The cunning linguist I'm becoming
03/15/2009 at 20:46 from (47.683479, -122.266725)
When I spoke with Ken about his recommendations for our trip (especially with regard to Colombia), he kept coming back to the importance of knowing the language. Proficiency, he insisted, was the key to really enjoying the journey. If we have to struggle to understand our hosts, we may spend more time frustrated or confused than relaxed and laughing.
To this end, we've both started doing things to brush up on (or, in Marijana's case, learn) Spanish. I've had a couple of years of it in my not-so-distant academic days. In fact, my comprehension is pretty good. I'm just a little rusty, very slow, and lack any semblence of confidence. Marijana -- because she's brilliant -- can understand it on a level just slightly below mine, but has only been exposed to the language via occasional and passive viewing of Mexican soap operas, several years ago.
Yes, seriously.
Her capacity to soak up the structure and flow of languages is uncanny. I, on the other hand, am almost totally inept. A combination of lassitude and dull incompetence keeps me learning at a much, much slower pace. I'm sure that by the time we leave, she'll have as much skill in speaking Spanish as I will. I desperately want to be better than her in at least one thing, though, and I feel like I have enough of a jump on her (two years of formal schooling and one winter in Argentina!) that I really don't have an excuse not to be more fluent by September.
To gain a little more confidence (or to shake what little I have), I've started listening to language refresher courses and podcasts, as well as listening to Buenos Aires radio and watching Latin American soccer. Marijana, for her part, has taken to listening to a beginner's podcast and is now sporting an uncomfortably decent grasp of grammar and vocabulary. And to further develop our vocabularies, we are also subscribed to a number of "word a day" email services, each of which provides a Spanish word or phrase, its translation, and some other helpful contextual information.
Now for the downside.
I haven't been going to the Spanish meet-ups. A combination of poor health and procrastination means I'm already behind in my modest goal from two weeks ago. While I'd love to lie and say that I've been practicing my Spanish face-to-face, with native speakers, I'd be mostly lying. I say "mostly" only because I'm fairly certain that ordering in halting Spanish from the kind (if a bit condescending) lady at the neighborhood taco truck doesn't count as practice.
My goal for next week is to attend Sunday's meet-up and give a vivid retelling here. In fact, I'd like to make a regular habit of recounting each meet-up and language learning experience here, if for no other reason than to get the extra practice in while writing it all down.