Ozarks RFD: I should’ve taken Spanish

Posted Wednesday, September 18, 2024 3:58 pm

By Jim Hamilton Ozarks RFD

I had to take a foreign language for my bachelor of arts degree.

I picked French. I should have taken Spanish, but I couldn’t see that back then.

I’m not exactly sure why I opted for French, maybe because it had a more romantic sound, and Spanish seemed so pedestrian. Besides, I’d had a little French in high school, so I thought that would give me an edge; but, I didn’t remember enough to make a difference.

I never figured I’d ever have a need for any language other than English. In fact, considering my Ozarks lexicon, English seemed foreign enough. But, since I had no real use for it, I went with French. I never expected to go to France, but I imagined I might someday visit Quebec.

Of any use or not, I took four semesters of French — 12 hours — but never learned to speak more than a few words. I did manage to learn enough written French to complete short essays and read the exams well enough to pass the classes. But, had it not been for English translations of “Le Petit Prince," “Bonjour Tristesse,”and others, I’d have never made it through French. Other than meeting degree requirements, I never had any need for it, anyway.

On the other hand, I could have used Spanish.

I love Mexican food, and I’d like to be able to better understand Mexican restaurant menus and Mexican-speaking people today.

At the time I had to pick a foreign language, though, Mexican Villa in Springfield was the only Mexican place I knew, and it was more Americanized Mexican. That was okay at the time.

Then, in 1976 my brother moved to New Mexico, and soon I was making regular trips to the Southwest, where Spanish is spoken almost as much as English, and I was fascinated with it.

We didn’t learn much in Fair Grove High School history or social studies about the Spanish influence in our country’s history — let alone the fact that much of the United States was once part of Mexico. Much of the Southwest was colonized long before our nation was founded. Santa Fe, for example, was established in 1610 — a decade before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock — and Albuquerque in 1706, seven decades before the signing of our Declaration of Independence.

The Spanish heritage of New Mexico is undeniable with “rio’s,” rather than rivers coursing through the landscape, countless Spanish place names — Santa Rosa, Las Vegas, Socorro, Los Alamos, etc., — and huge sections of land in Spanish and Mexican land grants still recognized by the United State government.

Some of my favorite TV shows of the 1950s, like “Zorro” and “the Cisco Kid,”offered many clues about our Spanish history, but I didn’t catch them.

I didn’t appreciate the preponderance of Hispanic culture until my first trip to see my brother in Albuquerque. Who knew the Spanish West of myth and legend lay less than a day’s drive from Missouri? I didn’t.

Further, I discover in the shadows of old Route 66, predating the Spanish influence remain communities of indigenous pueblo peoples. Their native roots make we “English” seem the usurpers we truly are. Schools don’t teach their languages; so we have to rely on Spanish as the traditional language of the “new” Southwest.

While it’s true French-speaking trappers and traders left their mark on the West, too, Spanish is today our “romance” language, the hispanic culture arguable the most pervasive influence in our last century.

I only wish I’d seen it coming. I would’ve learned Spanish in college, rather than fiddle with French. Lots of things I wish I’d seen more clearly in my youth.

Perhaps it’s not age, but youth that dims the eyes.