CAPA WORLD

Claire Shrader is an official CAPA blogger for spring 2018, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Pre-Occupational Therapy major at Mississippi College, she is studying abroad in Buenos Aires this semester.

In this week's post, Claire mentions how hearing the language you're familiar with can make you feel at home and explores an American-inspired cafe in Buenos Aires.

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I think I chose the wrong bus the other day, because it dropped me off about two blocks away from the subte whereas last week it left me about three feet away. That kind of thing happens to me every time I get too confident in my city navigating skills, just to keep me humble.

A wall filled with enthusiasm about soccer.

As I walked, I heard the sharp, crisp sounds of the language I grew up with, so different from the warm, musical flow of castellano (Spanish). I half turned around, then kept walking. But something completely outside of my control compelled me: “Are y’all from the United States?” The tall, dark-headed woman in flowy pants laughed as she answered, “England, actually, and South Africa.” I laughed too, “It’s so rare to hear English in the streets I couldn’t help myself!”

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Celess is an official CAPA vlogger for fall 2017, sharing her story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Business Administration major at Riverside City College, she is studying abroad in Florence this semester.

In this week's post, Celess spends time with her GANZO family in Florence and shares how this cross-cultural experience has been so far.

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Thanks Celess!

Celess' journey continues weekly so stay tuned.

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Kristopher (also known as Kip) is an official CAPA vlogger for fall 2017, sharing his story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A Finance major at University of Colorado - Boulder, he is studying abroad in Florence this semester.

In this week's post, Kristopher introduces us to some Italian phrases he's learned while studying abroad in Florence.

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Thanks Kip!

Kristopher's journey continues every Tuesday so stay tuned.

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Language can be a tricky thing to understand. There are many words with the same meaning, many words whose meaning changes with one letter removed or added, and some words that are so complex they never get used at all. In fact, you will probably never know every single word in your native language because there are new words created each day.

So, for people who speak more than one language, imagine how many words there must be to learn. For those of us who want to learn a second language, it can be daunting to think about all of the classes we’ll have to take or how much we’ll have to practice to sound like a natural.

Studying abroad will give you the opportunity to be surrounded by a new language and hear the way it’s spoken by locals. It will allow you to see their body language, how they use gestures, and what their faces look like as they speak. There is so much more to language than just "words" and it's important to understand all aspects of a language to truly master it.

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Spence Hood is an official CAPA blogger for fall 2016, sharing his story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A computer science major at the University of Colorado (Boulder), he is studying abroad in Florence this semester.

In this week's post, Spence shares a few of the most common words and phrases you'll hear on the streets of Florence, their meanings and an appropriate response.

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Strolling through the bustling streets here, the senses are left anything but unentertained. I’ve grown to quite enjoy (oddly enough) the smell of cigarettes mixed with cooked meats and sweet pastries wafting out of every other shop, emphasizing the intricacy of this machine of a city that we’re cogs within. I’ve only recently started smiling at all this stimulation, and I’m convinced it has a lot to do with the slowly but surely dissolving language barrier. I now understand maybe 45% of the chatter around me among locals, turning my wonder about all of the exciting, exotic things that a few Italians could be talking about on the streets of Florence into thorough excitement about being in on the joke. I’ve got a long, long way to go of course, but I figured it may help some future Florentines (tourists or otherwise) to list several of the most common Italian expressions being passed around today.

Beforehand, do bear in mind that this is what’s being said (and in this particular way) in Florence. Florence is a city whose residents have a distinct accent according to Italians elsewhere, and who have a distinct way of speaking about things (very similar to cultural and conversational variations between people from different US cities). Let’s dive in. 

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❝If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his own language, that goes to his heart.❞ ‒Nelson Mandela

If there's anything that has the ability to swoop us straight out of our comfort zone, it's a language barrier.

It starts as early as sitting in the airport where you might hear announcements or conversations in Italian or Spanish before you depart for Florence or Buenos Aires. And when you land, you'll navigate your way through the airport, sometimes helped along by signs in both English and the native language of your destination. From there, you're immersed in a different world and simply explaining to your taxi driver how to reach your host family's apartment or ordering lunch can become a daunting and frustrating task. 

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Tommy Sullivan is an official CAPA blogger for spring 2016, sharing his story in weekly posts on CAPA World. A broadcasting and Spanish major Western Kentucky University, he is studying abroad in Buenos Aires this semester.

In this week's post, Tommy shares some of the top Spanish words and phrases that you'll want to memorize before you before you study abroad in Buenos Aries.

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 While there’s no doubt my Spanish teachers have prepared me extraordinarily well to live and study in Argentina, there’s definitely a few Argentina (and Buenos Aires) specific words they left out of the curriculum. My accent while speaking the language, after a full semester in this city, has changed a little bit, and my daily vocabulary has also switched up a bit. Listening to and speaking with my host family, taxi drivers, servers, my Spanish teacher, other writers at The Bubble and random strangers has affected how I speak Spanish. I still clearly have the “yankee” accent; however, my speech has slowly become more Argentine.

Here’s my top 10 words and phrases I’ve started to use all the time.

1. Che. This word is used as an interjection and directly addresses someone. I think the definition would be a mix between “hey” and “dude” and is not gender specific. Saying “che” will get someone’s attention if they are across the room or add emphasis to what you’re telling someone.

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