The Year of The Spanish Fever. Post 11
His year-long experiment with Spanish was over. A local community college has given him credit for his two months of study abroad.
He had been caught off guard. He had planned to wam-bam the Spanish language, to stay detached and dominate their brief relationship. Their affair would end soon and on his terms.
But the beauty and vitality of español was too much for the old man.
The Spanish language became a demanding mistress who required submission and imposed discipline.
She demanded that he study and memorize. She made him read books with Spanish on the left page and English on the right. His lips moved as he crawled word by word with a translation app in hand.
She constantly corrected him. He was humbled.
But he experienced exquisite pleasure along with the pain. He discovered that ideas are strangely compelling in a foreign language: “…the girl took a bite of the soda cracker.” — wow! that is interesting. He read J. K. Rowling and couldn’t help but visualize her British townsfolk as Hispanics. He laughed out loud every time they cursed.
When it came to the Spanish language, the old man’s will was no longer his own. He judgment was blunted. He would allow himself to be exposed for another year. He didn’t understand what had gotten into him.
| LOST IN TRANSLATION | To “give light” means to give birth. 
