Spanish is not what I would call an overwhelming complex language. It is not like I am having to learn Japanese or heaven forbid something like Russian. It is actually fairly similar to English. A pretty good percentage of Spanish words are almost equivalent to their English counterparts. For example, the word "adventure" is "aventura" in Spanish. "Rose" is "rosa" and "internet" is "internet". Easy right? Wrong. For someone who took two semesters of Spanish in college and practically did everything that was humanly possible to barely pass the class, Spanish is not my friend. After my initial language interview (where I had to sit across from a teacher and carry on a conversation in Spanish. Epic fail.), I was labeled as a beginner medium Spanish speaker. That is only one level above the lowest level available. Here I am with fifty other trainees and I am one of the ten who can't form a sentence in past tense. Not to mention I have a nice Southern accent that, while most people find it completely adorable, doesn't help me one bit when it comes to speaking Spanish.
When I first got to my house in Sumpango, I did nothing but smile and nod. In my head I was thinking, "Oh crap. What have I done? I cannot understand anything these people say and I don't know how to ask them if I can take a shower." There is no telling what I agreed to in those first couple of weeks. I promise I said yes to everything and I was lucky I didn't end up with a pet goat or worse, a fiance. I am pretty sure at one point, I told my host mom that I like the dog, but I don't like the baby. I was actually trying to say that the dog doesn't like the baby. Yeah for language barriers.
Luckily, I have advanced to the intermediate beginner level in my Spanish. I can understand a majority of what is said and when I don't understand, I actually ask people to explain. I have found that this method is much more effective than nodding my head in agreement. I have a long way to go, but I will keep on trucking. Seriously, what other option do I have? And what is the worst that could happen anyway? So maybe I agree to slaughtering a chicken or end up with four husbands. Sounds like an aventura to me!
I actually did end up with a sheep due to adventures with Setswana. But it was cool, we killed it, and I got to eat the liver. So don't fear the goat.
ReplyDeleteOh Caitlin, I remember I offered to teach you some Spanish while at camp... but did you listen to me??? NOOOOOO!
ReplyDeleteI think you have the right attitude by just asking for an explanation. I learned the wrong phrase in Chinese early on...Wo bu zhidao ("I don't know"), which naturally didn't solve anything. I should have focused more on "speak slowly" and "what is this called?", etc. So, you go girl, you'll be fluent in Spanish in no time!
ReplyDelete