become fully bilingual

I don’t think things have been going well.

Nothing online helps very much; many Spanish-speakers are incredibly lackadaisical about punctuation and many are using chatspeak abbreviations. Many do not understand when I say “that makes it difficult for me to understand” or are reluctant and resistant to change to help me in that regard.

I do not see our neighbors often enough to really practice, either.

We were off to the farmer’s market last Saturday, but I forgot it was in the morning. We picked up something to eat at a nearby taco wagon, and I realized I had to order entirely in Spanish.

It was good practice for me, and I know my wife was following along a little bit better in some places than I was.

Nothing like good ol’ downhome Mexican cooking.

At the gym, no less, I caught the tail end of a conversation in the steam room. When I snuck in, some ladies were chattering away in Spanish about English only attitudes, or something like that.

Part of it was, “and then he told me, ‘you’ll have to learn English if you’re going to live in this country.’ Well, I have no intention of leaving…”

Then another guy came in and suddenly they dropped their conversation to about half-volume. snort What, am I the invisible gavacho or something? I was about to say “tienes razón”, because I believe in lingual exchange, but never got the chance.

Caught snippets of conversations out in the gym lobby while I was reading the paper, after a visit.

I could not piece together complete understandings but I understood a lot more. They seemed to speak fairly clearly with crisp tones; I have come across so many that mumble (usually 1st gen. Mexican Americans or migrants).

Was tempted to indicate I understood but was not sure what to add and felt too awkward interrupting. I did understand one was relating his Cinco De Mayo plans with family.

Well, the subject more or less is still injury recovery, but I had some opportunity to talk about family, possibly moving, etc. Gives me a chance to stretch out vocabulary a little even if I don’t remember the word right away.

Was talking to a guy who has a Honduran girlfriend—there was a particular word for Honduran he used but I can’t remember right now.

I realized I just drifted into Spanish without too much thought. He has a good opportunity, as she speaks little English, and he is learning a lot of Spanish already.

Same Hispanic guy. Mostly small talk—just talking about how bad the weather and the roads had been. Still using the crutch of retreating back to English occasionally, but not bad.

...I struck up a conversation with a Hispanic couple who are regulars.

It was mostly “Spanglish”/”Espanglés”—the husband is bilingual, but not sure if the wife is. I explained (as I usually do in an initial convo in Spanish) where I learned how to speak it, although I added that my mother and baby sister were more immersed in the language and I was a little jealous of their fluency.

I suppose I was a bit lazy, since I kept floating back to English. But… it’s a new opportunity, nevertheless.

Had a quick chat with our across-the-way neighbor as my daughter and I were off to the recycling center.

I also took a moment to comment on the blog of a VOXer in Spain.

I have a few things going for me:

1. Learning Spanish is a patriarchial tradition of my family
2. I’m LDS (Mormon), so a lot of friends are either Anglos that have served Spanish-speaking missions, or are Hispanic themselves—see #1
3. My mother and baby sister are fairly fluent
4. I now live in a neighborhood where there are more Hispanics, some speaking mostly Latin American Spanish
5. I started somewhat early (see below)

Progress up to this point in time:

1. Started studying in 8th grade
2. Studied through part of high school with a teacher that was a native speaker
3. Studied more in 3rd year of college
4. Practiced with aforementioned friends. Didn’t realize the impact it had until someone said I had a weird accent. Apparently, I was switching between dialects that various friends spoke.
5. Been in contact with primarily Spanish-speaking contacts through a support group online. Not quite the same, as I haven’t had many spoken connections.
6. Started shopping at the supermercado for some of my groceries (mostly produce) as it’s been cheaper. If I eat at the carnecería/tortillería (deli, basically), I must speak Spanish. Cimmy loves it, too—on one trip, one of the abuelitas at the torillería offered her and us some fresh tortillas. She’s still struggling with her Spanish, but she was tickled pink.
7. Cimmy is somewhat outgoing, and is getting to know our Hispanic neighbors. Through various means, this means homemade tamales and pozole comes home now and then, but it also makes it easier to be part of a conversation when she’s there.