In trying to learn German, at least one thing has become clear: you can’t learn the language if you don’t try to use it.
That means you have to be willing to make a lot of mistakes. You say the wrong word or put words in the wrong order. Hopefully you don’t say something obscene my mistake.
After a while it can become discouraging. I go through stages of being frustrated at muddling through what is surely bad German, struggling for a word I don’t know, or struggling to say something in terms that I do know.
When I think back to Spanish classes in high school, it occurs to me that we didn’t try so much to actually use the language. We learned vocabulary, phrases, verb conjugations, and grammar, but we never seemed to practice conversation. I remember feeling reluctant to try to speak Spanish. The foreign words sounded strange coming out of my mouth, and I was never willing to sound silly making a mistake.
As I was in Spain last weekend and still remembered some basic phrases, I thought would try to use what I could. One problem is that Girona is in the region called Catalonia, and they speak Catalan as the primary language. But many people, if not most, seemed to speak Spanish also, and many seemed to speak English.
Another problem: if you speak a little Spanish (or Catalan – I bought a dictionary), people will assume you know a lot more. So you say something simple and get back a flurry from which you can pick out about every 10th word. Then I feel like I tricked them into saying all this stuff, only to ask them to repeat it again in English. I can at least say that in Spanish though.
While in Spain something rather obvious occurred to me. If I were a German coming to Spain, I might know 2 or even 3 languages, but I would likely not know Spanish. Since there’s no way we could know all the languages, wherever we might go, there’s really no sense in feeling inferior about it. You do your best to try to communicate – and communication is really what we’re after.
I’m thinking though, it would be interesting to try learning some Spanish again. Or maybe Italian …
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7 comments:
Hi - found your blog from germanimpressions.com! Had to comment:
"Then I feel like I tricked them into saying all this stuff, only to ask them to repeat it again in English."
I feel this exact same way - only I still feel this way about German! Class can really only prepare you for the standard responses you might get, but never for the crazy long replies you get when people overestimate your abilities!
I don't think I could speak Spanish anymore with the German creeping in now. My husband took French - when we went to Strasbourg he tried to speak French, but always accidentally converted to German halfway through the sentence!
That is funny. I've done similar things when in other (non-German) countries -- speaking German, as if someone would understand "my" foreign language.
Actually I think one of my German language "milestones" is to be able to handle more complex responses in German. I may understand only every 3rd word, but I generally understand enough. And where I don't I can try to clarification in German. So there's hope. I think it's just a matter of time and exposure.
B,
Funny you should post about this.
A few weeks ago, my wife and I spent 10 days in Mexico. The first 4 were on an all-inclusive resort. Everyone spoke some English, most spoke it very well.
However, we then went to Cozumel and ventured about the town. Suddenly, far fewer spoke English and those that did, didn't speak it very well.
I felt like a moron because I couldn't understand anything. Luckily, Sharon had studied Spanish and - at one time - spoke it fairly well. She managed to get us around as we tried to find a local restaurant called "Los Seras".
Funny though, as 'c n heidelberg' says, I kept drifting into French when I tried to say some phrases "en espanol" because I studied French for 2 years in college and (way back when) could actually speak French reasonably well. I'd hate to count how many times I said "s'il vous plait" instead of "por favor". :)
Well, I vowed I would learn Spanish upon returning home. So far, so good. I've gotten a few books, some audio CDs and a PC-based eLearning course.
At least now I can indicate that I don't understand, or don't speak Spanish:
No entiendo. No hablo espanol.
I am lost: Estoy perdido.
I am from the United States:
Soy de los Estados Unidos.
My goal is to be conversationally proficient in Spanish in about 12 months. Along the way, Sharon will help and refresh her multi-lingual capabilities and, after our baby is born, we will speak both languages around him/her.
Hasta luego.
very cool. I've met a number of people who are raising bi-lingual kids -- not just here, where it's quite common -- but at home also. Great idea.
conversational in 12 months would be an accomplishment ... i think you'll really need to be speaking it every day, and quite a lot at that. but any progress you make is good, and you will progress if you stay with it.
BTW ... the best language tapes I have found, which you can often get at the library, are the Pimsleur series. They were the only ones for me that went at a speed where I retained things.
Yeah, 12 months might be somewhat optimistic, but that's the goal.
It helps that I had studied French. The vocabulary is different, but the notion of word order and how verbs are conjugated are the same.
Also, unlike German, there are many words that are very similar in English and in Spanish. Cognates is the term for them (I learned that last week :) ).
I already have the Pimsleur "Quick & Simple Spanish" 4-disc set. Also have another 6-disc set from Living Language. The latest one is the PC-based eLanguage from cosmi (http://www.cosmi.com/). I've just started with it, but I already love it.
Audio, video and interactive drills really help. One really cool thing is that when learning vocabulary, it allows you to record your voice and then does a comparison to see how good the pronunciation is compared to a native speaker. That is cool.
hmm ... I might have to borrow those when you get through them. cool ... we could speak Spanish during races and know one would know what we were saying. I wonder, how do you call someone a wanker in Spanish?
Eres un Pedejo.
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