I know some basic medical Spanish, but every time I use it I get myself in trouble when I can't really understand the answer I'm getting to the question I've asked. I took a year of Latin in college. I'm not naturally gifted at languages, My wife sure is, but her family did that by deliberate design. I'd be gifted, too, if someone had spoken both languages to me since babyhood and sent me to two years of early schooling in Spain right at the peak of the language absorption years (4 to 6). It's fun to watch her, looking deceptively Anglo, switch into Espanol among a group of Spanish speakers and impress them with a perfect Castillian dialect. She's a helpful translator to have around.