February is a bit of a slow month here in Madrid, just going
to school, teaching my private lessons and enjoying the sunshine. The good thing about having some down time is
I’ve been able to greatly improve my Spanish skills. This is mainly due to the help of my
wonderful co-teachers, but also because of more confidence. This sounds obvious, but after a few times of
trying to speak and not being able to get your point across, it begins to make
you question how you even communicate in your OWN language.
I’ve found that I had trouble making the language switch
happen quickly when caught off guard.
Again this sounds normal, but this is even when someone used to ask me
questions I am familiar with! If I was
grading papers or thinking to myself and someone (my roommate, another Spanish
teacher, etc.) would greet me, ask how I’m doing or what I’m up too, I would
draw a blank. Easy questions I respond
to every day, but if I’m caught off guard?
It took me a good 30 seconds to process what I was hearing and spit an
answer back out. 30 seconds doesn’t
sound like a lot, but it is when someone is looking at you expectantly. Everyone remembers the feeling of being
called on in class by the teacher when you didn’t know the answer. It’s like that. But you know the answer!!! And you’ve said it many times before!!! It‘s frustrating and upsetting when you don’t
respond quick enough, and you can’t help but feel stupid. A few times, Spanish speaking teachers would
just greet me with an accented “Hello”
because I had been slow to respond a few too many times.
NO MORE! I have been
working to speak in Spanish consistently with my teachers and making my Spanish
roommate talk to me more. I also have
been paying much more attention when people are talking around me. I have picked up sayings, held conversations
in Spanish whenever I could, and listened to a whole presentation on Nutrition (granted it was for a 6th
grade Spanish level, but still). I
followed the lecture completely and even had an answer when the guest speaker
accidentally called on me, assuming I was a spanish speaker. Instead of zoning out when I missed a section
or someone starts talking too fast, I really try to catch what they’re saying,
and even ask them to stop and explain a word, instead of nodding my head,
smiling, hoping they don’t ask any questions.
Of course, constantly translating in your head can be quite
exhausting and I still am very prone to zoning out. I’ve been told over and over again that
learning a new language is full of plateaus.
You escalate quickly, but then spend a period of time at the same level
and feel like you aren’t increasing. I
am excited to share with you that last week was a period of escalating!
Things coming up, a trip to Rome for Italy, hopefully seeing
my Uncle perform over in the UK and this weekend is Carnival! Or Spain’s version of Mardi Gras…
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