I’m not saying it is easy. It has been three years already and I’m still learning my third/fourth language - Spanish. Polish is my first language, English is my second, now Spanish is my third, and Russian is my distant fourth.
My husband and I were traveling to the South and
Central America a lot and when our daughter joined us one day we decided that “enough
is enough” and that we have to be able to converse with the locals we meet
there. We also wanted to feel more a part of the culture, not just the tourists.
We started learning Spanish with absolute “0”
knowledge of the language in summer 2017. We immersed ourselves in Antigua, a
small town in Guatemala, signed for a Spanish language program, Monday to Friday,
8 am till 12 pm for one-to-one instructions and afternoon group activities. We
lived with a local family who did not speak a word of English. At first, we used google translator to ask basic questions. It was
really tough at the beginning and hard to do even simple homework. Yes, I
know, I’m an educator but when an educator becomes a student, it’s not an easy
adjustment.
After one month of studying and
interacting with the locals, we were able to order food, pay the bill, take a
bus, visit nearby attractions, or have a simple conversation with our host
family. We repeated the immersion program two more times, once returning to the
same school and family in the summer of 2018, and the second time a similar arrangement
in Quito, Ecuador. Since the beginning of our adventure with Spanish, we connected
with the native teachers by taking skype classes weekly, doing Duolingo daily, or conversing with locals during our trips to Peru, Spain, and Columbia. Fast
forward three years and I can understand a simple conversation, read a passage,
or write a message. Not impressive, I know. I am still a long way from feeling
comfortable using Spanish.
Learning a language later in life is a
slow process but it is one of the best ways to power your brain. It’s known
that learning anything new is very good for the adult brain. Sadly I often
forget vocabulary, I look for a particular word during an important conversation,
lose a point I am trying to explain. On the bright side, if you know two
languages well learning a third or fourth is supposed to be easier. That gives
me hope that one day I will have a flourished conversation with a native
speaker and enhances my joy of learning. In the meantime, I look forward to our
next trip to a Spanish speaking country.
At this point, I can happily say I am reasonably comfortable to ask questions, get directions, share my favorite recipes, or exchange a book recommendation in Spanish. After returning from our last trip to Columbia I feel like there were days when I spoke a decent amount of Spanish. It amazes me that so many Americans who travel to South or Central America speak no or little Spanish. Enough to say my daughter who is an 8 grader in NYC is not being taught Spanish as a second language. What is there about Americans that makes them think that knowing their own language is all they need? Spanish is the second language in the USA. There are 52 million Hispanophones who speak Spanish as a first or second language in the US making the United States the second-largest Hispanophone country in the world after Mexico. There are about 500 million Hispanophones worldwide. (Source: Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hispanophone)
My and my husband’s goal now is to help our daughter to reach the proficiency level in the Spanish language. I can’t tell you what a joy it is to hear my daughter conversing with the native speakers, chatting with the local scouts, or playing games freely where the Spanish language is not a barrier anymore.
A long term goal for myself is to read books in original. On my, list I have “Don Quixote” by Miguel de Cervantes, “One Hundred Years of Solitude” by Gabriel García Márquez, “Like Water for Chocolate” by Laura Esquivel, “The Shadow of the Wind” by Carlos Ruiz Zafon, “The Green House” by Mario Vargas Llosa or Falcó novels by Arturo Pérez-Reverte Gutiérrez.
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