Greetings One & All! Since our initial post, we’ve been getting a lot of encouragement, and a bunch of questions about our progress on learning Spanish. So consider this an update!
Why Are We Doing This?
Remember we are trying to give you a monthly update of our progress with speaking more Spanish. We are trying to get good enough to attend a week-long intensive Spanish course, with Pueblo Español. It isn’t just a few hours a day either, it is a full Spanish immersion program for adults. Our update in January was a written update and told you what our plans for improving our Spanish. This month we have a little more for you.
What Have We Done So Far?
Since January 9th, we’ve been attending a local residence course for one hour, twice a week. We’ve also had three online classes with Pueblo Español. Those classes are set in a virtual meeting room where we can see and hear our instructor, and he can see and hear us.
How Are We Presenting This Update?
We decided to do a YouTube video. That way, you can see and hear how we’re coming along. Now for those of you who don’t know any Spanish, you’ll still probably find this entertaining. Trying to figure out the What and How to say things in a foreign language can be frustrating, and it looks the same, no matter the language.
What to look for? The “I’m glancing around the room trying to rack my brains on what/how to say” look. I’m an expert on that look. What does it sound like? You can tell when we’re struggling, because we’ll use the word “Uhhhh” a lot.
Spanish Conversation?
For our Learning Spanish video, we decided that we would do it separately. Why? For a number of reasons:
- We want to! It’s our blog. Our blog; our rules!
- You’ll be better able to see our individual fluency. Heidi is better at Spanish, and has a much larger vocabulary. When we’ve been in Spanish classes together, she carries me. Inevitably, when the instructor asks us about our family, what we do, where we live, etc., Heidi puts together a coherent response.When it’s my turn, I usually give a one word reply, “Mismo” (same). Or, I’ll just point to her, and use the international look of “Yeah, me too!”. Not good, is it? By doing separate videos you’ll see how much more fluent she sounds than I do.
- If we were to have a discussion together in Spanish, our concern was that it would sound either really bad, or it would sound rehearsed.
- I wanted to have some assistance, so I enlisted the lovely Anya Boo to ask me questions in Spanish.
And Let The Reviews Begin
What do you think? It’s OK. We have thick skin. Watching my part of the video makes me cringe. I should have said this, or said that, but it was not rehearsed at all, so it’s more authentic, and a better reflection of how our Spanish language skills are progressing.
Thanks for watching! Stay tuned for our next update…