Tim Tams and wholemeal bread: more Spanish words that expand my faith
I’ve been reading the Psalms in Spanish. Scripture is my main connection to this language these days and…
The real reason I speak Spanish: how trifles can transform your life
People are often surprised and curious that I am fluent in Spanish. It is a random language for…
Is political correctness impoverishing or enriching our language?
“That’s so gay” Back in my school days, everything was gay. Science class was gay, bumbags were gay,…
The problem with American
Last week, on my flight from New York back to Sydney, I binge watched Season 1 of The Newsroom. It’s a series created by Aaron Sorkin, the guy behind The West Wing, with Jeff Daniels playing Will McAvoy, an anchorman on cable news.
In the opening scene of the series pilot, Will is on a panel with a Democrat and a Republican at a university, when a student asks the panel: “What makes America the greatest country in the world?”
The question triggers an epic and rousing outburst from Will, who dresses down both major political parties and rails about why America is no longer the greatest country on earth.
“But it could be”, he then says in softer tones.
That first season of The Newsroom aired in 2012, before Donald Trump ever campaigned for president, promising to “make America great again”.
Coincidence? I doubt it.
No Canto?
To avoid confusion, I generally insist that English is my native language. I received all of my education in English, it’s what we spoke in my family growing up and it’s what we speak now.
But technically, it’s not my first language.
What would happen if I were to relearn my first language? What might that unlock?
Six Spanish words that changed my faith
It's hard to explain how learning Spanish has amplified and enriched my understanding of God and the Bible.
But I'll try.
In this post I'll teach you six Spanish words to show you what you're missing by only reading the Bible in English.
I Heart Spanish
Stumbled upon this short video and thought I would share it as an appetiser to a post I'm currently working on, about the Spanish language.
It's just famous people saying their favourite Spanish word but it made me disproportionately happy :)
Sorry, what do you mean?
I’ve been considering whether National Sorry Day would be more or less controversial if we spoke Spanish. There…
How South America messed me up good
People always ask me about my time in South America. Some are genuinely interested, while for others it's the polite and logical thing to ask. In either case, the truth is that these conversations have started to get a bit repetitive and I'm often left wishing I could say more than: that Latinos are warmer; that Andean dishes contain too many carbs; that working with survivors of child sexual abuse was hard as you'd imagine but so rewarding; that I'm not sure how to answer your question about how good my Spanish is.
The worst thing is that I can't seem to do Bolivia and Ecuador justice - not in a brief conversation that could turn to a different topic at any given moment.
So below are a few noteworthy things I don't generally get to share about the impact that my time in South America has had on me as a person and who I am now.
Is that MY voice?
So there is this hilarious line from The Emperor’s New Groove we always quote. The villainous Yzma turns into a…