Language

Spanish. Catalan. What is going on?

Mood: confusion, frustration

Why is Spanish so hard for me sometimes? One day I feel like I’m on top of the world and I can understand EVERYTHING people are saying to me and I can respond coherently. Then the next day everything is gone. I struggle real hard to even get out a sentence that makes sense. I may manage to get out a sentence but then I forget how to conjugate every verb. I like to think of those days as noticing my improvement but it really makes life difficult. I came to Spain with hopes and expectations of learning more Spanish. Sadly those hopes have been put to rest. I live in a homestay with a married couple. They speak Catalan, Spanish and English. It’s really frustrating sometimes because the first day we arrived in Spain they began speaking English to us right off the bat. It was nice to be able to communicate effectively upon arriving but it has also made for a great scapegoat from really progressing in Spanish. It’s very rare that they sit down and eat with us. We have simple conversations in passing. For example, “how was your weekend” just stupid mindless talk. Usually dinner is just left on the table for us to eat anytime after 8 PM. It’s also very interesting to me to observe their relationship. As a young married couple I notice some major differences between a relationships I would see in the United States. First off, Rai works in Madrid and is gone for maybe 10 days at a time or more. Natalia, the wife works for a marketing company however, she travels almost every other weekend to Madrid or on trips with her friends. It’s just very strange to me that they don’t spend a lot of time together. I know most young married couples or even my parents for example come home every night to each other and eat a meal and discuss their days together. Maybe it’s better that they have time apart so that they don’t get sick of each other and fight HA. Just a random thought. UGH I MISS HOME AND EVERYTHING. But, back to the Spanish. The task of learning Spanish is so easy yet so hard for me at the same time. I came to Spain with a moderate background in Spanish. I had taken 4 years in high school and being that I’m from California, I’m constantly surrounded by it. If only I could just be completely immersed and FORCE to speak Spanish for 2-3 weeks maybe even a month. I know I would improve exponentially. It’s still hard to do that here. I hate to say it and feel like a failure that I haven’t improved more. Maybe I have and I just don’t realize. But, with IES run in English and being isolated from other Catalan students in school. Even though, IES claims they have a great education and programs. I really wish I had taken classes outside of the American bubble. I mean what do you learn talking in English about the same things you would about back in the States.