How Old Are You?
My head is swimming. The Spanish course I'm taking, via Rosetta Stone, is getting difficult. Real difficult. I'm learning how to speak in past tense, and what can I say, I'm lost, but I'll catch up. Eventually.
One thing I like about Spanish. And this characteristic is shared by many languages, but ask a person how old they are in Spanish and they'll answer with 'I have' instead of 'I am."
Example in English: How old are you? Answer in English: I am 25 years old.
Example in Spanish: How many years have you? Answer: I have 25 years.
In English, we define ourselves by our age. If you're twenty, you should be single, out living it up, have some sort of job. But if you're thirty, you should have settled down, have a house, a great career, and one of your 2.5 kids. If you're fifty, you should have most of your million dollars that you will use for retirement.. You should be married and ready to spend your golden years with the love of your life. You should have grandkids, etc. So we define ourselves by our ages in English. We are our age. We become our age, and when we don't live up to expectations, we feel that we are failures.
But in Spanish, French, Italian, etc, the question is 'How many years do you have," And the answer, "I have this amount of years."
And the women in these countries are allowed to age and still retain their beauty. Think, Catherine Deneuve.
So, I have 54 years. It's not who I am. This number does not define me. I define it. This number does not reveal the sort of person I am, whether I'm married or not, or what I do in my spare time. This number only tells how many years I have lived on this earth.
One thing I like about Spanish. And this characteristic is shared by many languages, but ask a person how old they are in Spanish and they'll answer with 'I have' instead of 'I am."
Example in English: How old are you? Answer in English: I am 25 years old.
Example in Spanish: How many years have you? Answer: I have 25 years.
In English, we define ourselves by our age. If you're twenty, you should be single, out living it up, have some sort of job. But if you're thirty, you should have settled down, have a house, a great career, and one of your 2.5 kids. If you're fifty, you should have most of your million dollars that you will use for retirement.. You should be married and ready to spend your golden years with the love of your life. You should have grandkids, etc. So we define ourselves by our ages in English. We are our age. We become our age, and when we don't live up to expectations, we feel that we are failures.
But in Spanish, French, Italian, etc, the question is 'How many years do you have," And the answer, "I have this amount of years."
And the women in these countries are allowed to age and still retain their beauty. Think, Catherine Deneuve.
So, I have 54 years. It's not who I am. This number does not define me. I define it. This number does not reveal the sort of person I am, whether I'm married or not, or what I do in my spare time. This number only tells how many years I have lived on this earth.
Replies
Bravo! I have 57 years. Now if we could only convince the rest of North America of this truth. I think there would be a lot more contented people around.
I like that. I have 56 years.
I like the age in the other countries. I have 55 years. I am still rethinking my life. I was contemplating Dave and I moving in together. I rethought that and decided I love being an independent woman. Why mix up the apple cart? I am happy. I don\'t want that to change. Dave has a drinking problem which is the obstacle for us to getting any more serious than we are now. I am justing going to enjoy and have fun with Dave but he is not the man to get serious with for me. If I got a job right now, I would not even consider Dave and I sharing accommodations. I enjoy my independence. What about you? From Diane B.
I have 60 years and I have never lived by the American way of aging...I come from a home of women that worked, which was unheard of in the 60\'s. My Mother worked because she just wasn\'t a stay at home Mom. My GrandMother also was a worker. I always admired my Grandmother because I always felt she was the coolest Grandmother around. I couldn\'t wait for her to visit becuase I wanted to drive her car...1967 Dodge Fury convertiable with the push button drive buttons!! I have vowed to be like her and live life as she did...not to the norm that society puts on us. She lived to a ripe old age of 91...she never conformed to the American way either will I....Hugs, Ellen