On Language

For the last hour of school today, my class took a walk to the town library for "la ferria de los libros," or "book fair." We entered the lobby of the library to find a few baskets filled with books, some marked "Jovenes" (Children) and others marked "Adultos" (figure it out yourself). My peers and I dug through the baskets until we found something that looked good. My selections: a largely laudatory biography of Che (which kind of scared me) and a compilation of Ray Bradbury short stories. Both books were (obviously) in Spanish. I started reading Bradbury first.


I didn't expect to understand much of it. In AP Spanish we read a number of short stories and I always found them incredibly difficult; I was constantly looking at an online dictionary. Earlier this year, I attempted to read a Philip Roth novel in Spanish. After twenty pages I realized that the only thing I understood was that it took place in Middle America and mentioned wolves a number of times.

So I didn't have high expectations for myself with Mr. Bradbury. I've only been here for a month and a half; I'm not fluent yet.


I was very pleasantly surprised. While I may not be fluent, I have learned how to switch completely into Spanish mode. After speaking only Spanish for a little while, the words come out of my mouth without first translating into English. The process for speaking and understanding Spanish used to be like this:

Topic (the sight, sound, or feel of it) --> word/phrase in English --> word/phrase in Spanish

I have now learned to bypass the second phase for most words, going straight from the idea in my mind to the words in Spanish that communicate that idea.

My problem with reading Spanish before was that I was consistently trying to translate every sentence into English. This slowed me down immensely and also caused me unnecessary trouble for the words I didn't understand. I placed too much emphasis on individual words instead of the general image that that author was trying to convey. When reading Bradbury today, I let myself think only in Spanish. There were many words I didn't know, but I was able to quickly figure out most of their general meanings by understanding the concept of the sentence or paragraph as a whole, the same way you'd quickly figure out a new vocabulary word in English. I was surprised at how vivid Ray Bradbury's stories became for me. I allowed my imagination to create Bradbury's tale in my mind based on his larger concept, rather than relying on every single word he used.

I don't think it is possible to get into this kind of "Spanish mode" with school lessons only. I think you need to be completely surrounded by the language before it can engulf you. A language class can, however, get you pretty close.

I think the key is identifying new words with pictures and sounds rather than the English definition. When communicating, we think primarily in the image of an idea, not the words that express it; as I said, that's the second step. By connecting foreign words primarily with these senses, a student can bypass the second phase - the translation to English. The sensory connection is how we learn our first language as babies, and it is the basis of Rosetta Stone's teaching method. (Admittedly, this has its downsides as well; learning proper grammar requires some traditional education).

Language exercises in my Chinese and Spanish classes often included matching a picture with a new word. I used to think these exercises were unnecessary...if I knew the English definition of a word, I wondered, what's the use in connecting it to a picture as well? That just seems tedious and time-wasting.


And it may be, if all you want to do is get an A on the next test. But if you want to be able to speak quickly and fluidly, those picture connections are actually significantly more important than knowing the English definition. It's well-worth the extra ten minutes of homework.

Now that I've divulged more unnecessary opinions on education...I'll discuss something completely frivolous!


I've been having way too much fun casting Shake-up! Let me know what you think:

Sarah Palin................Julie Walters
George Bush.............Pierce Brosnan (See: Mamma Mia!)
Henry Paulson..........Willem Dafoe (See: American Dreamz)

Cindy McCain...........Amy Poehler
Nancy Pelosi.............Sally Fields
Ben Bernanke...........Tony Shalhoub (The look-alike is just too good. Sorry, George)
Barack Obama..........Will Smith
Michelle Obama.......Jada Pinkett Smith (My favorite character in The Matrix Trilogy after Mouse died)

Featuring:

Britney Spears as Palin's daughter
Dominic Cooper as Palin's future son-in-law
Leonie Hill as Congressional intern #2




Perhaps my knowledge of pop culture and political mishegoss has finally found its purpose. Or maybe I'm actually just insane.