Vince's post about his German language progress awhile back had me reminiscing about my foray into foreign language learning. Like most public school kids in the US, my quest to learn a new language didn't start until my freshmen year of high school. At that time I was given the option of taking Spanish or French, and I choose Spanish as I thought that would serve me better in Southern California. The first semester was vocabulary building/memorizing and I did quite well, earning an A in the class. The second trimester did not go as well, the teacher I had went out on maternity leave AND verb conjugation started both didn't bode well for my language learning performance and I ended the year with a D...and the requirement to take it over again in order for the language class to count. I had to wait until semester 2 of my sophomore year to retake the class. Again, I did well with the vocabulary but the verb conjugation still threw me for a loop. I think I got by on the teachers sympathy and earned a C by the skin of my teeth. I spent my junior year in Spanish 2 never really getting over the verb conjugation hurdle and ended the course with a C and the (wise?) decision not to continue to Spanish 3 in my senior year.
Once in college, the foreign language requirement reared its ugly head again. Shying away from Spanish due to my previous difficulty, I registered for German 1. Again, the first semester I had a fabulous professor, a great group of classmates, and was able to build up a large repertoire of German vocabulary. When semester 2 came along, there was again a new professor. The one I had was substituting for the tenured professor who had been on a leave. And once again, we had to conjugate verbs. That's where things fell apart. German 1 was as far as I got in college and I left it at that, filling the requirement.
During the first semester, we learned the German word for "hurry up" - Schnell! We spent most of that semester shouting "Schnell! Schnell!" at each other because we found it so amusing. That habit flowed into my life outside of the classroom and after some time, my friends found it annoying and thought for sure I was making up that silly word. Then over winter break, we went to see the movie Shining Through, which takes place during Nazi Germany. At one point, while running through the streets of Berlin, Melanie Griffith shouts, "Schnell! Schnell!" to Michael Douglas. We all looked at each other with wide eyes and giggled right there in the theater. I showed them!
Anyhow, I started up a Spanish class again at the start of the year as it is something I'd really like to learn. I'm just not sure languages are my "thing", but we shall see. It's hard to speak to my students' parents in memorized vocabulary words and not-conjugated verbs.
Christmas Countdown
3 hours ago
Immersion is truly the best way to learn, in my opinion. Like you, we had Spanish and French as our choices in HS and I went with Spanish. I enjoyed four years of it and continued on in college where I actually took composition and literature classes in which we never spoke English. Alas... due to many outside factors, I slacked off, transferred to a large university, and gave up the idea of fluency. Fast forward to my younger daughter's college experience where she got to spend a month in Guatemala in an immersion program. She learned more there than in all her years in an Amercian classroom.
ReplyDeleteConversational classes might be great, but I felt I gained a great deal (which carried over to my English classes) by learning grammar, conjugation, etc.
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ReplyDeleteYes, I agree with both of you. I would love to have gone abroad to be immersed in either language and I know that is the best way to learn it. Sadly, I didn't, and won't have a chance at that until I'm done working I'm afraid. None of my breaks are quite long enough for it and teachers in CA can no longer take work related sabbaticals. So for the time being, the self directed class will be my means. If I can stick with it, then maybe I can justify using a school break to go practice.
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DeleteWhere’d your posts go!?! :)
DeleteDon't know. I was messing with my design this end. Time to re-wallpaper the place.
DeleteI took three years of Spanish in high school thinking it would serve me well with the hispanic population that was starting to grow in our area. Then one day I realized that there was a big difference between Spain spanish and Mexico spanish. I wish I had kept it up though. These days I can't speak it but I can understand about half of what is being said.
ReplyDeleteOh yes there are differences between the Spain Spanish they teach us in schools and the Mexico and Central/South American Spanish we hear so much more of here in the states. But native speakers still get the gist of what you’re saying.
DeleteI’m like you in that I understand quite a bit, but I’m not comfortable at all speaking it in more than just a word or two. Which is another great reason for starting language learning much earlier.