codeswitching

I'm not a Spanish speaker at all, but I did take Spn 1010 last semester. I'm not taking 1020 this semester, but I need it for my major, so I'm taking it this next summer. I'm somewhat ashamed to say that my efforts to keep up the little Spanish I learned have been minimal, but I have had days where I try to say and think everything I can in Spanish, and then I'll forget about it for a while, and then I'll come back to it later. I guess it isn't the same thing as what Ana Celia Zentella was saying, but I do feel the need to "reconnect" every so often, partly out of obligation to graduate, and partly because I find it very entertaining and challenging to try to think and talk in Spanish. This is usually triggered when I automatically say some random, simple sentence in Spanish that I get a sort of pleasure from and want to continue doing.

I do codeswitch with my bad Spanish, though. I will only talk in Spanish to my close friends or family who know Spanish, because I'm sure I would sound ridiculous to everyone else. Or when I'm by myself, I'll try to think out loud in Spanish and try to form sentences, but I'll stop if someone comes by for fear of seeming crazy.