I can't even speak English now, and my Spanish is getting worse.

Wednesday, December 10, 2008

I'm speaking Spanish about 7 hours a day now: In class, at home, and when I'm out. When I'm at lunch, and out at night hanging out with the other students, most (95%) of them are not native English speakers. They are mostly Germans, Swiss, and others. And don't get me wrong, their English is awesome, but not exact, so I'm finding myself speaking really funny English when I do speak it.

And there's another weird phenomenon. It feels like my Spanish is getting worse. I know this isn't true exactly, but when you become more aware of ALL the things you don't know, you realize how much you have to learn, and that the way you are saying things at the current moment is pretty remedial and incorrect. Also, as you get to know people better (your teacher and host family), you want to say more detailed things to them, and understand more about them, and this is obviously difficult because my vocabulary hasn't improved that dramatically in 4 days. This results in the feeling that one's Spanish is rapidly deteriorating rather than improving. Hopefully this is a pendulum effect that will swing back very quickly.

Adios, for now...