Language Nerd, At It Again

Let me tell you: Spanish is hard. I don’t know how I would be doing this program if I had no Romance language experience before coming. French has been SO helpful in learning Spanish. However, French (and Italian) have come to bite me in the butt occasionally. Here are a few examples:

Comme ça- I don’t know how many times I’ve used this phrase during my first two weeks in Guatemala. I am always trying to act things out, and the first words that come into my head are “Comme ça” (like this/that!) Rawr. It’s so annoying to be speaking in Spanish and then have this phrase pop out of my mouth.

Yo tambien- I can’t get this one to stick. It seems like such a mouthful compared to “moi aussi” or “anche me” (me too!). Why I can’t get “tambien” in my mind as “also,” I have no idea. I’m working on it!

Numbers- Especially 50, 60, 70, 80, 90 (and everything in between) come out in Italian. I never actually learned the Spanish numbers this high, so every time I read aloud I guess how to say the numbers. Always in Italian. Luckily the Italian numbers are very similar to the Spanish ones (and luckily my mind knows the French ones are just bizarre. Quatre-vingts?? Ha)

Carro and perro- Really, Christa. Car and dog. You’d think I could get these two straight, but I’m constantly calling the dogs in the street carro (not all that embarrassing because there are also cars in the street). I was also reading a sentence last week and having so much difficulty with it because I thought it was about a dog. Nope, about a car. Then the whole sentence then made sense. Oy.

By far the most annoying one: Para/por- Let me just say that prepositions are the bane of my existence, even in French. I was always getting them wrong. De, a, en… gah (NB: “gah” is not a preposition, just a word of exasperation!). Prepositions are a bit of a nightmare because they require a lot of memorization of which verbs take which prepositions. That being said, I was always pretty good with “pour” and “par” (for and by). Here’s the tricky thing with Spanish: most of the time “para” is the equivalent of “pour” and “por” is the equivalent of “par.” Confusing, eh? My brain can’t handle it. Basically I change which preposition I think I should be using right before it comes out of my mouth, and I’m right about 80% of the time (because sometimes “pour” is actually “por”). Odilia and I have just started laughing every time I get these prepositions wrong. I think it’s a lost cause. Hahaha.

All of the challenges aside, I think I’m doing well! I have learned SO much vocabulary and so so SO many verbs these first two weeks. We’ve already flown through presente, preterito and imperfecto! I think next week we’ll be doing that fun gerund-y thing that Spanish often uses, and the futuro. Ow ow. I’m having fun being a language nerd.

I do keep thinking about how amazing this type of program would be for my French. I would LOVE to spend four weeks in France in one-on-one language school for 5 hours a day, then have the afternoons and evenings to absorb French culture. Ah. The French majors at HWS always said we needed an upper level grammar class (because our first semester one didn’t quite cut it), and I would love to improve my speaking skills. I’ll probably never have that opportunity, but it’s fun to dream.

The fact is, I’m here in Guatemala and I am actually learning Spanish. I understand just about everything my teacher says (she talks slowly and only uses verb tenses I know- but by today she was talking pretty much at her normal speed! Woo!). I have been doing some readings in class, and I understand those, and my writing assignments for homework aren’t too difficult. Truly, the hardest thing for me is speaking. It was the last thing to come with French, and it’s clearly the last thing to come with Spanish. I speak very slowly and it takes me a long time to formulate my thoughts. I’m always thinking about what I’m going to say before I say it, and when I don’t I’m often stuck mid-sentence, not knowing how to finish it.

Basically, confidence is key. I just have to own the Spanish I know already and stick to the adage I learned from the amazing Shannon Montana (my 9^th grade French teacher): KISS, Keep It Simple, Stupid.

My confidence is boosted by my ability to follow the lunch/dinner conversations that my family has. We always eat lunch and dinner together, sometimes 6 or 7 of us, and my first few days I just sat quietly and only spoke when spoken to. Early this week, I actually followed a conversation my family had about fishing and different methods of fishing (not bad for only one week of school!). I am also getting amazingly good at figuring out when they’re talking about me, and making it clear that I do in fact know they’re talking about me. I think they’re surprised. I also watched a cartoon with my little brother- a little 15 minute ditty on Cartoon Network, and I understood it all. I didn’t even stay up to watch the second part because I wanted to go to bed on a high note! Ha! I also understood most of the iCarly episode I watched last night with my other brother. I even got the jokes. So basically my comprehension is going way way up, so speaking will come soon, right?

Having this type of language-learning experience makes me think that immersion is definitely the way to go. If you’re thinking of learning Spanish I highly recommend Sakribal!

Love and Smiles,

Christa

P.S. I think I want “Language Nerd” to be my super-hero name. In case I’m ever a super-hero. :-)

P.P.S. There are more photos on the Guatemala tab!! 

P.P.P.S. Here's a great pic of me and Meredith! We let a woman in the park dress us up today.