Catalan

Catalan Radio

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

Walking Bonnie this morning I listened to a podcast of a Catalan radio station El Millor de Casa.
It helps to improve my comprehension especially when they speak fast and I don’t have to smile and pretend to understand as I do in real conversations.

Today starts the huge Barcelona festival The Merce. On the programme they were interviewing people who are involved in one part of the festival, a celebration of music and culture from Asia. It was interesting listening to the interplay of languages. The interviewer was speaking Catalan of course.  One of the guests started off in Catalan but gradually words from Castellano intruded and after a few minutes she totally gave up any attempt at Catalan. The interviewer continued in Catalan, without missing a stroke and clearly she understood all he said.
Then another guest began to speak, he spoke Catalan fluently and this encouraged the Asian woman to try again, her sentences became 50/50 and stayed that way till the end. It also became clear that  Castellano was also not her first language. She said she had been studying it at the Official School of Idiomas in Barcelona.
The way she spoke was pretty near perfect for me – bits and pieces of Catalan and Castellano, an ease of switching and perhaps an underlay of English. I understood her every word.  I thought how brave of her to go on the radio to speak in public. Also I felt pleased that I am now able to track the changes between the two languages.

But as always the most striking thing for me is how language here is such a complex thing. Catalan is the language of the nation but because everyone also speaks Castellano there is a possibility of switching, between people, between sentences, between words.
And it all happens without breaking the flow.  It creates more and more layers in every conversation.

A red dress on Market Day

~ Kate Wilson ~ 5 Comments

I went to the market today, wearing something a bit more cheerful than usual and it’s amazing how this can affect your mood. People stared at me but at least I could imagine this time it was because red attracts attention and not because I look like a weird foreigner

While waiting at one of my favourite stalls I filmed a little so I could see how it felt doing it in public.
Answer – it felt awkward!  Here I am – don’t know why my voice is so squeaky!
It will be another challenge to get comfortable doing this but I’d like to be able to film local sights and it helps if I can talk at the same time.
In the end I did my shopping in Catalan as usual as it doesn’t feel ok speaking in Castellano with people I normally talk to in Catalan. Unless I explain every time what I am doing which sometimes I do, but more often not.

So exciting that the cherries have arrived!
As I was waiting an older woman arrived at the stall and instead of asking ‘la ultima?’ she started buying her stuff although it was obvious I was there first. I really had to squash down the urge to turn away and buy things somewhere else. The guy knew it had happened and was friendly when he came to me so I commented how often this happens to foreigners, that you can end up feeling you are invisible. He listened but didn’t really reply – sometimes I wonder if it is because I haven’t explained it correctly or if it’s just that people here don’t say things like that.
Wondering if my red dress makes me stroppier?  Or perhaps it’s being a year older so I am beginning to feel like the old woman who wears purple and doesn’t care. I also had my toenails painted this week which is another amazing magical way of gaining confidence

Then I went to the olive stall where the man is not very friendly – nothing personal I know as he was the same with Pep one day. After buying three bags of olives and he seemed as grumpy as ever and I couldn’t keep quiet any more. I said – in English with a smile – ‘you are very scary’.  He ignored me totally but as I was just on the point of paying he couldn’t go away so I said it again then translated into Castellano and Catalan…….’tengo miedo de ti’…… ‘tinc por de tu’
All the waiting women in the queue started laughing and said – ‘yes, you are very serious today’ and he laughed too and suddenly the atmosphere was so much better

Funny how you can change things with just a few words.
I wonder if I am changing into someone who says what she thinks – in three different languages?




Warning – When I Am an Old Woman I Shall Wear Purple


By Jenny Joseph

�

When I am an old woman, I shall wear purple
with a red hat that doesn’t go, and doesn’t suit me.
And I shall spend my pension on brandy and summer gloves
and satin candles, and say we’ve no money for butter.
I shall sit down on the pavement when I am tired
and gobble up samples in shops and press alarm bells
and run my stick along the public railings
and make up for the sobriety of my youth.
I shall go out in my slippers in the rain
and pick the flowers in other people’s gardens
and learn to spit.
�
You can wear terrible shirts and grow more fat
and eat three pounds of sausages at a go
or only bread and pickles for a week
and hoard pens and pencils and beer nuts and things in boxes.
�
But now we must have clothes that keep us dry
and pay our rent and not swear in the street
and set a good example for the children.
We must have friends to dinner and read the papers.
But maybe I ought to practice a little now?
So people who know me are not too shocked and surprised
When suddenly I am old, and start to wear purple.

My Language Challenge

~ Kate Wilson ~ 3 Comments

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.

Changeover Day

~ Kate Wilson ~ 4 Comments

Today is Monday and so I have switched languages from Catalan to Castellano.
I actually woke up remembering to say Buenos Dias rather than Bon Dia.
So far so good!

It was slow at first. What I have found is that the words get stuck behind a pile of Catalan ones. As if I am looking in my bag for my keys and they have sunk to the bottom so I have to take everything else out first.
So it is painfully slow and sometimes the Catalan word pops out first and then I replace it which makes for very long sentences.
(Potse) quizas (vull) quiero (llegir) leer (una mica) un poco (avants) antes de (sortir) salir!
Get the picture?

But suddenly as midmorning after much stumbling I felt it begin to flow. then it happened in reverse. Because I didn’t trust myself I was saying the Castellano correctly first and then doubting so changing to Catalan.
I think part of speaking another language is learning to relax and trust your own ability to speak without having to test and think about each and every word.

I have spoken before about a web site I have found useful, Fluent in 3 Months
I recently bought his Language Hackers Guide and have started reading it today.  You can get it in English but also in lots of other languages and as part of his philosophy is to use the target language from the very beginning I have it in Spanish and really pleased that I can understand it all, only having to look up a few words. I am reading it out loud so I can get back into the sounds and shapes of the words without having to worry about grammar and vocabulary.

And to follow one of his suggestions, which is to make concrete promises that give you goals to complete in a short time here are my tasks for the week.

1. I will give an acupuncture treatment speaking only Castellano
2. I will have my Photoshop lesson speaking only Castellano
3. I will do at least one intercambio in Castellano
4. I will take the van to be cleaned and speak Castellano (this one is scary)
5. I will make a short video of myself speaking in Castellano (scariest of scary)

Other snippets
Dogs – All peaceful this moment. No fights since Friday. We have a plan of action to try out.
House – This very moment all is peaceful. We moved the furniture around which can shift energy too.
Weather – Is lovely and rainy and cloudy.  Just a little, not too much, but nice and homey.

Thank you all for your support!  It has really helped me in these past months.

A Big Day

~ Kate Wilson ~ 2 Comments

Still haven’t managed to do any formal study but at least I have spoken a lot more in Catalan.

Where normally I might say just a few words, I have been actively trying to stretch out conversations purely for practice.  While not quite grabbing people by the arm in the street like some crazy ancient mariner I am definitely not letting people go until I have had my tuppence-worth of chat.

In the market I went to at least four different stands for the fruit and vegetables. I asked which artichokes were best for cooking ‘a la brasa’, I told another customer how to prepare Kohl rabi and what it could do for your health, I stopped an aquaintance in the street and talked for at least 15 minutes about the need to have a vegetable patch.

Today my partners son arrived – ‘for good’. Well, at least till he is finished with college.
Normally I speak to him in English partly for his education and partly because I can’t bear him to be laughing at me as I stumble along. Our relationship has been rocky over the past two years.
But today was Catalan day so I told him I must speak in Catalan and he actually helped me with words and reminded me when I slipped into English.

And then we all went for supper at the pizza restaurant.
By ‘All’ I mean, my partner, his ex wife, his son and me. This was a first and funnily enough it went well. She is leaving the country very soon and is in that special time before saying goodbye to her old life. I had done my positive affirmations  before going and so somehow it worked out.

I find I am sometimes thinking in Catalan. I wonder how it would be to really switch over like I know some people have done into English?

I also did a whole hour and a half class of Photoshop in Catalan without getting dizzy once.
Two new things at the same time – my brain is getting quite excited!