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Tuesday
Sep012020

Habla Espanol?

 

Old riddle: What do you call a person who speaks multiple languages? A polyglot. What do you call someone who speaks two languages? Bilingual. What do you call a person who speaks only one language? An American.

Buenas dias.
Buenas tardes.
Buenas noches.

Hola, Pacho. Como esta?
Bien, gracias. Y tu?
Bien, pero Luis tien catarro.
Lo siento.

This, as I remember it, was the opening dialog from my Spanish I textbook in 1968. I did not start taking Spanish until I was a junior in high school, having used my elective spot to take Latin as a freshman and driver's education and personal typing as a sophomore. I remember the bulk of my classmates being very pretty freshman girls. Ancient Nellie Kingfield, who also taught Latin and knew Caesar himself, was our instructor. Her classroom had a slightly elevated stage in the back. We often shared our learning my writing on the board, conjugating verbs, etc., and giving short performances. I actually did quite well and took Spanish II as a senior. I scored high on national Spanish exams.

I did not use my Spanish for over 20 years. Finally, I got to practice some of my Spanish when in Mexico on vacation now and again. However what was once a fairly good grasp of grammar, sentence structure, vocabulary, and even a few idiomatic expressions had devolved into very rudimentary "Tarzan" speech. "Me go swim" "Me want water." "Me talk Spanish very little and very bad." Most of the places I traveled, Cozumel, Isla Mujeres, Tulum, were sufficiently touristy that English was widely spoken - thank god. 

After a few days in a Spanish speaking country, I generally find a bit of my high school Spanish returns. Each trip it seems I pick up a couple words or phrases that become mentally embedded. I have enough Spanish, at least, to have impressed my grandsons when visiting Costa Rica last year. (I hope they were impressed.)

Here in the U.S., I make it a habit of embarassing anyone with whom I may be dining by speaking Spanish to the staff in Mexican restaurants. "Dos personas, por favor." "Me gusta mucho, gracias." "Un margarita mas!" "Hasta la vista." One evening I must have been particularly undecipherable so the waitress shot me a look and grumbled, "Just speak English, please!" 

One of my retirement goals is to be a snowbird in a Spanish speaking country for a month or two and while there, take some formal Spanish language classes again. I've never found translation apps on my phone to be particualry effective (could be user error) and I don't have much desire to buy an online language class. But given the opportunity to actually practice in real time what I learn in a class, is appealing. "Dos cervezas muy frio, por favor." "Donde esta el bano?"

Personally, I enjoy hearing the diversity of languages spoken at my YMCA, the grocery store, and along park trails here in Minnesota. As my community adds more people of color with diverse languages and cultures, I'm hoping that my langage skills will improve as well. I still shock Somali folks when I speak my few remembered words of Arabic from my stint in Saudi Arabia. Hamdullah!

Do you value having a second language and how do you practice using it?

Oh, I know I am leaving off diacritical marks from letters and beginning punctuation from Spanish expressions. Not figuring out the keyboard shortcuts to make these on the Chromebook. And please forgive my spelling.

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