Educational, but sort of cool too.

I'm one-half Mexican, and love being that way. The food, the spirit, the huge numbers at family gatherings--being a part of that group has a way of making people feel very welcome, and very cared for. It's just what family does. Almost all of los tios y primos are fluently bilingual, so language doesn't form a barrier most of the time. The babies tend to understand both, but only respond to Spanish, so even those of us with a small Spanish vocabulary have a few pocket terms (sientate! cuidado! quieres pastel?).

My paternal grandparents understand both English and Spanish, but can only speak fluently in the latter. In my life, I've spent lots of quality time with my abuelita, learning how to make tortillas or chile, but I've never been able to hold a long, quality conversation with her. Dad tells stories of growing up in Mexico sometimes, and I know she must have many more.

Despite being a halfie, my level of language proficiency on the Spanish side is pretty low. I took four years of Spanish in high school, just like everyone else, and learned next to nothing. (It was high school--I can't really blame anyone for that.) That exempted me from college-level foreign language requirements, so I haven't learned and haven't been learning to speak Spanish.

I really want to. Besides the familial pull (which is pretty strong), there are a lot of practical reasons I need to learn Spanish. Sunday, I'll be refereeing more games in the local international league: mostly Hispanics, and entirely men. These games are a challenge even when there isn't a language barrier!--having at least a few phrases in my book will be necessary to run a good game. (arbitra! arbitra! un amarilla! una tarjeta!) When I teach, I often find Hispanic students in my classes, too: the average number is six, in a group of thirty. Of these, generally four are totally fluent in English, one is semifluent, and one will only respond to Spanish. Hablando espanol isn't just good for English language learners, either. Something about the language goes straight to the hindbrain of any child raised in a Spanish-speaking household--if a strong voice says eschuchame este momento, she's going to sit up and listen. I love conditioning.

Long story short, I need to learn Spanish. Even though this upcoming semester is going to be crazy busy, I'm going to start taking steps towards really learning the language. Jose, a referee I met a few weeks ago, really got on me at camp about speaking Spanish. During the long wait before flying home, we had the longest Spanish conversation I've had in a long time. I found myself remembering how to say some things, and wishing I had the words for others. He promised to write to me in Spanish, to give me a chance to practice--and he has! Composing four lines this morning took me half an hour and all that Google could give me, but I wrote them. It's a good way to jump back into all the vocabulary and form that I've forgotten...and a good primer for joining a conversation club once I move back to school. I feel good about it, y espero que hablando espanol con facilidad a este tiempo el ano proximo.

(Or at least, I hope I've made a start.)