I have to be honest and state that I have been studying Spanish my whole life.  My grandfather encouraged my love of languages and he used to let me listen to his "Learn Spanish" records on the gramophone (yes - I am that old).  Although I lived in largely a white neighborhood when I was very small I was aware of the many people around us who spoke Spanish.  As a child I was overawed by all adults and was too afraid to try my language skills on them but I loved to listen.

Spanish is a beautiful language and over the years I have heard many different versions and have aspired to copying a number of regional accents.  It is a language that has been with us since at least the 7th century and is the second most spoken language in the entire world (after Chinese).  With its rich history and the many cultures that have influenced it speaking Spanish is like touching small parts of our human past.  There are times when I can hear the soft sounds of Moorish fountains, feel the warmth of Spanish tile and the mystery of the Mexican pyramids in the very sounds of the words.  

Spanish is also a language of a gracious culture.  For English speaking Americans, Spanish has two main features that are unique for our brains.

1) The concept that all nouns have gender.

2) The idea that there is something more familiar than our very careless "you".

I am going to talk about gender in language in another post or two (as that is a very big topic - particularly these days).  Let's talk about "tu" and "usted".  In Spanish, with its long culture of formality and social structure, the difference between these two forms of the word "you" means volumes.  "Tu" is a word used with close friends, family and children.  "Usted" implies a level of respect and formality.  You cannot interchange them and you need to think about your relationship with the people you are addressing in order to choose the proper verb form.

For me - I purposely choose to use the "usted" form when I am speaking to Spanish language people who work around me in the service industry.  I think it is important to show respect not just in the fact that I am reaching out to them in one of the original languages in the region (I live in Southern California and I am very well aware that we were all speaking Spanish before we spoke English) but, by using "usted" I hope that I am offering them the additional respect they deserve.

Duolingo does a good job of introducing both of these basic topics, in an easy way, in the first lesson.  

Language progress for 9/13/20

Hawaiian: Introduction - refreshed, Determiner - refreshed, Greetings - refreshed, Personal D - progress in Orange, 'Ohana - progress in blue.

Swahili: Ki/Vi - refresh (new word: Chamcha), Ji/Ma - refresh, Questions - refresh and review, Maarifa - knowledge, U/N - work in red, Present 3 - moved to red, Animals - work in Blue  reviewed possessives again - angu, ano, ake, etu, etu, ao

Irish Gaelic: Phrases - refreshed, Basics 1 - review

Language progress for 9/14/20

French: Travel 3 - restored, Shopping 2 - restored, Opinion - orange work, Friend 2 - red work, Nature - green work, Family 3 - blue work, School 2 - purple work.