That's My Story

THEY ALL SPEAK SPANISH! – Published May 2005 – Western Outdoor News

“How come they all speak Spanish in Mexico?”

That’s how a conversation started one afternoon with one of my fishing clients. I’m sure I made a funny face or something. I wasn’t quite sure how to respond. The question was posed in all seriousness. Part of me wanted to crack back some wiseguy remark and another part of me wanted to just shake my head and walk away. Or bust a gut laughing. Duh…seems pretty obvious to me. Last time I checked, we are in Mexico. They do speak a lot of Spanish here for some crazy reason.

But, I bit my tongue and took a breath. The angler was not un-intelligent. It was just such an off-the-wall question and I guess it deserved as much of an articulate answer as I could muster.

What I discerned from the fisherman was basically a bit of frustration with his panga skipper that day. He wanted to interact with his captain. He wanted to participate in the events of the day. Certainly most of us can readily understand that part of the whole fishing experience whether drifting for tuna on the Baja; mooching for salmon in Alaska or sitting in the Sierras with a buddy and casting Velveeta cheese and marshmallows. It’s cool to be able to communicate with your fellow traveler. A lot of the fun of fishing is the social aspect of the chase and hunt and the camaraderie so integral to this wacky sport.

I explained to him that a lot of these guys, certainly my skippers come from little pueblos and fishing families. City guys might be a bit more savvy, but out here in the country English usage might be few and far between. Then I told him a story.

Several seasons ago, I was out with clients fishing near Cerralvo Island. Every now and then, as is custom that time of year, storms will blow in and out. No big. A few drops and some wind and we keep fishing. The sun comes right out. However, every now and then, it really blows to the point where we call them “toritos” (little bulls) which are basically baby hurricanes that last 15 minutes or so, but best to get off the water quick and beach the boats.

Well, there we were and suddenly the skies got dark and wind started to whip out’ve nowhere. Then, the rain started. It wasn’t time to leave. It was time to GO. The clients quickly reeled in their lines and then I heard it. Amid the roll of thunder and crack of lighting, my skipper, who had worked for me for 5 years pulled the engine and screamed, “Let’s get the F outta here!” In totally perfect American street English. Now, in all these years I had barely had this captain speak more than a dozen English words to me at all. Now, all of a sudden as we race for the beach, I looked back at him and in the howling wind I said “What?

“Let’s get the F outta here!” he yelled back as he leaned into the wind and attempted to pilot the small boat back through the growing swells and rain. Then he caught me staring at him and smiled.

“Where did you learn that?” I said

“Learn what?” (in perfect English)

“How to say what you said,” I replied.

“Oh, watching TV, sports, MTV” (in perfect Enlish) he answered back.

Whoa. I was incredulous. I told him that in all the years he had worked for me, he never ever spoke English of any consequence. I told him it sounded like he spoke English very well. Slipping quietly back into Spanish as we gunned the boat closer to the beach, he sheepishly explained to me that indeed he understood English pretty well. In fact, he said, many of the captains at least understand English. Some even speak English fairly well.

However, he went on to explain that he was nervous speaking English in front of the clients for the same reason he thinks Americans are hesitant to try using any Spanish. He was worried that if he spoke English, the American fishermen would think he was fluent and then things would get said the he would not understand. It was better to just keep it simple. It always worked. They communicated well enough and they caught fish. No need to complicate things.

Made sense to me from that angle. I let that sit for a bit still not believing how well he spoke English. As we hit the beach, I looked back at him and said, “So how come in all these years you have worked for me and you didn’t tell me you spoke English and let me struggle so much?

He laughed, shrugged his shoulders and said, “Because all the captains think it’s great fun listening to you screw up your Spanish!”

That’s my story…
Jonathan