March 24, 2023 TwoWritingTeachers.org
¡Vaya!
¡Genial!
Ahora hablo español.
Más o menos,
de todas formas.
Pero realmente
no puedo hablar español.
Puedo leer y escribir un poco.
Mucho más que antes.
Necesito aprender
en una clase,
para poder aprender mucho más.
Y necesito encontrar a una amiga para hablar en español.
Did I say what I tried to say? (I welcome any suggestions for improvement.)
Wow!
Cool!
Now I speak Spanish.
More or less,
anyway.
But I can’t really speak Spanish.
I can read and write a little.
Much more than before.
I need to learn
in a class,
so I can learn much more.
And I need to find a friend to talk to in Spanish.
I am participating in the March Slice of Life Challenge: A slice a day for all of March. Thank you, Two Writing Teachers!
Denise, I love this poem! It displays your earnestness in wanting to learn Spanish. It’d be fun to find a friend to practice with.
Denise,
You need a trip to Oaxaca for about a month so you can practice. Or you could make regular trips across the border. You’re close. You’ve done an amazing job learning and practicing Spanish. If all else fails, watch telenovelas.
Denise, exploring other languages and wondering what I tried to say brings back memories of having a translator for conferences. I remember a particularly challenging one with a parent a long time ago. He kept stealing things from other kids. I told his mother what was happening, and then the translator spoke my words. The mother erupted in her language to ask if I were calling her son a thief. The translator broke in: No one is calling your son a thief, but these things that were in his bookbag he intended to take home are not his.” Sometimes I might even get the attempted words right, but it’s the phrasing of it. I don’t trust myself in the translations. And your post today reminds me of that day and why I’m so grateful for people who speak other languages.
I speak Spanish mas o menos. Just keep trying… even if you make mistakes, your efforts will be appreciated and people will help you. That’s how it has been for me.
Gracias por compartir. Es divertirdo aprender un idioma nuevo para es dificil sin hablar con un amigo. Mis estudiantes puden ayudarme pero es intimidante.
Ah, Mr. W. I always think it’s a good thing when our students teach us. Thank you. Good job on your Spanish comment!
Love this post and poem Denise! I was able to pic out bits of your poem in Spanish as hablo un poco de español, from a long time ago. Good challenge and good luck!
Formidable, Denise. Es seguro que estudiando las lenguas es dificil. Lo que Glenda dice es la verdad. Espero que podras a un país donde hablan español para practicar —y disfrutar tambien.
You are right to find a friend and chat in Spanish – but, wowsa, you are doing amazingly well, I think, writing in Spanish. Look at you, a bilingual poet!!
Thank you so much for providing the translation. Bravo for you, Denise! Keep up the great work!
I can understand it, Denise, and I agree with you. Duolingo is really helpful, but then I try to speak Spanish with someone who speaks Spanish at school, and I’m lost. I can’t pull up the words I need in the verb tense I’d like. I have, however, found a young friend who is learning Polish! We completed a lesson on Duolingo together after school one day (after he revised his writing), as his family speaks it, but he does not. (I do my Polish lessons on Saturdays… more in the summer, I hope.) Anyway, I applaud you for blogging en espanol (how do you do the accents??), and I’m encouraging you to keep it up! 😀
Hi Joy, thanks for the encouragement. I first write what I want to say without the accents and tildes. Then I put it in Google Translate and go back and forth a bit until they correct the spelling. Or another way I do it is search for the word–for instance, when you search for a word like manana, it will come back spelled correctly–mañana.