Languages and Life: Gary's log (Italian, Spanish, German, Japanese, bits of French)

[MamaPata]

Sorry to hear that. Job rejections are always tough, especially when you got that far. I am sure there will be other exciting opportunities.

[garyb]

Sorry to hear that. Job rejections are always tough, especially when you got that far. I am sure there will be other exciting opportunities.

Indeed, and I did get very close: this was the final interview after various tests and video calls, and in the end they reckoned I had the skills but didn't work and communicate well under pressure. Felt a bit harsh, especially since if I was nervous it was mostly because I was so keen on the job, but obviously that's important to them. I've not seen many similar opportunities for the moment but Barcelona is a place I'd love to live in. It's a very international city and the job was in an international company where the main language is English, so not exactly the "full immersion experience", but that can be a good thing (easier to fit in and make friends etc.) and it's probably the only place in Southern Europe where I'd find a good and well-paid tech job.

I am motivated to work on my Spanish in case something similar does come up in the future. Even in an international company it's always going to be a big advantage, and it could open up other options too. I'm again tempted to pick up some German too since some cool jobs do come up in Berlin and other cities in Germany and Austria and they also seem good places to live. Career is never going to be my number one motivation for languages, especially since I know that work skills and experience are always going to be far more important, but they could widen my options and give me a chance to try living abroad which is something I've always dreamed of.

The whole working and communicating under pressure idea did make me think, and I couldn't help but see parallels with the linguistic and social experiences on my trip where I felt it was mostly lack of confidence holding me back. This is maybe something I should work on for my career and my life in general. Maybe time to look into things like communication skills and public speaking.

[garyb]

I've already started the Spanish work in earnest. Yesterday I picked up La sombra del viento, which I think I saw in the forum reading club for next month. After the first couple of chapters it seems to be at a good level, with not too much unknown vocabulary aside from a little descriptive language, and could turn out to be an engrossing story.

I also went to the language exchange meetup, which was a good one with mostly native Spanish speakers! It was more useful than usual thanks to the absence of a "usual suspect", which I feel bad about saying since they're a lovely person but it is the typical language meetup situation where the people who dominate the conversation usually aren't the best at speaking the language. Being around Spanish speakers was a bit of a sore point at first so soon after the job rejection, but I managed to turn it around and have a positive conversation about that subject amongst other things and hear similar experiences and reassurances.

In terms of my speaking, I got by but I'm still making the same mistakes and getting stuck on the same things as I was one year ago, and two years ago, and three years ago... A little frustrating, but my studies have mostly been so sporadic that it's to be expected. As much as I don't think the typical "just throw more listening and speaking at the problem" advice is always the right approach, in this case it seems like the sensible way forward and a heavy dose of input plus regular conversations will probably give me the push I need. A dash of more specific work on grammar points like verb conjugations to help make them more automatic wouldn't do any harm either, although input should help with that too.

[Bex]

Sorry to hear your bad news.

My better half works in IT here in Mallorca but we were originally looking at either Madrid, Barcelona or Mallorca.

At the time we moved here he only spoke English and now he works for an English International company but he refuses to use English at work unless the other person only speaks English.

Technically you don't need to speak Spanish at these companies, and many of the English staff never bother but most of the staff are Spanish so it helps a lot.

If you are interested in working in Mallorca there are a lot of IT jobs here for English speakers with the big travel companies such as TUI. If you're interested in knowing more let me know or send me a PM. You're based in Scotland at the moment aren't you?

Anyway good luck in your job search.

[garyb]

Sorry to hear your bad news.

My better half works in IT here in Mallorca but we were originally looking at either Madrid, Barcelona or Mallorca.

At the time we moved here he only spoke English and now he works for an English International company but he refuses to use English at work unless the other person only speaks English.

Technically you don't need to speak Spanish at these companies, and many of the English staff never bother but most of the staff are Spanish so it helps a lot.

If you are interested in working in Mallorca there are a lot of IT jobs here for English speakers with the big travel companies such as TUI. If you're interested in knowing more let me know or send me a PM. You're based in Scotland at the moment aren't you?

Anyway good luck in your job search.

Thanks! I feel like my heart's set on Barcelona for now, but the others could be good options too. I'll certainly get in touch if I decide to consider Mallorca. I have been considering travel companies (my interview was actually with a smaller but growing travel company) and there are also plenty start-ups in various industries, but I've not really seen other offers that interest me, pay well, and I'm qualified for. For the moment I'm just going with my backup plan: I've been offered a job in a bank here in Scotland that's maybe not the most exciting but should give me plenty experience to help land a "dream job" in future. I'm certainly keeping my eyes open in the meantime though.

[garyb]

Just when I thought the job search was over... last week I was offered a position in Berlin! It was rather unexpected as I didn't think I was qualified at all for it, but they contacted me and I thought I might as well find out more and at least get a little trip out of it. However after a lot of very serious consideration I decided it wasn't quite the right opportunity for me or the right moment to make that move, especially when I already had an offer here at home which, while a little less exciting, probably suits me better.

I do have some regrets and am not sure whether I've made the right decision or I'll ever have a similar opportunity again in a time in which I'm in a position to take advantage of it. It was one of those crossroads in life where you can never and probably will never truly know which is the right direction, the choices are so different that they can't be compared just logically or even emotionally and you have to go on gut instinct, and spending too long in indecision just makes it more painful. But I'm optimistic that my choice will give me great experience that could lead to something even more exciting and appropriate in the future, be it in the UK or Germany or Spain or who knows where else, and a more relaxed life in the meantime.

All this has obviously meant zero progress on the language front, although I was of course envisaging a dive into an exciting new language! And as I said a few posts ago Germany is still on my radar for future opportunities and I've always wanted to learn the language, so sooner or later I'll find the time to pick up at least the basics. It'll probably feel like a walk in the park after Greek.

I did make it to the Spanish meetup last night. After the initial warm-up my speaking went quite well, just some of the usual roadblocks with not knowing or remembering vocabulary or expressions or verb forms but I felt them less than usual. For now I'm quite keen to focus on getting my Spanish more solid before moving onto anything else.

[garyb]

And I disappeared for about a month again! I finished things off at my previous job and then had some time off before starting the new one, which I made the most of.

I had a little holiday in Tallinn, Estonia, which was a lovely place and an interesting linguistic experience. While the official language is of course Estonian and most people speak great English, Russian is even more widespread than I had thought. I heard families and small groups speaking Estonian, but for any serious socialising the lingua franca is very much Russian. I was staying in a hostel that many locals spend time in, and ended up going out with a few of them, so I heard plenty of it. A very long time ago I studied Russian for a few months; a bit did come back to me and when I mentioned it they were encouraging me to speak it and learn some more! It was fun and reminded me that I'd love to pick it up again sometime in the future. Who knows when, though.

I also met a few French people in the hostel. While certainly not as encouraging as the Russian-speakers, I eventually got to use their language with them and ended up in a very interesting conversation about astrology, personality and related subjects. I got by, but regretted that my French has become so rusty.

I've spoken a little Italian and Spanish in these last few weeks too, but overall my language learning has ground to a halt and I'm trying to get it moving again one step at a time and put some listening and reading back into my day. Still mostly Italian, closely followed by Spanish. I've lost momentum with Greek and am not sure when or if I'll pick it up again, as much as I like the idea. German is still in the someday list, and I'm still having some little doubts and regrets about the job choice so even thinking about studying it now feels a bit "too soon". The French experience didn't quite make me fall back in love with the language although the odd book and film would be nice.

I've been at the new job for a few days now so I'm easing back into the routine. Recently I've not even had time for music or for basic household things like cooking and cleaning. It looks like the work-life balance should be quite good although I imagine I won't be able to get away with as much language study during work hours as before! Some listening while working should be possible, as well as reading during lunchtime.

[garyb]

Another rather irregular update since it's been a couple of months. Still been busy and had a few problems and things to sort out at work and at home, so despite theoretically being back in the routine and having spare time again I've not managed to use it very productively. Things are settling down a little though and I've been finding time for some input.

Italian

Finally finished reading the Murakami translation, L'uccello che girava le vite del mondo. Main conclusion after that and Norwegian Wood is that Murakami's writing just isn't my thing, but it was a long and quite bizarre book so good practice for Italian. Still not managing much film or TV but I have a few films and series on my list.

I've recently discovered, mostly through looking up things like career and financial advise, sites like Quora and Reddit. I know that I'm very late to the party and they're nothing new or exciting in this day and age, but to me they're new and exciting! I was put off Reddit for many years as it seemed to be a favoured site among people with radical and simplistic political opinions, and the discussions I had come across in places like that awful languagelearning sub were very "basic" and low-quality compared to proper forums so I tarred it all with the same brush, but looking beyond these there's actually a lot of good intellectual discussion on subjects that are interesting and relevant to my life. Similarly Quora has a lot of junk content and some of the endless "Europe vs USA" discussions get tiresome, but there's also plenty great stuff with people sharing their life experiences.

Anyway I'm off on a massive tangent now, but my point is that these sites are also helping me get more language input into my life. Like anything online these days, the best quality and quantity of material is in English, but there's also plenty interesting discussion in other languages to be found. Quora makes it easy to follow questions in other languages so I've started getting the Italian and Spanish feeds; Reddit is trickier but there's some good stuff in r/italy and probably more to discover. They're nice ways to learn more about the life and culture of the countries where these languages are spoken and even some of the "mundane" topics like work and cost of living can be fascinating to read about.

I met up with an Italian friend recently and had a good chat. I also did a few language exchange meetings last month with an Italian who was temporarily in my city, and we're hoping to continue to chat on Skype every now and then. So my speaking is still alive, although not exactly improving. I've even started writing in my Italian diary again after months of inactivity.

Spanish

I felt like my interest in Spanish was really diminishing, especially after the Barcelona experience, but it's been coming back in recent weeks. It's always going to come second place to Italian as it's just never grabbed me the same way, and I've stopped hoping it will or trying to force it, but I still have some appreciation and it's never purely been a practical choice or a "might as well since I know other languages in the family". Last week I went to a "Spain versus Italy" short film screening event with food and wine (no way I could say no to that!) and this week I finally went to the cinema to see Dolor y gloria which I really enjoyed.


I think that both these languages are going to remain "input and occasional practice only" and French and Greek will remain on hold until I'm a bit more settled again, and I'm still trying to understand what place language learning will hold in my life now. It's no longer my main hobby and passion as it was a few years ago and I really can't be bothered with proper study at the moment - and I don't see that as a bad thing, and now wish I had spent a bit more of my twenties focusing on my career and my music - but I clearly still like it and want to keep doing it at some level. I also still have my dream of living in mainland Europe for some time and languages would tie in with that, although for now work and life are going just fine here so it's not something I plan to pursue immediately. In both cases it might just be a matter of going with the flow and following what feels right at the time. Rightly or wrongly, languages were what I wanted to focus on in that period of my life so I did so, and more recently I've become more interested in my career so I'm putting more attention into that, and who knows what the future will bring.

Despite all that I'm still feeling a bit of German wanderlust and thinking it's a question of when rather than if! But it's been on my radar from the beginning of my whole interest in languages. Maybe next time I have a good chunk of free time I'll dive in. Holiday season is only a few months away, and has always been my classic time for starting a new language...

I'm also considering a little visit to Europe in the next month or two, and Spain and Italy are appealing destinations as always.

[garyb]

A bit more input and practice. I gave up on reading La sombra del viento as I just wasn't getting into it. I think the problem was less the story itself and more the format: I started it months ago but was reading it in a very piecemeal way, and I had a free ebook version with dodgy formatting. I'll probably pick it up again in future, commit to it properly, and find a paper copy or pay for the proper ebook - worth it for something much more pleasant to read.

I've instead started on Michel Houellebecq's latest, Sérotonine. So far it's a much less ambitious and more "everyday" novel than many of his others, but his scathing wit and hilariously unromantic sex scenes are as good as ever. Only problem is that parts are just a bit too relatable and at times I'm genuinely afraid I'll end up like one of his protagonists in my middle age: lonely, depressed, living in memories and regrets. But perhaps it's a way to understand and avoid the decisions and attitudes that lead to that kind of future! It's also interesting to refresh my French and see the current state of the language; unsurprisingly more and more English expressions are creeping in, although knowing the author he's perhaps deliberately using lots of them to make a statement about modern French society.

I'm planning a trip in a few weeks, to Portugal! I intend to visit Porto, Coimbra, and of course Lisbon, although other recommendations are welcome. I'll probably try to learn some basic Portuguese beforehand; currently the spoken language is quite opaque to me but judging by my other Romance language experience I imagine that if I learn the basic pronunciation rules and vocabulary it should unlock a lot of comprehension, and understanding conversations around me would really enhance the trip. I don't care too much about speaking for now: too short notice, by all accounts the English level is high there, and above all I want a proper relaxing holiday rather than always thinking and stressing about using my target language and how to ask for things and dealing with English replies, and that was a big reason for not choosing Spain, Italy, or France this time! If necessary I can probably get by with basics plus related language knowledge.

[garyb]

I've made a small start on Portuguese with Michel Thomas. I really wasn't sure what to start with in my case and thought it might be too basic for someone who already knows a few Romance languages, but MT (both the "proper" courses with Michel himself and the "lesser" ones with other teachers) has worked well for me in everything else I've studied and I really didn't want to waste time looking for the "perfect" resource. Assimil for Spanish or Italian speakers might have been a better choice but I'm not sure if a recent edition even exists and I would have had to wait for delivery, and my experience anyway is that MT gives more bang-for-buck in less time which is what I want right now while Assimil is a longer-term commitment to build a more solid base. I have also read a few "Portuguese for Spanish speakers" articles courtesy of Google to understand some key similarities and differences. I see the usual "through a Spanish prism" lecture coming, and fully agree with the principle when going beyond beginner level, but at this stage it's going to be a mess influenced by all my other languages whatever happens

The main stumbling block for now is the pronunciation. Getting into the habit of vowel reduction after working hard to eliminate it in the other Romance languages is going to mess with my brain for sure. The rest should come with practice. I also think that listening to native materials right from the start will be very helpful for learning the basics and getting used to the sounds, and they should become fairly comprehensible fairly quickly, so I'll try to find something suitable.

For now my intention is really just to learn some basics in a short time to get some "quick wins" in comprehension during my trip, and once I'm back I'd really like to get stuck into some German since I'm still very much considering Berlin or other German-speaking places for future work opportunities and even if I don't go for that it'll be good for travel, music, and all the other great things about knowing another language. I'm not discounting the possibility of falling in love with Portugal and wanting to continue with the language, though! That's what happened with Italy...

Mostly though I've just been procrastinating and instead watching and reading things in Italian, Spanish, and French. Classic "you know you're a language nerd when..." stuff, putting off working on one language by working on others. It's nice that Spanish is feeling like a break now at least.