Spanglish

After traveling to Ecuador last year, I decided I wanted to make a serious attempt to learn Spanish.  I took three years of Spanish in high school.  In hindsight, however, maybe I should have spent my Southern Indiana public school education on something ol’ Reitz HS was better suited to teach…like how to own a freaking farm.  (My 16-yr-old self did NOT see that coming!)

As I spend time on my nascent Spanish habit, it has definitely occurred to Rita that I could instead be learning something beneficial, like how to cook.  But no – I think I’ll spend middle age learning something that will only come in handy on every third vacation.

I found a Spanish teacher who does 1x1 classes via Zoom so I could take them even when I traveled.  I mean…back when people traveled.  Mostly what I’ve learned since I started, however, is that I am a terrible student.  It is a class of one and I am still not the teacher’s pet.  I come to class unprepared.  I keep making jokes, but none of them are in Spanish (with the added bonus of not being funny in English either).  And try as I might, I can’t seem to wrap my head around the fact that a “j” is actually pronounced as an “h” (and therefore “jamon” is NOT, in fact, pronounced “jamming”.)

This Spanish curriculum I’m taking is similar to others that focus early lessons on “high frequency” verbs.  Which means we spend an inordinate amount of time talking about “to dance” and “to sing”.  If those are “high-frequency”, curriculum designers are living their best lives. I am p-retty sure "to dance" and "to sing" could be missing from my vocabulary for years and I might not notice.  Furthermore, I doubt those are the go-to topics I would trot out as an ice-breaker in a foreign country.  But if I suddenly find myself in Ecuador discussing the high school talent show, I feel oddly prepared.  My high-frequency verbs keep gravitating to “to work”, “to order” and if I’m feeling especially festive…”to eat”.  

What I HAVE learned over the past year is a whole new appreciation for English grammar.  Man – I am GOOD at tenses in English.  So if you catch me saying, “in the future, I would be satisfied with having been selected as an English student.”, you’ll know I’m just showing off my newly appreciated dexterity for English verb tenses. 

I’m the only person I know who spends a year trying to learn Spanish only to come away more enamored with English.