Hola, mi nombre es Wendy. Soy de Orangeburg. Hablo un poco de español. Yo estoy casada y tengo una hija. Mi hija es muy inteligente.

Did you follow any of that? If not, it's OK, but there are at least 15 people taking a conversational Spanish course at the Orangeburg County Fine Arts Center who are probably pretty proud of themselves right now.

These phrases and many others dealing with colors, the weather, days of the week, months of the year, emergencies, dining, travel and more have been taught by Orangeburg resident Eliana Iglesias, who grew up in a Spanish-speaking household in New Jersey with her Cuban-born parents.

"I grew up in a household where my parents learned how to speak English but never spoke it at home," Iglesias said. "I think it's great to have a second language. A lot of places now require bilingual people. There are so many Hispanics here. ... You never know who might be next door to you, and you might need their help or they might need your help. It's always good to at least know a little bit."

Beth Thomas, executive director of the Fine Arts Center, said this is the first time the center has sponsored such a class. She asked Iglesias if teaching conversational Spanish was something she would be interested in, and Iglesias, who taught third- through fifth-grade Spanish at Orangeburg Preparatory School for one year as a volunteer, said "yes."

"We have had a huge response," Thomas said. "We limited the class size to 15, and I have a waiting list. We could have had a second class."

Thomas said there has been a wide range of interest, across ages and genders.

"We have someone who has just finished college to someone who has just retired, and we have a good mix of men and women," she said. "There really is a good bit of interest in the class, in the language, just learning the basics. That's all that people are interested in. Some people just want to see if they can learn a few Spanish words. But we have had a good number of people interested from the medical community ... and in the schools.

"For many, it's a need to learn the Spanish language. For others, it's an interest."

One student interested in learning the language is Gladys Arends of Cordova.

"I have Mexican neighbors, and I would like to be able to talk to them," she said. "They speak some English better than I speak some Spanish. But I would like to talk to them. They are nice people."

Iglesias said she is impressed with the reason behind Arends' desire to learn Spanish.

"That's absolutely fantastic that you even have a neighbor that cares enough to learn your language," she said. "Usually, people will stay away."

Arends said just as the Spanish-speaking population continues to grow in Orangeburg, so does the need to learn the language.

"Spanish is becoming more and more prominent ... and it would be good to be able to speak it," she said. Besides, she added, learning a foreign language will "keep your mind limber."

Jacqueline Skubal of Orangeburg was a Spanish minor in college and took three years of the language in high school. She said this course has been perfect in helping her reclaim the language.

She said there are several Hispanic people who attend her church, Holy Trinity Catholic.

"I think that Orangeburg, especially, is so multinational, and Hispanics are the second-largest minority group," she said, adding that she hopes this is a class the Fine Arts Center will continue to offer. "Demographically, things are changing, and people have to interact with each other. I think for people who are not multilingual, there will be barriers."

Iglesias said she's amazed that so many of her students have a background in Spanish, and they are picking it up so quickly. During the weekly sessions, class members sit in a semicircle around Iglesias and practice saying basic words and phrases in Spanish.

"It's fascinating because the first day or so, I was like, 'OK, how is this going to be?'" Iglesias said. "We decided after the first day that we would start from scratch, like from third-grade. I think it's going very well."

Leann Holloway of Orangeburg has taken Spanish classes before and was a French major in college. She said she and her husband, Michael, are taking the class "just for fun."

"It's better to know a little bit about it (Spanish) than not," she said. "It's so much more prevalent now, even in Orangeburg. ... A lot of businesses ask for people who are bilingual. At DPU, they have a bilingual person who sets up accounts. ... The government, highway department -- they need someone there to be able to (assist) everybody."

Holloway said the class is a good way to review Spanish vocabulary.

"I just like languages," she said. "We have fun, and we're probably learning something in the process.

"It (the conversational Spanish class) is not going to help people be able to go out there and take a job that's bilingual, but it will give them an introduction to the language and the basics."

Iglesias said she takes cues from her students for where the class will go from week to week.

"They're very interested in the weather, and if they go on vacation, what to ask for, if they're in an airport, how to speak to someone if their luggage is missing or they need a restroom ... what to ask for in a hotel -- basically just average things that you would want to know, especially in case of an emergency, if there were an emergency and they need to call for help," she said. "A little bit of the pronunciation of the alphabet, and stuff like that.

"I really think that anybody could speak the language."

Thomas said she can already see a difference.

"Just these few lessons, I feel like I know so many more words," she said. "I can't walk out and speak Spanish, but I can look at a menu, and I am going to pick up words already. It's just very good information because there are so many Hispanics in our country. I think it's important ... to at least recognize some of the words."

Thomas said not only is Iglesias the perfect teacher for the class because she is fluent in Spanish -- she also has the authentic pronunciation, which adds flavor to the language.

"You're really learning that from her," Thomas said. "People are very interested, and I think it is going very well."

So will there be another class?

"I guess we'll take a vote among the 15 in the class and we'll see," Iglesias said. "It's a possibility."

The five-week course ends Aug. 20.

T&D Features Editor Wendy Jeffcoat Crider can be reached by e-mail at wjeffcoat@timesanddemocrat.com or by telephone at 803-533-5546. Discuss this and other stories online at TheTandD.com.

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