How do you measure your progress in language learning?
I last wrote about my language learning experience in Spain in this post, and first wrote about my monolingual language learning experiences in April. Before I left, I thought I would share some reflections on what I achieved over this amount of time. Turned out the wifi on my last day had other ideas, so I'm posting it now!
One major opportunity (aka challenge) came when I was asked if I would babysit so friends could go to a movie together. Spend a few hours with three children between the ages of 2 and 10? Bring it on! Except... this was a Spanish family - would I have enough Spanish to maintain order, sort out any sibling disputes, and have fun with them?
The result: I felt like it was a success! I learned a new craft, taught to me in Spanish by the middle child. I negotiated sharing of the game controls between the older two. I even managed to get enough information from the eldest about where things were to change the nappy of the youngest - after managing to calm her down and convincing her to let me change it! The only thing I failed to do was to pursue my desire to have the TV turned off at one point for a time. And even then I'm not sure if that was more a gap in my vocabulary or a deliberate 'deafness' on the issue.
Another test: changing my flights over the phone. I managed the entire conversation in Spanish! I only asked the woman on the other end of the line if she would be able to speak in English to make sure I understood all the costs and dates and times. This was a great encouragement to me, as being able to see someone's face when you speak to them is so helpful, and this time I didn't have that advantage.
When I had been here less than three weeks I had a bit of a birthday party. In a room with 5 or 6 other people speaking Spanish fluently, I was out of my depth. I felt like I only understood about 10% of the general conversation, though more of what was directed specifically at me. Recently, when I had everyone over for a meal, I realised I could understand almost everything that was said in the general conversation - more like 90%. What a difference in less than three months!
For me, one of the real measures of progress has been comments from Spanish speakers. I was using the oven in the kitchen of the guys' apartment, chatting away to one of the guys about the cooking and the music we were listening to, when suddenly he looked at me and expressed surprise at how much I could say now! Probably at how quickly, and how few pauses, as well. In retrospect, I must have seemed the quietest type of person to this extrovert!
Then there are the random strangers. While travelling the other weekend I was asked by one gentleman if I was Romanian (not sure if that indicates that I don't quite look Spanish more than anything else) - not really sure what to make of that. At least it indicates that although I have a non-Spanish accent, it isn't a glaringly 'English-speaker' accent. I have also learned in my time here that Romanians in Spain have a reputation for learning the language quickly and well. And that there seem to be a lot of them.
Then, a few days later, I visited a university and attended a monologue in an African language (which I couldn't understand a word of, but which was very interesting nevertheless!), and when I was speaking to one of the organisers afterwards, he asked me if I was from Cataluña - a region in the north east of Spain, where Barcelona is. Once again, not sure how to interpret that! I was thrilled and flattered at the time he said it - someone asking me if I was actually from Spain! But on further reflection, I wondered what the attitudes are to the accents of different regions. I was in southern Spain, which has its own distinct dialect or accent. Also, Catalán is a local language in Cataluña, though not spoken by everyone. No matter how I look at it, it still means I have a 'not local' accent!
Another gap I had when I first arrived was in understanding announcements over loudspeakers in Spanish. When the bus driver announced where we were each time we stopped I nearly panicked, worried I might miss my stop. It might as well have been white noise for all I understood each time! This time, travelling the same route, I could make out some words (though I still couldn't understand everything - but that's loudspeakers for you as well!), and felt much more relaxed.
Now I've been home for a month, and have had very little reason to use Spanish in all that time - a few emails, but that's about all - so I'll be heading to a conversation class tonight. It will be interesting to see how it feels to use Spanish for an hour and a half back here!
One major opportunity (aka challenge) came when I was asked if I would babysit so friends could go to a movie together. Spend a few hours with three children between the ages of 2 and 10? Bring it on! Except... this was a Spanish family - would I have enough Spanish to maintain order, sort out any sibling disputes, and have fun with them?
The result: I felt like it was a success! I learned a new craft, taught to me in Spanish by the middle child. I negotiated sharing of the game controls between the older two. I even managed to get enough information from the eldest about where things were to change the nappy of the youngest - after managing to calm her down and convincing her to let me change it! The only thing I failed to do was to pursue my desire to have the TV turned off at one point for a time. And even then I'm not sure if that was more a gap in my vocabulary or a deliberate 'deafness' on the issue.
Another test: changing my flights over the phone. I managed the entire conversation in Spanish! I only asked the woman on the other end of the line if she would be able to speak in English to make sure I understood all the costs and dates and times. This was a great encouragement to me, as being able to see someone's face when you speak to them is so helpful, and this time I didn't have that advantage.
When I had been here less than three weeks I had a bit of a birthday party. In a room with 5 or 6 other people speaking Spanish fluently, I was out of my depth. I felt like I only understood about 10% of the general conversation, though more of what was directed specifically at me. Recently, when I had everyone over for a meal, I realised I could understand almost everything that was said in the general conversation - more like 90%. What a difference in less than three months!
For me, one of the real measures of progress has been comments from Spanish speakers. I was using the oven in the kitchen of the guys' apartment, chatting away to one of the guys about the cooking and the music we were listening to, when suddenly he looked at me and expressed surprise at how much I could say now! Probably at how quickly, and how few pauses, as well. In retrospect, I must have seemed the quietest type of person to this extrovert!
Then there are the random strangers. While travelling the other weekend I was asked by one gentleman if I was Romanian (not sure if that indicates that I don't quite look Spanish more than anything else) - not really sure what to make of that. At least it indicates that although I have a non-Spanish accent, it isn't a glaringly 'English-speaker' accent. I have also learned in my time here that Romanians in Spain have a reputation for learning the language quickly and well. And that there seem to be a lot of them.
Then, a few days later, I visited a university and attended a monologue in an African language (which I couldn't understand a word of, but which was very interesting nevertheless!), and when I was speaking to one of the organisers afterwards, he asked me if I was from Cataluña - a region in the north east of Spain, where Barcelona is. Once again, not sure how to interpret that! I was thrilled and flattered at the time he said it - someone asking me if I was actually from Spain! But on further reflection, I wondered what the attitudes are to the accents of different regions. I was in southern Spain, which has its own distinct dialect or accent. Also, Catalán is a local language in Cataluña, though not spoken by everyone. No matter how I look at it, it still means I have a 'not local' accent!
Another gap I had when I first arrived was in understanding announcements over loudspeakers in Spanish. When the bus driver announced where we were each time we stopped I nearly panicked, worried I might miss my stop. It might as well have been white noise for all I understood each time! This time, travelling the same route, I could make out some words (though I still couldn't understand everything - but that's loudspeakers for you as well!), and felt much more relaxed.
Now I've been home for a month, and have had very little reason to use Spanish in all that time - a few emails, but that's about all - so I'll be heading to a conversation class tonight. It will be interesting to see how it feels to use Spanish for an hour and a half back here!
Comments
Post a Comment