What a Festival Can Teach a Language Student (Part I)

Ever since I arrived in South America to learn Spanish I have been fascinated by the local festivals and fairs. I recently realised that I have been to all 6 years of the bread fair since it began. It is, therefore, time to think about what this kind of thing has taught me, apart from the waistline expanding qualities of homemade bread that is.

Small Words Can Be Fun

As a Scot I have always had a penchant for adding the word “wee” in front of anything. The Spanish version is to end a word in “ito” or “ita”. You get plenty of practice if you go to the Alasitas festival in Bolivia. Here they sell miniature versions of all sorts of things, most of them completely useless it has to be said. My Spanish lessons never prepared me for words like “pasaportecito” and “coctelcito” so I kind of make it up as I go along. The tiny cakes are well recommended for people with small appetites.