¿Cómo se dice...?

Ever met a person who looked back on their life and thought, "I'm so regretful of the time I spent becoming bilingual..." I did. She was an ignorant tool. Her name was cara haley weissman.

I took four years of Spanish in high school, had a tutor, took a semester of it in college and can still barely string a sentence together. My mind was more primed for learning back then, but I was too busy watching Saved by the Bell reruns and fighting urges to shoplift white eyeliner to care. The government paid for my blue ribbon high school education and I threw it away by cramming before tests or.... gasp... cheating.

I know I wasn't the only person "looking for a new pen" in their crib sheet lined backpack, or rolling up their sleeves to "scratch an itch" that reminded them what the difference was between por que and porque? If I was, then most high school educated people would be walking around speaking at least two languages. I actually know more high school drop outs with dual tongues than ivy educated ones. To be fair though, I really don't know that many ivy league educated individuals.

This past fall, pre-layoff and before the Costa Rica trip even crossed my radar, I took Spanish lessons at the 92nd street Y for fun. Just like high school and the free Hebrew class I took last winter, I didn't study between lessons and crammed 15 minutes before each session. But now, financed by my severance pay, I'm seriously buckling down and attempting to become bilingual (in between job hunting/soul searching of course).

Now I have a new reason to put my (non black yoga) pants on everyday. My Hebrew lessons were doomed because I couldn't actively practice with anyone, but there is no shortage of Spanish speaking inhabitants in New York. They key is to go out there and just start talking without fear of sounding stupid. Who knows who I'll meet any given day.

I’ve popped into a Mexican bodega to buy something I just learned how to say to see if they understand me. I have walked a mile to get coffee from an Ecuadorian named Pepe because he's good at explaining tenses. If I see a poster on the subway in Espanol and I hear people speaking in Spanish, I will go up to them and ask if I'm translating the text correctly. I have no regrets. I have no shame. I'm a casting producer for god sakes. Or at least, I'm still trying to be.