"Boy, those French: they have a different word for EVERYTHING!" -Steve Martin
I love that quote.
When I arrived in Portugal I had big plans for myself. What was I going to do with all this new time (a.k.a. no full time job, and no children) without going completely crazy? (as to whether or not I am crazy and when that occurred is still up to debate). Anyway, I wrote down a long list of goals that I wanted to accomplish--and since I'm an experienced goal writer in my work, I made sure that all 20-something of them were practical, attainable, and measurable. Umm, right. Here's number one:
1. Learn Portuguese--by February.
Ha! I always heard that the best way to learn a new language was to move to the country where they speak that language. Okay, check. I moved here. Now what? Apparently learning a new language requires more than just osmosis. What??? Effort? Study? So last semester I enrolled in a Portuguese class. I faithfully went to class 4 nights a week. I made lots of friends...our class was made up of 5 Russians, 3 Ukrainians, 3 Turks, 1 Italian, 1 Uzbekistani, 1 Welsh, 1 Swiss, 1 Latvian, 1 Cuban, 1 Swiss, and 1 American (me). We were a very interesting group. I think I spent at least the first 2 months just staring at my teacher--willing myself to understand a single word he spoke for an entire 1.5 hours, 4 times a week. It was awful. I didn't feel like I was learning anything. I often got in trouble for using my junior high Spanish skills instead of Portuguese. Whoops! Slowly but surely I started to understand a little bit and I learned the basics of the phonetics. As an SLP, this was extremely humbling. I was having to do the same kinds of assignments that I gave to my students last year--and they were HARD. Constructing a grammatically correct sentence--couldn't do it. Answer basic comprehension questions about a text--too difficult. The hardest for me are the nasal vowels. I have to contort my face to do it, and that is not pretty. The Portuguese make almost everything nasal--the exact opposite of what I was trying to teach several students for at least 2 years! The class moved really slowly, and I wasn't the biggest fan of how it was taught, so of course I stopped going this semester. (I was gone for a month, I felt bad just showing up after that). Yes, that's a lame excuse.
Now most of my "education" comes from Carlos, the missionaries, and everyone at church.
-Carlos taught me how to pray in Portuguese, and I even gave a prayer at a baptism. Go me!
-A couple months ago I read a verse or two out loud in Primary--with an 8-year-old helping me. I had 5, 6 and 7-year olds telling me "good job!" and congratulating me for learning how to read. Humbling? Yes.
-Leading during singing-time is hilarious. One of the Bishopric came in to watch me and laughed that I gave my directions in half Portuguese/half English. That's probably better--less time for talking, more time for singing, right?
-I usually feel like I'm playing charades--and when someone catches on I point at them, nod, and jump up and down excitedly. For example, two weeks ago I was trying to explain the story of Enoch and what it means to be translated by only using gestures. I'm still not sure how well that went over--I'm gonna guess not all that well.
-I'm now the ward chorister (unless I'm needed to play piano). It's awkward to stare at my hymn book the whole time because I don't have any of the hymns memorized in Portuguese. I love that the whole Bishopric enthusiastically nods at me to tell me it's time for each of the songs. :)
Sundays are absolutely exhausting--mostly because it takes all of my effort to concentrate so hard on each word everyone says so that I can know what's going on. That is really hard to do for several hours! Carlos and I rarely sit by each other because we're usually with different people and in different places so he can't help. Very few people in our ward speak English, and most of those who know it won't speak it. Our ward is very diverse--it is made up of Portuguese, Brazilian, Angolan, Cape Verdeans, and Mozambican people--each with their own "Portuguese," so they have a hard enough time understanding each other. I've gotten better (even though I'm a big time slacker and really should have studied a lot more). I think I can understand almost half of what is going on--relying a lot on context. :) Sometimes when Carlos talks to his family in Portuguese, I'll surprise him by telling him "hey, I know what you just said!" He can't fool me anymore. :)
One of my biggest surprises in coming here is how much I feel like I've grown professionally. (Which is ironic--how do you grow professionally by taking a year off of work?) I've always known that communication was important, but I've never realized just how much our judgment of someone's intelligence is based on how well they communicate--I guess I understood that, but I never actually experienced it. I swear the kids look at me and think: "man, are you stupid or somethin'? You can't even talk." My empathy for all of my speech and/or language-impaired kids, and even ELL (English Language Learners) kids has grown tremendously. It is so hard to focus for that long everyday and try to know what's going on around you--I don't know how they survive school 5 days a week. And trying to get people to understand you--forget it. Most of all I've been seriously humbled. Learn Portuguese by February--are you crazy or somethin'? (Maybe I could have if I didn't just practice on Sundays). :) I can't believe that in one month I'll be back in the U.S.--I'm guessing I won't be fluent in Portuguese by then. So much for goals.
I love that quote.
When I arrived in Portugal I had big plans for myself. What was I going to do with all this new time (a.k.a. no full time job, and no children) without going completely crazy? (as to whether or not I am crazy and when that occurred is still up to debate). Anyway, I wrote down a long list of goals that I wanted to accomplish--and since I'm an experienced goal writer in my work, I made sure that all 20-something of them were practical, attainable, and measurable. Umm, right. Here's number one:
1. Learn Portuguese--by February.
Ha! I always heard that the best way to learn a new language was to move to the country where they speak that language. Okay, check. I moved here. Now what? Apparently learning a new language requires more than just osmosis. What??? Effort? Study? So last semester I enrolled in a Portuguese class. I faithfully went to class 4 nights a week. I made lots of friends...our class was made up of 5 Russians, 3 Ukrainians, 3 Turks, 1 Italian, 1 Uzbekistani, 1 Welsh, 1 Swiss, 1 Latvian, 1 Cuban, 1 Swiss, and 1 American (me). We were a very interesting group. I think I spent at least the first 2 months just staring at my teacher--willing myself to understand a single word he spoke for an entire 1.5 hours, 4 times a week. It was awful. I didn't feel like I was learning anything. I often got in trouble for using my junior high Spanish skills instead of Portuguese. Whoops! Slowly but surely I started to understand a little bit and I learned the basics of the phonetics. As an SLP, this was extremely humbling. I was having to do the same kinds of assignments that I gave to my students last year--and they were HARD. Constructing a grammatically correct sentence--couldn't do it. Answer basic comprehension questions about a text--too difficult. The hardest for me are the nasal vowels. I have to contort my face to do it, and that is not pretty. The Portuguese make almost everything nasal--the exact opposite of what I was trying to teach several students for at least 2 years! The class moved really slowly, and I wasn't the biggest fan of how it was taught, so of course I stopped going this semester. (I was gone for a month, I felt bad just showing up after that). Yes, that's a lame excuse.
Now most of my "education" comes from Carlos, the missionaries, and everyone at church.
-Carlos taught me how to pray in Portuguese, and I even gave a prayer at a baptism. Go me!
-A couple months ago I read a verse or two out loud in Primary--with an 8-year-old helping me. I had 5, 6 and 7-year olds telling me "good job!" and congratulating me for learning how to read. Humbling? Yes.
-Leading during singing-time is hilarious. One of the Bishopric came in to watch me and laughed that I gave my directions in half Portuguese/half English. That's probably better--less time for talking, more time for singing, right?
-I usually feel like I'm playing charades--and when someone catches on I point at them, nod, and jump up and down excitedly. For example, two weeks ago I was trying to explain the story of Enoch and what it means to be translated by only using gestures. I'm still not sure how well that went over--I'm gonna guess not all that well.
-I'm now the ward chorister (unless I'm needed to play piano). It's awkward to stare at my hymn book the whole time because I don't have any of the hymns memorized in Portuguese. I love that the whole Bishopric enthusiastically nods at me to tell me it's time for each of the songs. :)
Sundays are absolutely exhausting--mostly because it takes all of my effort to concentrate so hard on each word everyone says so that I can know what's going on. That is really hard to do for several hours! Carlos and I rarely sit by each other because we're usually with different people and in different places so he can't help. Very few people in our ward speak English, and most of those who know it won't speak it. Our ward is very diverse--it is made up of Portuguese, Brazilian, Angolan, Cape Verdeans, and Mozambican people--each with their own "Portuguese," so they have a hard enough time understanding each other. I've gotten better (even though I'm a big time slacker and really should have studied a lot more). I think I can understand almost half of what is going on--relying a lot on context. :) Sometimes when Carlos talks to his family in Portuguese, I'll surprise him by telling him "hey, I know what you just said!" He can't fool me anymore. :)
One of my biggest surprises in coming here is how much I feel like I've grown professionally. (Which is ironic--how do you grow professionally by taking a year off of work?) I've always known that communication was important, but I've never realized just how much our judgment of someone's intelligence is based on how well they communicate--I guess I understood that, but I never actually experienced it. I swear the kids look at me and think: "man, are you stupid or somethin'? You can't even talk." My empathy for all of my speech and/or language-impaired kids, and even ELL (English Language Learners) kids has grown tremendously. It is so hard to focus for that long everyday and try to know what's going on around you--I don't know how they survive school 5 days a week. And trying to get people to understand you--forget it. Most of all I've been seriously humbled. Learn Portuguese by February--are you crazy or somethin'? (Maybe I could have if I didn't just practice on Sundays). :) I can't believe that in one month I'll be back in the U.S.--I'm guessing I won't be fluent in Portuguese by then. So much for goals.
2 comments:
Jeff and I were in the spanish branch for a month before we left purdue and it. was. so. hard. props to you for sticking with it all this time!!
Love your honesty & observations. Who would have thought that this adventure would help you in not only your professional life but just when you meet immigrants or visitors in the same situation you're in now. You will definitely be so much more helpful and compassionate than the next Joe. Very cool
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