Hello, all.
I thought it was about time for me to do some bragging. Ah, yes, bragging. I almost never brag because, well, it's a bit arrogant and not nice to listen to and I don't enjoy doing it. But, I thought I would. Just this once.
I've had quite a long love affair with the Spanish language. I was lucky enough to have world-concious parents who enrolled my brother and I into a Spanish immersion school as kids, which I just happened to love. I was also quite lucky in the fact that I was skilled at learning Spanish, I never found it especially hard to figure out how to express myself in a different language. Our family had the luck to host two Mexican TA's in our home, so I was practicing Spanish at home, seeing how to cook Mexican food and learning about their culture by seeing it in my home! That was a truly amazing experience for a kid, for me.
And then, here luck has nothing to do with it, I have always been extremely motivated to keep up my language skills, enough to keep chugging and chugging away at studying. I kept up with it throughout high school and decided to major in it in college. I studied abroad in the only program in Spain that was 100% Spanish (which took a lot of digging to find!), and soon after realized my life would never be the same without this absolutely lovely language. I suddenly found that if I didn´t speak Spanish for two weeks I started to feel a bit depressed, a bit sad. I would get headaches and get crabby. Then I'd sit down and speak Spanish, or pick up a book, and I would feel happy and free again. I decided that no matter where I was or what I did in my life, as long as Spanish was a part of it I would be just fine. And that became my new life goal. To keep Spanish in my life every single day, no matter what. And I've accomplished it.
After my study abroad experience I only did job searches for ones that had something to do with Spanish- and to my luck, once again- companies usually hired me first and paid me more for being a near fluent speaker. I seem to be crisis-proof both in America and in Spain for being biligual, not a bad deal in the end.
My last two years of college I started studying interpreting, a whole new challenge to add to my language skills. In those courses I started to realize that the two languages I spoke had always been very seperate in my mind, and I never had to think of language equivalents and the closest possible meanings of words... What a mess! Of course, this mess turned into a passion... now I love the challenge that comes along with interpreting and translating- it almost seems like a game to me- just a big fat play on words.
Anyway, in order to complete this interpreting certificate program, we had to have our language level assessed. I was given an ''Advanced Fluency'' level, the second best level out of a possible 9 levels. I was shocked. And proud. I got the highest score in my class. And, therefore, I thought I was at my peak and that there wasn't too much more improving to be done. (I can tell you that now I speak maybe twice as well as I spoke then.)
After graduating I applied for a TA job in Spain and got it. One year turned into two and two into three, and here I am.
I've been learning Spanish for almost 20 years. I've been taught by people from all over the world, from Mexico, Spain, Cuba, Columbia, Argentina... I've traveled to numerous Spanish speaking countries, getting an ear for different accents and vocabulary from all these different fabulous places. I worked as a medical interpreter. I interpreted for all different kinds of people from all different places with all different problems. I've had my eyes (and ears) opened throughout my whole life in ways that most people can only dream of... I've lived in Barcelona, Jaén, Gijón and Oviedo, North, South and East.
I can happily say that up til now I have lived.
I've been dating Pelayo for a bit over a year now, and my Spanish skills are now truly peaking. And I'm still learning! Since meeting him I've lived my day to day life in Spanish. I may teach English five days a week, but it's the only time in a week that I 'speak' English. I say 'speak' because I have to sepak slowly, control my vocabulary and constantly explain myself and, well, teach. In the end I don't speak English at all during the week. I don't have any American friends here, therefore I only speak English once a week when I talk with my parents or my friends via the best invention in the last decade: Skype.
Within this last year I have accomplished goals I was absolutely positive I would never accomplish.
Yesterday my yoga instructor and a couple of people who go to class with me complimented me on my Spanish, ''Wow, it's just, your Spanish is so good! You sound like a Spaniard!'' A few days ago a friend of Pelayo's said, ''Estoy flipando! '' aka ''I'm flipping out! (Your Spanish is so good!)'' A couple of weeks ago, Pelayo's mother told me how much I had improved since she met me. Every time someone expresses their awe at my language skills, I swell up like a peacock. My feathers fly out and I smile for about ten minutes straight. Sometimes I flash back to all of my years of study and all of the time and effort I've put into learning this language, and it's so, so worth it.
I just love it.
I thought it was about time for me to do some bragging. Ah, yes, bragging. I almost never brag because, well, it's a bit arrogant and not nice to listen to and I don't enjoy doing it. But, I thought I would. Just this once.
I've had quite a long love affair with the Spanish language. I was lucky enough to have world-concious parents who enrolled my brother and I into a Spanish immersion school as kids, which I just happened to love. I was also quite lucky in the fact that I was skilled at learning Spanish, I never found it especially hard to figure out how to express myself in a different language. Our family had the luck to host two Mexican TA's in our home, so I was practicing Spanish at home, seeing how to cook Mexican food and learning about their culture by seeing it in my home! That was a truly amazing experience for a kid, for me.
And then, here luck has nothing to do with it, I have always been extremely motivated to keep up my language skills, enough to keep chugging and chugging away at studying. I kept up with it throughout high school and decided to major in it in college. I studied abroad in the only program in Spain that was 100% Spanish (which took a lot of digging to find!), and soon after realized my life would never be the same without this absolutely lovely language. I suddenly found that if I didn´t speak Spanish for two weeks I started to feel a bit depressed, a bit sad. I would get headaches and get crabby. Then I'd sit down and speak Spanish, or pick up a book, and I would feel happy and free again. I decided that no matter where I was or what I did in my life, as long as Spanish was a part of it I would be just fine. And that became my new life goal. To keep Spanish in my life every single day, no matter what. And I've accomplished it.
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| My brother and I during our first trip to Spain, in a campsite in Barcelona. |
After my study abroad experience I only did job searches for ones that had something to do with Spanish- and to my luck, once again- companies usually hired me first and paid me more for being a near fluent speaker. I seem to be crisis-proof both in America and in Spain for being biligual, not a bad deal in the end.
My last two years of college I started studying interpreting, a whole new challenge to add to my language skills. In those courses I started to realize that the two languages I spoke had always been very seperate in my mind, and I never had to think of language equivalents and the closest possible meanings of words... What a mess! Of course, this mess turned into a passion... now I love the challenge that comes along with interpreting and translating- it almost seems like a game to me- just a big fat play on words.
Anyway, in order to complete this interpreting certificate program, we had to have our language level assessed. I was given an ''Advanced Fluency'' level, the second best level out of a possible 9 levels. I was shocked. And proud. I got the highest score in my class. And, therefore, I thought I was at my peak and that there wasn't too much more improving to be done. (I can tell you that now I speak maybe twice as well as I spoke then.)
After graduating I applied for a TA job in Spain and got it. One year turned into two and two into three, and here I am.
I've been learning Spanish for almost 20 years. I've been taught by people from all over the world, from Mexico, Spain, Cuba, Columbia, Argentina... I've traveled to numerous Spanish speaking countries, getting an ear for different accents and vocabulary from all these different fabulous places. I worked as a medical interpreter. I interpreted for all different kinds of people from all different places with all different problems. I've had my eyes (and ears) opened throughout my whole life in ways that most people can only dream of... I've lived in Barcelona, Jaén, Gijón and Oviedo, North, South and East.
I can happily say that up til now I have lived.
I've been dating Pelayo for a bit over a year now, and my Spanish skills are now truly peaking. And I'm still learning! Since meeting him I've lived my day to day life in Spanish. I may teach English five days a week, but it's the only time in a week that I 'speak' English. I say 'speak' because I have to sepak slowly, control my vocabulary and constantly explain myself and, well, teach. In the end I don't speak English at all during the week. I don't have any American friends here, therefore I only speak English once a week when I talk with my parents or my friends via the best invention in the last decade: Skype.
Within this last year I have accomplished goals I was absolutely positive I would never accomplish.
- Reading novels in Spanish without a dictionary and actually enjoying them.
- Meeting someone, talking with them, and having them leave thinking I was Spanish. (OK this has only happened once, and because it was a really short convo, but it happened!)
- Sitting at a table with more than three people and being able to follow a conversation- this is so extremely difficult, I can't even begin to explain. Now I can survive with a group of up to ten!
- I can speak Spanish all day and not have a headache after.
Yesterday my yoga instructor and a couple of people who go to class with me complimented me on my Spanish, ''Wow, it's just, your Spanish is so good! You sound like a Spaniard!'' A few days ago a friend of Pelayo's said, ''Estoy flipando! '' aka ''I'm flipping out! (Your Spanish is so good!)'' A couple of weeks ago, Pelayo's mother told me how much I had improved since she met me. Every time someone expresses their awe at my language skills, I swell up like a peacock. My feathers fly out and I smile for about ten minutes straight. Sometimes I flash back to all of my years of study and all of the time and effort I've put into learning this language, and it's so, so worth it.
I just love it.
I could write pages in comment. I'll sum it up and just say - yeah, I get you. Keep rocking.
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