Renegade Yogi

Spanish learning update

Well, I’ve been speaking Spanish out the wazoo these past few days. And man, has my Spanish improved!

I just wanted to make some notes about how my experiences before I get so awesome at Spanish I don’t remember how hard it was.

First of all, not all help is good help. Everyone has been trying to help me speak and learn Spanish. That’s great. I really appreciate that everyone speaks slowly, listens closely, and corrects my mistakes. The problem only came when people would try to help me complete my sentences. As people would do that, I would get used to not having to speak in complete sentences. So I would just use short, choppy phrases to give them enough clues to guess. My sentences and fluency got worse and worse. I finally recognized the problem and explained that I appreciate the help, but need to practice speaking in complete sentences. Since then, my fluency has skyrocketed.

Secondly, fluency first, accent second. My accent is improving, but through no conscious effort. As I gain faster access to the words I need when I need them, I notice that I mimic the accent of those I’m talking to much better, and along with my actual impulses.

I have to study vocabulary. Yes, that means that it’s sometimes boring work to work through flashcards. But it’s a little less boring when I have to think of memorable imagery to really fix it in my databanks. I’ve surprised myself a few times by saying a word I had just memorized the day before without thinking of it. Those surprises will come more and more, I hope.

Grammar and connections are forming in my head. Though I try not to study any rules. I really think that we don’t lose the innate ability to learn languages as we age. We just lose the motivation, shamelessness (innocence, if you will), and immersion of childhood. But we do gain study habits, more focus, and of course experience to counteract the losses.

The biggest thing has been forcing myself to talk. Not only am I learning the language, but I’ve actually enjoyed our company much more. By not talking, I was feeling terribly unimportant. Now I’m feeling more competent and comfortable engaging in plans for dinner, intellectual conversations, etc. Fluency, here I come!