The Trouble with Spanish...

...is that it's not French.  Which is to say, I keep unconsciously mixing the two, and thus making mistakes.  Today in class when I wanted to know the meaning of "espantosa" (we're doing movies), I said to the teacher, "Que significa 'espantosa'..." and when I couldn't remember for a second how to say "please" (it's one of the words I have trouble with, because I always want to say "per favore," as in Italian), I automatically said, "s'il vous plait?"  I do this quite a bit in Spanish class, although I usually stop myself before the French comes out of my mouth.  Funnily enough, I have this experience when I speak French, too, only then when I can't remember or don't know the word I substitute in the German word.  Clearly, because Spanish is closer to French than to German, when I have a blank in Spanish my go-to language is French.  This does create some odd cross-pollenates, though, so that today when I was tired and out of Spanish practice (having not done my flashcards for four days),  I told the teacher that my conference was "bueno, mais aburrido."  And I know "pero"!

On the other hand, the good thing about Spanish is that it's quite like Latin.  So if you leave aside the irritation of "nunca" (which doesn't mean what it ought to) and "usted" (which ought to mean "yesterday," because it sounds like it), it's a surprisingly easy language for me to learn. I am, indeed, the star of my class.  Although this may also be because I'm the only one who ever speaks.

And now here is today's photo.  I saw this in a bookstore in the Denver airport.  The connection between the two made me laugh: