CULTURE
No, I’m Not Spanish, Pero Gracias
So close, yet so far
“Oh, Portugal! Do they speak Spanish there?” was a lovely tired chorus that sounded around me when I was young and living abroad.
I was under the age of eight at the time, but still found it in me to muster up my kindest, most polite smile and return with, “no, actually we speak Portuguese in Portugal.”
In their defense, this was probably their first time hearing of the tiny country hanging on the western edge of the Iberian peninsula. The little European country that wasn’t on anyone’s bucket list in the late 90s or early 00s yet.
Still, the confusion was constant and simultaneously humorous.
I’ll be honest, the mishap didn’t offend me so much as it was slightly annoying. Maybe that annoyance comes from a culturally ingrained rivalry that makes the lack of distinction particularly irritating. See, the Iberian peninsula was in time somewhat connected, but it wasn’t always that way.
And we certainly have an identity of our own — in fact one of the oldest in all of Europe!
So yes, we are neighbors and as such many of our roots converge and many cultural idiosyncrasies do overlap. One of my many middle names (yes, I have five names), is in fact Spanish.
