Spain, Day 1 - Jet Lag

When we got off the plane I was worried about what I'd say to Clara's parents. On my first trip to Spain I spoke no Spanish, and they didn't expect me to. On my second trip, I remember the first thing Clara's mom asked me was if I had studied any Spanish, which I had to regretfully say I hadn't.

This time I expect her to ask me the same thing again, but that didn't happen. I remember just saying "Hola" and then something like hablo Espanol solamente un poco (I only speak Spanish a little.) which seemed to satisfy them. Then they drove us home.

Later that day we went out with Clara's brother and sister to try and beat the jet lag. We went to a very American-style mall, went shopping for a bit, and then went to a bar/cafe for a drink and a snack. The whole time I wasn't saying much. I was, of course, shy... but my excellent excuse was being tired from the jet lag.

I did have a bit of a "worst nightmare" moment, though. I excused myself at one point to go to the bathroom, but when I got there it was locked. I decided to wait outside, and while I was waiting some guy came in, pointed to the bathroom, and asked me a question in Spanish. He was rather obviously asking me if I was waiting, but instead of simply saying si or perhaps perdon, no hablo Espanol mucho (Sorry, I don't speak much Spanish.) I freaked out and just sort of grunted and walked away, as if I had to leave suddenly.

That was exactly what I didn't want to do when I was in Spain, so I thought afterwards what I should have done, and realized I probably could have said something moderately appropriate. However, as I would soon realize, this would happen quite a lot: being in a situation where you don't know what to say and then, 5 to 10 minutes later, realizing what you should have said.

This delay, I imagine, is rather normal when beginning to learn a language, and eventually I decided it was good to see it as such. Because, when you do think of what to say later, at least you thought of something, which means you have the knowledge bumping around in your head somewhere. When you realize the "problem" is, at least in some cases, a slow response time and not lack of knowledge it helps put things in perspective, at least it did for me.

Back from Spain

I got back from Spain a week ago. Needless to say my brilliant plan to update this blog each night, detailing my Spanish learning adventures during the day, didn't go so well. I was always too tired and/or preferred to spend my time interacting with people rather than sitting by myself writing. I did, however, take notes on each day, in hopes I'd write the entries when I got back. And here I am.

I took a lot of pictures in Spain, more than I've ever taken really. I'll being using some of them in the coming posts, but you can view the whole set here.

How It Went...

In the previous post I mentioned several "trouble phrases", Spanish phrases I planned to say any time I didn't know what to say, as well as several goals for the trip, things I wanted to say or do in Spanish at least once before I left. The phrases were:

• Perdoname, no te entiendo. / Perdona, no te he entendido.
• No recuerdo la palabra.
• Puedes repetir por favor?
• Estoy trantando.
• Como se pronucia esto/eso?
• No conozco la respuesta?
• Que significa... (something)?
• Tengo una pregunta.
• Puedes hablar mas lento?

Ha! I didn't use any of these. What I found myself saying most was sort of a variation on the first one - Entiendo solamente un poco - which means "I only understand a little bit". For emphasis I often repeated it with un poquito meaning "very little".

I quickly found I didn't really know enough to maintain even a simple conversation, so most of the time it was simple phrases, requests, affirmatives, etc. But when I ran into problems telling people I didn't understand much seemed to be all that was necessary.

And I guess I did actually say que significa... a lot (as in Que significa "caliente"? meaning "What does "caliente" mean?) when I didn't know a word. But it was usually a one-off, and not in the context of an on-going conversation. Also, I did say Como se dice... a lot, mostly while pointing and adding esto. Como se dice esto? (How do you call this?) That's a good one. Brings back the fun of being a three-year-old.

As for the goals, I did manage to do a lot of them. They were:

1. be able to tell Clara's parents when I meet them that I actually did learn some Spanish this time
2. be able to talk with Clara's mom about food
3. be able to buy bus/train tickets going to and from Madrid
4. be able to order food on my own
5. be able to answer some simple questions Clara's friends might ask me

One, two, and three ended up working out pretty well. Three and four not so much, but I felt good enough about the first three I wasn't terribly bothered by this. I won't go much into these here, since they will come up in the following posts where I explain what happened on each day of the trip.

Off to Spain

Me, ready to leave

I've had the goal of learning Spanish for a long time, but I haven't been able to devote enough time to it as I'd like. That's what everyone says, I'm sure, even as the years tick away and they never really get to the level they want, in spite of all the best intentions, earnest self-promises, etc. Well... fuck all that. I'm starting a blog.

A little background about me. I've had a Spanish girlfriend for the past eight years, and in that time I've learned a lot about Spain obviously. We're both big movie fans, and she's introduced me to the work of a lot of directors I now admire like Alex de la Iglesia, Luis Garcia Berlanga, and Alejandro Amenabar. (I recommend 800 Bajas, Bienvenido Mister Marshall, and Abre Los Ojos for starters if you aren't familiar with these directors.)

I've learned a lot more about the culture than most Americans would know, so I have a very different picture of it than the romanticized version you tend to get in Hollywood. To me the country's current culture seems very much shaped by the legacy of fascism under the Franco regime, which only collapsed in the 1970s. Hearing stories about the civil war, what it was like under Franco, and what is happening now in the country as a result is all terribly interesting to me, and provides an interesting counterpoint to American politics (which tends to not recognize any politics outside its own).

Clara, on the Boston Subway

I've been to Spain twice before, neither time knowing really any of the language beyond "Hola", "Gracias", etc. My girlfriend's mother did manage to speak to me about food, so I know stuff like "la leche" and "el pan", but I never got far beyond that. My girlfriend, Clara, has lots of friends who are English teachers, so most of them wanted to speak English with me anyway.

Last year I finally decided to take a class. I found one around Boston that met once a week, and went for I think several months total. The people were all very nice, but things moved way too fast for the amount of time I was able to devote to it. I decided to take a break mid-way through the second textbook, because everything was just bleeding together in my head and I felt I couldn't really focus effectively.

So... (or entonces, as they say in Spanish)

I am a few hours away from leaving for Spain. It'll be my third time there, and the first since I've actually tried to learn some Spanish.

I am a bit nervous, because I have an irrational fear of being humiliated by not knowing what to say or saying the wrong thing... you know, like a lot of language learners. To deal with this, I've decided to come up with what I call "trouble phrases" - phrases I can say when the worst happens and I just freeze. They are:

• Perdoname, no te entiendo. / Perdona, no te he entendido.
• No recuerdo la palabra.
• Puedes repetir por favor?
• Estoy trantando.
• Como se pronucia esto/eso?
• No conozco la respuesta?
• Que significa... (something)?
• Tengo una pregunta.
• Puedes hablar mas lento?

These are phrases I remember from my class. I don't remember half the stuff I feel I should, but I decided to just zero in on the things I felt might be useful for this trip. Since I've already been there twice, I have a good idea of what I'll be doing, and so far I have a few goals:

1. be able to tell Clara's parents when I meet them that I actually did learn some Spanish this time
2. be able to talk with Clara's mom about food
3. be able to buy bus/train tickets going to and from Madrid
4. be able to order food on my own
5. be able to answer some simple questions Clara's friends might ask me

My favorite director, Stanley Kubrick, once said that to be a capable person you really only need to know how to do one thing: solve problems. If you think of your "problem" is "I don't know Spanish" you'll never really move forward, because that is not a realistic, solvable problem. This isn't about you living up to some platonic notion of yourself as a Spanish speaker. It's about solving the problem at hand, which whatever tools you have.

A friend of mine (in the Spanish class I took, who already spoke three languages) told me once "Don't try to 'speak Spanish'. Just try to communicate."

See you in Spain!