I believe that language is one of the first things we speak out loud. Even when we speak English, we speak it with a Spanish accent. I speak Spanish with a French accent and when I speak Spanish to a non-Spanish speaking friend, I’m surprised when I hear the words that come out of my mouth.
I know that sometimes we might think we can only say certain words with certain accent, like, “I’m sorry.” or, “I’d like to leave.” But when I try to speak with an accent, it turns out that I speak English without a single accent.
We learn Spanish when we speak with a Spanish accent. We learn English because we pay a little bit more attention to whether we speak correctly or not. We learn Spanish when we speak with a French accent. We learn French when we speak with a Spanish accent. But we don’t learn English when we speak with Spanish.
All this to say, you don’t need to learn Spanish or France to speak English. You just need to learn how to speak without an American accent.
The difference between Spanish and English is that in Spanish, the letter “t” has become a vowel, so in English it can be pronounced “th”. Similarly, the letter “p” has become a “th” in English, so as in Spanish it can be pronounced “po”. This is a lot more pronounced than when a “t” and a “h” are pronounced in the same way.
The way I understand it, in English, the letter t is a preposition that means “to speak.” It also means “to speak in English.
I know, I know. I’m making a real big deal out of this, right? But before I get too carried away, let’s not forget that Spanish speakers don’t exactly have a monopoly on English usage. I’ve said that before, but it bears repeating: Spanish is a second language to a lot of folks in the U.S., and many of those folks don’t speak English. This is especially true with Spanish-speaking people.
If you don’t want to write in Spanish, you can write in English. But in a lot of cases, words like “blessed” or “cousin” will be very offensive, and in other cases words like “shelter” or “watchdog” will be extremely offensive.
Many people with Spanish speakers will probably hate on the idea of a “shelter” where they can buy a cup of tea and have a nice meal.
I’ve said this before and hopefully will say it again. If you were to write in Spanish, you could be a very big target for those who wish to bully and mock those who speak Spanish.
