Spanglish

In elementary school, I had some bilingual friends who spoke Spanish. And I was so jealous of them! It was like they could talk with each other in a secret code, and I thought it was so cool. I felt left out, for sure, since I didn't know what they were saying, but I secretly admired them.

Those experiences along with my brother learning to speak Spanish when he went on his two-year LDS mission to Argentina ignited a desire in me to learn it myself. So when I reached high school, Spanish is what I took for my foreign language credits. Plus, there are a lot of Spanish-speaking people in my area, and I thought that it might actually come in handy someday. I mean, when am I ever going to run into a unilingual German in Southern Idaho? Seriously.

So I took two years of Spanish in high school and then another 11 credits in college. And it was hard! I often wondered what the heck I was wasting my time for and considered changing my B.A. to a B.S. so that I didn't need those Spanish credits. I mean, I couldn't speak it, I couldn't read it, and I could barely understand what others said to me, and what I did understand was mostly derived from their hand gestures and facial expressions. Worse yet, when I did try to speak it to some native speakers, they looked at me like I was stupid or their preschool-aged children laughed at me. Money-well spent, let me tell ya.

But now, going on a decade since my last Spanish class, I am amazed at how much I still remember. And now that I'm working at a place where I often come into contact with Spanish-speakers again, it actually has come in handy. One gal the other day had a hard time remembering "salad", and when I said it in Spanish, ensalada, she felt comfortable enough to ask how to pronounce it correctly in English. Then we finished the rest of our exchange in Spanish. We didn't say much, mind you, but it was pretty cool for both of us to be understood.

Then I had a gentleman come up to the hot case, point at something, and say, "Papas?"

"Sí," I replied, knowing that he was talking about the potato wedges (here's a tip for anyone who shops at a deli--when you point to something in the case, we have no idea what you're pointing at. The case is designed to give both of us a good view of the food, but I can't see you any better than you can see me. So maybe saying, "The dark brown chicken chunks," or "The third dish back," or something like that would be more helpful).

Then he held up one finger and said, "Un dollar," meaning, he wanted $1.00's worth of potato wedges. Cool. I was pretty proud of myself for reverting to Spanish so naturally. Didn't even have to think about it.

He then asked if I spoke Spanish, I said, "Un poquito," and he told me that he speaks only Spanish. I wanted to say that that must be difficult for him (in a sympathetic way, not an accusatory way), but I couldn't remember how to say "difficult" (difícil. I couldn't help myself from looking it up), so I didn't get to tell him that. But at least I knew what his papas were.

One thing I've noticed since the last time I worked in a deli back before I was married, is that the Spanish-speaking people seem to know English much better than they did then. They used to just communicate through gestures or have their kids translate for them, but I've met a lot of people who are striving to speak for themselves in English. Even though I do know a little bit of Spanish, I try to hold back from speaking to them in it because I think it's so cool of them to put in the effort to learn this country's official language. Even when I know that they don't quite understand what I'm saying, I just speak in English. If I'm not sure what they're saying and I need to clarify, then I will. Or like when that guy spoke to me in Spanish, then I will. With the gal, I just really like the word ensalada and wanted to say it, so I did. I am glad that I did, though, because I really do think that I made her feel more comfortable. I know how potentially embarrassing it is to try to say something and you're not quite sure how to pronounce it and you don't want to look or feel stupid in the attempt. It's humbling, learning a new language. So I feel for them. But I'm proud of the many who are trying, and I want to give them the opportunity to practice and not show-off with my own lame bilingual skills.

Even though learning Spanish was really difícil and I felt like I wasn't learning much at the time, I actually did learn quite a bit. Enough to be able to speak in the "secret code" anyway, and that's pretty fun. Turns out it was worth it after all.