Why did my cat write a note in Japanese?

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This is a question that arose when I started to use the program Duolingo to sharpen my meager Spanish speaking skills. There was one lesson that was focused on using words that referenced animals. Here are some of the actual sentences and their translations.

El gato escribió una nota en japonés.

The cat wrote a note in Japanese

Mi caballo aprendió francés hace un año.

My horse learned French a year ago.

La vaca perezosa no limpió la casa.

The lazy cow didn’t clean the house.

El perro aprendió inglés en la universidad.

The dog learned English at the university.

Okay, it was kind of fun and I won't forget about that cat writing in Japanese.

Why this focus (I'm not yet prepared to call it an obsession) on learning Spanish. A very good question. I took 3 years of Spanish in high school. I performed without stellar results. I avoided languages in college. Many years later, I found myself traveling to Mexico for business. Later, I lived in Europe and often traveled to Spain. I felt like I needed to reclaim my past, albeit meager, skills. I had no real plan. No tenía un plan.

I started by looking at travel books containing "essential" phrases and vocabulary. This didn't take me too far in my quest for knowledge. I purchased a set of 8 CDs by Michel Thomas. I used them on walks and in the car. I started to make some progress, but at my highest point I felt like I was speaking at the level of an average 4 or 5 year old.  At this point in my life, I found myself teaching at a community college (a story for another time). I realized that I could take college level Spanish courses at no cost - space available, of course. Maybe, I could say, "Aprendí español en la universidad de la comunidad."

Taking college level Spanish courses was a little intimidating for a man in his sixties.  I didn't want to be at the bottom of the class. I pushed my studying into high gear. I found that some students felt my performance was ruining the curve. I was undaunted. I ended up taking Spanish I through IV, all of the levels offered. I took Spanish III a second time as it covered the very difficult subjunctive form. I was an A student in Spanish.

I felt very good about my intellectual knowledge of the Spanish language. My spoken Spanish was still very lacking. Last year I found an advanced Spanish group through an adult education program called LLI or Lifetime Learning Institute of Austin. I'm at the bottom of the class as far as speaking, but my comprehension is very good. This class has introduced me to the value of reading Spanish articles and books. Me encanta esta clase.

In a few days, my wife and I are off to Spain for 5 weeks, mainly Sevilla. My wife's cats, who do not write in Japanese, will remain at home with the house/cat sitter. I am as anxious, as I was when taking my first college Spanish class, but I have high hopes of improving my spoken Spanish. ¡Yo puedo hacerlo!

If I don't get too lazy, I hope to blog about our time in Spain. 

¡Mantente vigilante!

¡Mantén tus ojos en este blog!

Note: Duolingo is the best of the free, on-line language programs that I have found.