Stelle's log (Spanish, Italian, Tagalog)

[Stelle]

6WC update:

2 days ago: 171 minutes

computer (45 minutes): anki, memrise, duolingo, bliubliu, conjuguemos
Assimil (34 minutes): lesson 51
conversation (33 minutes): excellent conversation with Marzia - I've started making lame jokes in Italian, so I call that a level up!
reading (25 minutes): Twilight
Language Transfer (14 minutes): tracks 12 and 13
listening (20 minutes): Seven Deadly Sins episode 1, which I found entertaining and relatively easy to understand, but which I will probably not continue and will certainly not be sharing with my niece due to some offensive misogynistic scenes that made me want to punch the main male character in the face. I googled, and it doesn't seem that that particular issue gets any better throughout the series. Too bad, since the story seemed otherwise interesting.

yesterday: 59 minutes

computer (50 minutes): anki, memrise, duolingo, bliubliu, conjuguemos
reading (9 minutes): Twilight (soon to be abandoned, I fear)

[Stelle]

Well, it looks like I've dropped out of the 6wc. I'm in Texas now, meeting dozens of in-laws for the first time. I have some Italian books with me, but haven't had time to open them. We'll be here for a few more days, and then hit the road again. I expect to have a lot more time for reading once we're camping.

This is not a good time for language learning - and that's ok. Life is about balance and seizing the opportunity to experience new things! Schedules and routines are important things, but it's also important to recognize when it's time to let them go temporarily.

[Stelle]

So far, we've crossed Michigan, Ohio, Kentucky, Tennessee and Texas. Now, we're in Santa Fe, New Mexico. I love how much Spanish there is everywhere! I haven't had the opportunity to speak, but I'm reading and listening (eavesdropping, that is) everywhere I go. We were in Roswell yesterday, which was a lot of fun, especially since I had serious childhood nightmares about alien abduction (yes, I was a child of the eighties).

When I have wifi in hotels, I'm trying to keep up with Italian memrise and duolingo, although that isn't happening every day. I have managed to do my anki decks almost every day.

Thought Experiment

If I ever have children (that ship has almost sailed), I would certainly raise them to be bilingual. But if I lived in Texas (which would almost certainly never happen, but still - it's a though experiment), which languages would I choose?

English, obviously.

French? My native language, but not really useful in Texas. My father is francophone, but he speaks English as easily as he speaks French.
Tagalog? My husband's native language, and the language spoken (along with English) by dozens of cousins, aunts and uncles in Texas.
Spanish? I'd have to bump up my level to a C2, but it would definitely be the most useful second language if I were living in Texas.

I think that I'd have to go with English and Tagalog at home. Then, when my imaginary children were old enough, I would send them to a bilingual Spanish school. I hope that they would grow up speaking both English and Spanish fluently. Based on what I've seen time and time again with second generation Filipino immigrants who speak Tagalog at home before starting school, they would probably grow up to understand Tagalog, but not speak it. While not ideal, at least they'd be able to fully engage in family conversations (which are usually a mix of Tagalog, English and Taglish). Then, if they chose to, they could learn to speak again as adults.

It's a good thing I don't have children or live in Texas, because it would be too sad to not raise my imaginary child to speak French. Ha!

[Stelle]

I just had a Spanish conversation with a lovely employee of the hotel where we're staying. Ack! I don't know what happened! It was awful! For some reason, I felt nervous. I tried to change my accent to lose my ceceo. (Why on earth did I do that? So silly! I completely threw myself off.) Then I forgot easy words like "take" (the Italian "prendere" jumped into my head), and said "il mio marito" in Italian instead of Spanish. Honestly, I felt less fluent today than I did a few measly months into learning Spanish.

So what did I do? I told her that I was just starting to learn Spanish. Obviously.

What a foolish person I am!

She spoke very slooooooowly to help me out.

It was a lovely conversation nonetheless! But...yeah...not the most shining moment in my Spanish journey. Good thing I have plans to focus heavily on Spanish over the next few months!

[Brun Ugle]

I have days like that even in Norwegian and I've lived here over 16 years. Sometimes nothing comes out right.

[Stelle]

The countdown is on! Eight days before we leave for Guatemala!

(Oh...just in case I haven't mentioned it...our Italy trip was cancelled. It will happen another time! Italian is now on hold until I come back from Guatemala, at which point I'll probably pick it up again.)

We're going to be in Guatemala for six months. I'm so excited! Who says only university students get to do a semester abroad?

We'll start in Antigua for a month, and then take it from there. I know that we want to spend some time at a town on Lake Atitlan and in Xela as well (perhaps two months in each of the three places?). But Antigua to start!

My goal is to improve my Spanish to a solid C1 level. My lofty goal (if I'm allowed to actually say this out loud) is to reach a level where - with some test preparation, of course - I could sit a C2 test.

We'll spend the first week getting oriented, exploring the city, and apartment hunting. Then, the following week we'll start at a Spanish school. We're going to be taking four hours of classes every morning, each of us with a private teacher. JP will be starting from scratch, so I'm guessing that he'll just let the teacher take the lead. As for me - I figure that the first day will be focused on us getting to know each other a bit and making a plan for our time together.

Here's what I think I need to focus on during my class time:
- higher level conversation (not just basic life updates)
- writing with corrections
- reading higher level stuff (short passages with oral discussion / q&a afterwards)
- discussing history, politics, current events

If I feel that the class time is helping me improve - then great! Otherwise, I may decide to spend the mornings volunteering in Spanish.

Depending on where we stay, we'll be paying between 80 and 120 dollars each per week for 20 hours of private instruction. That's pretty amazing! The schools also advertise free Spanish-language tours and activities in the afternoons.

JP and I talked it over, and we won't be living with a host family, at least at first. We're private people (especially him!) and we'd much prefer to cook our own meals, so we'll enjoy our time much more if we can get an apartment. Not to mention that an apartment for two is cheaper than a host family. It seems that a lot of the host families in Antigua are more boarding houses than actually family environments, so I'm not sure we'll even miss out on much Spanish if we live on our own.

Here's what I'm going to do during my downtime:
- eliminate English! (JP says that he wants to speak only in Spanish together. We'll see how that goes!)
- read novels
- participate in NaNoWriMo (A challenge to write a 50000 word novel in a month. My goal will be a 50000 word novel in Spanish while living in Guatemala - although I doubt it will be done by the end of November.)
- live life in Spanish (interact with shopkeepers, watch TV, read the newspaper, etc)

Thoughts? Suggestions? What would you do if you had six months of time, an immersion environment, the potential of a private teacher, and enough funds for a pretty simple life? (And yes...I do realize how lucky we are.)

[klvik]

What a great adventure! I am so envious (but only in a very good way, ). If I were to spend 6 months in Guatemala, I would look for at least one activity that would take me outside of the environment designed for foreigners- things such as cooking classes, dance classes, or volunteer opportunities.

[Bebetter]

I am very jealous! I hope I can one day spend over a month in Spanish speaking country. Being a big fan of your blog, I hope you write about what challenges you find while living in a Spanish speaking country! Looking forward to hearing about your trip!

[Chmury]

¡Qué emocionante! Espero que te lo pases increíblemente bien en Guatemala. Qué aventura la que estás para emprender.. e imagínate lo mucho que vas a vivir y aprender allí a lo largo de los seis meses. Bueno, aprovecha de cada momento y que tengas una experiencia que te toque profundamente.

[Stelle]

What a great adventure! I am so envious (but only in a very good way, ). If I were to spend 6 months in Guatemala, I would look for at least one activity that would take me outside of the environment designed for foreigners- things such as cooking classes, dance classes, or volunteer opportunities.

Great ideas! I know that we're going to go to salsa class, but I suspect that that will be aimed at tourists. A cooking class sounds like fun! I might also like to volunteer with dogs at an animal shelter. (Although that might be dangerous if I end up adopting a dozen Guatemalan dogs. Ha!) Honestly, I want to do all of the things that I would do here at home if I had the time - except that I'd like to do them in Spanish.

I am very jealous! I hope I can one day spend over a month in Spanish speaking country. Being a big fan of your blog, I hope you write about what challenges you find while living in a Spanish speaking country! Looking forward to hearing about your trip!

Ooooh...my poor neglected blog. My Spanish teacher (on Skype) gave me an assignment to revive the blog and write in Spanish while in Guatemala. I think that I should revive the blog, but I don't plan on bringing a computer, so it will depend on what's available at the school. I think that most of the schools have a computer lab.

And if you want to spend time in a Spanish-speaking country, you'll find a way! Granted, we can only do this right now because we don't have children. (In fact, for me, this adventure symbolically marks the fact that I won't be having children.) But if you don't have kids depending on you, then it absolutely can be done. Even with kids, it can be done - so long as your partner is on board! We saved up money and sold our house, so we don't have any Canadian expenses while we're overseas. My in-laws are letting us park our car at their house, and our furniture is in my sister-in-law's basement. If we were planning on going away indefinitely (which may still happen someday), then we would have sold the car and the furniture as well.

¡Qué emocionante! Espero que te lo pases increíblemente bien en Guatemala. Qué aventura la que estás para emprender.. e imagínate lo mucho que vas a vivir y aprender allí a lo largo de los seis meses. Bueno, aprovecha de cada momento y que tengas una experiencia que te toque profundamente.

¡Muchas gracias! Estoy muy emocionada. Espero poder aprovechar de la oportunidad y crecer como persona.