La Lengua Española

My educative years hadn’t touched on the world’s 2^nd most spoken language. Those who put the curriculum together favoured the 11^th and 18^th*. And Latin. 

A recent conversation with a Valencian taxi driver revealed his astonishment that this was the case (back in the day) in the UK: “Solo aléman y francés? Joder!”

An integral part of my impatient desire to be part of Valencia, part of our Barrio, a citizen of our apartment building, is the progress I make towards being able to speak Spanish well.

Aside of this, I take great pleasure from Spanish as a language when I read it and hear it. To hear the word “izquierda” smoothly and effortlessly pronounced by a native speaker is a delight, and it makes me want to learn.

I took an interest in the language when I first took an interest in Spain, rather than in Valencia specifically. The first few times I worked in Spain… Malaga, Sotogrande, Balearics, I would quiz our bi-lingual production team for new words, but it’s slow progress when you’re there to do a job that's not related to the language.

You’re also unlikely to learn a language when you’ve hired people to speak it for you.

So… CDs in the car. I found things easy to absorb while driving, and learned a reasonable amount, but progress was equally slow. The lengthy and unlikely scenarios used to teach the listener meant that 2 CDs-worth left you with precious little conversation beyond having a good idea about hiring a car, and being aware that your pan doesn’t come from el ferretero, but from la panaderia. 

Si, claro. 

Discussion with the purveyors of evening classes at a local school in Harrogate left me in no doubt that these would yield similar results, at considerable expense.

Best advice was that the only way to learn was to be there, in the thick of it. Speaking Spanish because it was the only option available.

So holidays in Spain were my chance to improve.

When on holiday, I began to make a point of starting any interaction or conversation in Spanish. I refuse to be the boorish Brit who just shouts louder and slower in English - these people are giving us all a bad name. I’d rather bear the embarrassment of demonstrating my poor command of the Spanish language than default to that.

In most Spanish resorts (Costa del Sol, Balearics) starting a conversation in Spanish (likely to be with “un/a camarero/a”) can have its rewards, and it is appreciated. But it can also result in one or more of the following awkward scenarios:

1. The response comes in Spanish, and you fail to understand it.
 

2. With your first few words, you have already demonstrated how remedial your Spanish is. As a result, your new Spanish friend replies in English for the sake of his or her own sanity.
 
3. Your new Spanish friend repeats your words back to you, with emphasis on correcting the ones you got wrong. Not good for the confidence, and confidence is important here.
 
4. Your new Spanish friend is Lithuanian (Marbella area).

Progress has been made since the scenarios above were a regular occurrence, but there’s a long way to go. Spending more time in Valencia, going through a property purchase, dealing with purchases for the home, deliveries and utilities, and interacting with neighbours have all helped. Actual conversations have been held.

So, spending more time in Valencia and learning to speak Spanish well appear to amble along happily together, hand in hand. Who knew?

So once that’s nailed, at some unspecified time in the future, we have: 

Valencian (/vəˈlɛnsiən/ or /vəˈlɛnʃən/; endonym: valencià, valenciano, llengua valenciana, or idioma valencià) is the variety of Catalan as spoken in the Valencian Community, Spain.

Yep. There are 2 languages in Valencia. Nadie dijo que iba a ser fácil.



*German and French, positions correct at the time of writing.