Hablemos, Tele

By: Tele Figueroa

April 24, 2026

My dog, Versace, and the neighbor’s cat have a daily “chat” in the backyard. Sometimes they don’t see eye to eye and a huge racket ensues. Versace, being a refined and somewhat shy Multipoo, keeps his cool…barking with class and wagging his tail, following my life philosophy: “Let nothing frighten you, let nothing upset you.” > I always thought domestic animals were naturally multilingual. Whenever they had a spat, I’d try to calm the cat down using the traditional Puerto Rican calls: “Gatito, gatito” or “Miau, misu.” The cat wouldn’t even look at me. I felt bad, thinking he was offended.

One day, my granddaughters (who are fluent in English) saw my struggle and laughed. “Papa, they don’t understand Spanish! You have to call them in English.” I thought they were pulling my leg.

But then, Iris called out, “Kitty, Kitty!” and to my absolute shock, the cat came running straight to us, fast as lightning!

It truly is a wonder of creation. But it also makes me think: how is it that some people move to the U.S. and never learn the language, when even the neighborhood cats here understand English? 😂