Do you know a foreign language?

Something I somewhat regret from my youth is never learning a foreign language.

When I started High School I got a late start on the enrollment process (my parents were somewhat the great procrastinators, and I was never all that inclined to know any different myself, and was somewhat naive at how things worked in life too) so my choices of what classes I could take for my freshmen year were limited.  I was interested in art and wanted to take art classes but by the time I was supposed to sign up for classes the art classes were all filled, as were the wood shop (industrial arts) classes.

That meant I had a choice of taking a foreign language or perhaps doubling up on sciences or history/current events type classes.  The doubling up wasn't likely to happen since the classes I would take in that area were generally reserved for upper level students, so it became a choice of taking French or Spanish.

Having no preference myself, my mother -- always trying to help push me in the right direction {from her point of view} -- felt that taking French would be good as French was a romantic language.  It was also a language that some of my elder cousins had taken so perhaps they could help me out if I took it.  Besides, the Spanish classes were full so I really didn't have a choice there anyway.

As things turned out though, the French class I was enrolled in didn't go past the first week.  The first 3 days in fact.  By the end of day 1 we were instructed to find another class and get the teacher to sign off on accepting us into that class as there weren't enough students taking French to justify keeping that class going.  With the special dispensation of being forced to leave the French class and find a new home for that period of schooling, I was able to get into the art class I had wanted all along (Spanish was still full and by the time they took one or two of my classmates from the French class, they were well over capacity).

So, year 1 of my high school progressed with no foreign language classes.  By the end of year one, I was excelling in art classes and my mother was resigned to the idea that I was where I belonged.  No more mention of foreign language classes until, well, I enlisted in the U.S. Army (Reserves).

While at basic training, apparently based on my scores on the ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) tests the military was interested to see if perhaps I had the inclination and skill to be turned into a translator.  I was pulled aside (along with some of my fellow soldiers going through basic) and tested to see if I might, just might, be of use as a translator.

The test consisted of logic and deductive reasoning to take some nonsensical (to me) sounds and try to turn them into phrases.  You'd hear something that was supposed to be a root word or part of a phrase and were supposed to start deciphering what a phrase was based upon a fragment of speech.

Apparently I wasn't good enough at it to warrant any more effort at changing my designated area of expertise that I had selected when enlisting, so no more was said about it and I moved on.

That was quite literally the last real opportunity I'd assume I had for learning a foreign language, with the exception of computer languages which I found myself quickly able to adapt to over my time in school.  I went from learning BASIC to PASCAL, to COBOL and FORTRAN, to ASSEMBLER and later C++ and perhaps a few others tossed in for good measure (dBase and such).  The simple logical rules always made sense to me and going from one language to the next always seemed easy.

I guess that is part of what the Army must have seen in me and expected in me when I had enlisted, and is probably the reason the Army 'wasted' the day to test my potential as a linguist or translator.

Unfortunately for them the ability to translate computer languages and work in various dialects of same didn't translate (pardon the pun) into linguistic skills I guess.

Anyway, all of this brings up the point that I never learned a foreign language.  There are many times now when I wish I had learned Spanish.  Especially with the influx of Spanish speakers that have come into the U.S.A. in the last several years.  Knowing the language intriques me.  I think it might help to know better how to communicate with people that are providing service, and cooking food for me in fast food restaurants.

So, I'm left to ask of readers -- do you know any other languages or are you only fluent in good ol' gringo English?