Iron Man part two

So.

Not only did my Iron Man dream come back, it returned with renewed vigor. I started thinking about what to do with my Spanish as well as how to get it where I wanted it to be. It seemed to me that if I were to become bilingual (technically trilingual since I parlay French pretty well) I should do it with the goal in mind of being a Spanish-speaking therapist. As already established, I love languages but I’m also pretty interested in other cultures so working with clients from a different culture would just be super-neato-coolio! Yay me!

There was my “what” and a few “whys” (the “who” is a British rock band featuring Pete Townsend, but that’s not important right now) so I needed a “how.” To address that question I have generated a brief list of ways to become fluent in another language. Feel free to use these and pass them on to others.

1. Be born in another country.
This seems to be the best way to become fluent in another language. I’m amazed at the kids I met in Europe who could already speak French, German, or Spanish from an early age. It made my pitiful efforts at their languages look pretty weak.

2. Have parents that speak another language.
Have you ever noticed that almost everyone in the world who speaks a language other than English *also* has parents who speak that language? Coincidence? I think not.

3. Be a super-genius.
This one is especially helpful if you want to rule the world in addition to being a polyglot (I’m looking at you, Alison).

Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t born in another country. I was born in this country. Also, my parents don’t speak another language. They speak this language. And I’m not a super-genius. Yet.

So I have to learn my second (that is, third) language the hard way. By learning it. Here are a few of the things I’m doing to work on my Spanish.

1. I bought My Spanish Coach for my Nintendo DS (I have a Nintendo DS). I’m currently a third grader and proud of it. I recently learned that the Spanish for Celery is apio, as in: No me gusta el apio. Gracias de mantenarle alojado de mi. (I don’t like celery. Please keep it far away from me.) You can see how this knowledge would come in handy in a therapy session.

2. I bought La Santa Biblia and read a bit of it each night. This idea I got from mi madre (that is “my mother” for you poor ignorant wretches). She bought a side-by-side English/Spanish Bible and has been laboriously translating it like a fourteenth century monk. I point out that the English translation is three inches to the left but for some reason she sees value in understanding it from the Spanish. The silly goose.

3. I talk to myself. In truth I already did this. The only difference is that now instead of carrying on conversations with myself that most people around me can understand, I do it haltingly and in a foreign tongue so that I look even more like a Pentecostal schizophrenic.

Mas next time.