I speak as much Spanish as I can to mis niños. Some days, I think I’m doing pretty darn good. That children’s book I couldn’t read in Spanish a month ago, I now sound like a pro. I’m feeling great about my reading and speaking abilities. So I ask myself, “What can I do next to hone my amazing Spanish skills?”
I know! I can listen to the Spanish radio station! Surely, I can understand at least a little…
My friends, I shouldn’t have. I really shouldn’t have… I should have stayed in my comfort zone of colors, shapes, and body parts that might or might not be clean.
Listening to their tongues go a mile a minute, the overabundance of rolling “r”s (which I still can’t do great, by the way) and the multitude of syllables bombarding my ears I suddenly came to a stark (and depressing) realization – I still have no idea how to speak Spanish.
Well, crap.
I’ve been trying to learn Spanish for about 9 months. I feel the struggle daily – sometimes I think I’m doing alright by mis niños. They knew how to touch their noses in Spanish before they knew it in English (which made my husband raise his eyebrows at me).
They can touch their heads, legs, tummy, eyes, ears, and hair – all in Spanish. They know phrases that mean “Let’s go change your diaper” and “Are you hungry?” We know upstairs, downstairs, outside, inside, and how to “Put it back where it goes.”
We are working on “sharing”, “giving”, and picking up our toys. Mi chanchita can say “oh-a” for “oveja” (sheep) and “eh-ho” for “conejo” (rabbit). We learned juice today and they can repeat some alphabet sounds.
Mi osito, he is special. He often runs around the house shouting “Mono!” looking for his stuffed monkey. He rambles that cute toddler nonsense and I just keep hoping I will understand his other words the moment they come to fruition, whether in Spanish or English.
They will be two this month – I really can’t believe we’ve survived this long! They aren’t saying words nearly as much as my oldest did at this age, but I didn’t speak Spanish with her. I’m hoping the delay is simply because we are doing two languages at once. I’m praying the learning we are doing now will be worth it later.
Meanwhile, I continue to think of things I need to know how to say on a daily basis. My most recent book is all about our 5 senses: Mis Cinco Sentidos.
I find I want to say things like, “I see a bird. Do you see the bird?” and I don’t know how. This little book will help with your senses and knowing how to say it in the first person.
As always, I encourage you to download all my stuff for FREE. I don’t make a single penny off this stuff, it just makes my heart happy to create and share.
Always feel free to comment or let me know if I’ve made a mistake – because my friends, I am learning and learners know how to take constructive criticism to make themselves, and their efforts, better.
Lots of Love. Mucho amor. 😘
Note: There used to be affiliate links in this blog – there are now NONE. Why? Because I got tired of keeping up with it and really, I just want to help people learn and it makes me happy that you even visited this page. Maybe someday, when I have a TON of time on my hands (which will probably be in about 10 years) I may add affiliate links. But, for now, just enjoy the blog for what it is – a great place to get some FREE stuff, read some FUNNY stuff, and learn some AWESOME stuff. 😘 Chao!
Learning Spanish as a Family 