some Chileans are of the impression that Americans are (to put it lightly) "a tad easy". However, many of the things I thought they'd think about us, don't seem to be as prominent. For example, they recognize that there are SOME obese people in the states, but they don't think we're all fat and lazy. I was also afraid I'd run into the preconception that Americans are all loud, annoying, over-privileged, and brutish (because I was led to believe that that opinion exists) though two things seem to disprove this. First of all, some (not all) Chileans can be very loud themselves. Very loud. Very. The second and perhaps stronger proof against this that I've found is that the first way any non-American has described their idea of Americans is that we're generally friendly, quick to share our things, easy to smile and friendly, though perhaps a bit naive. When talking some new French friends of mine, they explained to me that the general consensus of the states has been improving, but even at it's worst it wasn't all that bad. We're seen, as one French student put it (in Spanish), the U.S. is like a "bastion of capitalism" that other countries look to and admire. I was first of all a little surprised to hear the word "bastión" in Spanish, but secondly surprised that the general consensus is so positive. I have to say, I'm okay with it, though I still want to prove the more negative stereotypes wrong.
3. Swearing is the first part of learning a new language...I guess. I know when I started learning Spanish (back in Grade School) a few of the kids had learned some...saltier Spanish words. The secret words spread through the Fourth Grade class like a virus until everyone knew which words to avoid saying...or which ones were perfect for certain circumstances. In Chile, things seem no different in this regard. One of my host brothers only speaks minimal English. Most of his English lexicon consists of the swears. F's and S's and B's and even a few C's spew from his lips like a fountain of foul-mouthedness. When I first encountered the French students whom I've mentioned a few times in this post, one of them was swearing in perfect English. I assumed he was American but realized the truth when I started a conversation in my native tongue. I'm not sure I can give a definitive rationale for this phenomenon, but I can't help but be reminded of young children who accidentally stumble on the perfectly horrible combination of syllables. They don't REALLY know what they're saying, but they know it gets a reaction and that's funny or entertaining or something. It's not so much the intent of the words that they care about, it's the reaction. Except unlike babies, these people DO know what they're saying (more or less), and it's far less cute.

I'm sure that as my experiences delving into a new language continue, I'll come across more of these unexpected and rather surprising discoveries. I suppose it's not so surprising that I'm learning things, but the surprise is what I'm learning. Before going to Chile, I was prepped with all sorts of information. I felt like I knew all that I could about going and that when I got here I'd learn about Chile and Spanish and Latin America and stuff like that. Little did I know that I could learn about myself and where I came from in the process.