A Little Bit of Español
Do I just try to brush up on my Irish, which I haven’t used in years and which is very rusty? Do I return to Italian, which I love and have dipped into occasionally just to hear that beautiful language? I have no practical use for it at the moment, though someday I’d like to visit Italy and will probably learn Italian for the pure joy of it even if I never go. The other big candidate is Greek. I studied that a little over a decade ago, before James and I visited Athens and the Cyclade islands. On both of our trips to the Cyclades I was able to use it a little, though I discovered that, of course, you can get by without (a Greek café owner once said hello to me in Irish, and I have no earthly idea how the guy even knew I was Irish!). But needing a language is not the point. I like to be able to speak some of the language of anywhere I visit. It’s fun and I feel it’s respectful.
My choice finally came down to location. I have been living in the States for nearly 9 years. All around me there are Spanish speaking people. Signs, magazines, newspapers, books, music, TV and movies are all readily available here. More importantly I have access to native speakers if I choose to seek them out. While training for the Seattle Marathon in 2006 , I needed to stop at a hotel to use the restroom and replenish my water bottle. The only staff member I came across was a Spanish speaking maid who didn’t speak any English. Fortunately, I’ve lived in foreign countries where I’ve struggled with the language for a while and I’ve learned the fine art of communicating with facial expression and gestures when words don’t work. We figured it out, but it has stayed with me. I am living in a country where unofficially Spanish is the second, widely spoken, language. Why not take advantage of this and give it a bash.
So, starting last night, my friend Rosemary and I are now taking a series of Beginner’s Spanish classes. Exciting times! My brain is smiling
Great choice, like yourself my travels always see to lead me to Spanish,
I've always wanted to try it,I'd also like to teach my children it as a
second language too, maybe I'll give Enrigue Iglasius a call !!!! kill two
birds with one stone !!!
You sound like my mom... she speaks 7 languages fluently, and lot of bits
of lots of others... Me... I can barely get past English. I studied Latin
for 5 years, which means I can pick up newspaper in most roman based
languages and figure out the gist of what's being talked about. But I'm no
good to anyone for speaking much beyond English... I know lots of bits of
Icelandic, but certainly not proficient.
Wow, Barbara, your mum sounds like my kind of woman. How fabulous. And you
studied Latin, how interesting. I love the connections between languages
and how knowing something of one can make others more accessible. One of
the things I noticed at my first absolute beginner's class was that my
knowledge of French and Japanese are already helpful. Spanish grammar is
structured quite similarly to French and its sounds have similarities to
Japanese. In fact I have a Japanese friend who speaks Spanish and she had
told me that she found Spanish easy to learn because the sounds were so
similar. Languages are so fun.
I started taking Japanese as well my senior year of high school, ended up
swapping it and a study hall for AP Physics though... So I didn't get very
far, but the sounds weren't difficult at all. I often find myself
obsessing over the roots of words. And I definitely think I have Latin to
thank for my expanded vocabulary. I think definitions stick in my head
better, because of my root word obsessing... Usually once I learn words I
know them, but I find my biggest hang-up is grammar. I hesitate to speak
fearing I'll address a woman as a man or vice versa. So many languages are
gender specific and I've somewhat allowed that to be a roadblock.