lunes, 30 de marzo de 2009

Cambia el chip

Learning another language also means learning a different perspective on how to look at reality. There's several important considerations to keep in mind when it comes to learn a new language, Spanish in our case:

1- Usually, in another language, we can say the same things that we say in our languages, but in a different way:

English: I like music.
Spanish: Me gusta la música.
French: J'aime la musique.
Russian: Ya lyublyu muziku.

In this case, French and Russian share the same verb to express something you like ("to love") However, Spanish and English share the same verb ("to like") but with a different structure.

Literal translation from Spanish: To me music is likeable (you say this in English and you could be hurt :)
Literal translation from English: Yo gusto música (you say this in Spanish and you sound like Tarzan :)

All 4 forms or points of view express the same thing: something you like.

2- Many words don't have exact translations, but rather close synonyms.

If I were to translate the word "nice" into Spanish, it would be pretty hard to find an exact synonym. "Agradable"? "Bonito"? Depending on the context.
This place is very nice: I would translate it as "bonito".
She is really nice: I would translate it as "buena or simpática".

So, as an advice: don't think there's always the perfect synonym. Different languages have different perspectives of how to look at reality.

3- Languages are not jigsaw puzzles. The unique answer to a questions just doesn't exist.

Perdone, ¿tiene usted hora?
- Sí. Son las tres.
- Pues las tres van a dar.
- Pues son exactamente las dos y cincuenta y ocho.

You ask somebody the time and they say:

1: It's two.
2: It's almost two.
3: It's two fifty eight.

The real time is 14:58, but the first person didn't want to be so precise. The second is a bit more, by saying almost, but not 14 o'clock. The third person tells you the exact time, hour and minutes. In Spain, for example, almost everybody say options 1 or 2, few people are so precise about time. That has to do with culture? Very likely, we don't mind getting to our appointments a few minutes later. A Japanese student told me in Japan it's the opposite. In Japan time is more valuable and people are punctual, generally speaking.

All these considerations might seem pretty logical, but later in the class, most of student's mistakes come from literal translation from their languages into Spanish.

Welcome

Name: José Carlos
Surname: Godoy Aguilar.
Age: 29
City: Málaga.
Country: Spain.
Profession: Language teacher.

Reason for this blog: teach Spanish and create a space to talk about it: doubts, questions, experiences, mistakes, and practically anything. Learning a language means learning how to think, how to name things, involving many different matters at once. My students can also come here and look for further cultural explanations that have to do with grammar, even though I cover that in the lessons.

What I intend to do is to describe more deeply and with more detail what students usually don't fully understand in class. Sometimes it would take a long time to give a complete and full explanation about some topic, like the subjonctive, the articles, etc.

Experience: 2 years in 4 different schools in Kiev (Ukraine), 1 year teaching online and designing courses, for my own classes and for other websites. Intensive courses in Malaga.

Studies: Master degree in Spanish language for foreigners at the university of Malaga.

Culture + Grammar.-

Language are words, sounds and symbols, but it's also culture. No other culture has the word torero, just because they only exist in the Spanish culture, even though there are corridas de toros (another unexistent word in other cultures) in some other countries. Because that is a reality for this culture (unfortunately), the language needs a word to name that.

All the cultural references and things I'm putting in this blog are in Spanish from Spain, the one I know better, and which is not better or worse than the one from South America, just different, like the British, Australian or American English might be.

The word patio is a Spanish reality, an open space with no roof inside a house. English houses don't have this patios, so they call these things patios when they see one. They usually have a small garden in the house, though (jardín). We have the word jardín too, but for us, garden means a very different thing and reality. Spanish houses (the majority of them) don't have a garden. So, when you ask what the word garden means, you should also ask yourself: who's to answer the question?

That's stupid. I knew that.-

It is really, but some companies don't seem to keep that in mind. Some companies like Lidl (I think it's German) sell from time to time here in Spain: things for your garden. I don't know about Germany, but I'm sure they sell a lot more stuff for garden in Germany than what they sell here in Spain. Just because: who has a garden in the house in Spain? Few people.

That's why I'll mix both language and culture to better understand the reason why we say certain things, why we react in a certain way, why some things about the Spanish language are really non-sense and stupid and others are cool, and might not work in your native language.

Because languages are culture, and culture is created by people, and because people are alive, so is culture, alive and changing.

As Isaac Asimov said in his famous series of books "Foundation", the mass is predictable, but not the individual. Usually in books you see the most common way to say your name is Me llamo José. It's the most predictable thing you can hear out on the street when asking somebody's name. But you might also hear somebody else say: Soy José.

How to predict who will say one thing or another? IMPOSSIBLE. So, this is what I'll try to help you with, to give you the tools to cover most of the possibilities you might come across talking to Spanish speakers. We learn the most common and predictable things in the lessons, but what about the others? I hope to help you with that too... Let's get started.