Easily

Without so little vocabulary, group conversations in a beginning language class are disarmingly blunt. The other two like Michael Moore because he stirs up a sort of righteous anger (enfado), but for my part he’s more than a bit shallow (faciles), while allowing that Roger & Me is a great movie (less great when you learn how he financed it). I doubt I’d even have a conversation about Michael Moore in English.

In the first class you’re always asked why you’d like to learn language X. The easy answer — the one I have the vocabulary for — is that I’d like to make friends. (¡Quiero conocer mas Mexicanos!) The one I thankfully can’t express is that I’d like to cultivate some sort of hemispheric consciousness, with all the other people the Darién Gap keeps awake at night.