#y esto viene de alguien que tiene el español como su primer idioma. miguel es diferente y eso es lo que lo hace tan interesante

[mystristages]

omg wait I haven't talked about my most polarizing headcanon on here!! I think miguel doesn't actually know much spanish at all. not at first, though, and even then he still trips up over words and phrases.

1) there is absolutely no way george o'hara let conchata speak to their kids in a language he can't understand. maybe when she's alone she does it more, and even then miguel only picked up on things like swears (and songs like La Valentina). I like to think she spoke more spanish when they were younger

2) miguel was taken away from his home at a very young age and enrolled into the alchemax academy. he was isolated from his culture by tyler stone, a white man, in order to assimilate him into the corporate world of nueva york (I could go on and on about being a person of color trying to fit into white society but I won't. you get it)

I think miguel learns more spanish as he gets older. he makes an effort to reconnect with his culture by going to a día de muertos festival and spending a disproportionate amount of money on a costume for it. or maybe it's an attempt to connect with his mother by learning her language, an attempt to understand her and close the barrier between them even though she doesn't do the same for him. it can be an attempt to carve out some piece of an indentity from a man who has been denied individuality his entire life. this makes everything much more poignant imo