language learning

… and poured full sentences of Castellano out of my mouth!  Full sentences!  Out of MY mouth! Like mute babies who all of a sudden start talking out of the blue, I started pulling words out of the air to build sensical phrases on the spot. Like a storm, it all just came raining down.

I don’t want to beat this language learning thing like a dead horse, but wow the little victories count for a lot. Last night, the boy’s mom was over for dinner and in one fell swoop I said, “Estoy cansada. Normalmente, no tengo clases los viernes, pero por la huelga de maestras en marzo, tenemos una clase hoy.”

I stopped and looked at the boy, our jaws hanging down to the floor in shock.  Did all of that just come out of my mouth, in real time?! I looked around to see if someone else could have said that out loud because that couldn’t have possibly been me, could it?!

We high-fived across the table like it was new year’s eve 1999. You cannot even imagine the elation.

We celebrated with milanesa de pollo delivery and a kilo bucket of ice cream. Reward systems are important. =)

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After writing about my demoralizing weekend of not being able to communicate with the boy’s family, I’ve received lots of great advice on how I can speed up my uptake of Castellano.  Everything from more dinners out (great!), more local TV watching and tandem language partnering!

I’ve decided that I’m going to look for the Spanish subtitled versions of Sex and the City (at least the subject matter will keep me interested and learning Spanish words for some of the things that come out of Samantha’s mouth will, at the very least, be memorable) and I’m going to purchase a box of flashcards so I can easily collect verbs.  Flashcards worked wonders in university when I was learning formulas, definitions and chemical elements.  My geeklette flashcards were so good, in fact, that people would nearly mug me at the library trying to steal them from me! Yes. Dorkness.

But what I’m most excited about trying is an idea my friend AV sent:  find an interesting Spanish music artist, purchase the CD and learn all of the songs.  Brilliant, right?  I used to be in choir.  I’m all about the singing.

Well, because I’m such a considerate and giving person, I asked the boy last night who his favourite Spanish artist is.  I figured I’d be merciful.  If he’s going to be dealing with my endless singing for the next few weeks maybe he should get a say in my choice of karaoke practice.  

And you know what he answered?

Riki Martin.  

Yes.  That’s Right.  

And I was like, “What?!  You want to hear me singing UNO, DOZ, TRES, LIVIN’ LA VIDA LOCA! all day long?!  Are you nuts?”

And then we thought of Shakira.  She’s cool, she’s hot, she’s a she wolf.  But I can’t be overly ambitious here.  The woman yodels.  And she does crazy things with her hips that I can’t do.  I think she’ll just make me feel more insecure

So, we’re at a standstill.  Riki Martin and Shakira.  That’s the best we could come up with.  Pathetic, right?  

We need help.  Any suggestions?  Carlos Bauté?  Eros Ramazzotti? Sakis? OMG Sakis!  HE IS SO HOT!  Maria and I agreed we’d have his babies together!  But wait, he’s Greek.  I digress.

Advice, anyone?  ;)

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