Speaking Spanglanese...

This CSA is based off of my own personal catastrophe…

Over the weekend, I had the pleasure of listening to my 2 year old son hold some very “serious” conversations with my 11 year old niece. While Colt seemed to know exactly what he was saying, Carli’s response was always, “Sir! I do not understand the language you are speaking!” After the first few responses from Carli, I informed her that the reason she didn’t understand Colt was because he was speaking Spanglanese… apparently this is his own language that makes all the sense in the world to him, but no sense to anyone else (except for me since I’m usually pretty good at figuring out what he is saying).

I’ve been told that I have been blessed with the ability to articulate my thoughts well. In most cases, this seems to be true. However, over the weekend I seem to have run into a couple of situations where although what I was saying made sense in my head, it DID NOT make sense to the other party involved. I’m taking full responsibility for this as I’m the one that’s having trouble communicating my thoughts. I should mention at this point that the entire conversations were had via text message… something I so don’t believe should be used to have serious conversations.  This being said, I’m afraid I may have altered a very good friendship that I’m not sure how to repair.

The lesson from all of this? There are two parts: 1) Never, ever, ever use text messages as a means for a serious conversation! Never! 2) Before having a conversation with someone, try thinking it through in your head, and if needed, again on paper (since obviously what makes sense in your head may not make any sense to someone else). If you find that the other party isn’t grasping what you’re trying to say, stop the conversation, re-evaluate what you’re saying, and start over with a different approach (if you’re allowed the chance).

The most important part of this CSA is that we should all realize that at some point in our lives, we are speaking Spanglanese. Once you realize this, it will be easier to handle stressful situations where you feel someone just isn’t listening to you. It may not be the other person, it may be that to them, what you’re saying is coming out in a language they just don’t understand.

The end. Hope this made sense and isn’t Spanglanese to those of you reading it.  J