Talk the talk!

Hola. Me llamo Tammy y soy maestra y escritora.

Confused yet? You wouldn't be if you spoke Spanish, or if you'd paid attention even a little bit in your high school Spanish class. That's what I do all day -- talk in other people's sleep; a.k.a. teach Spanish to teenagers

Actually, I'm pretty blessed with good students overall, and most of them genuinely want to learn at least a rudimentary amount of Spanish; however, there is always at least one kid every year who could care less about learning a language he thinks he'll never need to know outside of my classroom. Ahhhh, the ignorance of youth.

Sadly, though, this ignorance is not just a product of our youth. Way too often the truly ignorant ones are the adults I meet who, upon learning I am a Spanish teacher, immediately lash into the worn out and completely idiotic litany of complaints -- "Why can't they (meaning Hispanics, I assume) learn English? They're in our country, so why don't they speak our language? Why would anyone ever need to know another language when they live in the U.S., the greatest country in the world?" Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. Ad infinitum nausea.

First of all, there are many reasons that you should learn a different language, and one of them is simply that it will make you a better person. Stop whining and bitching about what other people should know how to do when they come to "our" country, and focus on making yourself a more well-rounded and educated human being. How about when you want to travel to "their" country to enjoy one of "their" beautiful beaches or "their" nightlife? Don't you think you should know "their" language for that? Of course not. You'll be just like the multitude of privileged people from the U.S. who travel south of the border and expect the Mexicans to speak English to you even though you're in "their" country. Don't be a hypocrite.

Also, there are soooooo many people right here in the U.S. who speak another language besides English that while you remain stubbornly locked into your insular attitude that the U.S. is only an English-speaking country, you are denying yourself the opportunities to get to know some incredible people and to visit some incredible places simply because you refuse to learn something that could benefit you.

Another language opens up doors for you that otherwise will remain permanently shut or, at the very least, will be very hard to budge. More jobs come your way if you can speak at least one other language because, face it, this is a global society nowadays and not just an American one. The more languages you know the less things you'll fear because you'll understand what signs say and what a food is in an ethnic restaurant and what that strange-looking man is saying to you when he's simply trying to warn you that there is an open manhole in front of you and you should watch where you are going, etc.

I'm also completely baffled by the Midwestern attitude that English is our only language and that it always has been. There were hundreds of languages and cultures in place here before any white guy ever set foot on this land, and we, in our arrogance, wiped most of them away. Also, most of us descend from nationalities besides English, so why the heck are we speaking English in the first place? I should be speaking German if I were going to stick to my guns and go with my roots,  but that is a language I have yet to master, so I'll stay with English, Spanish and the little bit of Italian I know so far.

Why are these Midwestern white Americans so threatened by an influx of Hispanics? Back when my great-great-grandparents came from Germany, the Germans were despised, and they were mistreated for only speaking German; yet, here I am all these years later a full-blooded English-speaking American citizen. Nobody is the worse for it that my ancestors did not speak English when they came to this country. If anybody is worse off, it is me because my family did not continue to speak the language of their heritage and I would really like to know German. It's a hard language to pronounce, and the few times I've tried to do it in front of my former German exchange student, he busted a gut laughing at me, so clearly I have a hard road ahead of me to learn a language that should have been mine by my German ancestry connection.

Basically, I am tired of the complaints from adults who whine about the Hispanics and attack the Spanish language in the process. Spanish is a beautiful language, and it is actually much easier to learn than our crazy English language as far as the pronunciation and spelling are concerned. I'm sure a part of their complaints is based in the fear that Spanish may replace English someday as the main language of our country as the number of Hispanics living here increases, but English is a powerful language in the global-scheme of things, so that fear is largely groundless. I just wish more people in the U.S. would understand the importance and the benefits of being, at the very least, bilingual.

So, if you meet me and learn that I am a Spanish teacher, save your whining and complaining for somebody who agrees with you because that person isn't me, and stop asking me if I can understand what the Mexicans in Wal-Mart are saying. I don't give a damn what they are talking about while they are doing their shopping, but one thing I know for sure is that they are not talking about you, so put your conceit and your fears away. Rather than moving away from them in fear, learn a little Spanish yourself and follow them around the store listening in on their conversation. I can guarantee that while they were not talking about you originally, if you follow them around, they will definitely be talking about you then.

If you don't want to learn another language, that is your own concern, but if you only want to complain about others who do speak a language that you don't understand, then I invite you to Shtick This!

Hasta luego. Si puedes leer esto, agradece a una maestra.