Hola y un saludo a todos!!

I have been asked a number of times by people who wish to walk the Camino if they need to learn or understand the Spanish language beforehand. Hopefully, this post will lend a hand. On my first trip in 2011, the only knowledge of the language I had was from back in secondary school. I could barely say hello and goodbye, let alone ask for the time or ask for directions. So when I was in Spain, I felt I was missing out on something. One of the guys I was walking with was a language teacher and I was reliant on her when I was out and about. So when I came back from that Camino, I promised myself I would start to learn the language.

Now compared to any other language, Spanish is relatively easy. It is one of the most widely spoken languages also; most of South America speak it and you will almost certainly find someone in the States who knows a word or two. I wanted to learn it for the Camino however, not to travel to those countries. That said, you can get by without knowing a word. The Camino is like a microcosm of the world in general. People from all countries do their best to communicate in their own languages, and it’s often difficult to understand each other. Most people choose to speak in “simple English” and if you are walking for 30 days, you “could” return home with your friends and family finding it hard to understand you!!

So at the start of 2012, I signed up to do an evening course in basic Spanish. It is one option available to you should you wish to delve in. I got to learn the simple stuff, without learning grammar, verbs or getting into conversations. I was fairly happy at the end of the ten weeks so I signed up for the conversational level Spanish. Now I found this a little tougher. The whole premise of this course was to immerse you in the language. No English was allowed and we were kind of made to make mistakes in Spanish no matter how bad they were. It was tough going but I came out with alot more knowledge than I had.

Fast forward to now…I can understand a Spanish conversation and can speak but at a slow enough speed. I am delighted I made the decision to learn. It is sad that most people in Ireland only speak one language, but if you go to Spain, they speak three or Holland, they speak four.

There are plenty of resources out there available to you should you wish to learn from scratch and here are just a few:

1. SpanishforCamino.com – María Seco breaks down Spanish vocab and phrases with the pilgrim in mind. She lives in Pontevedra on the Camino Portugués.
2. Duolingo.com – You can sign up for free and learn from scratch. The userface is very attractive and there are great incentives that make you come back each day. I’m currently topping up my Spanish there, whilst re-learning Irish.
3. Lightspeed Spanish – Another fabulous website that offers tutorials for all levels, from absolute beginners to advanced speakers. Gordon and Cynthia provide podcasts and YouTube videos and last year published a book which I have bought “Victor’s Adventures in Spain”.
4. Coffee Break Spanish – Another site that provides podcasts. I found this very helpful but don’t let their Scottish accents put you off 🙂
5. Mi Vida Loca – Not so much geared to those walking the Camino but a great place to start out if you want to learn Spanish. “My crazy life” is an online drama that includes you. It is fully interactive and gives you great vocabulary. I still go back to it to refresh.
6. Camino Lingo – I don’t own this book, but it has been recommended on the Camino Forum. A basic, all-you-need book providing vocabulary to use while on the Camino.

There are also many many websites that send you daily emails with vocab and phrases. They certainly help.

But with regards to the Camino, Spanish is not essential but it helps to know the basics. I certainly get a great thrill speaking to locals and I try my best to speak as much of the language as I can. It is worth pointing out, that if you are interested in volunteering as a hospitalero, you need to have a good level of Spanish. Maybe, in my 60s I will reach that level 🙂

Buen Camino, peregrinos y buena suerte!

Humph! I’m close to two years learning Spanish on and off. I have been to two evening courses and I do what I can when I am free. I reckon I get on ok with Spanish locals, provided they speak slowly and give me a little time to reply. I’ve tried it and it is great getting corrected as I speak. 

However, I have hit a wall. A very high one. I love the language and so want to speak it, like a second language. I “think” I am ok with the present tense..as in “the now”. Future tense…I take the easy way out and say “I am going to ….” rather than “I will…” and that is fine and well. Past tense..forget about it! If someone asked me “So what did you do today?”, I am instantly stuck. Maybe it is practice makes perfect? I was the same with French and Irish in school..I was never confident with conjugating verbs, whether they are regular or irregular. What do you reckon? 

From reading my blogs over the last few months, you might have noticed I have an interest in Spain and it’s language. It’s true. It’s an interest and whether it is unhealthy or not, I’ll leave it you to decide that. The language itself is one I want to be fluent in and hopefully I will be someday. I got the ball rolling in February of this year, I started a beginners course in Spanish and I learnt a lot from it. I felt confident in what I knew and added to that by listening to some podcasts, and by writing to Spanish speakers in their native language. I did my level best to speak some few lines during my time in Spain.  So I had planned. 

What I found out was how little I knew. Yes, I could order a drink and ask for directions, and yes, I could talk about the weather and how bad or good it was but my knowledge was limited. I didn’t know much else. It didn’t help either by meeting people from non-Spanish speaking countries. I could have gone out of my way to meet some Spanish people, but it’s in the past now!

Anyway..ten weeks of beginners Spanish doesn’t really help but it does give you a taster. Since then I have done more reading, listened to more podcasts and written more emails to some friends abroad. That’s all fine and well and anything that makes me understand the language is great. To reciprocate is another thing.

I started back last Monday to an improvers class at the same college. Another ten weeks would help me improve I thought..why not give it a go?! I met some people I knew from the first course and some had kept their learning up. Others had joined in with sufficient knowledge that they didn’t need a beginners course. This class would be all in Spanish I was told. Ok, I find it hard speaking in English to a group, but in Spanish? The nerves kicked in. Next we were told we needed to talk about ourselves for a while. Fair enough..that can’t be too bad?! I started off and after about a minute or so, the dreaded “umms and ehhs” kicked in. Next, one of the better members of the class stepped up. She had brilliant Spanish and I was left wondering why she needed to take this course?! Even though she sat a metre from me, you could see the gulf from a mile. 

I really did think about dropping from the course after that class. But if I do that, I won’t get any better.
I read this recently about learning any language:
“Most students would say “I understand but, I can´t speak”. I believe this is just fear of being criticised by other people. A high-dose of inhibition is needed!!”

Over the last number of months, I have been taking an evening course in Spanish. It has taken a life of its’ own. I’m really enjoying it, which is strange as I’ve never had a grasp of languages, whether it is Irish, or French. I have studied Spanish in the past for three years while in school but there was a much greater focus on grammar, verbs and tenses than on conversation. So I stopped it and moved on to another subject at that time.

After being in Spain the last few years, I felt that my time there would be that little bit better if I was able to converse in some way with Spanish people. So I decided to give the language another go..and if it didn’t work out, I could always rely on meeting a Spanish speaker and tag along with them! Like I did last year!

The evening course I am on focuses on the basics and how to have a conversation. There are alot of phrases, nouns and verbs that have come back to me, but there isn’t that great an emphasis on them now. I listen to a great podcast also called “Coffee Break Spanish” which is for the beginner and is updated weekly. The BBC have a dedicated site (www.bbc.co.uk/languages/spanish) for those learning the language also with a great mini-series called “Mi Vida Loco”.  I would recommend anyone to listen to it. I have even followed a few Spanish nationals on Twitter so I can practice.

I have a lot more to do however but I have for once ticked off one of those resolutions I keep on making. So if you are in the same boat, or if you have any tips for me, let me know!

Hasta luego! Adios!