I would like to learn Spanish because there will soon be as many Mexicans in the US as there are English. It would be fun to understand what they are saying about us in the Mexican Restaurants. I LOVE Tex-Mex food. It would be neat to order in Spanish.
I must say, most of them learn English pretty quickly.
I guess one way to learn would be to call almost any large company and press 2 for Espanol instead of 1 for English. Then you would have to learn before you could buy stuff or get help over the phone. By the way, I know that's silly.
I don't consider myself arrogant, just old and lazy. I'm glad my boys took several years of Spanish in school.
I'm jealous of multi-linqual people, but I guess not jealous enough for this old dog to learn new tricks.
Several members of my wife's family speak French (Cajun French) because they grew up hearing it. I used to know quite a bit of Native American (Osage) language which I learned from friends and relatives in Oklahoma, where I was raised. One of my Great Grandmothers was full-blood Osage. However as with many oppressed races, using her native tongue was discouraged and even ridiculed. I only remember the cuss words now. I can curse you in Osage and you won't know it!
It's too bad that not many of us were taught the languages of our ancestors. Only a few of us are truly from America. But few of the Americans I know of German or Italian ancestry still speak those languages after a couple of generations.
I'll bet back during the time of slavery that the Africans brought to the US had plenty to say to each other in their native language about their situation. I'm sure they were probably beaten if they were heard using their own language though. Sorry for the rambling, but this thread is truly interesting and actually inspiring to me.
Thanks Chas!
DonM