American in Spain

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March 11, 2010

duckyToday during bathtime, I was trying to teach my daughter to say "hola". I've decided that "hello" is more complicated because of the H sound, and a Spanish salutation is going to be more useful around town, so we're starting with Spanish. Her big problem is that the O vowel sound still eludes her, so I make a special effort to exaggerate the O, showing the shape of my mouth when I say it. OOOOO-la!

I was repeating, "Hola. Hola. Hola. Hola. Hola. Hola..."

Rather than repeat after me, she made a big movement, pushing her body out of the water and letting it fall back, sending waves up over the edge of the tub.

"Not that kind of ola," I said.

For, you see, the word for a wave in water is "ola", which sounds just like the greeting with the silent H, "hola".