I've said it before, and I'll say it again: my biggest regret from high school is not learning Spanish (and in high school I was obsessed and snobby about bad music, had a livejournal called 'friendless' and was a terrible girlfriend to a nice boy. So this is saying a lot). Then in college, something like three quarters of the boys I had crushes on were hispanic- why didn't I learn it then?! I started taking a class in one of my last semesters, but the professor talked about religion too much, so I dropped out. I don't blame myself for that one.
I had my first community ed class last night. I think that knowing Spanish will be incredibly useful and important, especially because in the next year I'll graduate, take the bar, and become an immigration attorney. So wish me luck (or, um, 'suerte').
Today in the grocery store I helped to translate for someone that spoke mostly Spanish, and I felt super awesome.
ReplyDeleteBut, hold the applause, the rest of the story reveals I'm not actually so awesome: The cashier appeared to be of Ethiopian descent (or some other Horn of Africa country). The customer spoke mostly Spanish. The cashier asked if the customer had a club card. The customer said yes (but didn't present a card). The cashier then asked for her phone number. The customer replied, "Gloria." The cashier said, "No, your number." To which the customer replied, "Gloria." Then I stepped in and said the terribly complex translation: numero de telefono. All of those years of middle school and high school Spanish...I've made my teachers proud.
I'm actually trying to improve my Spanish, as well (improve it from its current minor-knowledge level). I'm using a computer program.
Go you! :) I think your story totally counts as translating. I couldn't have done it.
ReplyDeleteGood luck ~ I would love to learn a second language. Way to go! xx
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