Wow, I'm exhausted! It's now exactly 5:55 PM and I've spent the entire day with my host family. Carlos, the head of the house, speaks decent English and I can converse with him in that language if I wanted, but he's very patient with my Spanglish as I struggle to integrate the two languages together. A small man, he probably only stands about 5'5” with white combed-back hair and a full gray mustache. He walks with a limp on his left side and is always willing to help me either to learn about the culture or to stumble through the language. Maria, my host-mother, thought it was funny when I wanted to learn her entire name (which happens to be Maria Elena del Pilar Bueno San Martin de Grahmann). She has been so welcoming and enthusiastic about having me here that I'm very touched. The house is small and, so I'm told, well populated. Maria and Carlos are the main inhabitants, but their daughter (Ana) and her husband (Carlos) have both been living here for the last two years as well.
Today I went with Carlos (Sr.) to pick his grandchildren up at school. Melina is a handsome boy of about 10, he's soft spoken and after a few minutes of hearing me talk to his grandfather was more than willing to slowly speak to me about the two moons that will be visible tonight over the mountain (Mars, it seems, is to be amplified this evening due to an atmospheric thingie and will look like a second moon). I only understood a little of what he said, but Carlos filled in the rest. He's a polite young man, complete with 'mucho gusto's and encouraging looks when I had difficulty expressing myself. The other grandson is Amaro who seems to be constantly clad in a red one piece. Cute kid, he's always singing something but is too young to be interested in what I have to say so I just enjoy watching him be a kid.
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I think I'm going to have to start with the Rosetta Stone again while I'm here. I realized today that when it takes three times for me to understand that my host mother wants to do my laundry 3 times a week in small loads, it's time for more practice. Already I'm feeling the strain of being in a foreign country, and I'm sure the frustration will grow as will the fulfillment, but presently I'm totally exhausted from trying to understand Carlos' good English and everyone else's Spanish. It's now 8:30 pm, and as I go to bed the rest of Santiago is just waking up for the night.
Hello! Think of all the axioms dedicated to this topic...a stitch in time...Don't put the horse before the cart... but, The Emperor Has No Clothes, is one to avoid.
ReplyDeleteDerek's post is quite telling, but think of climbing a tall mountain - it's a long way but each step takes you closer. I know all about being impatient and taking shortcuts; but in the end, you often aren't where you should be.
Even if you had done your due diligence in classes you probably wouldn't be much better because foreign language classes depend on memorization of isolated bits and I think you need to actually speak with others to learn. This very thing is why we are a nation of mono linguists, most of us don't have opportunities to hear , see, and speak in another language. We're geographically isolated and there's no reason to. Plus, you've always been a fast learner and have never floundered for long, this is a great opportunity to struggle with something you can't get away from! And that struggle is how your learning is going to happen. Just like climbing the tall mountain, each word you hear or speak, right or wrong, is bringing you closer...like compounding interest, your progress quickens building on its own momentum. Participating in the chores, helping as you can, playing with the children, these are the activities you'll want to seek out because they are universal activities that have common language associations. Just shooting the breeze won't be as valuable as tossing a ball, "good throw", "sorry, too hard",
"woops-a-daisy"; you'll learn their words because you have the same meaning.
Try washing the dishes, 'where's the soap?", "does this go here?", "sorry I broke the crystal!"
See what I mean? The youngsters are going to adore you as a big brother, which you're very good at, and they'll be tireless and delight in your mistakes, engage them!
the host family sounds awesome! tell the little one you have a friend who'd like to hear about the moons :) If nothing else, it would be good practice.
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