My wife and I spent the winter holidays visiting her distant family in Madrid. On New Year’s eve, we joined them for a massive feast. My Spanish is fine for ordering tapas and cervesas, but I’m not conversant. Plus, a room full of fast-talking Madrilenas with their lispy accents would be hard for any native speaker. At one point, I was introduced to someone’s husband who I was told also worked in “Informaticas”. He wanted to speak to me about IT in the states, but didn’t speak much English. I smiled,and said in Spanish, “It’s OK. We can talk in ones and zeros.” and proceeded to do my best modem impression, “Hsssh, bong, bong, bong, crshhhh…”.
He laughed so hard, he started coughing. My wife explained the joke to the others standing with us. They laughed politely.
Eric Santiago 