“You don’t know Spanish? Why not?” This is the most common comment I get when I tell people that I do not know the Spanish language. When I moved here in August 2009, I did not know what people were saying around me. Often, I found myself lost in conversations and instead of trying to listen; I would wander off into my own thoughts and ignore the person speaking to me.
In my hometown, knowing Spanish was not a big issue. Everyone there knew English and I did not have to worry about not understanding what someone was telling me. You see, when I was young, my parents did not teach me Spanish because if I had known both Spanish and English, I would have been discriminated against at school. But now, coming to a community that speaks Spanish even better than English, I regret not learning. I respect my parents’ wishes and understand why they decided not to teach me this language. Even so, I long to understand what my friends around me are saying. I have been called “dumb”, “ignorant”, and even “spoiled” because of this “disability”, as one person called it.
When I began to work at Housing and Residence Life, I began to pick up on Spanish more and more. My boss, my coworkers, and even the residents who live at the Residential Learning Community or the University Village have helped me immensely. I still cannot speak Spanish, but I understand more and more every day. Instead of tuning out and ignoring my Spanish speaking friends, I listen and ask questions about what they are saying. Instead of simply asking them to translate, I try to put their sentences together and learn each word. I try each and every day to get better and adjust to my surroundings, rather than give up and demand my surroundings to adjust to me. As Benjamin Franklin once said “Being ignorant is not so much a shame, as being unwilling to learn.“