So Friday was actually the official day that I had lived in Spain for a month. But in typical Spanish fashion, I'm late with this post by a few days. I guess I'm really settling into the culture, what can I say? :)
So it's been a little more than a month, and I've learned more in this time than any other month in my life. I've settled into my life here. My school here is my school and I know how to get around it, (except for every Wednesday when we have gym I always get lost), and my home here is my home. Walking into this house feels homey, and I hardly think about my home in the US. Things are also going very well with my family. I feel accepted as a second daughter here. A partially deaf and mute daughter (haha, but it's true!), but my family has been nothing but welcoming.
School is still very difficult. Some of my teachers talk at a slow enough speed that I can understand almost everything. But paying attention hasn't gotten any easier. Today I tried to concentrate for my entire psychology class and I feel asleep. Yeah, oops. It's a good thing I'm not in the front row for that class. And it was first period, so I should be cut some slack. :)
My friends are so lovely, and they include me in their weekend plans and everything. I love them <3. This Friday we don't have school because it's some kind of national holiday in Spain, so we are all going to do something together. They all speak English millions of times better than I speak Spanish, but we always speak in Spanish. I asked them to always talk Spanish with me so I can learn, even though naturally they all want to practice their English with me.
Anyways, in this post I want to talk about language, in it's true form, here in a Spanish-speaking country. Here's a fun fact- the Spanish in Spain is actually called Castellano, and I live in the region of Spain called Castilla y Leon. This means that this region is the best place in all of Spain to learn Spanish, because it's where it originated from and there aren't any strong accents or changes in words.
Language really is a central part of life. I didn't realize it so much until I got here, where I MUST learn Spanish if I want to learn anything in school and make friends.
- Firstly, overall there are just a lot less Spanish words than English words. For example, if you look up the Spanish verb "buscar" you get these English equivalents:
search, search for, seek, look, look for, look up, pursue, hunt, seek for, look out, quest, hunt for, look out for, seek after, go after, forage, investigate, scout for, look round, hunt out, prospect for, home in on, scrounge around for.
Personally I think it's a little ridiculous. Why does the English language need so many words? Anyway, this is a huge benefit for me as I learn Spanish, but not so great for the native Spanish speakers here trying to learn English.
-I learned Mexican Spanish in school; and, well, I'm living in Spain. So there are definitely differences. Firstly, some of the words I have learned are like jokes here- nobody ever uses them and everybody knows they are Mexican words. (Spain overall really does not like Mexicans.) For example: carro, computadora, and papas fritas. Spain uses the words coche, ordenador, and patatas fritas.
-Spaniards don't use the subjunctive very much. The subjunctive is a "mood" we don't have in English, but used for uncertainty, doubt, things like this. It's something else that I learned a lot in school, but here in Spain anyways, people always seem to find a way to say something without using the subjunctive. I almost never hear it. (But then again, I'm still not even close to understanding everything.) However, I do see the use of the subjunctive in my books for school.
- People living in Spain are known to have a bit of an accent, or "lisp." While this is true, it definitely doesn't stick out to me as much as I thought it would. The way everyone speaks to me sounds correct, like what I've always heard, it doesn't sound like a "lisp" or "speech problem," haha. An example would be when they say "Gracias," the ci sound: instead of sounding like "si" (yes) sounds like "thee."
- The final thing would be in Spain people are much more open, and honest. For example, my friends will talk about people as "really fat" or "ugly." It's really different, it seems kinda disrespectful, but then again, at least Spaniards are always honest!
Hasta pronto, Besos, Lani.
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