La Nina
Four days into the espanol and I feel despondent. the more you study the more you realise you dont know. At the stage I am at I can relate very well to the little 2 yr olds I see on the street. I can point and say things like 'cat' 'dog' 'window' 'chair' but unfortunately as I am not two foot tall and as cute as a button I can't really get away with it.
The other trouble is smiley Juan got tough with me today. He told me to quit the Spanglish as he calls it and to lay off the miming as well. I am only allowed to speak proper espanol with the assistance of my dictionary and my notes. It is painful and I have a strong suspicion that I sound just like Manuel in Fawlty Towers.
Also when Ed asked smiley Juan how I was progressing he said something along the lines that I was doing okay but could try harder.........sounds just like my high school reports. Has nothing changed?
The other trouble is smiley Juan got tough with me today. He told me to quit the Spanglish as he calls it and to lay off the miming as well. I am only allowed to speak proper espanol with the assistance of my dictionary and my notes. It is painful and I have a strong suspicion that I sound just like Manuel in Fawlty Towers.
Also when Ed asked smiley Juan how I was progressing he said something along the lines that I was doing okay but could try harder.........sounds just like my high school reports. Has nothing changed?
posted by Kate Browne at 4:43 PM
2 Comments:
please clear some space so i can set up my soapbox- the thing you have to remember about learning a language is that it challenges all your assumptions about your identity pretty much all the time. so it's scary and stressful, which makes it harder to learn. bascially the best advice i can offer is to relax relax relax and, paradoxically, study study study. this doesn't mean reading the dictionary but it does mean taking it seriously, setting yourself goals and learning from your mistakes. it also means getting drunk with native speakers(possibly on communion wine by the sound of it) and taking as much pleasure in the learning as you can. although you may talk like a two year old native speaker, they cannot think like you, and that gives you a major advantage.
that concludes this lecture. please see me about assignments after class.
Gracias Maestro Torshy,
You are an inspiration. I am good at the relax relax relax just not so good at the homework.
The getting drunk bit I have down pat.
XX
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