It's become somewhat of a joke in our house that I'm trying to teach Alex Spanish. This wouldn't be so funny if I could actually speak Spainsh. I took 3 years of Spanish in school and even participated in a class trip to Mexico when I was 14, but to this day, my grasp of the Spanish language is limited to singing La bamba.
John on the other hand, speaks fluent Spanish due to his spending two years preaching the gospel according to Joseph Smith in Costa Rica. Problem solved, you'd think. John can just teach Alex Spanish. No dice. John doesn't want to teach Alex Spanish. In fact, John doesn't like to even talk about the fact that he speaks Spanish. Yes, John is a closet bi-lingual. You'd never know unless you come home from work unexpectedly and catch him watching Telemundo or hear him singing Spanish love songs in the shower.
John also doesn't think that teaching Alex a second language is necessary. He wants Alex to learn English first. I (and all of the Baby's First Year books) disagree. I (and the books) feel that Alex is in a unique stage right now, his brain is in a state of active learning, particularly learning language. Now is a prime time to introduce him to not only his primary language, English, but other languages as well. I (and the books) feel that raising Alex to be bi-lingual will help him to be more well rounded and aware of other cultures. I (and the books) believe that being bi-lingual as a child will help him to learn other languages in the future. And I (and the books) recognize that the ability to communicate well in multiple languages will give him many advantages as an adult.
So, it's up to me to teach Alex Spanish. Alex and I have been watching "Bi-lingual Baby" several times a week. So far I can say:
- Por Favor y Gracias (Please and Thank You)
- Cuantos manzanas? (How many apples?)
- Dos manzanas. (Two apples)
- La nina come la manzana. (The girl eats the apple)
- Un globo rojo. (One red balloon) This phrase came in handy the other day at a restaurant and the waitress happened to give Alex a red balloon.
I have a terrible American accent. I use hard r's and d's and I can't for the life of me roll my r's. But I'm trying and that counts for something I think.
I have an excellent opportunity to better my Spanish skills the next few weeks due to the World Cup games on TV. Many of them are broadcast in Spanish, so when we watch the games, I like to try to repeat what the announcer is saying and see if I can guess the meaning. This isn't really working out too well. Last night we were watching a replay of the Italy / Ghana game and I saw that the guide on TV said "Copa Mundial"
"What does 'Copa Mundial' mean?"
"I'll give you one guess"
"Ummm, Monday cops?"
Silence. I look over at John and he's trying to stifle a laugh
"Honey, what are we watching?"
"Italian soccer?"
"Honey."
"Oh, World Cup!! Copa Mundial. World Cup"
Later in the game, an Italian makes an incredible goal. The announcer yells "GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAALLLLLLLL" Then continues yelling something that I hear as:
"GO ASSHOLE! GO ASSHOLE! ASSHOLE! ASSHOLE! ASSHOLE!"
"Does the announcer not like Italians?" I ask John
"What?"
"Why is he calling that guy and asshole?"
"Honey, he's saying golaso. Awesome goal! Awesome! Awesome!"
"Oh"
