Fun with Spanglish

by Glory Lennon

I was born in the Dominican Republic to Dominican parents and the first words I uttered, no doubt, were Spanish. Caribbean Spanish, that is, which many don’t consider Spanish at all, but that’s a tale for another time. So, knowing that about me, you would assume I’m quite fluent in Spanish. You would be vastly incorrect. Yes, I can understand much of it and I do speak it well enough to be understood, but it takes a bit of effort on my part.

Since the age of two I have been in the USA, and although Spanish was spoken at home, at school it was English I had to learn. Of course, that didn’t mean I didn’t do both without realizing it. I recall quite clearly even four decades later my kindergarten teacher, Mrs. White, wagging her finger at me and saying, “No, no, no! English, you must speak English!”

I was five years old and looked in confusion to my best friend, Maria, a little Puerto Rican girl who, of course, knew Spanish too.
“What is she talking about? I am speaking English,” I said. Maria just shrugged. She understood me perfectly and insisted that Mrs. White wasn’t very bright for a teacher.

I realize now I must have been switching back and forth between my two languages, and probably mixing English words with Spanish without knowing it. I can laugh about it now but my parents didn’t like it. My Spanish seemed to deteriorate as I learned English.

I think in English now, you see, so I have to force myself to think in Spanish in order to make the switch, but it often goes awry. My parents, my father in particular who was a teacher no less, shake their heads in utter embarrassment when I speak what they like to call Spanglish. Oh, yes, I’m fluent in Spanglish! ;-)

English is now my primary language of choice, the one in which I am quite confident in using both for speaking and in writing. Yes, I do a great deal of writing; romance novels, funny short stories and articles mostly pertaining to gardening. My parents are quite proud of this writing career I have but they lament that I do not write in Spanish. They can speak and understand English but reading it is rather difficult for them, just like Spanish is for me. So, they have me translate my stories into Spanish for them. Let’s just say, a lot is missed in the translation.

Last Christmas while my family and I were in the Dominican visiting my parents, I gave them an opportunity to laugh at me big time. I often do this but this time I made a major language blunder, the funniest to date, which they take delight in telling all our relatives every chance they get.

My mother asked about a Christmas party we had attended and I told her, “There was dancing and lots of food and they played a type of music I had never heard of, Chabatta.”

My parents laughed so hard it took several minute before they could explain to me what I had done. It seems that the type of music I was talking about is called Batchata and Chabatta is a type of bread. They will never let me live that one down!

I’m quite certain when I go back to visit this Christmas, like we always do, I’ll say something else to make them either laugh or cringe. Either way they have fun with me and my horrible Spanglish.

Thank you very much, Glory, for sharing your experiences with your three languages (English, Spanish and Spanglish) with us. It made me smile more than once and I am sure my readers will love your account as well.

Glory writes about gardening and self-reliance when she writes non-fiction but she also writes teen stories about everyday teens which have everyday problems. You can even find a novel excerpt from her on Helium.