Time really does fly! It’s hard to believe I’ve been back in
Spain a month. With the middle of February fast approaching, I’m already
feeling sad at the prospect of leaving Spain at the end of May. Having lived
with Spaniards and been seamlessly integrated into the Spanish community, I now
love the Spanish language, people and culture more than I could have imagined,
and I’m trying not think about how painful goodbyes will be come May. What's more, I’m already nostalgic thinking that I won’t be able to walk into the street and speak Spanish once I get home. Still, I have another four months here and plan on making the most of them! Last week my anglo friends and I came up with a list of Spanish cities we want to visit. My first stop of 2015 will be Madrid next weekend
with Elena, Andrés and a few of their friends. I’m very excited to finally see
it properly!
Arguably my greatest achievement this year has been getting
my five-year-old neighbour Domenico to warm to me. Just about the cutest little
guy I’ve met here so far, he is very shy with strangers and wouldn’t talk to me
for about the first six weeks I was here. One memorable day he and his friend
came over, I said hello to Domenico in English, and he proceeded to explain to
his friend, “That’s Dahlia… she’s English.” However, poco a poco (little by little) I have gained his affection through
soccer, PlayStation and Uno, and he now comes over often saying Dahliaaaa let’s play! He has also
started to imitate my English as it sounds to his ears and ask me what it
means, which is hilarious: I get many questions in the form of Dahlia, what does sadflkjadlfjasjdasf mean?
I may have studied languages since kindergarten, but this
year abroad has shown me some interesting things about language I had never considered
before! To end this entry, here are a few of the things I've noticed.
- Language gives us confidence. One of the starkest contrasts I’ve noticed recently is how my rowdiest Spanish students cower when asked to speak English. And I include myself in this: I feel confident and happy on days when I can speak Spanish well, while days when I can utter only a few words of Spanglish leave me upset and embarrassed. Language is a big part of our personality, allowing us to express ourselves in a very personal way. Take away our ability to express ourselves fluidly and it actually changes the way we come across.
- Some sounds are impossible to learn. Depending on your mother tongue, there are sounds you simply won’t be able to say! A case in point for me is the Spanish erre, which depending on the word requires you to roll the r. Try as I might, I cannot roll my rs! The title of this entry is a Spanish tongue twister full of erres and I’ve taken to practicing it as I walk home from work. (Sometimes earning me weird looks from passers-by.) My Spanish students, meanwhile, struggle with words like weird and squirrel, the differences between kitchen/chicken, beach/bitch and sit/shit/seat/sheet, and the endings in words such as laughed, talked and furnished (when you think about it, it’s basically a -t sound). It has been so interesting to see the things native Spanish speakers find difficult in English, which often are sounds or irregularities I’ve never considered as a native speaker. No doubt my Spanish friends also find it interesting to see what I struggle with in Spanish!
- I have also witnessed a translation concept we discussed at length in class: some words pose translation difficulties because the concept just doesn’t exist in another language. For example, in Spain you can buy whole legs of pork, and jamoneros are special holders that allow you to cut the pork more easily. Asked for a translation of this, I drew a blank! Another example is the word brasero, which describes a special table used here in winter that has a type of blanket attached and a heater below. Braseros are possibly my favourite Spanish invention!
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