A Blog about Everything

Wednesday, November 15, 2006

Yo hablo espanol ( or die trying)

For the past 10 months or so, I've been taking Spanish classes at the local library. It was an easy language to learn, or so I had been told. The spelling is phonetic and because I already had some background in French and the both languages are derived from Latin, I figured this would be a snap. And besides, back in High School I sailed through French class with straight A's and very little effort. Now, decades later, it should still be that easy.

Wrong.

It's true that the spelling of Spanish words is more logical than those in French or even English. It's true that the meaning of many words can be guessed from their similarity to one of those other languages. But there are problems with my learning curve. Problems include the fact that there are at least 14 different verb tenses, many of which do not have an equivalent in English. There are four forms of the word "you", but one of them only is in use in one region of Spain and therefore we don't have to learn it. Apparently I won't be visiting that region of Spain. Probably a good idea, because the verb conjugations for that form look like a hybrid of French and Spanish. Then there are the pronouns, which may be left out entirely in some cases, may be either direct or indirect, or may come before the verb or attached to the end of it. The same word may refer to "his" "hers" or "yours".
No comprendo.
What I have learned is that anyone who arrogantly says "why don't they just learn English!' about recently arrived immigrants....it's not that easy to learn another language. Especially when you're an adult past a certain age.

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