This week I was concentrating on Spanish – Castellano.
I can’t say I have succeeded in doing a total immersion as I have been speaking in English to friends and family and also was unable to resist the temptation to continue reading Pride and Prejudice on my phone. But as the week went by I was able to speak a bit more confidently and also learnt some new words. I spoke to loads of people on the street and even went into an estate agent and managed to explain our complicated housing situation. Reading the newspaper was easier than before and I also watched a film in Castellano with no subtitles – El Viaje de Carol.
The Five Goals
Alongside the challenges that I feel are nipping at my heels at the moment (the dog fights, the ongoing search for a good vet, my still painful fingers, feelings of uselessness because I am not working, driving the van by myself) I also set myself some goals for the week and here are the results
1. I gave acupuncture sessions speaking only Castellano
2. I had a lesson in Photoshop for almost two hours only using Castellano. We made the new header for the blog!
3. I took the van to be cleaned
4. I failed to do the intercambio – I have someone who will do it with me but somehow we didn’t find a day to meet. I also didn’t find a teacher for private lessons although I went and asked about it in one of the language schools in Granollers.
And the biggest challenge
5. Finally today I made the video of myself speaking Castellano and put it on YouTube.
HERE is the link if you would like to see it. I know there are lots of mistakes and I sound very clipped and Scottish but the process of preparation and filming was very useful and I think I will make another in Catalan next week. I absolutely hate myself on film so this last challenge was definitely the hardest and took me furthest out of my comfort zone.
Hopefully it will get easier as I do it more often.
Thanks to Pep for helping with the language, encouraging me to relax and for doing the filming.
You should be thrilled by that video!!!! You are so lovely and it is sooooo good!!!!!
Pep picked a winner, no Pep???
LOVELY!!! Looking forward to the Catalan one next week. How much did you practice it before hand or did you just do it off the cuff?
Thank you – you are so kind!
I am just glad it’s done and almost looking forward to the next one. What to talk about in Catalan??
I practised a lot first. I had the text written down after first speaking spontaneously about Granollers. Lots of preparation. I went over it several times and then tried to do the filming without reading it but using the text as a memory aide.
It’s all from suggestions of Benny the Language Hacker. He has inspired me to much.
Kate x
Claro, me gustan las ganadoras! Lo siento, pero Kate es la mejor… lástima que ahora solo hable castellano! Estoy esperando que llegue la semana Catalana!