Author: nrotondi

The Lord’s providence has shone clearly while I have been in San Jose. I have built many friendships with seminarians, religious, and priests, which continue to be a blessing. The gift of experiencing the difference in culture and practice of the faith, and yet also the beauty of the Catholic Church’s universality among different countries, has enriched my faith and devotion.

My friendship with Padre Jose Luis, a Piarist father, is an example of an enriching relationship that has strengthened my cultural competency and understanding of the Catholic Church in Latin America. A few weeks after meeting Padre Jose Luis, he invited me to take a tour of the high school where his community resides and spend the evening with his community. Padre Jose Luis is the vocations director for the province of his religious order, the formator of seminarians studying philosophy, and teaches a high school class.

I enjoyed Padre Jose Luis’s tour of the high school because of the many similarities and subtle differences between el Colegio Calasanz and my high school in New York. The time spent with the religious seminarians was wonderful. I immediately felt welcomed as part of their community and sensed the same strong fraternal bond I experienced at Notre Dame with my brothers in Old College. I am thoroughly grateful for the hospitality I received that night and the chance to spend time with guys who have similar future aspirations to me.

Stereotypes and generalizations are part of human nature. We make assumptions about groups based on past experiences to prepare ourselves for future experiences. Living outside the United States for the first time, I encountered the stereotypes non-Americans (Costa Ricans specifically) hold about Americans. Talking to a Costa Rican man who lived in the United States for several years and returned to live in Costa Rica permanently, I understood how our experiences form stereotypes. This man enjoyed working in the United States but felt that Costa Rica was safer and a better place to raise his family. He also experienced discrimination at the hands of police in the United States. He felt that the United States’ racial tensions did not exist in Costa Rica.

In the United States, there is a common stereotype that our country is more desirable and a better place to live than Latin America, hence the tens of millions of Latino immigrants to the United States following the Hart-Celler Act in 1965. This stereotype does not apply to every Latino and place in Latin America, but talking to a man who completely contradicted the stereotype was fascinating and has made me reconsider how I view the United States about Latin America and how I view the perspective of Latinos on the relationship.

Interested in better understanding Costa Ricans’ stereotypes about Americans, I asked my Spanish teacher, Jairo. He shared that he had not interacted with many Americans except as students, so his perspective was mainly limited to his experience in the classroom and the cultural influence the United States has on Latin America and the world. Jairo said he has found American students to be hard-working and capable of understanding linguistic concepts. I have found this to be relatively accurate about American students, especially Notre Dame students, who are notoriously focused and driven to achieve their goals in the classroom. Jairo also said that Americans sometimes seem unafraid to share their opinions and can be loud. This stereotype is true in my experience, although I am not sure how specific this is to Americans since people from many different cultures act the same way. The stereotype likely holds for a greater proportion of Americans than Costa Ricans, as the culture in Costa Rica seems more laid-back and communal and less active and work-oriented than the United States.

The past two weeks in Costa Rica have been unforgettable. Traveling alone for the first time in my life, along with living in a non-English speaking country, I now understand the value of speaking someone else’s language and the connection it allows people to develop. Spending time with my host family has been extremely rewarding; I do not doubt that speaking with them in their native language has allowed us to develop a strong relationship and allowed me to experience Costa Rican culture in the fullest sense. Similarly, I have developed a strong relationship with my Spanish teacher, Jairo, which I credit primarily to our conversations in Spanish and shared interests.

I have found that Uber rides are the perfect opportunity to practice Spanish since the driver is usually a native speaker willing to talk and answer questions. One Uber ride, in particular, struck me as an ideal example of the relationships waiting to be built that are only impeded by the language barrier. The driver and I struck up a conversation, and to my surprise, he was familiar with my hometown, Troy, NY. Most people at Notre Dame I have met are unfamiliar with Troy, so discussing American history, different cities, and my hometown with my Uber driver astounded me. My connection with the Uber driver was made possible by speaking the same language. A wonderful conversation took place that, if I could not speak Spanish, would have been a silent car ride.

The cultural metaphor of glasses can explain the above interaction. Speaking only English, I would not be wearing glasses in Costa Rica. I would not have been able to converse with my Uber driver or many other amazing people I have met here. My opinions about these people and my understanding of Costa Rican culture would likely have been different without the valuable interactions and relationships I have built while speaking Spanish with Costa Ricans. I would not have seen Costa Ricans and their culture as they are by speaking only English and lacking glasses. Speaking Spanish has allowed me to connect with people at a deeper level; ‘wearing glasses’ has allowed me to know people as they are and understand the culture here as authentically as possible. While I am indeed a foreigner, and my Spanish skills have a long way to go, I have developed a profound appreciation for the gift of the connections and experiences made possible by speaking someone’s native language.