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Our in-house polyglot, on reaching fluency in Spanish & Catalan

Our in-house polyglot on reaching fluency in Spanish & Catalan

Hola a todos de nuevo :)

Last week I wrote about what fluency meant to me, and I mentioned that it is different for everyone and, in my case, for every language too.

In the following weeks, I’ll write about my experience with languages with more detail. I’ll start with Spanish and Catalan, since those two are both my mother tongues.

I guess that for some people, speaking two languages as mother tongues is quite a mystery. For bilingual speakers, though, it just comes naturally.

I learned them differently, though. At home and with my family, we only speak Catalan. At school 90% of the subjects are taught in Catalan, and 50% of them, at least, are taught in Catalan in High School (In Catalonia).

I learned Spanish at school and speaking with other kids and other people. Both languages are spoken everywhere in urban areas, so you end up learning both if your first language is Catalan. It’s not necessarily the same if your first language is Spanish. A lot of people have the habit of switching from Catalan to Spanish the moment someone says something in Spanish. It is a habit that has its roots in the years of Franco’s dictatorship, because Catalan was banned from public life and spaces from 1939 to 1975. Due to this, a lot of Spanish speakers feel comfortable only speaking Spanish in Catalonia, because most Catalan speakers will switch to Spanish with them. The younger generation has studied Catalan in school, but a good amount of them don’t speak it very well, or even at all, because of the reason I mentioned before (people switching from Catalan to Spanish). This happens too to a lesser extent with some Catalans who live in areas where Spanish is not largely spoken.

Are those speakers bilingual? It really depends. Some people struggle if they have to speak Catalan, and some do better; and vice versa. Usually, in the case of Spanish speakers with Spanish as their main language, the ones that speak Catalan frequently do better in Catalan. Again, this proves that speaking a language is crucial to really mastering it, and just learning it passively doesn’t assure fluency.

Stay tuned for future blog posts where I write about my experiences learning English, Italian, French, Korean & Japanese!

Hasta la próxima semana :)

Octavi

La tarea para el 15 al 20 de septiembre del 2018

Las clases de martes a viernes:
La tarea opcional es escribir en un diario cada día de esta semana. Escriban un párrafo acerca de su día, de algo que hayan leído o visto, o acerca de algo que hayan tenido en mente últimamente.

Las clases de lunes y sábado:
La tarea opcional es practicar la canción “La Bicicleta”, de Carlos Vives y Shakira, hasta que se sientan cómodos cantando la canción, ya que la vamos a cantar en grupo la semana que viene.

Para los que les interese hacer más tarea, sigan con el capítulo 19 “Personal Pronouns” en  “Complete Spanish Grammar” de McGraw Hill, de la serie Practice Makes Perfect.  Por favor, lean las páginas 247 a 251 y hagan los ejercicios 19.15 a 19.20.

Our in-house polyglot, on language fluency

Our in-house polyglot, on language fluency

 

Hola, queridos estudiantes.

 

After a long absence, your beloved teacher Octavi is back. Since the last couple of blog articles covered how to achieve fluency and what fluency really means for everyone, I would like to share what it means to me.

As many of you already know, I speak 7 languages. However, that doesn’t mean that I speak them all perfectly, of course. I speak 2 languages at a native level, Spanish and Catalan, and even in those two languages I have some doubts every now and then. I think that is pretty normal, though. In my opinion, English is the language I speak better after those two. Let me tell you that I make mistakes and forget words all the time, and I speak English every day! I started learning it when i was 8 and even now, 30 years later, I keep making mistakes of all kind. Does that mean I am not fluent in English? I wouldn’t say so, because to me fluency is not being perfect, but rather communicating effectively with others while being more or less accurate. In French and Italian I have no big problems either, but not using those languages in my everyday life makes it harder to get to a very advanced level. I am happy with where I am with my French and my Italian, and I know I will only be able to keep them at a certain level, but I still think that I am fluent thanks to the fact that both languages are similar to Spanish and I don’t need to practice them as much as my last two languages, Korean and Japanese. Obviously, Korean and Japanese are so much different from Spanish that just in order to speak them at an intermediate level you need to practice them almost everyday, and that’s what I do. I practice Korean and Japanese everyday, and even then my level is not as high as in any of the other languages I speak. Nonetheless, for a Westerner, I consider I speak Korean and Japanese at a pretty high level.

So what is it to be fluent? As you can see, the first thing to be considered is the language in question. Secondly, we have to think about what it means to ourselves. For some people, just being able to have simple conversations is going to be enough, while for other people being fluent will mean to be able not only to have conversations, but also to talk about any kind of topic, in any context or level (it’s not the same to talk in Spanish with a friend about your week and to give a speech about Biology in Spanish). Once you get to a certain level, being fluent really depends on what you want to achieve and how satisfied you are with your progress.

In any case, most of us need at least a couple of years to reach fluency. Mi advice is: don’t be too obsessed with getting to a certain level; enjoy the journey!

 

Saludos a todos,
Octavi

La tarea opcional para el 10 al 15 de septiembre del 2018

Para las clases de lunes y sábado:
La tarea opcional de la semana es 1) echarle un vistazo a la letra de la canción que ganó la votación, “La Bicicleta” de Carlos Vives y Shakira, y 2) escucharla varias veces mientras la cantas para practicarla. La semana que viene vamos a repasar la letra y la semana siguiente la cantaremos en clase.

Para las clases de martes, miércoles, jueves y viernes:
La tarea opcional es practicar la canción “La Bicicleta”, de Carlos Vives y Shakira, hasta que se sientan cómodos cantando la canción, ya que la vamos a cantar en grupo la semana que viene.

Para los que les interese hacer más tarea, sigan con el capítulo 19 “Personal Pronouns” en  “Complete Spanish Grammar” de McGraw Hill, de la serie Practice Makes Perfect.  Por favor, lean las páginas 244 a 247 y hagan los ejercicios 19.10 a 19.14.  

How long will it take me to become fluent in Spanish? Part 2

How long will it take me to become fluent in Spanish? Part 2

 

Last week I blogged about the most popular question I get on an ongoing basis, which is “How long will it take me to become fluent in Spanish?”

I mentioned that there are numerous factors to consider, such as:

  • What is your experience & current level of Spanish?
  • Is Spanish a 2nd language for you or 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.?
  • How much time do you have to dedicate to learning Spanish?
  • Will you be able to be consistent with your language learning or will you be taking breaks often?
  • How motivated are you to learn to speak Spanish?
  • What do you consider to be a fluent Spanish speaker?
  • What is your natural ability for languages?

I covered a few of these last week, and will cover the rest today.

Let’s start with:

What do you consider to be a fluent speaker?

  • For some people fluency means reaching a high intermediate level, which is the ability to speak with practically anyone about practically anything (it just may not be as fast paced, deep or as refined as an advanced speaker). If this is your goal, you could potentially get to a B2 level in 2 – 3 years; but again, it really depends on many factors.
  • Now if you consider fluency being able to attend college or do your job in Spanish, it will probably take you much longer, as there is a huge difference between these goals.

Please consider that according to several experts it takes between 600 and 1200 hours to learn Spanish (most say 780 hours). So let’s see, if you work on your Spanish for 3 hours a week, that’s 156 hours a year, so it would take about 5 years to reach fluency, if 780 hours is the target. If you work on your Spanish for 2 hours a week, it would take 7.5 years.

From what I have seen however, it usually takes 1-2 years of living abroad and listening to & speaking Spanish 18 hours a day to become fluent, or 10-15 years when you do not live in a Spanish speaking country.

Why so long? Because people have lives and tend to live them in their native language. To truly become fluent (not book fluent, but conversationally fluent), you need to live a good portion of your life in Spanish. The people I have seen become fluent in 5 years without living abroad, all have jobs where they use their Spanish on a consistent basis, or their significant other speaks Spanish, and it is the primary language they use. These people are using their Spanish 20-50% of the time, thus advancing at a much faster pace.

So bottom line, how long it takes for you to reach fluency often depends on how much time you devote to learning and using the language.

Whatever you do, don’t get discouraged. If you want to be PHENOMENAL at something, it takes a lot of hard work. I’m pretty sure that no Olympic Athletes got to where they are by practicing their sport a few hours a week for just a few years. Right?

Will you be able to be consistent with your language learning or will you be taking breaks often?

  • One of the biggest mistakes people make is to start and stop their language learning. The only way to make progress is to be consistent. The students who take breaks are often in the same level during most of their lifetime, because everytime they take a break (and I don’t mean 1-2 week breaks a few times a year), they forget quite a bit and have to start again. What a waste of time!

Now, life throws you curveballs all the time, which means that at some point Spanish may not be a priority in your life…and that’s ok. We all need to go with the flow; but remember that if you are consistent, you will advance much faster.

Ok chicos, I hope that this has been helpful in answering your questions!

Since we have an in-house polyglot (the amazing Octavi that speaks Spanish, Catalan, English, French, Italian, Korean & Japanese), I will ask him to write a few blog posts, sharing how he learned to speak all these languages.

Besitos,
Caro

To read part 1 of this post please visit: https://purabuenaonda.com/how-long-to-become-fluent-in-spanish/

La tarea opcional para el 4 al 8 de septiembre del 2018

La tarea opcional de la semana es 1) echarle un vistazo a la letra de la canción que ganó la votación, “La Bicicleta” de Carlos Vives y Shakira, y 2) escucharla varias veces mientras la cantas para practicarla. La semana que viene vamos a repasar la letra y la siguiente semana la vamos a cantar en clase.

Para los que les interese hacer más tarea, sigan con el capítulo 19 “Personal Pronouns” en  “Complete Spanish Grammar” de McGraw Hill, de la serie Practice Makes Perfect.  Por favor, lean las páginas 242 a 244 y hagan los ejercicios 19.7 a 19.9.  

How long will it take me to become fluent in Spanish?

How long will it take me to become fluent in Spanish?

 

Not a week goes by when someone doesn’t ask me “How long will it take me to become fluent in Spanish?” or “How long will it take me to move into the next level?”

This is such a difficult question to answer, as there are numerous factors to consider. For example:

  • What is your experience & current level of Spanish?
  • Is Spanish a 2nd language for you or 3rd, 4th, 5th, etc.?
  • How much time do you have to dedicate to learning Spanish?
  • Will you be able to be consistent with your language learning or will you be taking breaks often?
  • How motivated are you to learn to speak Spanish?
  • What do you consider to be a fluent Spanish speaker?
  • What is your natural ability for languages?

 

I have a lot to say on this subject, so this will be a 2 part series.

 

Let’s consider the above:

  • If you’re starting from scratch, it will obviously take you a bit longer than someone who has a foundation in Spanish. I think that’s pretty obvious.

 

  • If you have already learned more than one language, picking up a 3rd or 4th will be easier than learning a 2nd language. Why? For one, you have more to pull from. Most languages have cognates in common with several other languages, making it easier to recognize words. For example, everyone thinks that Spanish & Italian have a lot in common, but may be surprised to hear that Italian & English also share many cognates (such as concert/concerto; fork/forchetta; democrazia/democracy). Another factor is if you learned a previous language as an adult (or older child/teenager), you already know what is involved with language learning, and what exactly works best for you.

 

  • Motivation plays a key role in learning a language. If you’re doing this because you feel like you should, your lack of enthusiasm will be present more often that you may think. If you’re excited about learning the language, every time you see a street sign in Spanish or an audio version of something in Spanish, you will be tempted to look up the word or listen to the audio, thus spending more time on the language which will ultimately help you reach your goal much faster.

 

  • Whether we like to admit it or not, natural ability plays a part in language learning. Some of us are better at sports, some of us are better at building things. Some of us are better at math, some of us are better at languages. This however does NOT mean that you can’t learn to play sports or to build things; it simply means that for some of us it will be naturally easier to learn a language than for others. It is what it is…just like with everything else in life.

 

Ok chicos, that concludes part 1. This will give you a bit to think about, and next week we will move on to part 2.

 

Besos,
Caro

La tarea opcional para el 27 al 31 de agosto + el 8 y el 10 de septiembre del 2018

La tarea opcional de la semana es buscar memes divertidos y traer 5 a clase que te hayan gustado. Un buen lugar para encontrar memes chistosos es en Pinterest.

Para los que les interese hacer más tarea, sigan con el capítulo 19 “Personal Pronouns” en “Complete Spanish Grammar” de McGraw Hill, de la serie Practice Makes Perfect. Por favor, lean las páginas 240 a 242 y hagan los ejercicios 19.5 a 19.6.

Weekly Tip: Help! My partner feels like a Spanish widow/er! Part 2

Weekly Tip: Help! My partner feels like a Spanish widow/er! Part 2

 

Last week we talked about how some of our partners feel left out and almost abandoned by our dedication to learning Spanish. We also spoke about one student in particular. Here is a recap:

I spoke to a student this week who has a Spanish immersion trip coming up. She told me that she was excited about improving her Spanish, but not looking forward to the trip as much as she would like. When I asked why, she said it was because her husband was not taking it very well that she would be gone for three weeks without him, as they usually do everything together. Since she wanted her entire focus to be on Spanish, she prefers to do this trip on her own.

 

I asked you all for suggestions, and you came through (in both languages I might add)! Here is what everyone said:

 

Plan a trip to a spanish speaking country with you partner. He/she will get to enjoy the fruits of all your hard work. They can sit back and let you be the translator.
Include them in the learning process. Teach them a little here and there and maybe it will spark an interest in them to learn as well.
The partner could use that time to spend on a hobby of their own, and if it works, maybe both partners can work on their separate hobbies together, so they are still spending time with each other.
You need to talk about this in depth and hopefully with a therapist/counselor because it isn’t fair and will only build resentment over time. All spouses need to have their own hobbies, passions or separate things to do away from the marriage and their spouse. No one likes to be deprived of doing things that make them feel fulfilled. (All things within reason & things that shouldn’t jeopardize your personal relationship). I believe that it takes 2 independent people to make a good marriage.
Get a new partner (maybe a bit dramatic…)
Embrace their ‘hobby’ or passion.
My friends feel abandoned by my Spanish obsession more often than my spouse. The above comments have helped. I met with a friend and brought my flash cards and we had a blast! Now she’s considering learning Spanish. My husband gets annoyed when I speak (practice) Spanish at him. I understand, so I pick simple phrases and I translate them (notice I didn’t say I stopped doing it). The other day he sat down with me while I was watching a show in Spanish and he translated something they said! Involve your friends, family, and significant other but don’t forget they may tire of hearing about your Spanish struggles (for a while that was ALL I could talk about) so be sure to listen to what is going on with them too.
Stress the importance of how much it means to you- a partner should be supportive of your dreams, not hindering. You work on things together, you support each other’s goals (whether you agree with them or not), and grow together!
Ask them to quiz you. My husband is learning a little just from testing my vocabulary
Reserve time for you and your partner to spend with each other, like date night or movie night, especially prior to a solo trip.
Try and find a time to study that doesn’t conflict with “together” time. If you are going on a trip without your spouse plan a couple trip at a later date so you have some time to reconnect.
Sugiero que ese estudiante tratar de incluir su esposo en algunas actividades alrededor su español. Si ellos puedan hacer cosas juntas en ambos sus pasatiempos, ambos van a entender más el interés de el uno de otro. Buena suerte!
Afortunadamente mi esposo es muy comprensivo y no le molesta cuando hago cosas para practicar español. Mi esposo ha visto mi progreso en dos años y piensa que es un buen ejemplo para nuestros hijos.
Cuando empecé aprender español, mi esposo hizo bromas de mi acento (a su crédito, mi acento era muy güera) pero ahora, después de 2.5 años, pienso que se da cuenta de la mejora. Él es de apoyo de mis viajes, classes y eventos en español sin él.
Mi esposo es muy propicio y feliz a me ver aprendiendo español. Ocasionalmente me ayudo práctica. Pero, si quería ir a una largo vacaciones sin que él, you pienso que se pondrá triste y extrañar.
Personalmente, me gustan todas tus sugerencias. Como terapeuta matrimonial y familiar, si una pareja tiene problemas de codependencia, primero debe resolver los problemas. Si no resuelven sus problemas de codependencia, no serán felices, sin importar lo que hagan.
No esposo, no hijos, no problemas! Estoy bromeando. 😉 Mi consejo es reservar tiempo durante cada semana para estar con su esposo (por ejemplo una “noche de cita” los viernes). También crear un horario de estudiar y compartir con él. Si él sabe que las mañanas de martes son para estudiar y hay una clase los jueves en la tarde, ojalá él puede hacer sus propios pasatiempos durante esas horas y ya no se siente excluido.
Este problem está difícil y como gastar tiempo con su pareja está complicado a veces. Soy fortunable que mi prometida puede hablar español, pero a veces me siento mal que estoy en clase dos o más tiempos cada semana. Nosotros hubimos este preoccupacion y por nosotros la cosa más importante es que nosotros siéntenos qué hay otras cosa que pudimos compartir. Hablando honestamente es la clave.
Mi esposo es casi igual. A él no le gusta cuando yo viajo sin él . entonces trato de ir a viajes por menos tiempo, como uno o dos días solamente.
Mi esposo es muy comprensivo. El comprende lo importante a me apprender espanol.
Soy sola y no pareja. No sería una buena persona para dar consejos sobre esto. Soy muy independiente y hago lo que necesito para mi vida.
Yo opino que las parejas necesitan que apoyarte con sus metas- incluyo si no les gusta. Dile que como parejas, se apoyan, se creen y crecen uno con el otro.
Siento que es importante profundizar y averiguar cuál es la raíz de lo que está molestando a esta pareja simplemente preguntando. A continuación, averiguar qué pasos hay que tomar para aliviar los temores de este socio una ansiedad sobre el viaje. Al final esto podría convertirse en una increíble oportunidad de construir una relación.

 

There you have it! There are tons of different approaches to resolving this issue, per the responses above. I hope that one of these helps our student!

 

Have you ever experienced this with your partner? Either that he/she had an issue with your hobby or vice-versa?

 

Besos,
Caro

La tarea opcional para el 20 al 26 de agosto del 2018

La tarea opcional de la semana es escribir 5 frases que contengan ¿sabías que…?
Por ejemplo:
¿Sabías que los ratones pueden llegar a tener 105 crías al año?
¿Sabías que 150.000 cabellos están creciendo en tu cabeza en este momento?
¿Sabías que 50 de las montañas más altas de nuestro planeta se encuentran en Asia?
*Estas son de la revista National Geographic

Para los que les interese hacer más tarea, empiecen el capítulo 19 “Personal Pronouns” en “Complete Spanish Grammar” de McGraw Hill, de la serie Practice Makes Perfect. Por favor, lean las páginas 237 a 240 y hagan los ejercicios 19.1 a 19.4.