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Dave

Mar 18, 2008, 8:31 AM

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Speaking Spanish

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I have heard that since not many people speak English in Morelia, expats locating there should be very fluent in Spanish. I speak a little and can mostly make myself understood, but my wife is just beginning. We are planning to take language courses immediately upon relocating and are committed to becoming fluent. Can you give me some idea how much of a problem it would be if we were not immediately fluent in Spanish.

David H.

raferguson

Mar 18, 2008, 10:38 AM

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Re: [Dave] Speaking Spanish

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My spouse is far from fluent, and has been muddling through very well, as evidenced from our last trip to a place where very little English was spoken. She went shopping with some ladies who did not speak Spanish, and she acted as translator. I just let her do her own thing, and only came over to help if she asked.

If you move to a place where little English is spoken, you should sign up for weekly classes, preferably with a tutor. This allows study and practice (in the markets) to work together. If your wife is having trouble in the markets, get the tutor to help her with that kind of dialog, until she has the usual stuff down pat.

There are a few people who never seem to learn Spanish, more than at the most basic level, even after living many years in a place where little English is spoken. I am not sure how much of that is due to true incapability, vs. lack of effort. I remember talking to a British expatriate who had lived in Mexico 20 years. When I asked her if she spoke Spanish she said "only kitchen spanish, I am afraid". I met someone on this last trip who had lived in Catemaco for 7 years, who spoke very little, perhaps due to a hearing problem.

I remember reading about a educational consultant telling a group of teachers that every student can learn. A teacher stood up and told him, "You don't understand, some students just can't learn German". His reply was "Well, its a good thing that they weren't born in Germany."

Not sure how much age has to do with it, other than that children under about 8 years old can learn languages very easily, without an accent. Those who learn languages later tend to have an accent, and actually use a different part of their brain to speak the new language, vs their native tongue. I do see sometimes that the elderly, often the over 80 crowd, seem to have lost their ability to learn anything new, let alone a new language. But I think that a 60 something person who is still mentally sharp should be able to learn a new language.

You can get by with very little Spanish, but of course the more you speak, the more convenient life is, and the more you can join the local community.

Richard

http://www.fergusonsculpture.com

jennifer rose

Mar 18, 2008, 12:22 PM

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Re: [Dave] Speaking Spanish

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While Morelia certainly doesn't have the English-only aspects of San Miguel de Allende or the Lake Chapala neighborhoods, the notion that a foreigner living here must be "very fluent in Spanish" is not correct. Give it the old college try, and you should do just fine.

Linda in Morelia

Mar 18, 2008, 4:34 PM

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Re: [Dave] Speaking Spanish

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My husband and I recently moved to Morelia and I would classify our spanish level as beginners. We are studying with Baden-Powell Institute, which we highly recommend. In addition to structured classes, they also offer daily sessions where English and Spanish language students practice with each other (at no additional cost). I think if you are committed to learning Spanish, you will do fine. For example, we subject each taxi driver we encounter to our feeble attempts to speak Spanish. They are a captive audience and so far no one has thrown us out of the car. If you don't want to learn Spanish, I would not recommend living in Morelia. It's all about practice anywhere and everywhere you can.

Linda

Rock

Mar 19, 2008, 6:04 PM

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Re: [Dave] Speaking Spanish

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David: Just thank your lucky stars you are going from English to Spanish instead of vice versa. I spent six years teaching English to adult Spanish speakers new to northwest Arkansas. Think of how many sounds each vowel has in English...a minimum of four and some with more. In Spanish, each vowel has but one sound! I suggest that you and your wife first learn the basic phrases of everyday living, and focus on their correct pronunciations. There is no real immediate need to learn to conjugate verbs in all their various forms. I envy your future experience in Morelia, or whever you end up. Just have fun with it! As you make mistakes--and you will--learn to just smack yourself alongside the head, chuckle que pendejadas!, and let the native speaker be your tutor for that "teachable moment." Rock

esperanza

Mar 19, 2008, 6:07 PM

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Re: [Rock] Speaking Spanish

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IMHO, it would be better to chuckle, "qué tonterías". 'Pendejadas' isn't exactly acceptable at all levels of society. Understood, yes, but not acceptable!

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sioux4noff

Mar 20, 2008, 12:31 PM

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Re: [esperanza] Speaking Spanish

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I agree with that Esperanza. It is really better to not use much slang until you really have a handle on a language. We have a couple Mexican friends who use way too much street slang in their English. I'm pretty sure they don't realize how unacceptable in some situations the words are.
And likewise, I am never really sure how trashy the Spanish slang I occasionally use is. So I try to restrict it to situations where I know it doesn't matter.

Rock

Mar 20, 2008, 7:14 PM

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Re: [sioux4noff] Speaking Spanish

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I am in total agreement with both you and Esperenza...context is everything. I might say this in response to a taxista when we're talking "man to man," but definitely not in a mixed group of natives over dinner. Actually, I really meant that it's the thought that counts. If you goof, accept a correction with the helping spirit in which it is offered, acknowledge that to err is human, and go from there. Looking back on my years of teaching ESL to adults, it was frequently the errors on the part of both the teacher and the students that resulted in that wonderful feeling of "we're all in this together." The point I was hoping to make was that learning Spanish can be a ball, not drudgery.