mogambo
Cathlete
After reading the very admirable and yet amusing posts by Mariangeles, I have the greatest respect for her for posting in English on this board, and I got to wondering if any of you speak another language.
My mother is an immigrant from Spain, who came here when she was 13. My father was born in Florida, and so were his parents and grandparents, but originally came from Cuba in the 1820s to work in Key West's and later Tampa's cigar industry. My grandparents ran a corner grocery store in Old Key West until they died, basically.
So, when I was born my maternal grandmother came to live with us to help out for a few months and spoke only Spanish to me. My mother spoke both languages, and my father spoke only English. I never read or wrote in Spanish, never studied it in school, so I speak pretty unsophisticated Spanish, but without any accent. In other words, I sound like a native speaker, but I'm not! And although I understand 98% of what anyone says, when I speak, I struggle with nuance and idiomatic expressions are my downfall. I am an English speaker, let's face it, but I do speak Spanish. And I learned pretty good French in school. I took French for 10 years, and can still speak or read if needed. But my accent, ou la la!! Not so good!
Anyway, now that I've introduced myself for 10 pages, I'd like to hear if any of you speak other languages. I know Cathe speaks German, maybe much like I speak Spanish, from speaking at home.
What about youze other guys??
My mother is an immigrant from Spain, who came here when she was 13. My father was born in Florida, and so were his parents and grandparents, but originally came from Cuba in the 1820s to work in Key West's and later Tampa's cigar industry. My grandparents ran a corner grocery store in Old Key West until they died, basically.
So, when I was born my maternal grandmother came to live with us to help out for a few months and spoke only Spanish to me. My mother spoke both languages, and my father spoke only English. I never read or wrote in Spanish, never studied it in school, so I speak pretty unsophisticated Spanish, but without any accent. In other words, I sound like a native speaker, but I'm not! And although I understand 98% of what anyone says, when I speak, I struggle with nuance and idiomatic expressions are my downfall. I am an English speaker, let's face it, but I do speak Spanish. And I learned pretty good French in school. I took French for 10 years, and can still speak or read if needed. But my accent, ou la la!! Not so good!
Anyway, now that I've introduced myself for 10 pages, I'd like to hear if any of you speak other languages. I know Cathe speaks German, maybe much like I speak Spanish, from speaking at home.
What about youze other guys??
