Advertisements
A few posts here have touched on the subject of speaking Spanish, and how important it is to be able to speak it if they are to adopt a toddler, who clearly has developed their language skills in Spanish.
Our daughter was 2 1/2 when we first met her. Aside from the fact that she barely spoke to anyone, let alone us - speaking Spanish was the open door for her. Being around the nuns all day, and numerous times a week, my high school Spanish came flooding back to me quite quickly.. thankfully. So, even the little bit I knew helped when first meeting my daughter.
I would advise anyone adopting an older child or toddler to KNOW as MUCH Spanish as possible. If you have any friends who are fluent, trade a nice wine cooler for an hours worth of lessons (or babysit or dogsit for them.... any favor will be worth the trade)! :)
There is a LOT of slang in Panama. A lot of things my daughter said weren't in ANY book - but knowing the basics is so important. I'll end with some tips... but important to know is that out of the BLUE one day, shortly after getting guardianship, our daughter was speaking nothing but English. We had not made any attempts to teach her ANYTHING at that point, she just picked it up like a SPONGE!! We were blown away!! We were so caught up in the adoption process, we put language issues to the side - until our daughter fixed that issue herself. Pretty amazing... :)
1. Know FOOD names and beverages.
2. Bathroom (do you need to go?)
3. Are you hungry? Thirsty? Sad? Happy? etc
4. Can I help you with that?
5. Are you sleepy?
6. That is a "........blank....."
7. Here is a "...... blank....."
8. In, out, on, off
9. Can you/Will you
10. Are you scared?
11. I know you're scared - we will not leave you.
12. What can I get for you? (What do you need/want?)
13. Are you hurt? Where? Are you sick? Show me with your finger where you do not feel well (this works so good with toddlers).
14. Home/Bedroom/Kitchen/etc
15. Sit with me/walk with me/let's go play!
:)
I remember these phrases SO well (in Spanish, of course).... I have them written down in my old notebook so that I could remember to ask my attorney for better translations (vs. the Spanish translation without slang)....
If anyone's interested, I can get the Panamanian/Spanish translations for this from a friend of mine.....
:)
Like
Share
TRY TO GET A PANAMANIAN COOKBOOK! The Embassy used to sell a cookbook.... I have it (could copy it perhaps for anyone intersted)....... or look up recipes on line.
One thing about my daughter is that she absolutely HATED SPAGHETTI SAUCE AND PIZZA!!! And all the children we would bring home from the orphanage HATED PIZZA (to our dismay, after buying several large pizzas once)!!!
THE KIDS UNANIMOUSLY LOVED FRIED CHICKEN.
Here's what the children at the orphanage ate (toddler house):
1. Fried Yucca (pronounced yoo-kuh)
2. cornmeal (made into stiff dough, rolled, and sliced then fried.. (it's delicious, by the way)
3. platanos (plantain bananas... you have to know WHEN to cook them... when they're green or when they're black)
***for platanos that are served like french fries:
Buy the plantains green
slice into a little thicker than 1/4" slices (but not 1/2")
fry in oil - remove when lightly golden
drain on papertowel
smash with the bottom of a heavy glass
return to oil and fry until golden (not TOO dark tho)
sprinkle with salt and serve with ketchup
THESE ARE AWESOME!!!
4. FOR BREAKFAST:
a) milk rice (use lactaid!! a lot of the kids I knew had a hard
time with milk) with cinnamon, butter and sugar (lightly).
b) boiled green bananas:
1. boil green sweet bananas in water until skin turns
black.
2. remove from water. peel. mash.
3. At this point, you can mash them with milk, sugar (or
honey) and serve with butter OR:
4. Mash with milk, salt and butter, just like mashed
potatoes. Either way is yummy.
*this is VERY typically served to infants in lieu of baby food.
5. COCO RICE (coconut rice)
1. If you eat in Panama, you'll undoubtedly eat this some-
where along the way. I'll have to post the recipe here
later.
They ate a lot of neat things there - lots of stuff cooked inside banana leaves (a lot like tamales, very delicious). Chicken is DEFINITELY a winner. I advise parents to avoid American foods until they're tummies can adjust. DO try to make these recipes for them...... it will be like a COMFORT food for them. DO ask your agencies/attorneys for personal "comfort food" recipes.
DO ASK THE CHILDREN'S HOME FOR A LIST OF FOODS THE CHILDREN TYPICALLY ATE........ AND GET THE NAMES OF THESE DISHES IN SPANISH so that you can ask your child if they'd like "fill in the blank"...... so that it's familiar to them!
I think this will be a HUGE help to them....... :)
I'll try to find recipes if anyone's interested in me posting them here.
ciao!
Advertisements
Kim,
Thank you so much for the advice on food and spanish. I would love to have a recipe book do you know of any place I could find one? I have a friend who was in the peace corp. in the Dominican Republic and she is going to help my husband and I learn some phrases I will make sure to write down the ones you discussed, if there is anything else we should know about food or language please let us know:)
What do the children usually drink if milk is not included in their diet?
You can post a reply or contact me on my personal email at dzinglebaker@cox.net.
Thanks again,
TanyaB
Hey.... just found this website:
[url]http://expedition.bensenville.lib.il.us/CentralAmerica/Panama/recipes.htm[/url]
It has nearly ALL of the foods I mentioned above... and then some... plus, after the recipes, it will have the URLs for original source of the recipe......
:)
The Ceviche is WONDERFUL -- and I do NOT normally eat fish (or anything from the sea)...... I was HOOKED.
When you go to Panama, be SURE to order this. You'll love it!
-----------------------------------
Great restaurants to try (hey, you'll need to eat, and McDonald's gets old):
Mango's (not the big one.... the small one near the shopping district)
Goucho's (just down from Mango's)... very famous...... Argentinian steaks and the world's BEST SANGRIA (you may need at drink at the end of the day.... tee hee) - oh.. and a waiter that looks like Antonio Banderas... :o)
Take a taxi to these places.... The Mango's is VERY very close to the Harley Davidson shop.. just in case your driver asks you which Mango's you want. You'll find authentic Panamanian cuisine here in a casual atmosphere, much like what you'd find in the States. Not expensive.
There is a TGIF's in Panama... among other American chain restaurants. But Mango's and Goucho's were our favorites.
:)
~Kim P.
Hi,
I've been reading this forum for a while. We just got our little Bruno and while our adoption is Brazilian and he speaks portugese your tips are so helpful. Bruno is 2 3/4 and has heard nothing but portugese his entire life. Now he enters our home where his new Mom speaks broken portugese at best but his sister and Dad are fluent. Maybe after I post to this forum others too will share how they handled the language issue of their new adopted toddler. We are just trying to make his transition to his new home as smooth as possible for him.
Thanks so much!!! I'm writing your tips down so that my portugese teacher can give me a useful lesson.:)