The first major milestone was drunkenly talking to some girls during Carnival. Alcohol lowers inhibitions so I thought I was doing a great job although that's probably not the case. However, it was the first time in my life I've held a conversation in another language and I was stoked. Since then I've talked with street vendors, artisans, and a few other people in party settings although pounding music still destroys my comprehension.
There's a mountain on the edge of Cali with three crosses on top. Its a popular hiking destination for tourists with its panaramic views, and during Semana Santa (Easter Week) local catholics make the pilgramage by the hundreds. When I did it, the Thursday before Easter, there were a couple hundred police spread along the trail but most of the religious people were finished making for a lot of police with nothing to do. Most of them were looking very bored...or sleeping in the bushes, but one of them started talking to me as I walked by.
"Where are you from?" he asked in annunciated uncomfortable English.
"Estados Unidos" I answered, two words which I've practiced a lot.
"What part?"
"San Diego en California"
He looked around at his friends who were in various stages of relaxation and tried to get them to walk with us. It became apparent they weren't moving so he started walking with me alone. We hike for a couple kilometers talking about where I was coming from, where I was going, and what I liked about his country, but what made it interesting was that the whole time I was speaking in Spanish and he was speaking in English. To be fair his English was better than my Spanish so I had to ask him a few words, but we were close to the same level and it was fun to practice with a native speaker that also understood the difficulties of learning a new language so spoke slowly and annunciated.
I felt good about this experience for a whole hour or so until an 8 year old tried to talk to me. I quickly realized I didn't have his vocabulary and I needed to study a lot more.
Sounds awesome, how old was this guy? I think self-doubt is definitely the largest barrier to speaking another language as well as you could. I think I told you that I hung out with those french kids for several hours in near silence until some intoxication kick-started it and I just launched into a story. When you're more focused on getting the ideas out and less focused on the words themselves I think you actually end up finding the words easier
ReplyDeleteHe was in his early 20's. It's definitely better to focus on the idea when communicating instead of the precise words.
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