Having finished categorizing my paper clips at my new job and made my final selection of Post-It notes (Neon Fusion, 4x6 lined), I moved on to a truly impressive assignment -- one that, of all the skills I have acquired over my years of work, used none of them. I refer to the student manual of Spanish 1A, which, fortunately, I was not required to actually understand for this particular assignment. I couldn't help, however, becoming deeply interested in the scintillating conversation students at this level are learning. Here is but one fascinating excerpt (shown here only in English, as I forget what the Spanish translation was):
"You like to sing."
"You do not like to sing."
"Do you like to sing?"
"He/she likes to sing."
"He/she does not like to sing."
"Does he/she like to sing?"
To which I mentally added the following:
"Would he/she/you/SOMEONE please sing already, and be done with it??"
They never tell you the really useful phrases in other languages.
Besides singing, the book contained an inordinate amount of phrases having to do with going to the movies, leaving one with the impression that either a) there is little else to do when one visits Spanish-speaking countries, or b) visitors possess an uncommon interest in the movie habits of those residing in Spanish-speaking countries ("Do you like to go to the movies? Do you like to go to singing movies? How do you feel about foreign idiots inquiring about your movie preferences?...Oh, yeah? Well, here's what I think about your foreign country...!").
On second thought, categorizing paper clips isn't such bad work, if you can get it.
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