Taking the Spanish classes, and being around so many people who speak all different languages got me thinking. Most of all, I realized that the concept of having different languages is so weird. To think that there are billions of people around the world who all speak and think and live their lives and do many of the same things I do... but in a different language just blows my mind. And what's more, they don't think anything of it. They're not thinking, "wow, it's so cool that I speak Greek" or anything. They just do. I have a friend here who asked me, "do you get hungry (angry) when you can't say something in Spanish?" and the truth is - I do, but I'm more amazed than anything. I think it's crazy that I can talk to someone and they can talk to me and neither of us has any idea of what the other is saying, but we know what we're saying. I don't know if any of this is making any sense, but that's all the ways I can think to explain it. Oh, by the way, I met a girl this week who speaks a language I didn't even know existed. Faroese. She spoke some for us and it seriously just sounded like she was making sounds, not saying words.
Another thing related to languages is that Ecuadorian Spanish is crazy because, to my American English ears, it doesn't really seem to have an accent. It just sounds like they're speaking English, but using words I don't know. Hopefully that means that when I speak Spanish I don't have that much of an accent, but I'm a bit worried that it actually means the Ecuadorian accent is really subtle and will be hard to master. Hm...
Now, about learning Spanish. This is, obviously, the main languagey thing I have to deal with. From what I've experienced, from what I've heard from other people learning languages, and from what I saw on a similar graph online, the process is a bit like this:
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| I made this on paint just for you dear readers. Also, I got really stressed when I realized I didn't have a title for it. School has made me crazy. |
So, to explain: Section 1 is where you're learning basic words and phrases in present tense. Section 2 is where you're stuck there for a little bit, maybe learning a few new words, but for the most part, not being able to put coherent sentences together. Section 3 is the main language learning bit, where you learn more words, tenses, a few idiomatic expressions and such, and you're able to make sentences. Section 4 is where you speak the language nearly perfectly, and you're just separated from full fluency by the little nuances of the language and really mastering what you know. I've spoken to many a frustrated person stuck in section 4. Then, section 5 is where you finally get the last few bits of the language down and really reach full fluency. For me, I'm in two different sections for listening and speaking. I think I'm in section 3 when I listen to people - I understand what someone is saying about 80% of the time, and I can usually figure out what a word I don't know means from context. However, when I talk, I don't know a lot of the finer grammar points like linking words, direct and indirect object pronouns, and some vocab words I want to use. It would seem I'm stuck in section 2 for talking, which yes, is very frustrating. I think Spanish camp, where I took my first actual Spanish classes that taught grammar like one would in school, has taught me some of the things that will help me get out of that rut, and if I review what I learned, I should be able to do so soon. Hopefully.
So, that's about all I have to say, except that on Thursday I'll have been here for a month. It feels like a really long time, but it also seems way to short to be a whole tenth of the time I'll be here. Wow.
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