As the child of Chileans living in Chile, English just was not on the menu for me. But an unexpected opportunity took us to Texas, where I began to learn (at the age of 7) what would become my dominant language, though not without heavy competition from the mother tongue my parents insisted we speak at home. Eventually, after heavy doses of Sesame Street, Electric Company, some help from a speech pathologist with an unpronounceable name and Mr. Victor's AP English class, I was fully assimilated into the English-speaking variety of human and settled on a career that in the U.S. hinges on it: journalism. (Remarkably — and regrettably — I did not pick up the charming Texas twang.)