Latinos and me

I have sort of been in the process of retraining myself at work, there are a lot of new skills to learn. With such a lengthy background in building the learning curve has been shallow, some things are more difficult than others, pipefitting was easily mastered, but I'm still working to perfect my welding technique. The one thing that still escapes me is to speak spanish enough to casualy converse with my co-workers. I can tell people what tool I need or to move in a specific direction with materials, and watch out for that object overhead, but I am unable to make any meaningful conversation outside of that. I am working on it however and plan to be more proficient soon. I am using a book that teaches "Spanglish" which is what most everyone seems to understand. I am also using Rosseta Stone which hasn't seemed to kick in yet but I'm sure it will someday. It has been fun learning and trying my spanish on guys I get some laughs but most seem to appreciate you trying. This is a skill I need since according to the media no Americans want to work construction anymore.