What if you only know a few critical phrases that can get you through most jobs?
If you live in Los Angeles, or New York, learn Spanish. You will need it regularly. These days, Spanish-only speaking people are moving all throughout the United States, so we all need to learn at least some Spanish. If you only know a little bit, don't try to pass yourself off as bilingual. But, the notary needs to be able to communicate directly with the signer, and not through their daughter who was born in America and is fluent in English. When they call you to do the notary job, they will not tell you that the mother speaks no English, since their in-house interpreter is always there. You need to know phrases like, "Do you understand what this document means?". "Do you swear that the contents of this document are correct?". "Please sign here". "Do you have identification?"