Spanish Spelunking

My mind has returned to Spanish in recent weeks.

Reaching comfortable fluency has been a goal of mine since I took my first Spanish class way back in Grade 9. Thanks to my high school Spanish studies meshed with stints living in the Dominican Republic and Costa Rica, and the odd period of consistent practise, I’m what you might call awkwardly intermediate.

No lo suficientemente bueno.

I can read well enough to get the gist of things if the subject matter is unfamiliar. If I’m familiar with the topic at hand, I can usually comprehend most words.

I can navigate interactions in familiar settings where I lead—and limit—the conversation (such as ordering food or coffee or signing up for a gym membership).

But where I stumble is in conversation, mostly due to being slow processing what’s been said (assuming I know all the words used), then putting my response together.

One aspect of this slowness is lack of familiarity with speaking, and thus low confidence—feeling put under pressure and placed on the spot to “perform”. The other aspect is my ear. After all, English has been the soundtrack for most of my life (I think this is where many people who try to learn a language stumble). 

So thanks to a book I unexpectedly stumbled upon—Fluent in 3 Months—which piqued my interest too much to pass over, I’ve decided to start immersing myself in Spanish, from the comfort of Canada. 

While no replacement for actual physical immersion, ‘tis much better than nothing!

Which looks like:

• Journalling in Spanish (I loooved doing this in Costa Rica)

• Listening to reggaeton (which I’ve had a few phases of over the years)

• Speaking to Yuki in Spanish (or perhaps “babbling” is more accurate)

• Reading The Ocean at the End of the Lane in Spanish (slowly… very slowly)

• Texting with my Spanish-speaking friends (in Spanish, if that wasn’t obvious)

And if I can ever find an app that actually feels helpful, I’ll add that into.

In other words, I’m looking for ways to weave more Spanish into everyday life. I’m trying to make this more about “living” than “learning”. 

My hope is that one day, I’ll be able to babble about nothing in Spanish.

With love from the forest,

~ Alexander