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 Vallarta Living | March 2006 
Viviendo en México - Learning to Speak Spanish
 Korah Winn - PVNN
| | Korah's currently taking courses at El Centro de Estudios Para Extranjeros in Guadalajara. |
I have entered my second five-week session of classes for this semester at my school in Guadalajara - El Centro de Estudios Para Extranjeros. I am currently taking a theatre course and also a class on la formación del estado (the formation of the state.) It is so nice to take a breather from grammar.
My classes are completely in Spanish so there are definitely times where the content is going way over my head, but it is amazing how after you get a basic vocabulary, you can begin getting the gist of what is going on by grabbing a few words here and there and construing meaning from them.
In about a week, I am going to be coming up on my mark of having lived in Mexico for half a year. I have to evaluate if this has all been worth it. I need to be honest with myself and admit that I am not as far along as I wanted to be, but I also have to rejoice because I can communicate now.
I have gaping holes in many areas, but at least I can normally say enough words to get my point across. No matter how much I want it to be so, I cannot just read a book and know Spanish. No matter how much I want to snap my fingers and know how to speak fluently, I have to be patient as my vocabulary slowly takes steps day by day.
Has this experience been vale la pena (worth the pain?) Yes. Will I be glad to be back in my own country where everyone understands me perfectly fine? YES! I can wish for the rest of my life that my parents had made it possible for me to learn Spanish as a child, but that is not going to change the fact that things did not happen that way.
I am going to have to treat this as a life-long project in order to actually speak the language to the degree I desire. I am also going to encourage as many people as possible to join me in learning another language.
Learning to speak someone else's language allows you to go to places and have experiences that you might have missed out on had you not stretched yourself. Learning gives you empathy for others and it also gives you more understanding of cultural differences.
No matter how much I thought I knew about Mexicans before I came here, it is nothing in comparison to what I know now because my life has intersected with the lives of real Mexicans living in their own country.
I no longer have to rely on stories, jokes, legends or whispered fears anymore to paint a picture in my mind of who these people are with whom we share a border. These people can be funny, generous, pushy, racist, rich, discontent, joyful, sad, frustrated, aspiring, confident and proud of their country... just like us.
Do not be satisfied with believing in the stereotypes you have been taught. Do not think you know what a person is like just because you know what "side" of town they come from. Find out for yourself. Ask questions. Be open to the idea that you do not know everything.
Curiosity and a desire to discover new things are known as traits of children. We are all growing older, but we do not have to also grow dull. We can choose to continue to be curious and we can seek out understanding for ourselves. I feel it is better than just shrugging our shoulders and saying, "No me importa" (I don't care.) |
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