Dear Romeo,
Are you bilingual? Have you adjusted to
English or does your guy talk to you in both Spanish and English?
Signed,
Nijel in Louisville
Dear Nijel,
You are asking a question that I have
been asked many times since my arrival here in the United States back in
April. As you know, I was born in
Costa Rica, where the main spoken language by the humans around was
Spanish. Since moving here to
Washington, D.C., I do not often hear Spanish, though sometimes my guy will say
some things to me that sound kind of like Spanish--I'm sure he's doing the best
he can.
Now, I'm going to make a little leap here
and write briefly about the larger issue.
I think you will find it interesting. I've noticed that humans put a lot of energy into
communicating using "words," and I do understand some of those words
or groups of words by their sound.
But I also understand the music of the words. Does that make sense?
When words are spoken, they are not just an articulation of a series of
sounds, but they are full of emotion.
So I can speak intention, if you will, in
both languages. I can understand other kinds of "languages,"
too. Things that are similar in
humans no matter what words come out of their mouths.
Therefore, I can also understand body
language, though this kind of communication does confuse me a lot still. But the better I know someone, the
easier it is to communicate like this.
I am teaching my guy how to do this better and he seems to get it pretty
good. Like when my guy comes home
from being away for a long time, I always tuck my head down against his side
and press the top of forehead and snout into his body to say that I am glad my
pack leader is back and we are a pack again! For me, sometimes at night I have a bad dream and so I jump
up onto the bed and lay against him and he places the open palm of his hand on
the center of my chest and holds me telling me stuff in a low comforting
tone. I don't exactly understand
the words, but I know I am safe and when I don't feel safe I know that he will
"tell" me that I am.
But I have a favorite language that I
like better than either Spanish or English! Smell!!! I love
smell. Smell tells me so many
things all the time about the world around me and I don't think my guy can
speak it very well at all. It's a
shame really, 'cause smell can tell you so many things.
Here's a great example. Some days my guy is around the den with
me all day long, and some days he goes away from home for many hours. I know when he's going away because I
can small this thing called "Old Spice Fiji" on him when he comes
back into the bedroom to dress.
Pretty cool, eh?
Someday, if he works really hard at it,
perhaps my guy will be able to speak "smells" as well as I can. You never know.
Pura Vida,
Romeo Federico Ash
