mexican
Living Legend
Mike, i really like your open mind thinkingI never realized how much until I joined the Navy and traveled the world. Unlike Europeans, Americans are generally not exposed to other languages. That's changing in our major urban areas and with Spanish becoming almost a second language here, which I think is great.
While I was in Rota I learned that the locals had a difficult time understanding our Puerto Rican Sailors. A Mexican American friend who grew up in San Antonio was stationed there for almost 10 years and his kids learned the local dialect. When they moved back to SA the locals thought his kids were Spanish nationals. While in Cuba I learned how different the Spanish spoken there is from Mexican dialect, which has Aztec influence like Guatemalan Spanish has some Mayan dialect influences.
It's a fascinating world and one of those regrets I have in life is not learning additional languages as have you.