1. I confess that I watch cartoons in Spanish with my kids to learn new words and phrases.
2. I confess that I often verbally agree with people despite not entirely understanding what they just said to me or asked me.
3. I confess that I feel a surge of fear when the phone rings or someone is knocking at the door. (Refer back to #2)
4. I confess that, in retrospect, I am very very thankful that I went to a formal language school.
5. I confess that I should have studied harder at language school.
6. I confess that it slightly bothers me that my children will talk Spanish better and sooner than I.
7. I confess that when two people are talking to me at the same time, it's pretty much impossible to understand either of them (especially last Sunday when I visited an elderly couple. The man had no teeth, and the woman was emotional. Put them together and you have a recipe for a headache. Refer back to #2)
8. I confess that certain Spanish words and phrases are so much better to communicate a certain concept or thought.
9. I confess that despite the challenges of learning Chilean Spanish, I absolutely love the Chilean accent (it's rhythm, and distinct sound).
10. I confess that my perfectionist personality unfortunately hinders me from learning faster.
11. I confess that my brain is constantly running at high RPMs. In certain contexts, I just know people will come up and talk to me, so I am constantly thinking of stuff they might ask me, or things I might (or should) say to them.
12. I confess that I am not to the point where I can communicate what I REALLY want to communicate. It's usually a dumbed down version of my real thoughts.
13. I confess that when people ask me "So how is your Spanish?", I wonder if they really want to hear my complicated answer.
14. I confess that the process of learning another language has been one of the best tools for beating down my tenancy to be proud. Refer back to #12 & 13.
15. I confess that there are good days and bad days.
16. I confess that there are days when I would rather not attempt to say anything to anybody.
17. I confess that I really didn't want to admit #1-16.
6 comments:
Haha! I would totally agree here. I remember once at language school someone mad a joke that I didn't get but I found myself laughing anyway and one of the guys asks, "so did you understand that?" and then I had to admit that I didn't which everyone thought was funny. It was harder to laugh along then but language learning is definetly a humbling experience!
Thanks for being brave enough to admit what I'm sure many of us that have attempted another language feel!
Te entiendo perfectamente y sigo orando por tu aprendizaje del idioma!!!
Pero es comico como tu lo dices....animo!!!! adelante!!!
Te felicito por tu honestidad...solo asi vas a saber siempre en el punto real donde estas!!!
Un abrazo a todos!!!!
Cariños, Mirian Vallette.
Thanks for confessing. It provides great insight for us mono-lingual Americans (I guess that's redundant), and provides us more pointed aiming for our prayers.
God's peace, David!
These are great! I have gotten on my husband's case about #2 (what do you mean, you said okay to the teacher when you didn't even know what she was asking our child to bring tomorrow?!)
Yes! This is great, you are not alone friend!
I can relate with many of these!
I really think this post will help people who have not studied a foreign language to get a better idea of what it is like.
Ok, you go out there and just keep talking to people until you understand, keep answering that telephone/door, and keep preaching the name of Jesus Christ!
The Bible calls us to have faith like a child, that doesn't require preaching with an extended and linguistically elegant vocabulary! :)
Con Ganas!
y no te olvides,
Manda Fruta
Oh, I so understand these confessions! I had to laugh at some of them because I feel exactly the same way. :-)
But we keep pressing on and thankfully, I can say from experience, it does get easier! With the patient help of the nationals and God's strength, we can do it. :-) Animo!
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