I am a penguin?

Both my parents were bilingual. My father spoke fluent German, and my mother understands and speaks Italian.

When I was growing up, I was envious of those who spoke more than one language. While I took French in high school, I never quite got the hang of speaking it. In order to learn a language, one must experience immersion.

I discovered that I might have had an aptitude for languages when I visited family in Sweden about 23 years ago. I was only there for two weeks, but at the end of that time, I had begun to pick up the gist of conversations. Had I extended my stay, I am confident that I would have picked up the language.

This past summer, I went to Montreal with a church group. I was excited to learn that my high school French was put to good use; that is, what little I remembered did. Actually, more came back to me than I thought. I remember being lost on a street in Montreal, and I was trying to find my way. I standing on a street with a woman who knew very little English, and I was trying to get directions. She and I fumbled together — she knew very little English, and I knew very little French but somehow we made it work.

I found my way.

Although I made a few halfhearted attempts to learn a second language in the past, I decided to make a serious attempt this year. I enlisted the aid of Duolingo, a free language learning website, to help me learn Spanish. So far, I have been quite diligent, but as the lessons get more challenging, I truly wonder if an old dog can learn new tricks.

Part of the difficulty is the variety of verbs the language offers.

English is fairly simple:

I drink.
You drink.
He/she/it drinks.
You drink.
We drink.
They drink.

Spanish offers a bit more of a challenge:

Yo bebo.
Tú bebes/usted bebe.
El/Ella bebe.
Nosotros bebemos.
Ellos/Ellas beben.

In addition, Spanish speakers often drop the pronoun before the verb, making it challenging for us non-native speakers to catch on. I wonder if English is as difficult to learn as a second language.

That is just the tip of the iceberg. There seems to be more rules to follow than the English language offers. I am beginning to wonder if I will ever be able to get the hang of reading and speaking Spanish.
The limited vocabulary I have learned so far has been amusing.

Yo soy un pingüino.


I am a penguin?