wendy devlin
May 31, 2006, 7:10 AM
Post #5 of 10
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>Confused most of the time using Spanish. Things like this just throw me for a loop when I think I am getting someplace with the language.
una cosita, Shoe.
En Melaque, la gente habla el español ranchero...en general.
By this, meaning, people there speak a great deal of slang and use many idioms in everyday language. They also drop sounds off words, for example: "por favor" might be heard as 'pa fav'.
Friends from Guadalajara and other inland cities call such spanish, ranchero, as in from the ranch, and do not consider it proper spanish. But heh! One needs to communicate in the local language, no?
Plus Spanish is often spoken so fast that words are not heard distinct from each other. Sounds tend to run together in a sentence which makes it more difficult for a learner to pick out what is being said.
These kinds of variables could be contributing to ability to understand the local spanish. And learning a new language at an older age, is challenging.
I know, I learned most of my splangish in Melaque after 45:)
Also I found there that many people, not ever having learned a second language themselves, might slow down for a moment, when asked to speak, "más despacio, por favor" but soon would speed up to lightning levels again.
With people talking this way, I try to get the 'gist' of what was being said and catch the local idioms.
For actual communication and practice learning, I sought out people who were genuinely interested in communicating with me. They would consciously slow their speech down to a level where I could 'catch' more of it.
The more we 'talked' over time, the faster they could speed up their spanish.
Plus knowing background context to a conversation helps tremendousily.
The more familiarity we have with each other, the more understood words are shared to provide context.
Say, if we were talking about our families; we might already each know every member's names, what their personalities are like, what they do or don't do, what we adore about them and what drives us a little crazy.
Conversations flow more easily when common ground has been established and like a garden, tended regularily.
(This post was edited by wendy devlin on May 31, 2006, 7:14 AM)
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