Working in a Foreign Language

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I truly have a love/hate relationship with working in Spanish as a native English speaker.  There are still lots of times when I fumble, like when someone is walking out of my office and I blurt out the English word "Wait!" and they only wait because they have no idea what I just said, but then there are other times that I'm impressed because I've just spewed out some information or a random order at the speed of a Dominican girl with an attitude.

At some points, like this afternoon, I feel entirely overwhelmed.  Maybe it was the extra long hours I worked today, or maybe because I spent a lot of time on the phone, but when it was time to write a company Memo (in Spanish!) I nearly had a panic attack.  

"Failure to wear the proper uniform will result in a write-up that will be sent to the Secretary of Labor." 

Will "RESULT IN"?!?!  How on earth do I put these words in Spanish?!?!  

I think the look on my face must have cued my coworkers to help me ASAP.

But what I know deep down, past the daily frustrations, past all the grammatically incorrect questions I know I ask while giving interviews, and past all the times I say mid sentence "I don't know the word in Spanish but..", is that even though I don't notice my improvements on a day to day {or even month to month} basis, I know that I'm on my way to becoming perfectly bilingual.  And that makes it all worthwhile.

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