When I first arrived in Barcelona, like many others I enrolled for Spanish classes in a language school. I already had a rudimentary level from self study but wanted to immerse myself in the language and I naively thought that in 6 weeks I would be able to enjoy conversations without too much trouble.
But….
It took me a surprisingly long time to realise that if you want to learn Spanish – or Castellano as I prefer to call it to differentiate it from the other official languages of Spain – it would be better to do it somewhere outside of Catalunya. Because Catalan is the language here and although almost everyone who speaks Catalan also is fluent in Castellano, naturally they prefer to speak their mother tongue. There is also a sizeable minority of people from other parts of Spain or from Latin America, many of whom do not speak Catalan at all. At that time I was dancing tango a lot so met lots of people from Argentina and was able to practice my ‘spanish’ with them. But the vast majority of my friends were Catalan and in social situations they were talking Catalan.
Then….
Starting a relationship with a Catalan man meant that I moved to another town, somewhere much more traditionally Catalan and my real struggle to keep up with Castellano began.
In the house, at family parties, in the street, with friends, all I was hearing was Catalan. People advised me not to try and learn two languages at once so I put up a barrier. I responded in Castellano Spanish, I felt aggrieved if, as sometimes happened, someone refused to change languages to include me in the conversation. I felt very much an outsider and was aware that I was trying to communicate in a language that to some people was an unpleasant reminder of Franco years. It was an effort, a strain, a frustration. I was learning very slowly, I might as well have been studying in Penzance.
So….
Almost two years ago I gave up on Castellano. I made a decision to learn Catalan and concentrate on that. It meant starting from the beginning again. I went to the free classes provided by the government. I took down the barrier. And was so surprised to find that it was easy.
For the first time in my life I was living in a total immersion situation and of course then the language flows into your consciousness. Our brains are like sponges and of course mine had been learning all along but I hadn’t allowed myself to know it.
But…
I still needed sometimes to speak Castellano. And I still wanted to speak it. I was still finding myself in situations where I either couldn’t speak or couldn’t understand what was going on. Still on the outside of so any situations.
But I found that I had forgotten so much. It was a muddle in my brain and the simplest of words would be just beyond my reach. I ended up speaking a strange mixture. Some people have called this Catalaño. People who learnt both from childhood are adept at keeping them separate but later learners blur the boundaries. Obviously as most people in the UK can’t speak anything other than English it is incredibly impressive to watch how Catalan people skip between the languages, and often change to Castellano as a courtesy to someone else.
Which leads me to my reason for writing this.
I have decided to study both languages more intensively for a month. Many people say it is a bad idea to study two similar language at the same time. The brain just can’t cope and everything gets muddled and you end up feeling a failure at both.
But I want to try.
At the moment my plan is this. I will do alternate weeks starting on Monday 23rd with Catalan. All week I will try to speak and listen to 90% the chosen language. At the end of the month I will see if my brain has fried.
I will report back here every week to explain how it has gone.
To help my brain I am going to imagine two different personalities – one who speaks Catalan and the other Castellano. Perhaps they will even wear different clothes, talk about different things! Read different newspapers, watch different films.
The major problem seems to be keeping the two languages separate and then being able to switch. Surely my brain can cope!
If you have any experience in learning two languages at the same time then I’d love to hear how it was for you.
