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surabi
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A friend of mine did the Antigua immersion classes, not sure which school. She is originally French, but lived in the US for 40 years. Her French
accent is so
heavy that although she is totally fluent in English, I often have to ask her to repeat what she said. She's one of those people who doesn't have an
"ear" for language- she can't hear the difference between how other people are pronouncing something and how she does.
So her Spanish was almost impossible to decipher- it was a mix of French words, English words, and Spanish words, all in a heavy French accent. The
first day of her immersion class, when they were asked to converse so the instructor could get an idea of what levels the students were at, the
instructor told her, "I don't know what language you think you're speaking, but you need to forget all the Spanish you think you know and start from
square one."
My friend is aware of her "bad ear" and doesn't take herself very seriously, so she wasn't offended and found it quite funny.
Unfortunately, her Spanish hasn't improved significantly.
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pacificobob
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There is significant evidence that short term immersion ,1-2 weeks, doesn't result in much retention.
I know lots of gringos who haven't learned the simple vowel sounds... Without being able to pronounce those, progress will not be happening.
[Edited on 12-17-2022 by pacificobob]
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surabi
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Yes, I know gringoes who have lived in Mexico for years and still pronounce the first "a" in "casa", like the first "a" in "capital". It's not like
they can't make the correct sound, like some of us can't roll an "r", and they continue to pronouce it incorrectly even after being corrected and
having it explained that an "a" in Spanish is always pronounced the same way, no matter where in a word it appears. They seemingly simply don't care.
Immersion works well for young children, who usually pick up new languages quite quickly. And I can see it working well for those adults who already
have some Spanish fluency and want to improve. But one or two weeks of it for those who speak no Spanish doesn't seem like it would help anymore than
just hanging out around Spanish speakers to get an ear for the language, instead of hanging with other gringoes.
[Edited on 12-17-2022 by surabi]
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AKgringo
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When you travel with a dog, it is hard to get much useful feedback. It is kind of cute when she tries to roll her "r"s, sort of an arrrf comes out.
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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pacificobob
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Quote: Originally posted by surabi  | Yes, I know gringoes who have lived in Mexico for years and still pronounce the first "a" in "casa", like the first "a" in "capital". It's not like
they can't make the correct sound, like some of us can't roll an "r", and they continue to pronouce it incorrectly even after being corrected and
having it explained that an "a" in Spanish is always pronounced the same way, no matter where in a word it appears. They seemingly simply don't care.
Immersion works well for young children, who usually pick up new languages quite quickly. And I can see it working well for those adults who already
have some Spanish fluency and want to improve. But one or two weeks of it for those who speak no Spanish doesn't seem like it would help anymore than
just hanging out around Spanish speakers to get an ear for the language, instead of hanging with other gringoes.
[Edited on 12-17-2022 by surabi] |
I know folks who have been here for years who make me twitch in genuine pain with words such as tack-o and cab-o.
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AKgringo
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Bob, I know you have spent time in Alaska, so I imagine there is some twitching going on when the town of Valdez is pronounced Valdeez!
For what it is worth, the Spanish explorer that the area was named for spelled his last name with an "s" (Valdes).
If you are not living on the edge, you are taking up too much space!
"Could do better if he tried!" Report card comments from most of my grade school teachers. Sadly, still true!
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pacificobob
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| Quote: Originally posted by AKgringo |
Bob, I know you have spent time in Alaska, so I imagine there is some twitching going on when the town of Valdez is pronounced Valdeez!
For what it is worth, the Spanish explorer that the area was named for spelled his last name with an "s" (Valdes). |
Yup, I used to work for valdez airlines (during the pipeline) we had a lot of fun with the pronunciations.
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surabi
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Cortes Island in British Columbia spelled it right.
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