Become fluent in more than one language

I’m working as a substitute teacher and a lot of the families in this district are Spanish. There was some confusion today about which bus a student was to go home on because I had to transfer the call to a Spanish-speaking teacher then relay the message to the classroom teacher.

I noticed helping my daughter with her Spanish has increased my vocabulary. I can’t speak it, but I can read the signs around town sort of easily.

Two of my children are taking Spanish in school and I’ve picked up a few more words. I had a Spanish-speaking woman help me with housework for a while. She told me the teachers at her daughter’s school commented on her improved English! Apparently I was one of only two of her clients that spoke to her during the day. Most often she cleans in empty houses, or her daughter translates for her, like in the movie “Spanglish”. I feel really bad that she didn’t understand I couldn’t afford cleaning help any more. She still thinks I was unsatisfied with the quality of her work.

I think I read the US will be 25% Spanish speaking by 2020. I’m really afraid I’ll be in a hospital and no one will understand me.