Wednesday, August 28, 2002
Upon reflection I realize that my pleasure in hearing Cooke-sensei's Japanese is that I have never been taught a language by a native speaker of that language before. Before I graduated from high school, I studied Spanish (4 years) and Latin (1 year). None of my Spanish teachers were native speakers; none of them were even Hispanic. Senora Trapalleti came closest. She was a native speaker of Italian. For a year, I spoke Spanish with a strong Italian accent. Latin, being a dead language, has no native speakers. I loved Latin because we didn't have to speak it. It was all reading and writng at which I've always excelled.
Despite years of studying Spanish, I can't speak it at all. Knowing Spanish would be very useful here in Texas because all government offices are bilingual and there are many jobs for people who are fluent in both English and Spanish. My inability to master Spanish is even more surprising because my mother's side of the family is Hispanic. Oddly enough, it was only this last April that I found out that my mother's first language was Spanish, not English. She grew up in a generation where it was better to melt into the pot than it was to tout one's ethnicity. At college in the midwest, she often had to remind people that New Mexico is one of these United States and not part of Mexico. I wonder if my lack of motivation while studying Spanish was an unconscious feeling that it was somehow an unworthy language, the language of an American subculture. According to the 2000 census, Spanish has already become or is near to becoming the language of the majority here in Texas.
The Mancunian's mother was a high school French teacher, though obviously, she is not a native speaker of French.
I went to Japan to be an example of a native speaker. I did not share the illusions of some that I was there to be an English teacher. I was luckier than most in that I had one class on my own wtih the English course students. So although I did not teach very much English, at least I provided the opportunity for my students to hear English as spoken by a native speaker and to interact with a foreigner. I still remember fondly my two best students, Sato Aya and Kaneko Ai, who acted as unofficial interpreters between me and the rest of the students in class. I learned more about what was going on in school from them than I did from any of the staff. I wonder what they're doing now and whether they ever study English anymore.
Posted by M Sinclair Stevens
August 28, 2002
Comments
Yes, the joys of being able to speak Spanish in a place like Texas or Arizona.
Actually, I majored in Spanish at ASU and gained some level of fluency from studying in Latin America and later living with my Mexican boyfriend in L.A. for 8 years. He was perfectly bilingual; however, he was also rather arrogant, so he was more of a detriment to my Spanish.
Then I moved to Japan in 1988 and became immersed in Japanese. I remember trying to speak Spanish occasionally there and Japanese words involuntarily springing up into my conversation. I figured it was becasue both languages were vying for supremacy in my head. Then, after Japan, England and France followed, and learning French as an immigrant took precedence. t was the first time I learned a language in the street, much like our ESL students learn English here. But I am coming to a point in a roundabout way. After 9 years away from a Spanish-speaking environment, I was plunged back into it. My first job back in the US was teaching English to Hispanic inmates at one of our infamous Sheriff Joe's jails. I began to pick it up quickly again at that point. Now I work in an office where many of us, native and non-native, speak Spanish. One of my co-workers really needs to improve her English. I feel guilty. She is an ex-student of ours and married to a Mexican-Amercian, so she can work here. I helped her with her resume and she got a job in the office next to mine. She has been wonderful for my Spanish! She has a beautiful educated Spanish, and I never tire of talking to her about this and that. I tell myself I will speak only English to her, but I can't pull myself away from the fun of speaking a second language.
Of course, my Japanese and French get rustier and rustier. I fell sad when I look at my old notebooks from Japan. I had gotten so far, even taking notes in a mixture of basic kanji and hiragan. To read them now would take great effort.
Zannen desu ne.
By the way, my father spoke French as a first language up in North Dakota in the 1910s. It was slapped out of him in school though.
Comment by: jbl. Posted August 28, 2002 07:39 PM.
I had the similar experience with Spanish popping out of my mouth when I couldn't think of a Japanese phrase. It happened most whenever I'd teach a lesson on time and my mind would wander.
"What time is it?"
[blank stare]
"Que hora es...I mean, nan ji desu ka. What time is it?"
Comment by: M Sinclair Stevens. Posted August 28, 2002 07:47 PM.
Share Your Thoughts
I realize that my pleasure in hearing Cooke-sensei's Japanese is that I have never been taught a language by a native speaker of that language before