{"id":1140,"date":"2018-01-10T11:50:54","date_gmt":"2018-01-10T10:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/?p=1140"},"modified":"2020-07-01T11:24:18","modified_gmt":"2020-07-01T09:24:18","slug":"polyglot-tips-n-tricks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/polyglot-tips-n-tricks\/","title":{"rendered":"Polyglot Tips N’ Tricks"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a1Buenos d\u00edas! Adi\u00f3s. Se\u00f1ora.<\/em> I recognized those Spanish words at age thirty-five, not many more. I could point to a familiar menu item in a Mexican restaurant — for a quesadilla, chile relleno<\/em> — regard a server with hopefully arched eyebrows.<\/p>\n

Today I live in Spain, relied on my Spanish to rent an apartment, arrange banking and utility services, settle in. I’m bilingual! Maybe not gracefully or elegantly, but successfully.<\/p>\n

I have thoughts on how I became that way, requisition space on my personal soapbox to share them.<\/p>\n

DETERMINATION MATTERED MOST<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If “location, location, location” count most for the real estate investor, then “determination, determination, determination” mattered most in my middle-aged acquisition of espa\u00f1ol<\/em>. I write confidently of a fait accompli<\/em>; no other factor came close. If a class, teacher, text, lesson, web page or video series didn’t allow access to the language, I palmed figurative doorknobs until I found one that opened.<\/p>\n

Interest helped, too. I’d rather tackle some endeavors with high interest and average ability than the other way around. It ain’t a chore if you want to do it.<\/p>\n

FLUENCY IS A MATTER OF DEGREE<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Publishers flim-flammed titles like Master Spanish in a Month!<\/em> when I was a kid, sell them still. A crock, of course, but I dreamed half-seriously of a similar holy grail while slugging my way through 1A<\/a> classes. Some day, I imagined — with enough study, enough work — the magic keys to the Fluency Kingdom would materialize suddenly between my fingers. I would communicate as effortlessly thereafter as a native speaker.<\/p>\n

To those harboring similar hopes, I offer news good and bad.<\/p>\n

The good: it did get easier. The gates into the new language opened wider, allowed easier access. By B1, I could make out phrases and sentences in once-incomprehensible news broadcasts. Today, I can listen to MP3’d entrevistas<\/em> from RTVE while I cook and clean. Newspapers, magazines, books: same story. The toughest sledding is behind me.<\/p>\n

But, the bad: no Fluency Kingdom, no magic keys. What I don’t know still has to be learned. If a B1 student knows<\/a> 2,500 words and a C1-er knows 4,000*, then 1,500 syllable combinations of the L2<\/a> will remain incomprehensible until looked up, digested. And if a native speaker knows 20,000+ words<\/a>, well …<\/p>\n

I have met some UK expats in Madrid with 10 years + on Spanish soil. Their Spanish romps rings around mine, but I have yet to hear one praise her own fluency. To live as a second language learner in the second language country may mean an ever-present awareness of how one’s own understanding of that language doesn’t quite measure up.<\/p>\n

* If.\u00a0 Debatable<\/a>.<\/p>\n

RADIO, VIDEO, TV<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

If the sought-after tongue is spoken in more than country, try to hear it as spoken in the country that concerns you most.<\/p>\n

I need to understand what natives say to me; speak Spanish in return; read the language and write it. Computer resources can help me read and write. Oral skills are different, take priority. I need to listen and speak the Old School way, on my own, real time, computer un-assisted.<\/p>\n

(“I’ll just talk to strangers through Google Translate!” think some. That means: you talk into the smartphone; the smartphone squawks at the native; the native talks into your smartphone; your smartphone squawks back at you. Rather a lot to ask of the native! In a pinch, maybe, but please ask yourself: how often do you see people conducting heart-to-hearts this way in coffee shops?)<\/p>\n

I get better at Oral by listening to lots and lots of spoken Spanish. After landing in Madrid, I regularly watched youtube’d news clips from U.S. broadcasters Noticias Telemundo<\/em> and Univision<\/em>.<\/p>\n

A mistake. Talking heads Jos\u00e9 D\u00edaz Balart and Jorge Ramos hail from Florida and Mexico City, respectively. I don’t now need to understand Spanish as spoken on that side of the world. I noticed a significant improvement when I switched to made-in-Spain news broadcasts, or radio interviews downloaded from rtve.es<\/a>.<\/p>\n

LANGUAGE EXCHANGES<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

AKA intercambios: social gatherings between the native speakers of two or more tongues, in which participants take turns yakking in languages. (e.g.: fifteen minutes Spanish, fifteen minutes English.) Meetup<\/a> alone lists a half-dozen here, including one I started<\/a> and others I haunt. Most in Madrid are English-Spanish, but no law says they have to be. I met Russians-on-the-street by dropping in on a Russian-English intercambio in Saint Petersburg<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Europe is predictably ripe turf for intercambios. I am a fan, partly to practice my yak and partly to learn cultural mores, and quickly cite intercambios as a perk to bilingualism. Expect easier sledding if already navigating the second language north of A2.<\/p>\n

Students also recruit one-on-one partners through Conversation Exchange<\/a>.<\/p>\n

POTPOURRI<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

(♦<\/span>)\u00a0I reached low intermediate fluency through conventional language classes. Computer tools have revolutionized language instruction, but I’d still like a teacher’s help to baby step through my first sentences in a new tongue.<\/p>\n

That said, I’d ditch the class r\u00e1pidamente<\/em> if it shaped up as a waste of time. Some have. In the computer era, a class is just another tool.<\/p>\n

(♦<\/span>)\u00a0Planning to go expat? Consider clawing your way to the outskirts of B1 fluency before moving abroad for keeps.\u00a0 Just my two cents.<\/p>\n

(♦<\/span>)\u00a0Expats often fear talk on telephone. I do, felt less embarrassed after meeting other expats who feel the same way. We avoid calling the bank or the cell phone provider; we visit.<\/p>\n

(♦<\/span>)\u00a0Every new word on your vocabulary list represents an effort of memory. Choose the words that rate the work at your current fluency level. You’ll use acabar<\/em> a lot more often than s\u00e9quito<\/em>.<\/p>\n

(♦<\/span>)\u00a0Get used to your accent<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(♦<\/span>)\u00a0Politicians left, right and center speak slowly and clearly. English students who scratch bewildered heads during U.S. movies can understand speeches by Obama and Trump.<\/p>\n

(♦<\/span>)\u00a0Diction, rate of speech and audibility matter tremendously. My lifetime of L1 English allow me to compensate for slurred, mumbled, accented speech obscured by background noise. In Spanish, I have to listen with both ears, and still expect to miss some or much of what’s said.<\/p>\n

Example: at my current fluency level, much of this clip<\/a> might as well have been in Mandarin, for all I got out of it. In contrast, I understood 80+% of a second clip<\/a> from the same show.<\/p>\n

(♦<\/span>)\u00a0Some errors seem to grate on L1 speakers’ ears more than others. One may manejar<\/em> a car west of the Atlantic; in Spain, said vehicle is conducir<\/em>‘d, and natives consistently point out the difference. I reckon it grates. In contrast, no intercambio partner has flagged me on improper use of prepositions.<\/p>\n

(♦<\/span>)\u00a0In real life, essential vocabulary often trumps grammar. “Water not go drain” may be rotten English, but your knowledge of the word “drain” tells the plumber why he’s there.<\/p>\n

I TACK RIGHT ON MULTILINGUALISM<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Most reading-between-the-lines of this post will infer that the author is gung-ho about multilingualism. Not so.<\/p>\n

In 2018, I think that a long-term expat in Spain wisely invests time by studying the national language, especially given that said national language is one of the most widely spoken<\/a> on terra firma<\/em>. Multilingualism topples national boundaries; I can exchange meaning face-to-face with strangers from distant lands in the above-described intercambios, can read Spanish press reports, understand untranslated recorded words spoken by historical figures: Franco, Guevara, Pinochet, Allende. The racers I interviewed for my great American novel<\/a> may wish they could understand the words of the legendary Fangio<\/a>, but can’t. The expat Spain straphanger can. I have read of cognitive benefits<\/a> of language study, especially<\/a> for old-croaker-aged students like me. Bilingualism has broadened my horizons, made me wiser.<\/p>\n

But, with all that said: fat chance of convincing me of the intrinsic value of memorizing thousands<\/span> of new syllable combinations for prosaic objects and actions like tables, can openers, metro stations, toilets<\/em>, for waiting, laughing, sleeping, brushing teeth<\/em>. I emphatically do not<\/span> think that claimed cognitive benefits justify the years of study needed to chase fluency.<\/p>\n

Further: all but the most advanced second language speakers make do with skeleton editions of their rich native vocabularies. In English, I can readily describe a walk, shuffle, skip, stroll, goose-step, swagger, stalk<\/em>. In Spanish, I comfortably use only caminar<\/em>.<\/p>\n

I am multilingual to accommodate global human life as it has evolved in 2018. Past idealists promoted sensible constructed languages like Esperanto<\/a>. Nice try! Hats off to you! Didn’t take, unfortunately; a few million worldwide speak Esperanto today. Nearly a billion speak English, the de facto lingua franca<\/em>, and deal with its related miseries as an L2: homophones<\/a>, spelling horrors<\/a>, phrasal<\/a> verbs.<\/p>\n

I am old enough to pay more heed to outcomes likely than to outcomes ideal. My guess is that some type of computer-aided translation will become nimble<\/a> enough for real-time chats, and that language study may thereafter become extinct.<\/p>\n

Eventually. In the future. \u00bfQui\u00e9n sabe cu\u00e1ndo?<\/em> The author of one esoteric article on brain wave technology isn’t ready to give up Chinese lessons for his four year old<\/a>. In 2018, I won’t close my Spanish textbooks anytime soon.<\/p>\n

SOME RESOURCES FOR INTERMEDIATE SPANISH STUDENTS<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Video, Educational and News:\u00a0\u00a0<\/strong>The SOL School of Language offers dozens<\/a> of videos.\u00a0\u00a0I can watch yesterday’s news at Spain’s Cuatro Noticias<\/a> and Telecinco Informativos<\/a> without registration. Expect a mix of serious news and tabloid fare.<\/p>\n

Radio:\u00a0<\/strong>Las ma\u00f1anas de RNE<\/a> hosts hundreds of downloadable MP3’d interviews and news broadcasts.<\/p>\n

Books:\u00a0 <\/strong>Intermediate students may enjoy, (a) Edelsa’s student version of Don Quijote<\/a> de la Mancha, volumes I and II, and (b), SGEL’s student version of Quevedo’s El Busc\u00f3n<\/a>.\u00a0 I’m grateful that I brought my Reference Grammar<\/a> from the U.S.<\/p>\n

Some Web Sites:<\/strong><\/p>\n

*\u00a0Diccionario<\/a> de la lengua espa\u00f1ola. If the DLE offers one definition and an English-language translation service says something else, side with the DLE. Look for the conjugar<\/em> button when entering verbs.<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Linguee<\/a> lets users choose between existing translations of problematic phrases.<\/p>\n

* Former about.com contributor Laura Lawless offers a great verbs with prepositions<\/a> page.<\/p>\n

* Retired professor Fred Jehle posted acres of excellent past course material.\u00a0 \u00a0(Update, 7\/9\/2019: If you can find those acres; the material at ipfw.edu seems to have disappeared.)<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Spanishdict\u00ad<\/a> and StudySpanish\u00ad<\/a> offer online quizzes.<\/p>\n

* I also have used ProfeDeELE<\/a>, Hispanoteca<\/a>, Gerald Erichsen’s posts at ThoughtCo<\/a> and — of course! — the ever-improving Google Translate<\/a>.<\/p>\n

* Update, 7\/1\/2020<\/strong><\/span>:\u00a0 I now usually start research at WordReference<\/a>, and favor the DeepL translator<\/a> by a slight but consistent margin over Google Translate.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a1Buenos d\u00edas! Adi\u00f3s. Se\u00f1ora. I recognized those Spanish words at age thirty-five, not many more. I could point to a familiar menu item in a Mexican restaurant — for a quesadilla, chile relleno — regard a server with hopefully arched eyebrows. Today I live in Spain, relied on my Spanish to rent an apartment, arrange… <\/p>\n

Read More<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1141,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[85,96,84,97],"tags":[98,100,99,101],"class_list":["post-1140","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-expat","category-language","category-madrid","category-spanish","tag-language-acquisition","tag-learn-spanish","tag-learning-a-second-language","tag-multilingual"],"yoast_head":"\nPolyglot Tips N' Tricks - Tim Adams - Expat<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An American expat reflects on the challenges of learning a new language, with thoughts on intercambios (language exchanges) and online tools.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/transitophile.com\/chango\/polyglot-tips-n-tricks\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Polyglot Tips N' Tricks - 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