Three Speeds

After three months in South America, I'm finally back in Minneapolis. I've spent much time recounting my work experience in Sao Paulo to friends and family, and as I told them about switching among English, Portuguese, and Spanish every day, I realized that the perfect metaphor for this time could be found on the streets of Sao Paulo: the ubiquitous BikeSampa three-speeds.

I can get anywhere I need to go in Portuguese, it might just take a little longer than usual and the crank just might have to spin a few more times than in the other gears.  I am still working to expand my vocabulary, but for the most part I can express myself as I need to.  I can typically talk my way around a gap in my verbal arsenal.  I stayed primarily in Brasil, so I also lived a lot of my day in first gear.  Although my co-workers could have upshifted and dropped me like a bag of dirt at any time, I was able to keep pace well enough for them to let me stick around. 

My Spanish is quite serviceable for almost any circumstance, which is good because I usually have one or two calls a day with my colleagues from Argentina.  I’m never moving too slowly here, even on the days that I’ve spent a lot of time in Portuguese and am shifting out of low gear.    I studied Spanish for a long enough time and have picked up enough business vocabulary that I can get anywhere I need to go without problems, even accounting for some variations in Argentinian "castellano".  People always ask me if I’m
“fluent” in Spanish.  All I know is that my second language almost feels like a first language after I've stayed too long in Portuguese, but I'd have to defer to my colleagues on whether they'd call me "fluent" or not.  

There are absolutely no impediments to my ability to communicate in my native tongue.  If my legs (or lips) are willing, the bike is able.  Of course, if I need to slow down to first or second in English to accommodate my colleagues that have it as a second (or third) language poking along in those gears, that’s obviously not a problem either.


In all honesty, I much prefer riding my 20 speed carbon fiber bicycle, but I don't plan on picking up another 17 languages just to push the metaphor further.