Learning Spanish In Colombia

I arrived in Colombia with enough Spanish to order food and almost nothing else. For the first three weeks I could not say what I meant. I could say something adjacent to what I meant, and then watch someone's face to see how far off I was.

What happens when you cannot talk is that you start watching. You notice who leans in. You notice the pause before someone answers a question they have been asked many times before. You notice that a kitchen has a rhythm and that the rhythm changes when a certain person walks in.

Language slows you down enough to actually see the person in front of you.

That is the whole job of directing, as far as I can tell. Not telling people what to do. Watching closely enough that you know what is already happening, and then building a frame that lets someone else see it too.

By the second month I could hold a conversation. I was relieved, and I also missed the watching. So I decided to keep doing it on purpose. Now, before I shoot anything, I spend the first stretch of time saying nothing at all.