Language differences

I love Mabel's family because they speak slowly and try to tell me things they think I'd want to know.  Her dad makes sure I've eaten and have seen everything I need to see.  Maricela makes sure I understand what's being said, and Alma tells me about tourist places/places I should visit.  They all speak pretty slowly, very clearly, and I understand them pretty well.

Saturday night, when Alma, Mabel and I were walking to get my blizzard, I said something about Yuri, and I said it like this: "The woman who is in my classroom."  I used the word mujer for woman, which is the correct word.  Alma responds, "mujer" and laughs.  They both kind of laugh.  Here we go again, I think.

Alma tells me that she talks like that.  She uses that word, but here more people say muchacha. That's the word you learn for "girl" so I was surprised.  That's just one of those regional things that you learn with a language.  Well then later, after I had been talking, Alma started telling me about a friend of hers "who talks like you" who had moved to Mexico a few years ago but now was more Mexican than she.  Meaning he loved the music, culture, etc.  This conversation came about after discussing piropos (the way men "cat call" here) and how it's just not done in the States, and if it is, it's tacky.  That led to more discussion of greetings and departures and how you speak to every person and I explained that we just do it differently.  Anyway, in talking about this man, she was talking about his accent and how it's still so American, and Mabel chimes in with how hard it is for Americans to get the Mexican (and she meant Spanish in general, not just from here) accent, how you could always tell when an American was speaking Spanish.  I countered with, "Just like it's hard for you with our accent and we can always tell when someone who speaks Spanish is speaking English."  She was shocked.  "Really?" she asked.  

It's amazing to me, I guess how we're never in a context to let us know this.  I mean, unless you grow up bilingual, you can't know exactly what the languages sound like and how they actually should sound.  What I mean is, a child who speaks two languages at home, will naturally hear both languages.  I, on the other hand, picked up Spanish at age 19.  Well, began the process.  I'm probably never going to sound native, even if I live somewhere for years.  Sad but true.  

When I'm at home and go to Walmart or wherever and hear a Spanish speaker speaking English, I know immediately, as do you, that they're a Spanish speaker.  "I'n" instead of "I'm" and "eet" instead of "it," etc.  

It's strange to me that with 10 years of Spanish study, travel and understanding (more than just words), that I haven't realized until this trip how I sound to natives.  So, my goal now, is to make sure people who think my accent is atrocious/very American realize (kindly) that that's how their English sounds.  I've already taught that lesson to my students here.  And I will continue.  Every time I speak Spanish to them (to clarify a point, which I really shouldn't do), I remind them that that's what their English sounds like and that's why they're learning early.  I heard one time that if you learn a language after puberty, you have no hope of sounding native.  Your mouth muscles have already formed for the language you've spoken all your life.  Speaking any other language requires other muscles that have not been formed in the same way, and consequently never will.

Who knows how accurate that is, but I believe the theory behind it.