It has happened! EUREKA! The break-through!
All at once, it occurred to me -- I´m speaking Spanish! OK, that may seem like a strange thing to say, for, after all, I´ve been speaking Spanish pretty much full-time or a whole month now, but yesterday, it suddenly dawned on me that I was speaking fluently and rapidly with the very peope of whom I had thought, "Oh, I´ll never be able to understand him/or her!"
In the afternoon, after classes, I was carrying on a conversation with Señora Lucy, the maid/cook of our family, and with La Abuela ("grandmother," the mother of our house mother). On the first day, I had been TOTALLY unable to understand ANYTHING they said. And also, after dinner, during the sobre mesa (the table conversation following supper), I found myself speaking easily with the young Chilean woman who lives with us, and also with the house mother. No problema! Even my housemate commented on it today, saying, "I heard you down there last night, Bill" (he had gone upstairs), "and you sounded like a chilean!"
Then there was class today. During he second break, I was speaking with my teacher about whether or not I should try to advance a level early, and in the middle of the conversation I realized that my fellow students were stairing at me, mouths agape. "You´re talkin´90 to nothin´!" declared the theologian from Texas, and the retired English speaker said, "Guille, you are impressing me!" Wow.
I´ve made it. The break-through I´ve been longing for, waiting for, and praying for!
OK, I must finish working on this computer and get to class.
But to quote the scriptures... "Rejoice with me! What was lost is found!"
With much love,
and with a WHOLE LOT OF JOY!
-- Bill
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3 comments:
Wow, that's GREAT! I remember during my trip to Germany 10 years ago that I realized I'd hit a kind of milestone when I made a pun auf deutsch with as much ease as one in English. Sadly much of that is gone now, but it was a cool moment. Keep up the good work, old friend!
I may not know any other languages, but I can speak geek fairly well and librarian very fluently! All jokes aside, that is fantastic, Bill. Keep up the good work, dear friend.
Congratulations, Bill! We're glad you found it! By the way, 'Eureka' is Greek not Spanish. When you become truly multi-lingual, it's hard to confine yourself to a single language. N'est ce pas?
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