Today we talk about reasons why some people want to learn another language, common obstacles, and solutions to overcome them.
Alessandra: Hi all! Welcome to another episode of Madre Mía! I am Alessandra.
Veronica: Hi, I’m Veronica.
Evelyn: Hello, I’m Oma, Evelyn.
Alessandra: Today we are going to talk about the motivations, difficulties, and solutions for learning languages. And this idea comes from a class I had in Seville, Spain and I read an article in the class called, "Why is it so hard for us to learn languages?" So let's start with the motivations.
Veronica: What are your motivations, Alessandra, to learn Spanish?
Alessandra: Well, my biggest motivation has always been my personal interest with my family because on my mother's side the whole family speaks Spanish and lives in Colombia. So I have always wanted to speak the language there in Colombia when we visit them and also when we travel to other countries, such as Spain and Panama.
Veronica: Mexico.
Alessandra: Yes, and Mexico too. I like-- I prefer to speak in the native language.
Veronica: Yes of course. It's a very good idea.
Alessandra: Yes, and someday I want to live in a different country, so I have to practice. And what other motivations are there?
Veronica: It can be professionally, right? Like-- Mommy, you know about that, so for certain professional jobs you need another language or help in knowing another language.
Evelyn: Yes, my motivation is to keep Spanish up to date, always up to date, always practice it because in the interpreting profession you have to maintain a very, very wide vocabulary, especially the legal vocabulary, right? And it is also, well, for personal motivation, because I like it and I feel very, very proud to be able to speak several languages, not only English and Spanish but I still speak the Italian that I learned in Italy when I was very young. Things that I read and well, my motivation for that language, to keep that language alive is because it is a beautiful language. For me the most beautiful language that exists is Italian, and that is why I keep up to date, reading it, practicing it when I can. I have no one to practice it with, speak it, but with my older sister, but no, we always speak English and Spanish with each other.
Alessandra: Yes.
Evelyn: So-- but, but that's very personal.
Alessandra: Yes, and in the article people in other countries do not-- who do not speak English say that in their work English is fundamental. So for me and for us, we are lucky that we already know English because everyone wants to know English for personal reasons but also international relations and their professions.
Evelyn: Professional, yes, absolutely. It is the world language, basically universal.
Alessandra: Yes.
Evelyn: For example, I work with interpreters from every conceivable country, many interpreters from India, from China where many dialects are spoken in India, in India many dialects are spoken, but all people speak English perfectly. And it is very interesting to see how they educate children in those countries. They are very aware of the importance of English and almost all students, those who continue their studies, until they finish their studies and even when they can graduate in their careers, all speak English. Everyone knows the importance of speaking English.
Alessandra: Yes, it’s true.
Evelyn: English is in everything, it is in everything, in technology. Look at all the topics-- all the-- the tech vocabulary is practically English, right?
Alessandra: Yes.
Veronica: And here in the United States, well, as English is the main language, Spanish is another language that is important to know for, that is, a second language, for Americans to learn Spanish because there are so many Spanish-speaking people. And even-- well, their professions are important too, but there are a lot of people who don't think it's important to learn another language.
Evelyn: Yes.
Alessandra: And also when North Americans travel to Spanish-speaking countries, they expect that they should know English instead of the other way around.
Veronica: Instead of-- yes.
Alessandra: But that’s bad, I think.
Veronica: Yes, having the expectation that everyone speaks your native language when you go to other countries, no, it doesn't seem right to me. In other words, if you go to a country where they speak another language, you should educate yourself a little to learn that language from where-- from the nation where you go, and also to, to show a little--
Alessandra: Humility?
Veronica: Humility?
Evelyn: No, respect.
Veronica: Respect, yes.
Evelyn: Yes, yes respect, interest, yes.
Veronica: With those people, but there are people who don't think that is important, they think that, “No, well, they should know my language instead of me knowing their language.”
Alessandra: Yes, of course not all Americans will know another language, but the important thing is that they try.
Veronica: Try, yes, or before your trip to learn a little or at least to have a list of questions to show that you have a little interest in their language and respect for being there.
Alessandra: Yes, well, I know that it is very difficult and now we are going to talk about the greatest difficulties.
Evelyn: Alessandra, what are your biggest difficulties learning Spanish? What costs you more work?
Alessandra: Yes, it is very difficult for me not to translate in my mind before speaking. I always have to think in English and it doesn't come out of my mouth fluently, so it's very difficult. And it is also impossible for me to understand people who speak very fast.
Evelyn: Yes, yes, yes yes.
Alessandra: But if they speak more slowly, I can understand. And if I see it on paper, I can read and understand it perfectly without any difficulty, but--
Veronica: No difficulty.
Alessandra: No difficulty, but I can’t hear a person on the street talking to his friends, and most of the time I can’t understand, I can’t eavesdrop.
Evelyn: Yes, sure, because they are talking very quickly. Look, for example, the-- all Caribbean people speak very fast. For example, the Dominicans, before I can interpret for a Dominican I have to tell him, “You are going to have to speak slowly to me.” Because they speak at 1000, it’s very difficult, not because I don't understand them but because I don't have time to note what they are saying, to write down what they are saying to be able to repeat it later because they speak too fast. People, for example, from the interior speak a little more slowly. Ecuadorians speak a little more slowly, Peruvians. The people from the coast are the Caribbeans who speak very, very fast.
Alessandra: Yes.
Evelyn: And it's a matter of training your ear little by little, you go-- stand in the midst of these people long enough you will be able to understand them.
Alessandra: Yes.
Evelyn: You will be able to understand more and more. Your ear is capturing, it is training.
Alessandra: Yes, of course.
Evelyn: It's a matter of time. When-- I'm going to tell you something. When people realize that you need to understand it, they will speak to you more slowly. They will speak to you more slowly.
Alessandra: And I say, “Oh, that's what you were saying! Oh okay, okay. It makes sense now.” Also, they say-- a funny thing is Bad Bunny, an artist, he is Puerto Rican--
Veronica: Puerto Rican.
Alessandra: Puerto Rican.
Evelyn: Or “boricua” too, they call Puerto Ricans "boricuas."
Alessandra: Yes, but there is a song, that I was watching the video of the song, which is called “ONE DAY” with J Balvin, Tainy, Dua Lipa and him, and a comment on YouTube was, “There is-- this song has three languages: English, Spanish and Bad Bunny. " Because no-- no one can understand what--
Evelyn: What he’s saying.
Veronica: Because he talks really fast, or?
Alessandra: I don't know, the accent is-- or it can also be the colloquial phrases. That is also something that is really difficult for me. When I was living in Spain, in Seville, Andalusia, there are many colloquial phrases that are not said in other parts, of the country nor the world.
Evelyn: Interesting, that happens everywhere, all places in the world have their very particular things, as you say, they are phrases, idiomatic expressions of a place.
Alessandra: Yes.
Evelyn: They are-- very interesting, very interesting.
Alessandra: Other respondents in the article say that some difficulties are that they are embarrassed to speak in public and have the feeling that, “Oh, I am going to make a fool of myself,” and feel insecure or nervous to speak in public.
Evelyn: And that's a shame because the person who tries and tries-- or puts a lot of effort into learning, speaking a language should be admired, not ridiculed. You have to admire that person, not ridicule her. And whoever ridicules such a person is ignorant.
Alessandra: Yes, I agree.
Veronica: Yes.
Evelyn: And I admire people who try to speak English and they do it with difficulties and with many mistakes but they try. And that is to be admired, that is to be admired. Do not be afraid because if they ridicule you, it is their problem, not yours.
Veronica: Yes, they are ignorant people.
Evelyn: Yes.
Alessandra: Other reasons are for pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary. And among beginners of languages like Russian, Arabic, or Hebrew, or Japanese they have more difficulties reading and writing because those languages have different letters.
Veronica: Yes, it's harder because if you don't know what a letter means, you can't-- how are you going to learn?
Evelyn: Yes, and in truth they are not letters, they are symbols. They are-- they don't use our alphabet and well that has to be learned, I imagine it must be difficult.
Alessandra: Yes. Okay, the solutions to overcome them.
Veronica: What do you think-- what solutions are there?
Alessandra: Well, when I get blocked, I ask for help. The important thing to me is that, well, there is always a solution.
Veronica: You can signal, you can signal, so if you're talking to the person in front of you, you can signal, like body language, right? With your hands you can try to explain what you are trying to say, many times they understand you.
Alessandra: Yes, in the article they say that a trick is if someone does not understand you, you explain it to them in another way. Well, with the-- the hands or using different words, yes.
Veronica: ... the same or try to-- well, yeah--
Evelyn: Or how about, or how about saying it in English? Say-- if that person speaks a little bit, he or she can help you.
Alessandra: Yes, yes, and most people are nice and will patiently help you, and if not, well, it’s fine.
Evelyn: It’s their problem.
Veronica: But also now, now with everything-- with the-- technology, there are many apps on phones that have translations, you can use that too, that's another way to help you.
Alessandra: Yes, many times in a conversation, I don't know just one word, it's not a whole sentence, so it's very easy--
Veronica: To search.
Alessandra: To search, to investigate--
Veronica: The word.
Alessandra: The single word.
Veronica: Yes, I sometimes, well, well, many times I also have to do that even though I am a Spanish speaker, it is difficult for me because I am forgetting the language. I have to, I have to look on my phone to see how that word is said.
Alessandra: Yes. And I also make it up and a lot of times it works, something--
Veronica: You make up the word?
Alessandra: Yes, yes because I know the language pretty good--
Veronica: Pretty well.
Alessandra: Yes, sorry. Clearly not!
Evelyn: Well, who knows, your invention may one day end up in the Royal Academy's dictionaries. Look, speaking of technology, yes, there is definitely a lot, a lot of help and it is very, very interesting, well, speaking of translations, to see what the nonsense that some of these technologies commit, right? Because they are computers after all. For example, I love when I go to Home Depot or Lowe’s, I love to read the instructions on the boxes, the translations from English to Spanish. And there are some nonsense, because they are very funny because you can see that they were taken from Google or who knows where, from what electronic dictionary, but, but--
Veronica: Yes, it was not a person who translated it--
Evelyn: Obviously yes, obviously. Yes, obviously.
Veronica: And also many people who make up words, combine a word, let's say in English, and make it as if it were a word in Spanish, from Spanish.
Alessandra: But a lot of times it works.
Veronica: It works, yes, no, I don't know how, but. I mean the word is invented, like how we say "exit" in English, people say "success, success." But that's not, isn't--
Evelyn: It's not-- of course not. That is not correct Spanish.
Alessandra: But that's what I was saying that, I know the language pretty well so I can use a root of a word--
Veronica: The root.
Alessandra: The root of a word, and I try to transform it into the adjective or verb form, you know?
Veronica: Ah, yes.
Alessandra: I don't know if this is-- this is the word but that is my guess?
Veronica: A--
Alessandra: Adivinación?
Veronica: Guess.
Evelyn: Assumption, your-- the assumption. You suppose that's the word.
Alessandra: Yes, and also to overcome the difficulties, of course you can watch movies and series in the language, and to listen--
Veronica: To listen.
Alessandra: Yes, to listen to conversations, or better, to spend time in another country, read or listen to music and podcasts in the language. That's what I do.
Evelyn: When I studied at the University of Arizona, in Tucson, I went to study, well, interpretation, right? Legal. And my teacher of-- one of my teachers, Dr. Susan Hartman, she would tell me, after listening to my recordings, she would tell me, “You have to watch, listen to soap operas.” And that was put into writing, and I was terrified, “Soap operas? How do you learn a language on--” And she said, “Yes.” Because my register when I interpreted was very high. I interpreted at the level, for example, of a judge, of a lawyer. And when it came to a person with little education, I did not know how to reduce the register because I was trained to speak in the highest register that you want-- in which you want to speak. Because you educate yourself to speak well, to speak with a high register, but these people who are not very-- are not very educated, I did them, I made them look like they were very educated people. And she said to me, “You have to know how to reduce that register, speak like that person. Lower the register, don't speak so sophisticated.” And he told me that this was corrected by listening to soap operas, to listen to the colloquial language, the language of the people, the language that ordinary people speak. And one had to switch from the judge's register to that uneducated person's register.
Veronica: Yes, because they are daily conversations.
Evelyn: They are everyday.
Veronica: Everyday.
Evelyn: No, it's an ordinary language that we all speak, right? At home or in town, right? It's-- and you have to know how to use those two very different registers, so I would raise the register, lower the register, raise the register, lower the register. And that's how it has to be, and it's very difficult when you're a court interpreter, to be able to do that on the witness stand. For example, do-- a person who does not know how to compose a grammatically correct sentence, you have to interpret the way that person speaks.
Alessandra: And that's very difficult, you can't teach that in a class, I think.
Evelyn: It's a lot of practice and a lot of immersion in the culture too. And listening to soap operas helps you, that.
Alessandra: Well, we come to the end of the episode. Thanks for listening! I loved this topic, right?
Veronica: Me too, yes. I learned a lot from, especially the high and low registers. It's very interesting how they made you think about that.
Alessandra: Yes, well. Thank you! Until next time!
Veronica: Bye!
Evelyn: Goodbye!
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