When I got to the airport in Madrid, I knew that the adjustment back into English was going to be a difficult one. The airport employees knew that our group was all Americans and as such, we would usually receive a barrage of English and Spanish words mixed into one phrase. Even though the signs had the Spanish text along with the English translation, I found myself looking at the Spanish words for what the sign was trying to say. Needless to say, I was going to have a serious case of Spanglish coming back into the United States.
Spanglish, as it is often called in the United States, is when a person speaks or writes in a mixture of the two languages, Spanish and English. Usually, it ends up forming an incoherent string of words that only other Spanglish speakers end up understanding. For example, while writing this article, I’ve realized multiple times that I’ve had to think of the Spanish words before putting them into English words as I type them out. Even still, I find myself typing out the Spanish word anyway. Another place where Spanglish rears its head is at restaurants. At restaurants in the United States, I’ve found myself saying “Gracias” to the waiters and when asked if I’m ready to order, I respond with a quick “Un momento, por favor.”
The transition into speaking Spanish all the time was a little bit easier than I thought it would be, however the transition back to English has been a lot more difficult. Hopefully things will get better ¡pronto!