Say what?

I have been living in the US for almost 12 years. And I want to believe that my English has improved along the way. I have definitely become a master at using synonymous, particularly when I know exactly how to spell something but I have no clue how to pronounce it. I was so happy when "Lazarus" became "Macy's" simply because it was SO much easier to pronounce.

But there are things I will never get right. Is it "on the table" or "in the table"? And are "Male" and "Mail" supposed to sound different to me? And how about all those different variations of "put out", "put off", etc? I will also always say "MargaRRitas", and "CaRRne asada", and "ColoRRado". It just seems wrong to even try to say it differently.

Some words I DO know how to pronounce, but I have a really bad habit of speaking fast. And when I do, I tend to get myself in trouble. The other day I was in a meeting and my boss's boss was utterly confused about what the cops had to do with anything. The thing is, I was saying "cop", but I meant to say "co-op".

Sometimes I can laugh at it, and sometimes it hurts my feelings when others do. But it is what it is. It just comes with the territory when you try to express yourself in a language other than your own.

So occasionally -or maybe more often than I would like - you may read something here that is grammatically correct, but it just sounds "funny". Or maybe it is not even grammatically correct at all. But as long as you get my point, and this blog reflects "my voice" I am cool with that.

I know what you might be thinking ... I should save myself the trouble and just write in Spanish. I am a native Spanish speaker after all! The problem with that is ... some people who have been kind enough to read this blog do not speak Spanish. And I would love for them to come back here!

So I'll keep writing, and hopefully you'll keep reading. And when I mess up, I'll just have to laugh at myself and try to do better next time around.