My Language

Ever since I can remember I have been in love with the Spanish language. Culturally I have not always been around it as I would have liked growing up as my parents separated when I was really young age. Growing up culture was everywhere and nowhere. Living in NYC it’s hard to miss but being immersed in it and learning it is a different story. I remember as a kid the only words I needed to know were plugged into a conversation that went something like this:

Me: Hola wela

Abuela: Hola mi Niña, Como estas?

Me: bien

Abuela: Quiere comer?

Me: no gracias wela.

…..later on

Me: bye wela

Abuela: ok mi Niña cuidense

….and that pretty much made up my Spanish vocabulary growing up.

Of course there were the required courses I had taken in my predominantly Hispanic populated school where about 1% of the students did not come from Spanish speaking home. Those test results always came back with several red correction marks on them. I just couldn’t catch a break. Maybe my lack of learning the language at an early age gave me this burning desire to perfect it. At some point I just started picking it up, listening to people speak it at the hair salon (I know typical) at the corner store, or even in a cab. I would talk back to people in Spanish as if I knew what I was saying and try to carry on a conversation.

In college I did take Spanish as my language elective; although I really did want to take Japanese I could not convince myself that I would use it ever. So there I was this Black Latina with an insatiable appetite to know every aspect of this foreign language that should not be strange to someone with a last name like Lopez.

I immersed myself in every aspect of it that I could. I found myself fascinated with speaking to people in both English and Spanish and working my way around the words I did not know. I would often say things like “como” to try to get my point across and “como se dice” to get help in expressing myself. I started downloading learning and translation aids as well as reading books to help me learn more and to “get around” my getting around speaking perfectly.

Today I feel like the little things have gotten me far. I can somewhat hold a conversation with a person who only speaks Spanish and I use what I know to continue to listen and learn the bits and pieces I do not know. Rosetta Stone would really make money off of a Black Latina like me but I do not see the point of having to go to such extreme measures when the language is in my blood. For those of us that are Hispanic or have some trace of Hispanic blood running through their veins, Spanish may have been your first language. Studies have shown it is so much easier to learn a second language at an early stage in life. But for those Black Latinas like me it is definitely one of the challenges of being on both sides of the spectrum.