Post 2: Translation

Translation

I am not joking when I say I have been translating my entire life.
Growing up in a Spanish-speaking house hold created an additional layer of challenge to my childhood. However, it had its benefits as well.

Sometimes, I learned a word in Spanish before I learned it in English–like the word Arroz, which translates to Rice. This meant pointing to my friend’s tray, with my plastic spork,when I’d ask “Are you going to eat that?” during lunch. It was a little bump in the road but never stopped me from making friends.

The best part was when I started listening to rap music. Lil Wayne and Young Jeezy lyrics were no concern of my parents. They knew an expletive here and there was “meh” but if they had known that Jeezy was glorifying a drug dealing lifestyle that also seemed pretty lucrative, they might have had second thoughts.

Like most things, you just get used to it. It was my norm, and keeping up with two running vocabulary lists was child’s play compared to Algebra 2. The ability to create connections between two languages is a skill that has helped me enjoy more genres of music, make friends, and become an impromptu Spanish teacher way more times than I would like.

I was going to write about how this helps me understand customer support cases, but I’ll save that for another post. This felt better to write about.

– Jose