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Oh how the mighty have fallen:
On learning a new language
Jay Bildstein |
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I
remember one day in New York City when I had just completed a television
show about current events when the producer asked if I could stay
as a commentator on the next program. The invited guest was
unable to make it to the studio and so the network was between a
rock and a hard place. I instantly agreed to do the segment
and had all of five minutes to prepare being handed a few newspaper
articles about the topic for discussion. I went back on air
without a second thought. I was a professional public speaker
and for me to do a show, even with short preparation time, was like
asking a fish to swim.
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After
the second show the same producer came back to me and timidly asked
if I could fill in, yet again, for a guest who could not make it;
this time I would have an hour to ready myself before the show.
Although my schedule was tight, I made a few phone calls, rearranged
my plans and agreed to stay for the additional slot. In one
day I had done three shows on live television and it was as natural
for me as breathing.
I had come to take my verbal ability for granted. When I was
a young child I suffered from a speech impediment which resulted
in my taking special classes to correct it. As time wore on,
my difficulty in talking was overcome and I never looked back.
From fifth grade or so I was all too eager to speak on just about
any topic at anytime.
The oral medium became a central part of my life. I was not
Brad Pitt good looking, I wasn’t going to make the Olympics,
but I did have something that garnered me positive attention and
praise; my ability to speak. To say that I became a bit arrogant
about my ability is probably fair. I took for granted my good
fortune in having the opportunity to cultivate a talent.
That was when speaking English.
Coming to Mexico and working at learning Spanish was just the jolt
of humility I needed to put my feet back on the ground. While
I may have felt like a master of the universe in my native tongue,
in Spanish, I felt and at times continue to feel about 70 IQ points
off what I was back home. Once upon a time, I did three television
shows in a day and now I was struggling to ask for directions to
the bathroom. |
UniVerso
te invita a ejercitar
tus habilidades de traductor |
¿Alguna
vez has resuelto crucigramas en una publicación, cuyos
resultados se publican al día siguiente? Este ejercicio
de traducción funcionará más o menos
así.
Dos veces al mes se publicará un texto en inglés
escrito por Jay Bildstein. La semana siguiente se publicará
una traducción realizada por personal o estudiantes
de la Escuela para Estudiantes Extranjeros.
Te invitamos a que durante la semana realices una versión
traducida por ti o tus compañeros y la compares con
la que se publique. En el caso de la traducción a diferenciador
ejemplo de las matemáticas, no existe una única
respuesta correcta, pero seguramente esta será una
experiencia divertida y que te ayudará a mejorar tus
habilidades bilingües.
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I
have played “Loteria” and have had folks laugh when
I drew the card with “Corona” and instead I pronounced
the word as if it was “Cabrona.” I once thought
I was asking someone how his dogs were, phrasing the question
“¿Cómo estas perro?” and could not understand
why he got upset until I realized that I had asked him “How
are you dog?” when I meant to say “¿Cómo
estan tus perros?”
I have made a few observations about learning a new language.
To develop an ability to communicate you have to be willing to make
a lot of mistakes. I am still reticent, at times, to speak
in Spanish because I feel I will not be looked at in the same light
as I was in my homeland speaking English. This false pride
has to go. I understand now that for me to grow as a human
being and as an “hispanohablante” I have to be
willing to make tons of errors and keep coming back again and again
until I get it right. I have noticed non-native speakers of
English struggle with the same reluctance to speak in their new
language. We just have to get over this.
I still suffer with the gender of nouns, especially, with words
that don’t follow predictable patterns. My use of the
subjunctive tense in my spoken Spanish is fleeting, yet I now remember
to use “sea” after “Ojala.” At times
I am shy to speak, but I force myself to do so even when I feel
just plain dumb.
All and all, the process of studying Spanish has been positive.
I still have much to learn and I look forward to learning it.
Many cultural vistas have been opened to me by immersing myself
in this language. I not only understand more about a different
way of speaking and at times thinking, but I have developed greater
self-mastery. I understand that what made me a good speaker
in English can do the same for me in Spanish. It is not the
ability to wow folks with fancy words or cleverly crafted lines
that make someone an effective communicator. In any tongue,
sincerity is king, a capacity we can all exercise if we want to.
In that sense we can communicate well, if not perfectly, in whatever
new language we apply ourselves to. Eloquence may be entertaining
but open hearted speech is enlightening. We can all endeavor
not simply to improve our linguistic abilities, but to be more soul
searching and reflective in our discourse. For that lesson
and others I am grateful to be a student of the Spanish language.
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