ChihuahuaDaddy on Languages

Spanish

Yes, I know that Spanish originated in Spain, but Mexican Spanish is the Spanish that I have been speaking since I was a kid. Mexican Spanish is loaded with double meanings that could get someone who speaks Spain Spanish into trouble, or at least get stared at by Mexicans. It has the most brutal swearing of any language, with Russian being a close second, but that will be in another list.

Strangely, when my dad's Cuban co-worker talked to me in Spanish, I couldn't understand him. Other Spanish speakers told me later that many Spanish speakers don't understand the Cubans - much like Americans trying to understand Cockney.

Russian

Russian is very interesting to me. It is closely related to the Ukrainian dialect which was my grandmother's native language. I know enough Russian to pick things up, but I'm far from fluent.

Hindi and Punjabi

Hindi and Punjabi are closely related and share a lot of vocabulary. Most of the words that I know from these Indian languages can be found on menus at Indian restaurants, which usually have Mexicans working in the back.

French

Ah, French. There is just something beautiful about the French language. Je ne sais quoi. A beautiful girl speaking French, or even speaking English with a French accent, is quite hypnotic. There are France French, Quebecois French and Acadian French - the three of which are as different from each other as Spain Spanish, Mexican Spanish and Cuban Spanish are from each other.

Quebecois French

Quebecois French and France French are different enough from each other that Quebecois movies shown in France need French subtitles. The pronunciation is different and much of the vocabulary is from the Normandy of the 18th century. Like Australia for English, Quebec is a linguistic time capsule.

Portuguese

The Portuguese spoken in Portugal is another one of those languages that is just plain beautiful. I know the basics largely because knowing Spanish makes it easy and because my mom had a cute co-worker who is from Portugal.

Bengali

I have a few friends who are Bengali and I tried learning their language. To those Anglophones who find Spanish or French hard to learn I say - try Bengali! It makes all of the other languages on this list easy to learn in comparison.