Precerpt from My 20th Language: L3 Spanish - Spaoin
Spain (after Jordan – Arabic words – the Moors); I knew a lot more Spanish words after living in Jordan. Spain, to me, was a reward for learning Spanish though I was sent there for work and had a native speaker in our group, so it did not matter whether I could speak Spanish for the business part of the trip. Yes, of course, it did help being able to understand and communicate without interpretation. The language was not the Spanish (Spanglish) of Salinas, and certainly one could not throw in some English words and expect comprehension—although Arabic words might have done the trick. Having recently lived and worked in Jordan, I was surprised at how many of the Spanish words had arisen from the influence of Arabic, through the Moors, course. The hotel I stayed in was located across from a beautiful Catholic church that had a Mass every evening. I attended—every evening. My San Juan Bautista experience was quite helpful here: I knew the language of the Mass, the so...