When I was growing up my parents always insisted we speak Spanish at home. I’m grateful to them because I’m fluent in both Spanish and English now and I don’t have an accent in either language. (Except, of course, I speak Spanish fast and furiously and drop the s’s on the ends of my words, but that’s not important right now. =D)
The only-speak-Spanish-at home rule was pretty easy because my mom didn’t speak English. She still doesn’t. She understands, but she never worked outside of the home. My oh-so-Cubanaso dad would never permit it. So we spoke Spanish at home and my sisters and I speak Spanglish to each other – easily and fluently weaving in and out of both languages.
Now it falls to me to teach my own children my first language and I confess I’m quite the slacker. Eric speaks Spanish beautifully, but of course, it’s just so much easier to speak English at home. So we do. My kids understand and speak some Spanish, but I also encouraged them to take Spanish in school. It couldn’t hurt, right?
(This bilingual issue right here is why I am awed and amazed at how my Cuban American friend, Carrie has undertaken the difficult task of making sure her daughter is bilingual – read all about it on her delightful blog, Bilingual in the Boonies.)
This right here is a perfect representation of my Adam’s high school Spanish. Enjoy.
Muchas gracias. 😉
I have that video favorited on YouTube! =)It’s funny to me that American-born children of Hispanic parents DON’T speak Spanish, since it was my first language (I was born here) and it’s “second nature” to me. But I find lately that it’s not that uncommon. My own cousins (aged 9 to 18), whose parents came from Cuba as children, do not speak Spanish even though it’s what their grandparents only speak. It’s pretty fascinating really.
P.S. I’m reactivating my blog. If you ever have some time to kill (yeah, right!), please drop by and check it out. I will be up to speed soon!
Oh.My.God.This video is hilarious! I’ve seen the same thing around here, in the Rockies… that’s why I am so stuck with the “en la casa solo hablamos espanol”, and we watch TV in English when Nicolas is already knock out in his crib. (and he CD’s with children songs are in Spanish, as well as the books Grandma brought him from Cuba and I’m stuck with the idea of buying him DVD con munequitos only if they have the Spanish (whatever the name is) version. :)Although, as I’ve told Carrie before, maybe for us is a little bit easier because English is our second language anyway; and there is NO way that abuela is going to allow him to speak English at home.
Too funny! I sent this to a friend of mine who used to teach Spanish at St. Margaret’s, and she sent me a YouTube link to the same guy singing it on Telemundo. It’s a riot!JoMo hears snippets of various languages from me and from others in his life. After a week in France in September, he still insists on calling pears “poires” as well as remembering several other words. He had dinner with some Romanian friends and spontaneously learned to say “mushroom” and “yes” in Romanian by the end of the evening. Kids this age (these stories are from before he turned two) are sponges. He is nearly completely bilingual at this point, speaking both American and British English! 🙂
Very funny, that’s exactly how my wife’s Spanish sounds. She is American-born of Irish and German descent. Our two daughters don’t speak Spanish other than the little bit taught to them in school. We do, however, eat a lot of Colombian and Cuban dishes. Yes, she did learn to make a mean lechon and a few other things from my parents, so that part of my culture is being passed on.