An Old Brain is not an Absorbing Brain

February 3rd, 2009 Posted in culture, day to day, sports

Written by Shanie

One of the struggles for people living abroad in lands of a foreign tongue, is the ability to communicate at a level that equals one’s native language. For those that were lucky enough to learn multiple languages at a young age, we envy you.

When I was 17, I lived in Germany for a year. It was a great experience. Plus, I left speaking better German than English. I literally had to translate English being spoken to me back into German in my head before I understood. Boy, it was sure nice to have a young, absorbing brain. Four years into my life in Argentina and my castellano doesn’t even come close to where I was at with my German.

A few days ago I talked to my parents. Moving along at a good clip on their tandem adventure, they had decided to stay in one place — Oaxaca, Mexico — long enough to take some language classes.

The first thing that my mom expressed to me was how difficult it was to be learning a new idioma. To say the least, I could relate. But, nevertheless, it was interesting hearing it from my mom, who I consider to be a genius at everything.

She then broke into some Spanish. At first I had no idea what she was saying. She was making up words that didn’t exist. I figured out the puzzle and realized she was creating her own combination of the “ser” and “estar” verb. It was so cute. And then I realized that that was me just a few years back.

What am I saying? It still is me sometimes.

Taking on another language is a job of its own when living abroad. But a fun job.

I heard myself correcting my mom’s sentence and accentuating the second i in difícil (difficult). She took right to the pronunciation but still stuck to her adorable word combination.

Either way, she’ll learn with practice and will be able to get her point across. As with all of us adult language learners, time and practice are truly of the essence.

And if I know my mom, she will be speaking better Spanish than me by the time she gets down here.

To check out more about my parents trip, click on the link to the right “Mom and Dad’s Biking to Argentina Blog”.

  1. 5 Responses to “An Old Brain is not an Absorbing Brain”

  2. By Ceci on Feb 4, 2009

    Shanie,

    I can’t agree more. I have been living in your country for more than 4 years and I can’t communicate at a level that equals one’s native language yet. Learning a new language is a fun job, I agree, but requires a lot of patience and dedication.

    In order to get a deeper understanding of other culture you need to know its native language. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the opportunity to learn any other language when I was young so my brain didn’t have any training. Being an adult learner is tough, but it worth. I am sure that one day both of us will become bilingual.

    I hope that my Argentina is treating you well. I love your culture and I admire your country in many ways.

    Saludos,
    Ceci

  3. By sonja on Feb 4, 2009

    like mother, like daughter! I find your parents’ bicycle adventure so inspiring.

  4. By Patagonia on Feb 4, 2009

    You’re so sweet Sonja (:

    I am so inspired as well. I love the pic and the smile on my mom’s face. She may be having a little bit of fun there… (:

  5. By Patagonia on Feb 4, 2009

    Thanks Ceci for the great note. Isn’t the learning process amazing…I think learning a new culture with trying to adapt to the language opens a entirely new part of the human conscience. It makes you think much more and listen that much more intently.
    I am so excited to hear that the US is treating you well. All of us living abroad are tokens towards the world getting along better overall, in my opinion.
    Your English is great, by the way.
    Cheers,
    Shanie

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