I don’t speak Spanish very well, but, fingers crossed, I’m on the way to the linguistic enlightenment this year. Hope this will be slightly easier for me than for some people who never learnt a second language – after all, been there, done that when trying to master English. Although, to be fair, I was some twenty years younger back then. Anyway, having reached deep to dry-mouthed and sweaty-palmed memories of a stammered ‘Hello, my name is…’, I came up with the following plan to teach myself Spanish.
The book
OK, so I’m old-fashioned and I like books. And I learn by writing things down and figuring out grammar rules. Shoot me… I got myself (Teach Yourself) Complete Spanish, complete with two CDs (remember them?) and a promise that the book will take me from the beginner to the B2 level of the ‘Common European Framework’ (whatever this might be). So far it got me to Unit 2 and I still don’t know what to say when my Spanish-speaking work colleague greets me with his ‘Como esta’, but I hope that my long commute will finally prove not to be a complete waste of time. And I did transfer the CD recordings to my smartphone. Not so old-fashioned after all.
Movies
I also try to get to know Spanish cinema – watching Spanish movies with English subtitles is a good idea if you’re trying to learn the language. Unfortunately, watching Spanish movies (with English subtitles) proves problematic when you solely rely on Netflix. First of all, Netflix ‘International movies’ category, very helpfully, does not specify which country a movie is from or what language it’s in, so it’s trial and error (mostly the latter one) when you’re trying to find something in Spanish. Plus, even when you finally manage to find a Spanish movie, it’s rarely worth watching. Spanish Affair 2 anyone? Let me tell you, Almodovar it ain’t. But I enjoyed Bomb scared.
Being there
The upside of a prolonged search for a property in Spain is that you get to go there a few times, which means that you have a chance to pick up a word or two now and then. My partner, for example, can now (very fluently) order a beer in a bar, although I still struggle with ‘tinto de verano’, having however mastered ‘cafe con leche’. I can also identify black pudding on the menu (don’t ask). You also get to learn some random words and phrases, such as for example ‘gula’ – used by our Spanish estate agent when referring to her cat. Admittedly, not particularly useful when you’re trying to locate a working cash machine in the middle of the night, in the middle of an all-Spanish resort, because you need money for a cab, being five miles away from home and really not fancying the prospect of walking back, because you had just walked the same five miles looking for somewhere to eat and having found an over-heated pizzeria, stuffed yourself with a supersized super-supreme pizza and washed it down with tinto de verano. Knowing how to say ‘gluttony’ in Spanish in these circumstances does not help. At all.
SPAIN SUNNY SIDE UP 