❝To have another language is to possess a second soul.❞ ‒Charlemagne
I have been in Colombia for less than a day and already I am getting nervous about the language barrier. You would think that, as someone who took Spanish classes from 2nd grade through college, studied abroad in Mexico for a quarter, AND whose brother-in-law speaks Spanish, I would be more than 3% fluent.
That's right. I took the Duolingo Spanish placement test this morning and I am only 3% fluent in Spanish. Taking bets now for how fluent I will be when I leave my last Spanish-speaking country (Bolivia) three months from now... (keep in mind that a 1000% increase in fluency will only get me to 30%)
Learning a new language is hard as an adult, which is a bummer because I NEED it as an adult, now traveling by myself with no translator. When I was a kid, I didn't need it one bit, but It was fun and relatively easy to learn, probably for the following reasons.
1) Our spongey innocent child brains picked it all up much quicker than a 30-year-old's brain ever could, which is too full of password management and other life organization skills, 2+ decades of retrievable life memories, romantic distractions and fantasies, and planning for the future, to make room for a whole new language. It's possible, of course, I'm just going to have to work harder to make room in my jam-packed brain for it than I did as a child. Perhaps the daily meditation practice I intend to develop during my travels will help...
2) When we were learning languages in school, everyone was learning at the same pace and level, so even when you were behind, it wasn't like everyone was carrying on full conversations in Spanish around you while you were still trying to figure out whether "incomodo" means uncomfortable or not, and how to conjugate it for past, present, and future (and then remembering that adjectives don't need to be conjugated). It is much more intimidating to practice a language with someone who is fluent, because you are so vulnerable. It's like being a one-year-old again -- you have a few words, and you use the crap out of them trying to communicate something. People are often encouraging, but sometimes they giggle at your "cute" attempt in amusement, or worse, they become frustrated with you and push to switch the conversation to English because at least their English is better than your Spanish and people need to get on with their lives.
I know I didn't have much time to buff up on my Spanish before getting here, so I'm going to try to not do the "shoulda coulda woulda" thing. I also know that learning a language through Rosetta Stone or Duolingo is not a substitute for listening to it in context, among native speakers, in real life conversations, so a part of me felt like it may not be a great use of my limited preparation time anyhow, since the bulk of my learning would happen once I was abroad.
In any case, here I am, with my 3% fluency and destined for the "most improved Spanish speaker" award. I have the complete Rosetta Stone for Spanish program on my computer, I just signed up for 20 minutes a day with Duolingo, and I also plan to use the Destinos video series. I'm going to feel stupid and embarrassed as I practice having conversations in Spanish, but eventually those feelings will fade and be replaced with competence, relief, self-assurance, and most importantly, some really wonderful conversations with people I couldn't communicate with before -- so I just need to remember that. The more I practice and embrace the temporary frustrations of this process, the closer I get to reaching the other side of all this new language anxiety and finally understanding all those calls from Spanish-speaking telemarketers and "Latinos for Bernie." FINALLY.
❝One language sets you in a corridor for life. Two languages open every door along the way.❞ ‒Frank Smith
I'm going to set an ambitious goal for 80% fluency by the time I leave Bolivia.
(...at which point I'll need to immediately start my Pimsleur for Brazilian Portuguese program)
Hasta luego, amigos :)