My Second Language

My favorite language is Spanish, my ability is familiar Spanish. I forget most of the proper Spanish. I know lots of phrases and words. I know the important questions and answers. I can’t remember all the conjugation and sentence structure. I try to learn new words and phrases.

I remember my Spanish from my high school classes. I tried to keep it in my brain. I didn't get to use my Spanish until 5 years after graduation. Then it was 20+ years until I could practice Spanish again.

I used my knowledge of Spanish to make friends with my Hispanic coworkers. My coworkers teach me some new words; swear or naughty words. They were happy to teach me more words and make sentences. One thing I know my friends understood my Spanish, and some said I knew more than they did.

I get so mad when people say to my friends, Speak English! These people are so afraid of my Hispanic friends speaking Spanish. I say yeah, they're planning to buy drugs or planning to rob a store or a terrorist attack. Really!  I say if they are speaking Spanish, It’s a private conversation not meant for everybody’s business.

I am trying to learn the second language my children speak. It's not sticking to me like Spanish did.